July 6. 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



473 



with gored and neatly-fitted skirt which opens 

 directly in front. If placket is properly made 

 the closing will be practically invisible. The 

 skirt is joined, by means of a narrow belt, to 

 a carefully fitted bloused waist cut after the 

 latest shirt-waist pattern. The waist is closed 

 with buttons, the button-holes beinp; placed 

 close together. The neck is finished with a 

 widerutlle which falls well down over the 

 shoulders. The sleeves, instead of being 

 finished with cuffs, are simply hemmed and a 

 rubber cord run into the hems. Over the 

 dress I wear, when working in the apiary, a 

 common dressing-sack made of flannelette or 

 outing flannel. These suits are neat, easily 

 made, and very easily laundered. They very 

 closely resemble the two-piece shirt-waist 

 suits so popular the past few seasons. 



Veil and hat are made in one. The hat is 

 usually a good quality of straw or cloth, such 

 as the men wear in the fields. To the outside 

 edge of the rim is sewed a wide, full veil of 

 tulle or mosquito-netting, with face part of 

 best grade of sewing-silk face- veiling. In the 

 bottom of the veil is rubber cord or a round, 

 smooth shoe-lace, put in "draw-string" fash- 

 ion. The veil is drawn up close about the 

 neck, under the rurtle of the neck of the 

 dress, thus making a bee-proof combination 

 here. 



Gloves are of canvas or duck, such as are 

 sold in country stores for 10 cents per pair. 

 Sometimes old kid gloves are used, but these 

 I do not like so well as the canvas. To the 



top edges are sewed the tops of heavy ribbed 

 black hose, which are drawn well up over the 

 arms, thus preventing any bees from getting 

 under the sleeves. Equipped m this way one 

 may work among the bees for hours in com- 

 parative comfort. This rig I have found 

 light, cool, and effective— in fact, all that 

 could well be expected of a bee-dress. 



Slippers were once a favorite summer foot- 

 wear, but since working in the apiary I have 

 learned to wear high shoes. In fact, I wore 

 the slippers once too often, getting badly 

 stung about the ankles as a consequence. 



But while for my own use I sew veil and 

 hat together, tor the men folks I make veils 

 separate with rubber cord in both top and 

 bottom hems. I frequently notice, however, 

 that they use the cotnbination in preference 

 to the separate articles. It is well to have a 

 number of each kind on hand for the accom- 

 modation of visitors or e.xtra help, as the case 

 may be. 



A thing which one should try to do is to 

 make all these beforehand, for when the rush- 

 ing season is fairly on there is very little time 

 for extra work of any kind. This is more 

 essential when women do the work in the 

 apiary than where this falls to the men, since 

 in the latter case the women are still free to 

 make or mend gloves and veils, and do any 

 other similar jobs, while, in the former, time 

 even for the most trivial task often can not be 

 found. Mrs. Millie Honaker. 



Vernon Co., Wis. 



(T 



\= 



Doctor Itlillcr 5 Qucstion^Sox 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



J 



Probably Bee-Paralysls 



What ails my bees? I have one Italian col- 

 ony that has quite a lot of dead bees in front 

 of the hive, and some are also crawling 

 around in front of the hive. They seem not 

 to be able to fly, and their intestines are full 

 of a bad-smelling excrement. The brood is 

 healthy and they are working well, but a good 

 many on the entrance of the hive can not fly. 

 Do you think that I would better burn it? 



Michigan. 



Answer. — Don't think of burning. The 

 trouble Is probably paralysis, which is not 

 likely to be very serious as far north as you 

 are; although in the South it maybe. You 

 can try sprinkling thoroughly with sulphur, 

 which O. O. Poppleton has found a cure. 

 Dust the bees with it. 



Non-Swarming Bees— Increase- 

 Comb Over Top-Bars 



1. I have C colonies of bees, and none of 

 them has swarmed yet. My neighbors' bees 

 swarmed a long time ago. I have mine all in 

 box-hives, and one colony began to cluster on 

 the front o( the hive the first day of June, 

 and has been clustering more or less ever 

 since, but has not swarmed yet. What do 

 you think is the trouble? 



2. Will it do to build up nuclei and divide 

 colonies in July? 



3. My bees build combs on the top of the 

 brood-frames and between the super. Is it 

 because there is too much room between the 

 frames and the supers! Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. It is nothing strange; but 

 without knowing particulars it is not easy to 

 say just why one colony swarms and another 

 does not. It is possible that your bees have 

 more room, or younger queens, or that they 

 are more shaded. Possibly your bees are of 

 sueh disposition that they are not inclined to 

 swarm; and, in that case, you are to be 

 greatly congratulated. The one colony you 

 mention may have been clustering out for 

 want of room, yet with little disposition to 

 swarm. 



2. Tes, you can start new colonies in 

 August, only the later you start them the 

 less they can be left to themselves. For ex- 

 ample, you might start a colony late in 

 August by giving it rapidly frames of sealed 

 brood with adhering bees, so as to fill up the 

 hive. 



