June 1, 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



393 



and almost completely clogging up the en- 

 trance. Do you think this second drive is a 

 success generally 1 Maine. 



Answers.— 1. Two ought to winter well, 

 and possibly one might. 



2. The one story ot frames filled with honey 

 would be enough, but a second story, or some- 

 thing in place of it, must be under to give the 

 bees room to cluster. I am not entirely sure 

 about it, but I think an empty super would 

 do without any combs in it. 



3. You can try the change on a small scale, 

 making a comparison of the two side by side. 



i. So far as reported, second drives are 

 usually successful. Your experience hardly 

 has anything to do with the success or failure 

 ot the second drive. The death ot nearly all 

 the colony would seem to have been due to 

 suffocation on account ot the entrance having 

 been too much closed, and it might have been 

 the same if there had been no drive. 



Preventing Leaky Hive-Covers 



We find it very difficult to keep our hive- 

 covers in a condition so that they will not 

 leak. If you know of any paint, or other 

 preparation which we can use to prevent the 

 leakage in question, please give directions for 

 its preparation. Michigan. 



Answer.— It is a very difficult thing to 

 make a cover water-proof with any kind of 

 paint it there are joints or cracks in the cover. 

 The better way is to cover the wood with 

 something that will not leak. Some of my 

 covers are covered with a paper and the paper 

 painted; another lot is covered with tin and 

 painted ; and what perhaps is the best, 

 another lot is covered with zinc, unpainted. 

 How long the last will do without paint I 

 don't know. 



Putting on Supers— Feeding Bees- 

 Queens Humming 



1. When shall I put on the first supers? 

 The colonies have much brood now. 



2. What time will the bees swarm this 

 month, when the brood is as much in my 

 hives as I mentioned above? 



3. I am still feeding them equal parts of 

 sugar-water, and they take it all. Is this 

 right? 



4. What makes the queens hum so loudly 

 for about 5 minutes at a time, then rest a lit- 

 tle while, and begin again? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — I. When you see bits of very 

 white wax plastered on the top-bars or upper 

 part of the combs. Or, as you are in a white 

 clover region, watch sharply for the very first 

 white-clover blossom that puts in an appear- 

 ance, and put on supers a week or so later. 



2. I don't know; and your telling me that 

 they have " much brood now " does not help 

 very much to decide. But it is not at all im- 

 probable that they will not swarm at all in 

 May, the month in which your questions are 

 written. You can only tell anything in ad- 

 vance about their swarming by looking in the 

 hives and seeing when queen-cells are started. 



3. It will probably do no harm, but it ought 

 not to be necessary to feed when fruit is in 

 bloom. 



4. I don't know; I never before heard of 

 anything of the kind. 



Strengthening a Weak Colony 



How would it do to set a weak colony of 

 bees in the place of a strong colony, so that the 

 worker-bees of the strong colony would go 

 into the hive ot the weak colony, thereby 

 strengthening the weak colony? 



California. 



Answer.— The plan is hardly advisable on 

 account of danger to the queen from the en- 

 trance of strange bees. A safer way is to 

 take a frame of brood with adhering bees 

 from the strong colony and give it to the 

 weak. I have given hundreds of frames of 

 brood in that way without injury to the 

 queen. An entirely safe plan, and one that 



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The Modern Farmer . .$ .50 

 Agricultural Epitomist .25 

 Green's Fruit Grower. .50 

 Poultry Gazette 25 



Gleanings 1-00 



2.50 



All for an even $1,00. Without Glean- 

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THE nODERN FARflER, 



ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



The Big Song Success 



" Dreaming ot that Old Kentucky 

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 In order to introduce will send a copy on re- 

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 alog. 



THE DftNIELSON GO., Jamestown, N. Y. 



14C3t Mention Bee Journal when writing. 



1 1-2 STORY 



S-frame HIVES, either plain, or bee-way su 

 pers, $1.00. No. 1 Sections, $4,00 for 1,000. 24-lb. 

 Shipping-Cases, $13.00 for 100; 12 lb., $8.00 for 

 100; 20-lb. Danz ., $11.00 for 100. 



Hives, Sections, Foundation, 



etc., by the Car-Load. One year's subscription 

 to Bee Journal free with orders of $10 or over. 

 Send for free list. BERRY BASKETS AND 

 CRATES in stock. W. D. SOPER, 



lOCtf RT.3. JACKSON, MICH. 



Please mention Bee journal when -WTitiiiB: 



BARNES' FOOT POWER MAGHIRERT 



Read what J. I. PARENTjOf 

 Charlton, N. Y., says: " We 

 cut with one of your Com- 

 bined Machines, last winter- 

 50 chaff hives with 7-in. cap, 

 100 honey racks, 500 brood, 

 frames, 2,000 honey boxes, and 

 a great deal of other work. 

 This winter we have double 

 the amount of bee-hives, etc., 

 to make, and we expect to do 

 it with this Saw. It will do all 

 TOtt say It will." Catalog and price-list free. 

