7£0 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Nov. 9 1905 



times comes on sealed combs in the cellar 

 that doesn't seem to do any harm. 



4. Yes. Raising the temperature will help, 

 too, also admitting fresh air. 



5. Yes; at anytime when there is a long, 

 cold spell, so that the stone wall becomes very 

 cold, if the air of the cellar is warmed up, or 

 warmer air admitted from outside, the mois- 

 ture of the air will be deposited on the colder 

 walls, ju-t as it will on the outside of a 

 pitcher of ice-water on a hot day. 



0. I don't think it is. 



7. Hardly, provided they will keep quiet 

 later on. 



8. Yes, unless it would have been better to 

 have done nothing. It is a common thing for 

 bees to start cells when a queen is introduced, 

 and if left to themselves the bees may destroy 

 these cells. At any rate, if the bees did not 

 appear to be hostile to the queen there would 

 seem no need to cage the queen, if indeed 

 there was any necessity to destroy the cells. 



0. While you may succeed in a few cases at 

 half a mile distance, even as you may be hav- 

 ing drones and queens in the same apiary, if 

 you keep it up long enough you will likely 

 have more failures than you will like. Still, 

 nothing succeeds like success, and if half a 

 mile continues to work with you there's no 

 good reason why you should go further. 



10. Decidedly abnormal, and no benefit to 

 next year's fruitage. 



fortunate, but sometimes a colony seems to be 

 of such disposition that it is very hard to get 

 it to accept a queen, although it will accept a 

 queen-cell. 



3. There is only one thing to do ; break up 

 the colony. That quart of bees is so old that 

 it has no value, especially this time of year. 



4. Take from a strong colony two frames of 

 brood with adhering bees and queen, put on 

 a new stand and imprison for three days. A 

 week after the queen was taken away, let the 

 two hives swap places. That will double the 

 number. If you want to make more out of 

 that one colony, you can divide the old col- 

 ony into two or more nuclei at the time of 

 swapping places, being sure that each has a 

 good queen-cell located centrally where the 

 bees will keep it warm, and then if necessary 

 you can strengthen these nuclei after the 

 queens get to laying by giving them brood 

 from other colonies. 



.5. Italians are good. 



6. Reports vary as to their value. Possibly 

 all Carniolans are not alike in value. 



7. Yes, it often happens that opening a hive 

 will make the bees ball a queen, and some- 

 times kill her, even when she is laying. 



weather. At least, that has been my expe- 

 rience. The past season I used about 35 bait- 



sections, and every one that I removed from 

 the super contained a dark spot. On exam- 

 ining one I found it was solid honey. 

 Albany Co.. N. Y. """ ^ 



Wm. B. Lowe. 



Too Cold for Honey 



Last spring my bees came out of the cellar 

 in good condition— every colony alive. Fre- 

 quent showers in June gave white clover a 

 good start, but it was too cold for honey. 

 During the last of July and part of August 

 the bees did pretty well, but during Septem- 

 ber they would not work in the supers, but 

 lilled the brood-chamber full of honey, so they 

 are in good shape for winter. C. Schriek. 



Will Co., 111., Oct. 27. 



Home-Made Comb Foundation 



On page 648, J. E. Johnson speaks of a 

 Reitsche-Getaz press, which makes fairly good 

 brood-foundation, and only costs $1.50 and 

 freight. Where can I get it! The foundation 

 question is a troublesome and costly one to 

 me. Texas. 



Answer. — It can be obtained of Mr. Getaz. 

 See his advertisement on another page. 



(Sxpericnccs 



Italianizing Bees-Artlf Icial Increase 



I have 10 colonies of black bees, and would 

 like to introduce Italians. 



1. What is the best and surest way to in- 

 troduce an Italian queen? 



2. I have tried three different queens, and 

 followed the directions on the mailing cages 

 that they came in, and they got away. 



3. I had a strong colony of bees about the 

 middle of the summer, and it cast a large 

 swarm ; I hived it, and about 30 days after- 

 ward I looked into the hive where the swarm 

 cameout, and there was only about 2 quarts 

 of bees in it, and no brood. I looked for the 

 queen, but could not And any. I put in a 

 frame of brood, and they built queen-cells on 

 it, and hatched out 2 queens. I destroyed all 

 the rest of the cells. About a week afterward 

 I looked, and no queens could be found, but 

 one queen had laytd about 20 eggs, and they 

 had started queen-cells from them. I de- 

 stroyed them and sent for an Italian queen, 

 and they killed her. Now, what shall I do 

 next? There is only about a quart of bees in 

 the hive at this willing (Oct. 13). 



4. Give me a good way for artiflcial in- 

 crease. I have 8 strong colonies. 



What bee would you recommend for 

 profit? 



6, Is the Carniolan a good variety? 



7. Does it make any difterence if a hive is 

 opened after an Italian queen has just been 

 introduced? I had one that was introduced 

 all right, and layed about a thousand eggs. I 

 opened the hive quite frequently to look at 

 her, but the last time she was gone. What 

 became of her? Do the bees ever kill the 

 queen after she has been safely introduced 

 and begun to lay? Pennsylvania. 



Answers. — 1. The surest way I know of is 

 to have frames of sealed brood with young 

 bees batching out; fasten the queen in a hive 

 with these, and without a single bee except 

 her escort and what are in the combs; keep 

 in ft warm place, and in .0 days set the hive on 

 its stand, and for a few days give a very sm^ll 

 entrance. Instead of keeping in a warm place 

 you can set the hive over a strongcolony with 

 wire-cloth between. 



