Nov. 2, 1905 



IHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



763 



tor will permit me to say it, I would like to 

 tell him that Nebraska has the requirementB 

 he desires. Here in central Custer County 

 our land has been cbangiD^ baads of late at 

 double the price it brought five years ago. 

 Improved farms brirfg somethiog like f'SO per 

 acre. The price is bound lo advance, as land 



to the east is so much higher. Intrinsically 

 it is no better. We have here a soil that is 

 unrivaHed, and it is not " drouth-stricken 

 Nebraska." Our rainfall last summer was 

 phenomenal. No, gentlemen, I have no land 

 to sell! (Mrs.) A. L. Amo3. 



Custer Co., Nebr., Oct. 16. 



/T 



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T>octov Xttillcr 5 Question Box 



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



or lo Dr. C. C. Millbb, Marengo, 111. 



I^" Dr. Miller does twt answer Questions by mail. 



1 

 J 



Wlnterlnir Bees-Feeding for Winter 

 Stores 



1. To winter bees outside which would you 

 prefer, to contract the hive down to as many 

 frames a9 the bees actually cover, and place a 

 chaff division board on each side, or leave the 

 full number of combs! 



2. Will not those combs keep the bees just 

 as warm as the chaff division-boards would? 



.3. Last winter I used these division-boards 

 and my bees wintered fairly well; but all of 

 my neighbors did not use them, and their bees 

 came through in fully as nice condition as 

 mine. Does that not indicate that the division- 

 boards caused me unnecessary work and ex- 

 pense? 



4 I observed several, times, when feeding 

 sugar syrup, that the bees flew from the hives 

 in the morning, and usually a few rods from 

 the hive, and while on the wing squirted out 

 a fine stream of liquid. Now, I explained it 

 in this way: The water which during the 

 night evaporates from the syrup in the combs 

 while condensation is going on, is taken by 

 the bees into their honey-sacs, and in the 

 morning carried out and excreted. Was I 

 right? Illinois. 



Answers.— !. To leave the whole number. 



2. A French authority made experiments 

 that seemed to prove clearly that they would. 

 It seems hard to believe tbat there would not 

 be a gain in having division-boards allowing 

 no air to pass around them ; but even if there 

 were some gain it is not likely that it would 

 pay for the extra trouble and disturbance of 

 the bees both spring and autumn. 



3. It looks that way, provided the winter 

 was severe as usual. 



4. I hardly think so. I don't believe the 

 bees ever take up water that has evaporated, 

 unless they are in need of water; but the 

 water they discharged was that which came 

 from the thin syrup they had taken into their 

 honey-sacs. 



Sucrose in Honey 



I am interested in Prof. Cook's article on 

 page 710. We have a strict law iu this State 

 against any adulteration of honey, and ac- 

 cording to Prof. Cook's argument any of our 

 honey extracted during or soon after a heavy 

 flow would show at least traces of sugar. As 

 this would be enough to condemn it, are not 

 all the extracted-honey producers in danger 

 if the State should send out inspectors to 

 analyze samples of honey, which it is liable 

 to do any lime? New York. 



Answer. — I don't know enough to know 

 all the possibilities in such cases, but I hardly 

 think any trouble is likely lo arise. Those 

 who are empowered to see that the law is not 

 violated are not likely to be ignorant of the 

 facts that Prof. Cook gives, and the presence 

 of such proportion of non-inverted material 

 as the bees would leave would not be consid- 

 ered proof of adulteration. 



May Be Bee-Paralysis 



Last week we had 2 heavy frosts, and since 

 that time one of my co.onies has been carry- 

 ing out dead bees. They began this the first 



warm day we had after the frost, in the mid 

 die of the day. They come out of the hive 

 and crawl around on the ground and act as if 

 they can't use their wings. Do you think it 

 can be bee paralysis? Iowa. 



Answer — Yes, it may be paralysis. If it 

 is, you will find the bees moie or less shiny, 

 and there will be a trembling motion of the 

 wings. As far north as Iowa you need not 

 feel very anxious about a case of paralysis. 



You say in your letter that you found no 

 answer to a question you sent some time ago. 

 I'm a little afraid something went amiss with 

 that letter, for I never knowingly fail to an- 

 swer any question sent for reply in this de- 

 partment. If at any time any correspondent 

 finds no answer within a reasonable time, it 

 will be a pleasure to have the question re- 

 peated; or if any further light on any ques- 

 tion is needed, by all means try, try again. I 

 want to help all I can, and will answer just as 

 far as I know; only it is hardly expected that 

 any one will send (juestions already fully an- 

 swered in the bee-books. This department is 

 meant to supplement the bee-books as fully 

 as possible. 



Darkness In Wintering Rees- 

 ferrlne Bees, Etc. 



Trans- 



l. Must the bees have darkness in the win- 

 ter when they are in the house upstairs? 



3. What is the difference between Italian 

 bees and the common? Which is the better? 



3. Can bees be stopped when fighting? If 

 so, what way is best? 



