862 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 14, 190S 



2. I sent for a queen the past summer. I took all the 

 frames out of the hive, but I could not find the old queen, 

 so I put the new queen in and they killed her. If I take an 

 empty hive-body and place it with the entrance close up to 

 the entrance of the hive I want to requeen, then put a queen - 

 trap at the entrance of the empty body, cover the empty 

 body half over, then take the frames and shake the bees into 

 the empty body, would the plan work all right ? 



Missouri. 



Answers.— 1. You will find it a diflBcult thing- to keep 

 the combs safe until swarming-time next year. Keep them 

 outdoors where they will freeze, but closed up so that no 

 mice can get into them. The freezing will kill all the larva; 

 of the bee-moth, and it is not likely that the moth will lay 

 any more eggs in them till well along in the season next 

 year. But you can make this a little more sure by taking 

 them into a cellar when freezing weather is over. 



2. If I understand correctly, your object is to find the 

 old queen, and you propose to shake the bees into the empty 

 body with a queen-trap at the entrance of this empty body, 

 expecting the bees to pass out through the trap and crawl 

 to the close-by entrance of the old hive, the queen being 

 held in the empty body by the trap. Very likely it would 

 work all right ; but it might be just a little better to 

 modify the plan a little. Fasten your trap at the entrance 

 of the old hive. Lift out all the frames with adhering bees, 

 and put them in an empty body close by. After all the 

 frames are taken out of the hive, make sure that the queen 

 is not in it, if necessary brushing all the remaining bees 

 out of the hive upon the combs. Now lift one of the combs, 

 shake and brush all the bees from it upon the ground in 

 front of the old hive, and as soon as you have a// the bees 

 off the comb put the comb in the old hive. Proceed with 

 all the combs in the same way, brushing all the bees in 

 front of the trapped entrance, and putting the brushed 

 combs into the old hive. The bees will crawl into the hive 

 through the trap, and Madam Queen will be found trying to 

 get in the same place. 



Rearing Queens on an Island 



In rearing queens, would it be to any advantage in 

 order to get them purely mated, to keep them out on an 

 island about a quarter mile from shore ? Minnesota. 



Answer. — Yes, it would make a difference, just how 

 much difference depending upon the number of colonies on 

 the main land, and per.haps some other things, such as the 

 prevailing direction of the wind. I think a half mile of 

 water would do a good deal more to isolate them than a 

 half mile of land. 



Effects of Inbreeding in Bees 



Does the honey-bee degenerate through in-breeding? 

 If so, what is the result ? 



1. Will they differ in color from Italians ? If so, what 

 color ? 



2. Are they larger or smaller? 



3. What effect will it make in handling ? 



4. How will it affect in honey-producing? 



5. How will it affect their swarming 7 Canada. 



Answers. — Indiscriminate inbreeding among bees, as 

 with all other animals, is likely to result in deterioration, 

 the bad qualities becoming intensified. With intelligent 

 control the result may be the other way. 



1. Inbreeding ought not particularly to affect color. 

 Blacks inbred would remain black, and yellow bees yellow, 

 although there might be a slight tendency toward dullness 

 in color. 



2. Smaller, if anything ; although you would probably 

 not notice any difference in size after many years of in- 

 breeding. 



3 Any change in temper would likely be toward cross- 

 ness, yet not certainly. 



4. The chief effect would probably be most noticeable 

 in this direction, the bees becoming less vigorous and 

 active. 



5. Any change in this direction would be likely toward 

 more swarming. 



Now, please understand that all these answers are more 

 or less in the nature of guesses, and I shall be very thank- 

 ful if anyone better informed will " call me down " and 

 straighten me out. There is also a possibility that some 

 may have a misunderstanding of this whole matter. When 



inbreeding is under consideration, it should be understood 

 as referring to breeding kept down within a pretty narrow 

 circle. If you had a few colonies on your place for a term 

 of years, and there were no other bees within 10 miles, you 

 would have inbreeding. If others all about you kept bees, 

 there would be little chance for inbreeding, and the outcome 

 of your leaving your bees to themselves year after year 

 would be different in different cases. If other bees about 

 you were better than yours, yours would, at least for a time, 

 be likely to improve, and vice versa. If you start with pure 

 Italians in almost any location in this country, you are 

 likely to find black blood working in from the bees around 

 you. 



* • » 



Bee-Paralysis— Cellar-Wintering 



1. Is there a remedy to prevent bee-paralysis in the 

 spring ? 



2. Will camphor prevent it if I put a small piece in the 

 hive ? 



3. Will paralysis affect bees that are wintered in the 

 cellar as quickly as those wintered outdoors ? 



4. Do I have to remove the bottom-boards or the cover 

 in the cellar ? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. There have been a great many remedies, 

 first and last, offered for the cure of bee-paralysis, but none 

 of them has seemed to prove successful in different oases 

 unless it be the sulphur cure, which you will find given in 

 back numbers of this Journal. Some sprinkle the sulphur 

 over the bees, after removing the brood, and some say they 

 have succeeded by merely keeping plenty of sulphur at the 

 entrance for the bees to crawl through. 



2. It will probably have no effect whatever. 



3. There is probably no difference. 



4. That depends upon how much ventilation is afforded 

 without the removal. My covers and bottom-boards are 

 taken in with the hives, just as they were on the summer 

 stands, but then there is a space 2 inches deep under the 

 bottom-bars, and an entrance the full width of the hive 2 

 inches deep. Without any such provision for ventilation it 

 is better to remove cover or bottom-board. 



=\ 



IVix. pasty's 

 CtftcrH^ougl^ts 



j^ 



The " Old Reliable " as seen throufrh New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Extracting All the Wax. 



If I understand Arthur C. Miller, he thinks the principle 

 of taking wax-material down under boiling water and giv- 

 ing it a lively handling right there is the winning principle 

 if we are ever to get all the wax. More pressing can not, 

 from the nature of the case, result in a solid cake of refuse 

 with no remaining wax filling up interstices Quite likely 

 he's right ; and I'll take back the gravamen of what I said 

 against page £83. Mr. Ernest Root (most competent of con- 

 fessors) confesses, on page 777, that 5 percent of the wax is 

 left in the pressed cake. Well, what say to a dasher-churn 

 of stoneware with wire-screen cover, sized correctly to go 

 right into the boiler — squatty of shape, and right to be cov- 

 ered an inch or more in the water, all except the dasher- 

 handle ? Begin the process much as usual in a tall wash- 

 boiler. Boil, stir, dip out wax, etc. When not much more 

 can be had on that line put the remaining slush in the 

 churn. • Sink it, and churn away vigorously for a long time. 

 Nothing to hinder pressing it afterward to see whether any 

 more will come out. Page 776. 



Color of Bait-Sections. 



I hardly understand Wm. B. Lowe, page 780, whether 

 the dark spot in his bait-sections was discolored comb, or 

 whether the old honey was still there, more or less candied. 

 If the former, is worthy of some study to find out what made 

 the old honey discolor the comb. If the latter, I guess it's 

 only just what might be expected. They are liable to leave 

 it and put new honey around it. If you must needs put on 

 honey in a bait-section, at least don't have more than two 

 to a hive. Uncap it ; be sure it is not candied much ; and 