2. Hard to say just why you were so un- 



A Machinist Bee-Keeper 



I am very much interested in bees. I am a 

 machinist by trade, live in the city, but keep 

 a few bees for pastime to break the monotony 

 of shop-life; and then I like the honey to eat 

 with warm biscuit. I keep from 3 to 6 colo- 

 nies, and get from 100 to 150 pounds of comb 

 honey in a season, and lots of pleasure work- 

 ing with the bees. J. T. Hillert. 



Franklin Co., Ohio. 



Almost a Complete FalluFe 



The past season was almost a complete fail- 

 ure. I obtained about 1200 pounds of honey 

 from 74 colonies, spring count. I now have 

 84 colonies, and must feed at least 200 pounds 

 or lose heavily the coming winter. 



Scott Co., 111., Oct. 28. P. B. Thaxton. 



Not An Average Season 



The yield of honey this season was slightly 

 below the average, but the fall (low being 

 fairly good the bees are in tine shape for win- 

 tering. Brood-rearing is being kept up quite 

 well. This is especially true with the golden 

 Italians and black colonies. 



I can'tquitnlike the 3-banded Italians for 

 this section, as they slack up on brood-rear- 

 ing during the honey-flow, and crowd the 

 brood-nest with honey ; and as our honey-flow 

 lasts several months, they are not prepared to 

 keep pace with the goldens. Albinos, and 

 blacks. I think I shall like the Holy Land 

 bees for this section, although I have only 

 tried them this season, and with only one 

 colony. . . _ 



I am highly pleased with the American Bee 

 Journal, and don't see how I have done with- 

 out it. It is just what I need, and you may 

 rest assured that I shall continue to read it. 

 One issue was worth the subscription price 

 for a year. Wm. S. McKniqht. 



Barbour Co., Ala., Oct. 24. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



Hive-Tool and Bee-Eseape Board 



In speaking of hive-tools I will try to give 

 a description of one I use, which I find very 

 handy : 



Take any old rasp, such as blacksmiths use. 

 Sharpen both ends (you can make it any 

 width and length you desire — mine is about 10 

 inches long) ; turn one end the same as a 

 garden hoe, making it about X inch deep. 

 Then you have a tool that you can pry off 

 supers or spread frames, cut burr or brace 

 combs, scrape propolis, smash cappings, or 

 cut down thick combs. 



Also, I find by my plan of fixing a Porter 

 bee-escape I can clear supers of bees in I4 

 the time usually required. I tack 4 strips on 

 the escape-board, leading from each corner to 

 the hole in the escape. Those strips guide 

 the bees to the exit. 1 had been using this 

 long before I saw any mention of it in the 

 bee-papers. J. T. Jones. 



Allegany Co., Md. 



Expects Heavy Winter Looses 



We have had a bad fall here for bees. I 

 think there wilj be heavy losses until spring 

 comes to us again. John Coche.ms. 



Manitowoc Co., Wis. Oct. 31. 



Bait-Sections Changing Color 



On page 740, W. N. Root wants to know 

 why his bait or drawn sections change color, 

 or have a dark or amber spot while the bal- 

 ance is white. It he will examine closely he 

 will tind the dark spot in the bait-section is 

 where the „honey candied during the cold 



Illinois— The 15th annual meelinr of the Ill- 

 inois Stale Bae Keepeis' Association will be 

 held in Springfield, on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, Nov. 21 and 22, I'SJS, in tbe room of the 

 Board of Supervisors in the Court Uousr. The 

 R. R. Rales will be as follows: All lines id the. 

 Western Pas enuer Associ ition will raaVe an 

 open rate of one fare plus 2S cents for the round 

 trip to Springfield, except from near points 

 where a fare and one third would te. less. All 

 lines in the Central Pabsenger Associauon will 

 make a similar rate on the Certificate plan, and 

 if not convenient for any attending c ur meet- 

 ing to come over the lines in the Western Asso- 

 ciation, if they will write 111? I will send ih»m 

 certificates which ih? Grand Secretary of 1 he 

 I O 0,F. assures me your local secreiaiy of the 

 same order will gladly sign. The Central Pas- 

 senger Association Lines are as loHows: Is. oi 

 O. S..W.R.R.; Big Fi.ur Route; r.& E I. R^R.; 

 CH JiD.R'v; I.,l AI.R K.: J.&St.L. R'y: L.E. 

 &W R R."; L. &N,K.R.: Southern K'y (St. 

 Louis niv.:) T., P. J; W. R'y; T., S^ L. i W. 

 R R.; Vandalia Line; Wabash R.R.,east of 

 Tolono. , . 



The gocd results of this annual tee- 

 meeting rest on the members who attend it. 

 Our State gives us an appropriation to publish 

 our repoit and 10 suppress foul brood, and it is 

 the duty of every beekeeper of the Stale to 

 have a voice in the manner inwhuh this ap- 

 oropriation is used. All bee keepe^e are idviied 

 to come, and bring their wives. The railroad 

 rates will not be higher than an open raie of 

 one fare and a ihird for the round trip, and ef- 

 forts are being made by our Od(i Fellow friends 

 to secure a one fare for the round trip. Crood 

 hotel accommodations can always be had at 

 reasonable rates. Jas. A. Stone, Sec. 



Route 4, Springfi eld. It'. 



The Chicago-NoMhwestern Bee Keep- 

 ers' Association will bold a social session at 

 the Revere House, Dec. 1'.), lUOo, at 10 a.m. Al 

 2 p m. the same day will be held the regular 

 annual election of ollicers. Any other busi- 

 ness coming before the meeting will be at- 

 tended to. All who are accustomed to pay- 

 ing their dues to our Association, thereby 

 getting two memberships for the price of one, 

 will please hand the *1 to the secretary, or 

 mail it to him as usual. Tbe time in the 

 evening will be given to tbe National, as will 

 also the whole of the two following days. 

 Every one isrcordially invited to be present, 