4 What is best to feed bees in winter? 



5 I have lost a few colonies of bees in this 

 manner: I bought 4 colonies and lost 3; 

 they had worms in the brood-combs, and the 

 bees were all gone. In some corners there 

 could be seen bee heads, feet, bodies, etc. By 

 this it looks as if the worms ate the bees. I 

 have one colony at which I looked one day to 

 see how they are ; they had 8 brood-frames 

 full, in nice and neat order in U days. 1 had 

 not looked in it for ~ days, and found that 

 there %vere no worker-bees, but all drones and 

 worms. What was the cause? 



6. I made a hive from a hollow basswood 

 log 3 feet high and about 22 inches wide, and 

 put in 3 sets of frames, 2 sets for the brood and 

 1 set for the super. The brood-frames can 

 hold about 70 poumisof honey; the bees filled 

 that, but just stored a little in the super — not 

 even a pound — and swarmed 5 times. It was 

 an early spring swarm. Can I stop the 

 swarming? 



7. A neighbor fou nd some bees in the woods 

 in a basswood-tree, and asked me how I could 

 put them into a modern hive. I am only a 

 beginner this year. I have a basswood-tree 

 near my woods in wdich I know there are 

 bees. Do you think I could transfer them 

 into a modern hive? If so, when? 



Wisconsin. 



Answers.— 1. If the bees are in a room 

 where they can get out into the room, it 

 should be dark. If a passage-way leads from 

 the hive to the outside, so that no bees can 

 get out into the room, then it doesn't matter 

 whether it Is light or dark. Unless the bees 

 have such a passage to the outdoor air, up- 

 stairs is not a very good place to winter them. 



2. One difference is in color. Italians have 

 three yellow bands. There are differences in 

 disposition, Italians not being so cross, and 



very much better to keep the bee-moth in sub- 

 jection. Italians are quite generally consid- 

 ered better than blacks. 



3. Bees do not generally fight unless they 

 are fighting robber-bees, or unless bees of 2 

 colonies in some way get together in the same 

 hive. I f they are fighting robbers, they ought 

 to fight, and you can help to end the battle in 

 any way that will stop the robbing, such as 

 closing the entrance down to a small size, so 

 the bees can defend it better. Other things 

 can be done to prevent robbing, but to give 

 them all here would take too much space. 

 Study up the subject in your bee-book, and 

 watch what is said at different limes in the 

 bee-papers. 



4. Sealed combs of honey of the best qual- 

 ity. Next to that comes sugar syrup fed 

 early, say in August or September. 



5 The worms are not the cause of the 

 trouble. Jf a cow dies, and if you leave the 

 carcass above ground in hot weather, you will 

 find it full of worms, but it isn't the worms 

 that killed the cow. Neither is it the worms 

 that kill the bees. They get in their work 

 when the colony becomes queenless, dis- 

 couraged, or too weak to defend itself. The 

 cases are not exactly parallel, for the worms 

 do get in some of their work before the colony 

 is dead. Keep your colonies supplied with 

 laying queens, keep them strong, and espe- 

 cially of Italian blood, and you can snap your 

 fingers at the moths. 



6. Yes, when the first swarm issues, hive it 

 and set it on the old stand, putting the old 

 hive as closely as you can beside it; then a 

 week later move the old hive to a new place 

 some distance away. That will pretty surely 

 prevent any further swarming. 



7. Better not disturb them till they get to 

 work next spring; then transfer them to 

 a movable-frame hive as directed in your bee- 

 book. 



Reports anb 

 (Sxperienccs 



The Season of 1905 



The past season has been remarkable in this 

 locality for three things. 1st, for excessive and 

 long-continued swarming; 2d, for the fact 

 that the more a strong colony was divided 

 within reasonable limits, the more surplus 

 honey was secured; and 3d, but not least, a 

 most unusual fall flow of honey. 



Last fall I put 13 colonies into the cellar. 

 One of these died, but the other 12 came out 

 in fine condition. Some one may say 13 is an 

 unlucky number anyhow. Perhaps it is, but 

 no more so in my case than 14, for I had that 

 number of colonies until somebody stole one 

 in September. I planned lo increase the 12 

 colonies to 30. For this purpose 3 of the best 

 were selected for increase by the nucleus plan, 

 and 4 others for a test of the Alexander plan. 

 One colony was devoted to the production of 

 comb honey; all the others were run for ex- 

 tracted. 



The 3 colonies were increased to 15 good 

 strong ones. The 4 Alexander colonies gave 

 me 4 new ones. I had to divide the comb- 

 honey colony on account of excessive swarm- 

 ing, and 1 hived one natural swarm by itself. 

 This gave me just 30. All these divisions 

 were made eariy in the season, and about 25 

 of them gave more or less surplus honey. 



The first lo swarm were some of the lower 

 stories of the Alexander colonies. Next came 

 the colonies that were not divided. Soon 

 after there came the upper stories (or what 

 had been) of the Alexander colonies. Next 

 the 3 two-frame nucleus colonies formed by 

 taking the queen and 2 frames of brood and 

 bees from the 3 colonies selected for increase 

 by the nucleus plan. Last of all came the 2- 

 frame nuclei formed of 2 frames of brood and 

 bees, each one having reared its own queen. 



The first swarm of the season came out 

 .June 1, the last Aug. 29, making just 90 days' 

 continuous swarming. About 4 of the nuclei 

 having reared their own queens did not 

 swarm. In the spring all colonies, as soon as 



