Nov. 16, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



795 



Mart's Costless "Hivbs." 



There, now ! The hives yiat Mary had 

 didn't cost a cent, and the hive-trust is going 

 to be totally unable to say anything about 

 prices. Page 682. 



Things that Affect the Nectar-Flow. 



Hot and cold, wet and dry, wind ami} calm, 

 are the things mostly thought of in connec- 

 tion with the nectar-.'Sow, or Don-flow. But 

 we are a little foolish it we get spunky about 

 it when these manifestly fail to account for 

 the case. Lots o' more things in heaven and 

 earth, Horatio — some of them easy to see, 

 probably some elusive and hard to see. The 

 amount of ozone present in the atmosphere 

 varies greatly, I understand. I think the 

 honey-flow is better when the amount is large, 

 poorer when the amount is small. Also bet- 

 ter when the barometer is falling, poorer when 

 it is rising; better when there is some haze in 

 the sky, poorer in brilliant sunshine; better 

 when the breeze is up the slope of the land, 

 poorer when the breeze is down the slope. I 

 may be quite wrong in some of these. East 

 wind has very manifest peculiarities of its 

 own; I'm pretty sure it affects our surplus 

 somehow ; but I am not ready to say how 

 much, or how. Possibly also the shine of an 



unspotted sun affects delicate matters in a 

 different way from the ehine of a sun with 

 lots of spots big and small upon its face. 

 Page 67". 



Large Apiarists and Black Bees. 



D. M. M. ivax a little bold to refer to many 

 of our large apiarists as champions of the 

 blacks. But was not G. W. Y. a little bold 

 also in calling tor one f I don't think them 

 better, on the whole, than a good strain 

 of black-Italian hybrids — especially don't 

 think them better for extracted honey — but I 

 do rather think them better for comb honey ; 

 albeit I greatly dislike their style of running 

 when handled. One may refuse to keep cer- 

 tain bees because of disagreeable peculiarities, 

 and at the same time claim that they are 

 really the best bees. Page 677. 



Crushed Drones for Apipuge. 



A provoking "out" makes me trouble 

 again. Don't know exactly whether the 

 printer man perpetrated it or whether I did it 

 myself in copying. On page 733, about 

 crushed drones for apituge, read it, " Queer 

 that the juice of alien drones [should infu- 

 riate bees when the drones] themselves would 

 be unnoticed." The words in brackets turned 

 up missing before. 



/T 



Doctor ItttUcr's Question Box 



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

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

 Dr. Miller does ju>t answer Questions by mail. 



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UnfavoraWe Experience with Chaff 

 Hives 



I have 30 well-made 8-frame Simplicity 

 chaff-hives, double-wall, with chaff between 

 at sides and bottom. I have had these hives 

 2 years. Bees die in them worse than in any 

 other hive; also, I get scarcely any surplus 

 honey in them. Some colonies don't gather 

 enough to winter on. What is the trouble? 

 The chaff is well packed between the two 

 walls, and stays there at all times. The super 

 goes off and on as wanted. The hive has an 

 outside protection. Wisconsin. 



Answer. — I don't know what is the trouble. 

 Some claim that the packing prevents the bees 

 getting the immediate benefit of the sun 

 shining on the walls of the hive, thus hinder- 

 ing successful wintering, and if they come 

 out poor in the spring of course that affects 

 the surplus work. 



What More to Read 



I get the American Bee .Journal, Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture, have read " Langstroth on the 

 Honey-Bee," and have " A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture " and '• Forty Tears Among the Bees" 

 almost '"by heart." Now, what would you 

 and Miss Wilson advise me to read during the 

 long evenings the coming winter * 



Illinois. 



Answer. — I went into the kitchen where 

 Miss Wilson was trying to turn cream into 

 butter in an ice-cream freezer, and referred 

 your question to her, saying, '• What do you 

 advise'" She stopped her intolerable racket 

 long enough to say, " I think he's pretty well 

 up." Then, after whirling the crank a few 

 times, she added, " He hasn't Cook's book." 

 A good suggestion. More than the other 

 text-books, Prof.Cook's" Bee-Keeper's Guide" 

 goes into the natural history of the honey-bee 

 from the standpoint of an Entomologist, and 

 although it may not make much difference as 

 to the number of pounds of honey you get, 

 it will heighten your enjoyment in bee-keep- 

 ing to understand more about how a bee is 

 put together. Then, if you want to go more 

 fully into that part of bee-lore, you can get 

 Cowan's excellent little work, or Cheshire's 

 larger one. Then you might get sample cop- 



ies of the other bee-papers, and perhaps som 

 of them would interest you. 



But there's something else you can profita- 

 bly do aside from reading, and I suspect you 

 are already practicing it without my telling 

 you — just shut your eyes and think — planning 

 out what you're going to do the coming year. 

 Some will tell you that you can do that better 

 with a pipe in your mouth. Don't you be- 

 lieve it. Your thinker will work more clearly 

 without any such fumigation. 



Questions on Management 



Adrian Getaz, in his article on " Bee-Keep- 

 ing on a Large Scale '' (page 727), says R. C. 