 Address, W. F, & John Barnes, 



995 Ruby St., Rockford, 111. 



is very little trouble, is to exchange a frame 

 of sealed brood for one containing unsealed 

 brood and eggs, of course taking the mature 

 brood from the strong and giving to the weait. 



BEES 



FOR Owner 

 <% A I ^ Leaving 

 SALE Texas 



Has listed us with 450 colonies of bees in 10- 

 frame dovetailed hives, fully equipped, high- 

 grade bees, already located. Will sell all or 

 part. Inquire quick. 



THE GRAHAM-HYDE BEE CO. 



(H. H. Hyde, Sue.) 

 20E2t S.\.N ANTONIO, T EXAS. 



BKB-KKEPERS' SUPPLIES. 



We are now atl'- to quote lower prices than ever 

 before. Hiu'hest iiiiality euaranteed. Wehandlethe 

 G. B. Lewis Co';* k:<)ods. Italian Bees for sale in 

 dovetailed hives. Send for my 8H-page Catalog, and 

 leaflet for beKinmrs. They are tree. 



44Btf W. .1. MCCARTY. EmmetsburK, Iowa. 



flDiarujor Sale 



In one of the best locations in the United 

 States, both as to hooey and market. No one 

 need write me about it unless they mean busi- 

 ness, and have at least $700 cash to out in the 

 business. Address, w. S. MITCHELL, 



22A4t MnsKOi.EE, Ind. Teb. 



Please Mention Bee Journal 

 when writing advertisers. 



Separators— T Supers 



1. Do ji>u use separators between two bee- 

 way sections, and if you do, what kind of 

 separators ! 



3. Are you still using the old T super? 



I am using 4J^x4J^xl% two-bee-way sec- 

 tions, with top and bottom starter, without 

 separators. This is my second year ot bee- 

 keeping. Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. I use loose wooden separa- 

 tors one-sixteenth inch thick. 



3. I am still using the T super, after having 

 tried others. For home use you need no sep- 

 arators. It you pack in shipping-cases, you 

 will need them. Even in the home groceries, 

 unless you use separators, you will find the 

 grocers, in handling, will break the cappings 

 more or less. 



Sulphur for Mice in Cellars 



Will sulphur hurt the bees if I sprinkle it 

 in the cellar in the winter to keen mice out? 

 Minnesota. 

 Answer. — Not a bit. 



Prevention of Swarmlng-aueenless 

 •Colony-Increase-Transferrlng 



'1. I am a beginner, and have 8 strong colo- 

 nies in good hives. I have timber work, to 

 which I am afraid I will be obliged to give my 

 attention the last ot this month and all of 

 next. I don't know how to manage the bees 

 to keep them from swarming during the day, 

 as I leave early in the morning and get in 

 about S or 9 o'clock at night. I furnish tim- 

 ber for a coal-mine which is shut down now, 

 but there is talk ot starting it up again, and if 

 this is done I can not watch my bees. Should 

 I neglect the timber I would lose more than 

 the bees are worth. How can I keep them 

 from swarming and getting away from me? 



3. This spring I had a colony in a box-hive 

 which 1 transferred to a frame hive. I found 

 they had no queen, but a little brood all 

 sealed, and two queen-cells. This was about 

 the first of April. The queens hatched but 

 disappeared. The bees worked all the time 

 bringing in pollen, but tried to build cells or 

 cups tor queens. I let them go until about 

 the middle ot April, then gave them a frame 

 ot brood from another hive. They took care 

 ot the young bees from the eggs up to the 

 bees, but made no attempt to build queen- 

 cells. I tried another frame ot brood and 

 eggs. After a week I took a peep and hardly 

 knew the frame, as it was an empty frame to 

 start with, in each end of which I had fastened 

 two pieces ot comb. I then gave it a strong 

 colony which patched it up and built it about 

 half way down. The queen followed up 

 closely, and seemed to lay eggs in the cells as 

 fast as they were built. They had had it only 

 about :! weeks, and had it full ot brood and 

 eggs. I gave the frame to the queenless col- 

 ony (as before stated i, and after about a 

 week I took a peep, and to my surprise found 

 it built nearly to the bottom, the brood nearly 

 all out except a patch which was eggs when I 

 put them in, but no cells started. I gave 

 them another frame of brood and eggs and 

 left it 3 days, then took a peep, and just as I 

 expected, no cells were started. I think I 

 could have the patience ot Job if it were 

 necessary, but I thought I had fooled long 

 enough, and so put the frames back in the 

 other hives. Then I took the bottom off and 

 set them on nnother hive, aiming to unite 

 them. I had tried them with 3 frames, one 

 of brood and two of comb on each side to one 

 side of the hive, and had tried them with 4 

 and 5 with the same result. Why did not 

 these bees try to rear themselves a queen ! 



3. I wish to have as many colonies as pos- 

 sible to start with next spring. I have 

 thought of starting a number of nuclei, tak- 

 ing brood from old hives and building them 



