212 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



& Son. So far as I am informed they 

 are the best authority in the world on 

 that subject. 



8. It will whiten it, but whether it 

 is an improvement or not, I am not 

 certain. 



9. I am not certain. These ques- 

 tions in regard to wax and foundation 

 should be answered by those who 

 make a specialty in that line. 



Mohawk, N. Y. 



ANSWERS BY E. E. HASTY. 



. 1. I think that the precise rights in 

 the matter are very difficult to define. 

 It is easy, however, to specify some 

 actions that would be wrong. It would 

 be wrong for me to rent a half acre of 

 ground close by Mr. Heddon or Mr. 

 Doolittle, and start a big apiary there. 

 On the other hand it would be mani- 

 festly wrong for me to carry on seci-et 

 hostilities against neighbors who 

 simply desire to supply their own tables 

 with honey, or against neighboring 

 farmers who begin bee-culture and 

 keep small apiaries, not much in excess 

 of the pasturage of their own land. 



2. Both yes and no. In regions 

 where foul brood has existed before, 

 and where its germs, in a semi-dormant 

 condition, are scattered about every- 

 where, yes, in my judgment. In pure 

 uncorrupted territory it is, I .should 

 say, impossible ; as much so as it would 

 be for a lazy and lousy farmer, banished 

 to the moon, to introduce Canada 

 thistles there. 



3. Shrouded in primeval mystery, 

 like the first origin of cholera, small 

 pox, and other plagues. 



4. I have pondered earnestly on the 

 reversible frame, and have decided not 

 to adopt it in my apiary. Its professed 

 advantages are, 1st, power to make the 

 bees remove their old store of honey 

 to the sections. 2nd, power to keep 

 the brood nest and the sections nearer 

 to each other. 3rd, power to compel 

 perfect combs, Jastened to the wood 

 all the way around. 



I object, 1st, that forcing into the 

 sections a lot of willow honey and 

 dandelion honey, and other inferior 

 early stufl" is going to injure the honey 

 market more than tlie gain in weight 

 will do us good. 2nd, if one selects 

 and cultivates a strain of hybrids "for 

 business only," he will find himstlf 

 possessed of bees so perfectly willing 

 to enter sections and store honey, 

 whenever there is any to store, that 

 such a device is superfluous, deducing 



the number of frames below to match 

 the laying proclivities of the queen is, 

 I think, sufficient. 3i'd, I don't believe 

 that old combs, rounded oflf, and thick- 

 ened in their cell walls by dirt and co- 

 coons, can be brought up perfect by 

 merely reversing them. I fear that an 

 unendurable amount of fussing would 

 have to be done. It miglit be very 

 nice to turn over newly built combs 

 and have them finished ; b.ut I decide 

 that the game will not pay for so ex- 

 pensive a candle. 



6. Better off without pollen, doubt- 

 less, in the present state of apicultural 

 practice. But I have strong hopes 

 that the wintering problem will event- 

 ually be so fully mastered that a mod- 

 erate supply of sound, unfermented 

 pollen will bring no special danger 

 with it. I suspect there has been a 

 great invasion (potato-bug like) of 

 some microscopic organism affecting 

 the pollen grains of flowers which has 

 made them less wholesome for bee 

 food than used to be the case twenty-five 

 years ago. I suspect, moreover, that 

 some autumns these injurious organ- 

 isms are much more plentiful than 

 others. 



6. No experience in foundation 

 making. 



7. Don't know as thei*e is. In pre- 

 paring wax for market, I agitate it 

 while melted in contact with clean hot 

 water, thus washing it as it were. 



8. Think it will somewhat. 



9. If left exposed only a short time 

 I think the damage will be slight. 

 This is a matter of opinion, not of ex- 

 perience, with me however. 



QUESTIONS BY AV. J. ZINK. 



1. What is the largest increase that 

 I can make per colony and be on the 

 safe side in order to increase and Ital- 

 ianize my apiary next season, having 

 one Italian colony from which to rear 

 the cells or young queens? 



2. How and by what method? 



3. What is the matter with my 

 hatching bees ? A great number of them 

 die prematurely, some have a white 

 skin under their wings, and older bees 

 gnaw many of them out of their cells. 

 The eggs were laid in two year old 

 combs, in which the moth had been 

 working. 



ANSWKKS BY THE EDITOR. 



1. This depends on the experience 

 that you have had in beekeeping, 

 the season, locality, etc., etc. 



If you are a "beginner, I would 

 not advise more than two new colonies, 



