Sept, 21, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



667 



enough, the very thing I'd want, and at the 

 time I'd want it, would be in the very next 

 paper. 



I have laughed at some of my remarks in a 

 previous letter printed in the Journal, and 

 torn to pieces in a good-natured way by some 

 critic, and really I am learning lots, and 

 thank you very much. Miss Michigan. 



It took a woman's wit to solve the sneak- 

 thief question. I want to congratulate you 

 on your success. It was a very bright idea, 

 putting those empty hives under your luscious 

 peach-tree. I could just see those boys skulk- 

 ing away from the empty hives, and you en- 

 joying the sport; but it would be hardly ad- 

 visable to publish in the local papers that said 

 hives contained nothing but emptiness I 



Honey Tooth-Paste 



Four ounces of precipitated chalk, 3 ounces 

 of powdered castile soap, 2 ounces of pow- 

 dered orris root, JU drops of oil of sassafras, 

 40 drops of oil of bay, sufficient honey to 

 form into a paste. — Mme. Qui Vive, in Chi- 

 cago Record-Herald. 



Honey in the Heart of London 



Over 50 pounds of comb honey of excellent 

 quality have recently been gathered in the very 

 heart of London. The bees belonged to a 

 woman apiarist. — The Farmers' Review. 



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Doctor IHtUcr s Qucstioiv^ox 



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

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

 Dr. Miller does ivot answer Questions by mail. 



J 



Remedy for Bee-Moth 



Is there no preventive against what is 

 known as the bee-moth? Out of 30 strong 

 colonies we have had 4 literally ruined by this 

 infamous pest. It appears that when the 

 moth gets into a hive the bees give up to their 

 fate, which very soon is entire destruction. 

 If there is a remedy why not publish it in 

 every bee-paper in the land? Missouri. 



Answer.— Every bee-paper in the land has 

 repeatedly published the remedy, and it may 

 also be found in the text-books. In a word, 

 the remedy is strong colonies and Italian 

 blood. 



It is hardly the right thing to say that the 

 moth overcomes a colony ; rather, the moth 

 comes in to finish up the work when a colony 

 has given up. No one ever heard of a strong 

 colony of Italian bees with a good laying 

 queen being overcome by the wax-moth. 

 True, the wax-moth may get in some of its 

 work, but the bees of such a colony will 

 always keep the upper hand without any in- 

 terference on the part of the bee-keeper. 

 Don't allow weak colonies ; don't allow queen- 

 less colonies. Even a very weak colony, how- 

 ever, will keep the moth at bay, if the bees be 

 of Italian blood and have a good queen. 



The " Stlnslns-Bug " and Bees 



I am sending you a new enemy of the honey- 

 bees. These bugs stay right among the blos- 

 soms of sweet clover, and when a honey-bee 

 alights on it inquestof nectar they will fasten 

 their front feet or claws to the honey-bee's 

 leg and about the stem of the blossom, hold- 

 ing the bee fast, and rob it of its nectar, as all 

 bees have had their tongues out when I have 

 found them dead, with one or two of these 

 bugs holding fast to them. What are the 

 bugs? Will they be a source of annoyance, 

 that is, if they become very plentiful* 



Illinois. 



Ansv-er — The culprit is Pbymata erosa, 

 which you will find described in Cook's Man- 

 ual, where Prof. Cook says: "I have re- 

 ceived it from Maryland to Missouri on the 

 South, and from Michigan to Minnesota on 

 the North. The insect will lie concealed 

 among the flowers, and upon occasion will 

 grasp a bee. hold it off at arm's length, and 

 suck out its blood and life. ... It is also called 

 the 'stinging-bug,' in reference to its habit 

 of repelling intrusion by a painful thrust 

 with its sharp, strong beak." 



It is about 'k of an inch long, looking a 

 good bit like a squash-bug on a small scale, 

 a special characteristic being its very heavy, 

 awkward-looking front legs, which are, how- 

 ever, admirably adapted to seize and hold its 

 prey. It is not wliolly bad, for it destroys 

 caterpillars and other vegetable-feeding in- 

 sects. Although known for many years, it 



has never seemed to become a very importan 

 foe, which is fortunate, as it would be a hope 

 less task to try to conquer it. 



Queer Experience in Introdncins 

 Queens 



I took the old queen from colony No. 1 

 Friday morning, Aug. 11, and put in a cage 

 and queen on Saturday, the 12th. I took the 

 old queen from colony No. 3 on Monday, the 

 14th, and put in a cage and queen the same 

 evening, about .5.aO. On the same day colony 

 No. 1 swarmed out and united with colony 

 No. 2 without much fighting. What became 

 of queen No. 1, and why did the bees swarm 

 out and unite with No. 3? lam sure No. 1 

 was dequeened, and, further, they came clear 

 across the whole row of hives. I have intro- 

 duced a great many queens, but never before 

 had such an experience. Kansas. 



Answer.— Bees are queer critters, and 

 there's no telling why they do some things. 

