Jan. 25, 19C 6 



IHh AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



85 



=\ 



Doctor XTliUer's 



Question * Box 



j 



8end questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

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

 Dr. Miller does nut answer Questions by mail. 



Size of Hive for Short Honey-Flow 



1. I have come to the idea of putting my bees into big 

 hives, as the honey-flow is short in this part of the country, 

 and we have but a few honey-plants to depend upon. I will 

 make my own hives this year, and I have been planning to 

 make them to hold 12 Hoffman frames. What do you think 

 about it ? Do you think they will be too big ? 



2. I have 18 colonies of bees, all with Italian queens but 

 S, and as queens are high in price in the spring of the year, 

 I thought to let the requeening go till after July 1, or later, 

 and keep the black drones from coming out and mating with 

 any queens. I will put a zinc board at the bottom of the 

 frames so as to keep the drones in the hive. Will this do ? 



Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. The size will be all right for extracted 

 honey ; but for comb honey it depends upon the manage- 

 ment whether you might not do better with smaller hives. 

 By that I mean that the right kind of management with 

 smaller hives might give better results, giving two stories 

 to all colonies needing the room up to the time of harvest. 

 You see you can have just as much room with small hives 

 as with large ones, provided you have stories enough. But 

 for extracted honey it will be less trouble to have the larger 

 hives. 



2. Yes, only it will be well occasionally to clean out the 

 dead drones that will accumulate on the bottom. Of course 

 it is not absolutely necessary to do this, only it will be bet- 

 ter for the bees not to have a cemetery in the hive. 



Wintering In a Bee-Cave 



I have my bees in a cave in a clay hill. It is about 24 

 feet long, 10 feet deep, and 8 feet wide, with a ventilating 

 tube 4 inches square in the back end of the cellar, and 

 reaching within 2 feet of the bottom of the cellar and out 

 at the top. The cellar has double doors. I have 115 colonies 

 in it. The thermometer has stood at 52 degrees Fahr. for 

 about 40 days, and the bees are still. I have kept the ven- 

 tilator closed, as I am afraid of ventilation by the ventilat- 

 ing tube. It seems to be damp in the cellar. I never had 

 such high temperature in a bee-cellar before. What would 

 you advise me to do ? Iowa. 



Answer. — The weather has been unusually warm, and 

 that may account for the higher thermometer, although so 

 long as the bees are still there can not be any great harm 

 going on. The probability, however, is that in a damp, 

 close cellar at 52 degrees the quietness will not continue. 

 Try opening the ventilator. That will be likely to lower 

 the temperature, and it may make the cellar less damp ; 

 and most important of all it will give purer air. 



Wintering Packed Bees Outdoors- Ants In Honey- 

 Scorched Honey for Spring Feeding 



- 1, Accompanying this you will find a sketch and de- 

 scription of the way I have prepared my bees for wintering 

 outdoors. How will the bees winter packed this way ? 



2. After I put some comb honey in the shipping-cases 

 and stored it away large black ants got in it. What would 

 keep them out ? 



3. I rendered up some honey which was in dark combs. 

 I believe it got a little scorched. Would it do for spring 

 feeding ? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Your plan of packing with hay and cov- 

 ing all with boards so as to make the whole rain-proof will 

 probably bring different results in different winters. When 

 a warm day comes, the sun will not warm up the bees 



through the boards and packing nearly so soon as in a hive 

 without any packing. So if there is a long and severe win- 

 ter, and only one or two spells warm enough for bees to fly, 

 if those spells occupy only a small part of the day, they 

 might not be warmed up enough to fly, and so winter 

 poorly. On the contrary, if each warm spell is long enough 

 so the bees get warmed up enough for a good flight, they 

 ought to come out in fine condition. It is a question, how- 

 ever, whether in any case your chances might not be better 

 with a good cellar. You are in about the same latitude as I, 

 and if other conditions are the same with you, the cellar 

 ought to be the best place. The trial of part of your bees 

 wintered in, and part out, would help settle the question. 



2. A good shipping-case ought to be tight enough to 

 keep out large ants. One way to get the start of the ants 

 would be to have the cases piled on a platform, the platform 

 resting on legs, and the bottoms of the legs standing in old 

 oyster cans or something of the kind containing carbolized 

 oil. 



3. It will be perfectly safe to feed it as soon as bees can 



fly every few days. 



*-*-*> 



Mice in Cellared Hives 



I put 6 good colonies in winter quarters last fall, and 

 there are a lot of dead bees all over the front of the hive. 

 They are not whole ones, but small parts, such as the legs, 

 parts of bodies, and heads. Do you think that the other 

 bees do this, or can it be mice? There is about one-half 

 cupful in front of each hive. I am somewhat alarmed about 

 it. They seem to have plenty of honey, and the rest of the 

 bees seem to be very lively. What do you think is the 

 trouble? Minnesota. 



Answer. — Mice, sure. It will not be a bad thing if you 

 screen the entrance so the mice can not pass. Even if by 

 that means you fasten a mouse in a hive, it will be better 

 than to let it have free range of all the hives. It is most 

 likely that the mangled remains are only those of bees that 

 have died, and the mice gnawed them to pieces after their 

 death. There would be no loss in that case, and the harm 

 of the mice is not from their killing bees so much as gnaw- 

 ing the combs. 



But when you bar the entrance against the mice, be 

 sure not to fasten the bees in. Use wire-cloth with about 3 

 meshes to the inch. That leaves the bees free to pass, but 

 bars Mr. Mouse. 



Honey as a Health-Food. — This is a 16-page honey- 

 pamphlet intended to help increase the demand for honey. 

 The first part of it contains a short article on "Honey as- 

 Food,"' written by Dr. C. C. Miller. It tells where to keep- 

 honey, how to liquefy it, etc. The last part is devoted to 

 "Honey-Cooking Recipes" and "Remedies Using Honey." 

 It should be widely circulated by those selling honey. The 

 more the people are educated on the value and uses of 

 honey, the more honey they will buy. 



Prices, prepaid — Sample copy for a two-cent stamp; 50 

 copies for 70 cts.; 100 for $1.25; 250 for $2.25; 500 for $4.00; 

 or 1,000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free at the 

 bottom of front page on all orders for 100 or more copies. 

 Send all orders to the office of the American Bee Journal. 

 *-»-»- 



Our Wood Binder (or Holder) is made to take all the 

 copies of the American Bee Journal for a year. It is sent 

 by mail for 20 cents. Full directions accompany. The Bee 

 Journals can be inserted as soon as they are received, and 

 thus preserved for future reference. Or we will send it 

 with the American Bee Journal a year — both for $1.10. 

 Address the office of the American Bee Journal. 



Amerikanische Bienenzucht, by Hans Buschbauer, is 

 a bee-keeper's hand-book of 138 pages, which is just what 

 our German friends will want. It is fully illustrated, and 

 neatly bound in cloth. Price, postpaid, $1.00; or with the 

 American Bee Journal one year — both for $1.75. Address. 



all orders to this office. 



♦-•-*- 



Please Send Us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not 



now get the American Bee Journal, and we will send them 

 sample copies. Then you can very likely afterward get 

 their subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable 

 premiums in nearly every number of this Journal. You. 

 can aid much by sending in the names and addresses when 

 writing us on other matters 