3. Tou are likely to have at least a little 

 building over top-bars no matter what you 

 do. The more crowded a colony is, the more 

 inclined to such work. If the space between 

 top-bars and sections is more than '4 inch, 

 the trouble will be aggravated. 



Transferring— Bees Starting Queen- 

 Cells to Supersede 



1. May 27 I tried to transfer a strong colony 

 from a large box-hive. No. 1. I turned the 

 hive up, then set hive No. 2' on it, and smoked 

 and hammered a lot of bees out into the hive. 

 I know I got the queen. After this I set the 

 hive back, aiming to drive again in 31 days. 

 After 4 or 5 days I took a peep at No. 2, which 

 ] was on full sheets of foundation, and found 

 one frame with cells about half built, and 

 eggs in them. Another had queen-cells 

 started. After 4 or 5 days I took another 

 peep, and found another frame with eggs in, 

 also the one that had the queen-cells on it. 

 On taking a good look I find from 1 to 4 eggs 

 in a cell ; more of them had 4 than had 1, but 

 there were generally 3 and 3. I took the 

 frame out and put it in a nucleus to see what 

 will become of the cells. No. 1 should have 

 been ready to drive again June 18, but the 

 13th a very large swarm issued from it. Now 

 I am at a loss to know just when to drive 

 again, or just what to do, as I want them in a 

 frame hive. 



2. Why should No. 2 want to rear a queen 

 when there is already a good queen in the 

 colony? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. After making your drive you 

 say you " set the hive back,'' by which I sup- 

 pose you mean you set the old hive back on 

 the old stand. That was a mistake. You 

 ought to have put the driven swarm on the 

 old stand and put the old hive on a new place. 

 Then the driven swarm would have gotten all 



the flying force. As it was, you left the mother 

 colony strong, and as soon as the first virgin 

 queen was ready it sent out a swarm. 



You will drive 3 weeks after the first drive, 

 just the same as if there had been no swarm- 

 ing. 



3. It is a more common thing than is gen- 

 erally supposed for bees to start queen-cells 

 in a swarm soon after being hived, for the 

 sake of superseding the queen. 



Ventilation of Hives 



I use the Danzenbaker bottom-board, and 

 have practiced, in a limited way, putting a 

 piece of wire-cloth in the place of one-third 

 or one-half of the bottom, sliding that much 

 of the wooden bottom out. This is done for 

 the purpose of giving ventilation across the 

 bottom of the hive. Last year in no hive 

 with such an arrangement did the bees cluster 

 out evenings, while they did in the other 

 hives. This wire-cloth produces about one 

 inch more space beneath the frames, and 

 sometimes comb is built below the bottom- 

 bar. But the most serious drawback to the 

 plan is that during hot days the bees cover 

 the inside of the wire-cloth at the rear end of 

 the hive, apparently frantically trying to get 

 out, although the entrance at the front is 

 wide open, J^ inch by width of hive. 



It would seem as if the time and energy of 

 several hundred bees was wholly wasted 

 every day. Possibly a small outlet at the 

 rear of the hive might relieve the situation. 



Can you suggest any remedy? Is the ven- 

 tilation worth the drawback? I suppose the 

 light attracts the bees. I use this wire-cloth 

 only between June 15 and Aug. 31. 



Massachusetts. 



Answer. — The ventilation is probably well 

 worth the drawback. I don't know of any- 

 thing better than your suggestion of a small 

 outlet at rear of hive, unless it would be a 

 large outlet. You perhaps think the proper 

 place for the entrance is at the front, and 

 that well-behaved bees should be satisfied 

 with that. Well, now, you try giving a full 

 entrance at the rear, and I prophesy that not 

 a colony will use it as such, providing it is 

 not given till June. 



Jleports a\\^ 

 (Sxpertcnccs 



Honey Crop a Failure 



Honey is a complete failure in this locality. 

 In some of my strong colonies the bees have 

 not entered the supers, and some have starved 

 since spring. V. H. Tube. 



Walker Co., Ala., June 20. 



Worst Spring for Bees 



This is the worst spring for bees I have 

 seen. I have fed mine 500 pounds of honey 

 since taking them out of the cellar, and have 

 lost 7 colonies from being robbed, with en- 

 trances "a closed. Lewis Lamkin. 



Woodbury Co., Iowa, June 19. 



Prices of Bee-Supplies 



The first paragraph of that article, letter, 

 or whatever it may be, by Mr. Hasty, on page 

 34S, headed, "The Present Prices of Bee-Sup- 

 plies," is a sort of puzzler to me. Why he 

 doesn't want the price of sections any lower 

 he doesn't explain. He gives us the impres- 

 sion that he btlieves it would be contrary to 

 the spirit of Christ for bee-keepers to insist 

 on getting tbiiu at lower prices than those 

 given in the catalogs. I have read and be- 

 lieve the story of Jesus, from the immaculate 

 conception to the resurrection and ascension, 

 and find nothing in the wonderful record that 

 requires me to love my neighbor heUer than 

 myself. If it can be shown that the outside 

 prices charged for sections afford the makers 