 In the present case. No. 1 may have swarmed 

 because in proper condition for swarming, for 

 when a colony has the swarming fever the 

 change of queens doesn't count. But why 

 the swarm should enter No. 3 I don't know — 

 possibly because there was some excitement 

 there caused by the introducing. I have 

 known cases where a swarm has issued and 

 after some delay has entered a hive other than 

 its own. As to what became of the queen of 

 No. 1, it very likely went with the swarm and 

 entered No. 3 



Questions on Management 



I have in my apiary 4 colonies of bees which 

 have made nu- much trouble. I shall call 

 them Noe. 1. -, :^ and 4. 



No. 1 had a i|i'een that was not a good one. 

 The bees dwindled away until the colony be- 

 came very weak. The first part of August I 

 introduced a nuw i|ueen, which was accepted, 

 but the young .|ueen was not much better. 



Colony No. 'i was queenless. I introduced 

 a queen that was killed; later I united No. 3 

 with No. 1. Hill still No. 1 remains weak. 



To No. 3, which was a strong colony, after 

 removing the old queen, I introduced a young 

 queen, whicli was killed in the cage and 

 thrown out. I then introduced a second 

 queen which ' believe, was accepted. The 

 bees are very ■ 1 1 '>s. 



Colony Ni' ■-. which was also queenless, 

 was strong \'- :i ii I'gffs and brood in many cells 

 of all stage^^. I thought the eggs were laid 

 by a worker-bL-'- I therefore took the colony 

 about 50 roiK uway from the old stand, and 

 brushed all ilie liees from the combs in the 

 grass, before- in truducing the young queen, 

 but the bees di.i not accept the queen. The 

 colony is medium strong, and still has some 



brood, but the wax-worm took possession 

 of it. This was one of my best colonies. 



1. Why did not colony No. 1 improve after 

 uniting with No. 2? 



2. What was the reason No. 3 killed the 

 queen first introduced? and what makes them 

 so very cross? 



3. Did I do right in uniting No. 3 with 

 No. 1? 



4. How can I save colony No. 4, or how can 

 I improve No. 1? Should I unite, or should 

 I put in a frame of all kinds of brood from a 

 strong colony ? Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — 1. Old age of the bees was 

 probably the basic trouble with No. 1 at the 

 last. Its two queens being poor, there was 

 little addition to the strength of the colony, 

 and the bees were dying otf faster than the 

 j'oung bees were coming on. Colony No. 2 

 was added to it but No. 2 had been queenless 

 for some time, and its bees were getting old, 

 so that they died off in a short time, leaving 

 the colony no stronger than before. Indeed, 

 it is possible that some of the bees of No. 2 

 may have returned to some colony near its 

 old place, so that there was little help from 

 No. 2 even at the time of uniting. It would 

 have helped more to build up the colony it 

 you had given it frames of vjry young brood 

 from other colonies. It does not weaken a 

 strong colony very much to draw from it a 

 frame of brood if that brood consists of eggs 

 and very young larviv, for that frame can 

 soon be replaced, and the queenless colony 

 can just as well be taking care of brood as 

 not. 



2. The manner of introducing may have 

 had something to do with it, but sometimes 

 bees will kill a queen when no reason for it 

 can be seen. Bees are freaky, 



3. There was no barm in uniting two queen- ' 

 less colonies, and very little good, as ex- 

 plained in answer to Ques 1. 



4. Giving young brood, as already ex- 

 plained, will be a help, the trouble being that 

 at this time of the year it is not so easy to find 

 plenty of full frames of brood. If you have 

 two or more strong colonies with young 

 queens, you may get one or more such frames 

 from each ; at any rate j'ou can take the 

 youngest brood you can find, and a week 

 later you ought to find those frames replaced 

 so you could make another haul. Don't un- 

 derstand that young brood will build up a 

 colony faster than sealed brood, only it does 

 not cost so much to the colony drawn on. 



2?eport5 aw^ 

 (fxpcrtcnces 



Bees Did Well 



My bees did very well this summer. I will 

 have about a ton of nice white comb honey. 

 I have been geitiog 10 and 12',. cents a pound 

 for all that I have sold. I started last spring 

 with '20 colonies and increased to 31. 



Wm. Miller. 



YakimaCo., Wash., Sept. 2. 



Season of 1905— Queens 



Another honey season is about closed, and 

 while we got a fair amount of honey, the sea- 

 son was not an ideal one. We had an abun- 

 dant bloom of fruit, dandelion, alsike and 

 white clover, and basswood, but the weather 

 was loo cool and wet while the balk of the 

 bloom was out. On many days the bees could 

 not fly, and on many fair days the bloom 

 seemed to yield no nectar. Clover seemed to 

 yield but little for at least 3 weeks after it 

 came into bloom ; basswood yielded nothing, 

 and has not for several years. While I have 

 as much honey as I had last year, the yield 

 per colony is not nearly as much. 



We had abundant rains all summer, and 

 there still is much white, alsike and sweet 

 clover blooui out, also plenty of heartsease, 

 but the latter seldom yields much in this lo- 

 cality ; but the bees are getting enough to live 



