700 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 5. 1905 



your pattern make them liable to break away 

 when extracting? Quebec. 



Answers.— 1. I don't know. When fresh 

 put in, it seems the wiring ought to be 

 Btronger, for the wire is fastened to the wood, 

 and the splints are not. Yet with ordinary 

 wiring there is no fastening of the comb to 

 the bottom-bar, and with the splints the foun- 

 dation is fastened to the bottom-bar ae 

 securely as to the top-bar ; so there may be no 

 difference after all. 



2. For a brood-chamber I would most 

 strongly advise changing from loose-hanging 

 frames to the Miller frame, no matter how 

 plenty propolis might be. As to extracting- 

 oombs, I dont know. The wider frame will 

 be more in the way of the uncapping-knife. 

 Some say the nails are too much in the way 

 of the uncappmg-knife. I don't think they 

 are; but then I have tried them in the ex- 

 tractor only on an exceedingly small scale; 

 so I can't be certain. There being only two 

 nails on each side, and those two being at one 

 end of the frame, makes it quite a different 

 affair from what It would be if the nails were 

 at each end on the same side. Even if the 

 nails should be in the way of the knife, you 

 could get around that difficulty by using a 

 little cylinder of wood I4 inch long, and the 

 same or less in diameter, driving the nail 

 through this so as to have it serve as the 

 head of the nail. It could not hurt the knife 

 to strike this wooden nail-head. I have tried 

 a very few such spacers. 



3. I have transferred into Miller frames 

 from wired frames by the hundred, and in a 

 little while the bees seem to have the combs 

 as solid as if they had been built there. 



Perhaps Defective Eggs 



A queen hatched July 17, 1905, and was 

 laying .luly. 26 when I clipped her wing. She 

 was a very big, yellow queen. August 5 there 

 was not a larva in the hive, but 3 frames well 

 filled with eggs. Then I gave her 1 frame of 

 honey and 2 frames of brood and bees. August 

 12 there was no larvs except in the frames I 

 gave her Aug. 5. Then I gave her another 

 frame of brood, and so I did every week up to 

 Sept. 16, when I killed her; but not one of 

 her eggs had hatched. Whatever brood or 

 eggs I gave her from other colonies was all 

 right. When I gave her eggs to a queenless 

 colony the bees kept them a few days and 

 then disposed of them. The eggs were the 

 same in appearance as any other eggs. What 

 is your opinion of this? Massachusetts 



Answer.— I have read of very few such 

 cases, and had justonecase in my own experi- 

 ence. It could hardly be any defect in the 

 fertilization of the eggs, for in that case they 

 would have produced drones, so the only ex- 

 planation seems to be that in some way the 

 eggs themselves were defective. 



Superseding Queens fiy Exchanging 

 Brood 



When I wrote you about the plan of re- 

 queening by killing the poor queen and 

 changing her brood for brood of the best 

 queen, I had an idea that, although the plan 

 involved some trouble, jet I felt that with 

 this exchange the work was ended and results 

 bure, barring the possibility that the queen 

 reared might not return 10 the hive from her 

 wedding (light. It was to save the cost and 

 possible loss of queens in introducing that I 

 adopted the plan. It may be thai some work 

 could be saved by having sealed queen-cells 

 ready at the time the old queen is killed, but 

 I had but few swarms, and but few cells from 

 the swarming colonies, and did not care to 

 work any colonies specially for queen-ceils. 

 There is only a limited time in which this 

 plan I speak of can be practiced, and probably 

 it is best to have sealed cells or young queens 

 on hand at all other times when the poor 

 queens are removed. 



This plan of changing brood is one I have 

 thought practicable from the time when the 

 developments of the season have proven which 

 are your infeiior queens up to the time when 

 there is danger that the young queens will 



not produce enough young bees to insure safe 

 wintering. 



I suppose that when you speak of giving a 

 sealed cell in an introducing-cage, you mean 

 giving it in the West cell-protector, or some- 

 thing similar. I am wholly unfamiliar with 

 the use of these protectors, but suppose they 

 are designed to prevent the bees from destroy- 

 ing the cells before the young queen emerges. 

 I have done almost all of my introducing by 

 thecaged-queen plan. 



I believe there is a spiral cage used some- 

 times to nold the virgin queen in a hive until 

 given to a nucleus or otherwise disposed of. 

 You can tell me about this thing just as if I 

 were a little boy learning his a b c's. 



Mr. Abbott's plan of introducing I think is 

 a very good one, but if therequeening is to be 

 done at the lime above indicated, I believe I 

 would rather requeen by exchanging brood. 



lOWA. 



Answer —(This refers to the " Flan of 

 Superseding Queens," page 603.) As you 

 have been trying the plan of killing the queen 

 and exchanging brood for that of superior 

 stock, I am wondering a little whether you 

 have not discovered another objection that I 

 did not mention on page 603; that is, that in 

 a good many cases the colony would swarm 

 iis soon ae the first virgin was sufficiently 

 mature, unless indeed you took the pains to 

 kill all cells but one 



When I spoke of giving a cell in an intro- 

 ducing-cage, 1 meant an introducing-cage of 

 the same kind as used in introducing queens, 

 the Miller introducing-cage of the catalogs, 

 or something like it. There is something 

 about it that makes either a cell or a queen 

 safer in a cage than out of it, even if the bees 

 can pass freely in and out of the cage. It is 

 likely that a West cell-protector is just as 

 good for a cell, but it would not do for a vir- 

 gin or a laying queen, and these I have gen- 

 erally used. The West cell-protector covers 

 the cell so the bees can not tear it, all but the 

 point of the cell, with the understanding that 

 when the bees demolish a cell they attack it 

 on the side, and not at the point. 