 Aikin's plan is similar to Messrs. Elwood's 

 and Hetherington's, except in one respec, — 

 when they remove the queens they take one 

 or two combs with each, and form as many 

 nuclei. Then Ifi days after removal each 

 queen is returned to her former home. 



1. What becomes of the nuclei ' 



2. He furthermore says, " During May 

 some colonies will get so strong that they 

 might swarm. To all such an additional story 

 is given under the brood-chamber. When the 

 flow comes, the additional stories are re- 

 moved." Do'^s he remove the same one he 

 gave them, or the one they had before giving 

 the additional one? If he removes the one he 

 gave, does it have brood in it* If so, what is 

 done with that brood! If he removes the one 

 they had, doesn't it contain honey! If so, 

 isn't that honey dark when extracted; 



Delaware. 

 Answers. — 1. I don't know for certain 

 what is done, but I can tell you what might 

 be done. Generally some increase is desired, 

 and these nuclei may be continued where they 

 stand and be built up into full colonies, the 

 queen alone bein^ returned to the old colony, 

 or taken with one or two frames of brood, ac- 

 cording to the strength of the nucleus. If it 

 is not desired to continue the nucleus, the 

 whole busines.'; may be returned with the 

 queen to the old colony, leaving the field-bees 

 of the nucleus to shift for themselves. Not 

 being very numerous, it doesn't matter such 

 a great deal where they go, and as they return 

 laden from the fields they will be kindly re- 

 ceived wherever they attempt to enter. If, 

 however, you are anxious that the whole force 



shall return to the old hive, you can take a 

 plan that has worked satisfactorily with me. 

 Put your nucleus on the top of the old hive, 

 but of course with no communication below. 

 Then when this upper hive is taken away and 

 its contents returned below, the field-bees of 

 the nucleus will, upon their return from the 

 fields, settle upon the cover of the hive, as 

 nearly as they can on the spot where their 

 home was, and after some consultation they 

 will form a line of march down to the en- 

 trance and peaceably unite with the colony 

 below. 



2. It doesn't matter whether the upper or 

 the lower story is left, the probability being 

 that into whatever story is left there will be 

 put the best frames of brood selected from 

 both the stories. The frames being well filled 

 with brood, of course there will not be any 

 trouble about what honey may be left. The 

 frames of brood ta'^en away can be used 

 wherever needed, chiefly in building up weak 

 colonies or nuclei, or in forming new colonies. 



Reports ani) 

 (Sxpertcnces 



Several Things Endorsed 



I endorse the Alexander plan of increase, 

 and the Townsend method of producing comb 

 and extracted honey in the same super, be- 

 cause I originated and practiced these meth- 

 ods successfully before I ever saw them in 

 print. Both methods are conducive to less 

 swirming, and more and better quality oi 

 honey. 



I also endorse the rules the Australian Bee 

 Societies have made in regard to protecting 

 priority rights. I wish such rules were a 

 written law in this country. No apiary can 

 be less than 3 miles from another without the 

 bees trespassing more or less on each other's 

 territory. Of course, if such a rule were to 

 be made a written law, it should not prevent 

 farmers or others who own sufficient land 

 from keeping enough colonies to stock their 

 land if they so desired. I have " figured out " 

 that if 100 colonies will stock a l'.;-mile 

 radius, one colony will stock 45I4 acres. Ot 

 course, this is "on an average," and might 

 not be exactly fair to the " favored spots," 

 but, then, things like this would best be 

 worked on an average, even if it did pinch 

 some " favored spot " land-owner. 



Tattnall Co., Ga. H. C. Barnard. 



Worst Year for Bees 



This has been the worst year I ever knew 

 for the bee-men in Indian Territory. I didn't 

 get a pound of surplus honey from 300 colo- 

 nies. Still, I am not discouraged. I am 

 hoping for better times next season. Greatest 

 success for the " Old Reliable.'' 



.1. T. Hairston. 



Dist. 5, Ind. Ter., Nov. 3. 



Report from Southwest Texas 



I live in the center of southwest Texas, ad- 

 joining the famed Uvalde County, which is 

 located on a railroad, hence its known fame 

 as a heavy honey-producing county. But 

 this vast stretch of country is sparsely netted 

 with railroads, and we of Dimmit and other 

 counties are ahead ot Uvalde from an indi- 

 vidual bee-keeper's standpoint. We have the 

 same flora, and not its reputation, hence with 

 Uvalde's railroad facilities, and its heavy 

 honev-producing record, which we, who 

 loaded with wagons from adjoining counties, 

 go to Uvalde and sell or ship from there, give 

 it a reputation which has resulted in that 

 county being settled up with bee-keepers. 

 But that is but one, and there are several 

 counties, with hundreds of locations, a beau- 

 tiful climate, no snow, no wintering troubles. 

 I leave my bees with 3 and 4 deep supers on 

 the hives the winter through, with bottom- 

 boards raised all around. I haven't time to 

 do otherwise. If I have time, I go fishing, 



