THE AMERICAN APICULTURJST. 



13 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



FKKDIXG SUGAU-AND-HONEY KOOD IN 

 VVIMKH. 



Acworth, N. II. 

 Mu. Ai.LKY ; How would it work to pack 

 a friimc witli pnlvorizfd sugiu-iiml- honey, 

 sufli lis you UM! lor (jiieen ciigcs, and in- 

 sert it in the hive for winter stores. 



John Gu.viiam. 



I think it would work well, provided 

 the food is placed within easy reach of 

 the bees. A frame not less than two 

 inches wide should be made, one side 

 entirely covered with thin boards. The 

 other side should not be wholly covered ; 

 space should be left at the top for plac- 

 ing the food in, also for a passage-way 

 for the bees to reach the food. 



The frames should be made sufficient- 

 ly large to liold at least ten pounds of 

 food each. 



The brood-nest should be contracted 

 to about four or five frames, and tiie 

 food placed at the sides of the hive with 

 the open part of the frame next the 

 combs. If this is not done the colony 

 would be likely to perish before spring, 

 as the bees would not pass over the 

 wide frames for stores. 



A colony properly packed for winter 

 with plenty of stores of the above kind, 

 will no doubt winter well even on the 

 summer stand. 



HOW THUEK FINIS QUKKNS WERE LOST. 



Lawrence, dinsis. 

 Mu. Ar.LEY: I used the three queens 

 you sent nie to rephice three olil ones. 

 Yon can jndiie how surprised I was to tind 

 all three hati be« n de.-troyed. 1 introduced 

 them in the I'ollowinj'' Wiiy : Tlie cages the 

 queens were sent In were placed on the 

 Iranies, thinkiiiii by the time ihe bees 

 could remove the (bod and i"»-lease the 

 queens, they would be all right. But I 

 got left.. 



Chas. E. Dow. 



Yes, you got left antl so will all oth- 

 ers get Mt who undertake to introduce 

 queens in that way. We take it that 

 the queens were placed on the framel^ 

 at the time the three old queens were 

 removed. Now had a small amount of 

 tobacco smoke been given the colony 

 at the time the cages were placed on 

 the frames, there would have been no 



trouble. Strange queens cannot be in- 

 troduced to colonies just made queen- 

 less without in some way disguising their 

 identity. Tobacco smoke will so nicely 

 odorate the whole colony that the bees 

 will not know one bee from another in 

 the same colony. I'ry the above meth- 

 od of introducing and you won't get 

 left. 



INTUODUCING A NEW QUEEN AT THE TIME A 

 8WAKM ISSUES. 



Salisbunj, iV. C 

 FiiiEND Alley: I want to tell 30U how 

 I intend to introduce some queens; will 

 have the(iueens on hand and when a swarm 

 issues, place the old hive on a new stand, 

 remove all queen cells and let the new 

 queen run in. How will that do? 



J. D. Fisher. 

 It will not do. You will "get left" 

 as badly as did friend Dow. Place the 

 caged queen on tlie frames, use some 

 tobacco smoke and let the bees release 

 her by eating out the food. Try it. 



ANOTHER BEEKEEPER IN TROUBLE. 



MUford, Pa. 

 Friend Alley: lam havini; hard luck 

 witii my bees. They kill tiie young bees 

 as soon as they hatch. Why is it that 

 they do so? 1 have four colonies that are 

 up to this sort of business. What shall I 

 do with them? Wish you would tell me. 

 RusLiN DeWitt. 



Evidently some new disease h«s got 

 a foothold in friend DeVVitt's apiary. 

 If the bees are in, or rather were in 

 fairly good condition as to numbers, 

 stores, etc., it would be advisable to re- 

 queen the colonies and ap[)ly the salt 

 remedy as advised in the Api. If the 

 colonies are too much reduced in num- 

 bers to build up readily, it would be the 

 better plan to brush all the bees from 

 them and preserve the combs for other 

 uses. 



It may be that friend D. is mistaken 

 about the young bees being destroyed. 

 It seems to ys that the trouble is that 

 the colonies are afflicted with the name- 

 less disease. If so, by all means apply 

 the salt remedy. Dissolve a teaspoon- 

 ful of salt in one gill of water and add 

 about one gill of honey ; remove the 

 honev-board or whatever covers the 