Please report fully what has been your ex- 

 perience with the plan of changing brood, 

 giving both the advantages and the disad- 

 vantages you have discovered. 



Keeping Down Swarming 



I now have 13 colonies in 8-frame dovetailed 

 hives, both black and Italian bees, and I don't 

 want to increase to more than 20 to 25 colo- 

 nies atany lime. Would it help to keep down 

 swarming if I used li>-frame dovetailed hivesi 

 Would it also cut down the amount of comb 

 honey in supers ascompared to 8 frame hives' 

 I run for comb honey only. We have both 

 white clover and basswood; also some golden- 

 rod and buckwheat in the fall, and quite a 

 few fall flowers in the woods and along the 

 river. Iowa. 



Answer — With the same treatment you 

 would be likely to have less swarming with 

 the larger hive, and unless you gave special 

 attention to the 8-frame hives you wouldn't 

 be likely to get any more honey from them. 



Bees on Platform -Weft- Worms In 



Section Honey— Carnlolans and 



Cyprians- Uniting Colonies 



1. My bees are all on a platform where 

 there is much walking. Will that do any 

 harm? 



2. Do the web-worms ever get in section 

 honey? 



3. Where can I get pure Carniolan queens? 

 I got 2 last year and they had 3 gold bands. 



4. Where can I get pure Cyprian queens? I 

 got 4 last year, and not one with the first 

 quality cif the Cyprian. 



5. For a double-wall hive with dead air 

 space, will tin do as well for the inside walls 

 as wood? If not, why noli 



6. What kind of perfume is sprinkled over 

 bees when uniting 2 colonies to make them of 

 the same odor? Virginia. 



Answers.— 1. Probably not. Bees get used 

 to such things. 

 2. Yes, Indeed. 



3. I know nothing about it beyond what is 

 to be seen in advertisements. 



4. Again I can give no help beyond adver- 

 tisements. The Government imported some, 

 but I don't know that they are obtainable. 



5. No; tin is a better conductor of heat 

 than wood. 



li. Generally they are perfumed. I think 

 peppermint has been used, and anise, cloves, 

 (•r any other perfume might serve the same 

 purpose. 



Sowing Alfalfa Clover Seed 



What is the best time and method of sowing 

 alfalfa clover seed? Missouri. 



Answer —In this part of the country the 

 time and method is the same as for red clover ; 

 but it is not cultivated here to a great extent, 

 and if there is anything different to be done 

 possibly some of our good friends who *' live 

 in clover" of the alfalfa stamp will tell us 

 more about it. 



2lcport5 anb 

 (Sxpcrtcnccs 



Asters and Snakeroot 



What are the names of the flowers I send? 



No. 1 grows in the river bottom. We call 

 it " frost flower " because the frost does not 

 kill it, and the bees work on it from the time 

 il begins blooming until it ceases. Ft lasts 

 about 4 weeks, or from Sept. 20 to Oct. 20, 

 and produces honey as while as snow. 



No. 2 is a new flower here. It grows on 

 the uplands, and the bees work on it in the 

 alternonn; they get pollen. I would like to 

 know if it is a honey-plant also. 



This has been a very bad year for the bees, 

 as they have done nothing. The weather 

 was too wet, and when it was not raining it 

 was too cold. There is no basswood or white 

 clover honey, and very little Spanish-needle, 

 but bees are working some now, as we are 

 having nice weather. Frank Hinderer. 



Schuyler Co., 111., Sept. 24. 



[Specimen No. 1 is known as the New York 

 aster. No. 2 is the white snakeroot, and No. 

 3 is the star aster. They are all good honey- 

 plants, and it they are abundant and the 

 weather favorable the bees should reap a good 

 harvest even yet. — C. L. Walton.] 



Poorest Honey-YeaF In Kansas 



Bees are collecting but little honey.- 

 Although heartsease is in full bloom, it seems 

 to yield but little nectar. Three crops of 

 alfnifa have bluora^d, but neither crop af- 

 fordtd much honey. The fourth crop is 

 nearly rrady 10 bloum. but late and cool as 

 the weather niuy be, but little honey is likely 

 to be had from it. This seems to be the poor- 

 est year for honey in the history of Kansas. 



Rice Co , Kan.. Sept. 15. G. Bohrer. 



Mallow— Sage Knotwood — Smapt- 

 weed— Marigold 



I send 5 plants that I would like to have 

 Prof. Walton name for me, and tell whether 

 they are all honey-plauts 



Honey is scarce here. It is almost too late 

 for a fall tlow now. ANTO.s G. Anderson. 



Johnson Co. Mo . Sept. 14. 



[Specimen No. 1 is the sand mallow, and so 

 far as I know is not a good honey-plant. 

 Some of the mallows are honey-plants, and if 

 the bees work on this variety they are surely 

 after something worth while. 



No. 2 is the narrow-leaved sage, and is a 

 i good honey-plant. It belongs to the famous 



