88 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



to stimulate brood-rearing when 

 bees have an abundance of stores. 

 However, if they lack stores, com- 

 mence to feed as soon as they be- 

 gin to gather pollen. At all times 

 during the spring, a hive should 

 contain at least five pounds of 

 honey or syrup. With a visible 

 supply of but few ounces, bees are 

 not inclined to breed rapidly. 

 East Leroy, Mich. 



SMOKING BEES. 



ANSWER BV WILL. M. KELLOGG. 



Constantia, Ohio. 

 Mr. Alley: Please answer the lollowing 

 question ilu-oiigli tiie "•afi:" £Iow olteii can 

 bees be smoked enougli to open and examine 

 the contents ol' the luve, witliont danger of 

 injury to tlie colony ? Mrs. W. O. C. 



This depends very much on how 

 j-ou go at it. AYhen I first began 

 beekeeping, I thought that bees 

 needed about as much urging with 

 s noke as a lazy pair of mules does 

 with a whip, and that is nearly 

 all the time. In opening hives, and 

 handling IVames, 1 thought the bees 

 ought to stay down. Once I had 

 told them to with smoke, and if a 

 few got tired of lapping honey, 

 and came poking to the top to see 

 what 1 was about, or get a sniff of 

 fresh air, I would stop work, grab 

 the smoker, and give them a fresh 

 dose. Time and again the conse- 

 quence would be the whole mass 

 would come boiling up over the 

 sides of the hive, making me lots 

 more work to get them in again to 

 close the hive. 



Gradually it was forced upon me 

 that a very little smoke sent the 

 bees into the honey lively. There 

 is little need of opening hives as 

 often as it is done, but it can be 

 done every hour of the day with no 

 injury, except perhaps to slightly 

 lessen the honey yield, for certainly 

 it will check some of the bees in 

 their work, and so retard their flight 

 to the field just that much. It de- 



pends, too, on how much of an exam- 

 ination you make. To open a hive, 

 take out one or two frames and 

 stand against the outside, then take 

 out, look carefully over, and move 

 to one side tiie balance of the 

 frames. I should call once a week 

 often enough. But to give the 

 stock one i)uff at the entrance, then 

 carefully take off the cap, as care- 

 fully raise one corner of the quilt, 

 giving now and then a little puff 

 over the top of the frames, not 

 down into tiie hive, making slow 

 motions, and as carefull}' pry over 

 one or two frames, then take out 

 one and look at it — perhaps two or 

 three, — in this way have I many a 

 time opened hives with not a bee tak- 

 ing wing, the workers coming and 

 going at the entrance, goingon with 

 the hive work, and seeing the queen 

 depositing eggs as though that 

 were the way she was used to. A 

 very little smoke will do at most 

 times ; and when you have to handle 

 bees with the smoker constantly in 

 one hand and fairly fight them, just 

 then is the time that once a month 

 is too often, and the work should 

 stop. 



Oneida, 111. 



TIIE PKONE-AND-QUEEN TRAP.— 



MATING QUEEN. 



In Vol. 6, No. 2, of API, page 4'), you say in 

 subf<tance, tli;it by the proper use ot your 

 drone-and-(ineen traps you can mate your 

 queens to any drones you clioose. 1 fnil to 

 catch the idea. L. L. llearu says it can't be 

 done, ir it can, I want one. Will ytni ex- 

 plain? I am only a beginner, l)ut I \vant to 

 ffo to the top with best hives and otiier imple- 

 ments ana best system of management. 



T. K. Massie. 



[We will try and make this mat- 

 ter a little clearer for the querist. 

 There is no trouble in our apiary in 

 getting (jueens mated to any drones 

 in the yard by the use of the triips. 



The metal we use on the traps 

 will not allow a virgin queen to 

 pass through and we have no need 

 to use the trap for that pur- 

 pose. As we place the trap at all 



