April 12, 19C6 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



329 



supplies are considered that for a long time to come we may 

 have to be content with knowing- about the honey of the 

 the species that yield large surplus. Guesses are somewhat 

 better than nothing in that particular matter. If the visits 

 of other insects show that there is nectar, and the bees pay 

 no attention to it, we have pretty good indication that the 

 quality is not first-class. Take for example the northern 

 plant, Scrophnlaria nodosa, carpenter's square. Abundant 

 nectar can usually be seen in its cups ; and sometimes bees 

 gather it, but quite often they let it entirely alone. In this 

 case the amount of nectar visible is so large that it can not 

 be that they can get ahead faster at something else — must 

 be that (according to their judgment) it is pretty poor. Get- 

 ting every last one of the honey-plants of any locality is 

 not nearly so important as full and reliable information 

 about those you do get. 



Several of the bits of information collected are of spe- 

 cial interest. Not true that lindens fail to yield in Texas. 

 Sorry to see that the goldenrods are no better there than 

 they are here. Sad that an abundant plant of national dis- 

 tribution should be of special value in such limited locali- 

 ties. And the prickly pear gets a black eye for yielding 

 abundant honey of rank, flavor. Glad to see that my old 

 and departed friend, the blue lupine, gets a good honey- 

 mark. The surprise of the list is the prominence of the 

 oaks. I had supposed the oaks to be of practically no ac- 

 count for honey, except an occasional big yield from frozen 

 leaves under the stimulus of succeeding warm weather. 

 Wonder if Mr. Scholl could have been deceived by that. I 

 have seen oat-stubble, after the oats were cut, exude enor- 

 mous quantities of sweet juice ; but it would be hardly fair 

 to class the oat as a honey-plant on that account. 



I think it might be well to have an addendum list also 

 in which all should be named in the order of flowering. One 

 name, and that the commonest one, might suffice in such a 

 list. Pages 189-192. 



=\ 



Doctor filler'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 not answer Questions by mail. 



Doubtless a Case of Bee-Diarrhea 



I send you a piece of comb from a colony that died in the cellar 

 the past week (March 26). The piece of comb is from a colony that 

 I transferred last summer from a box-hive, and the biggest part of the 

 combs looked like this piece. Is this comb diseased? This colony 

 has had more dead bees in front of their hive this winter than any 

 other colony in the cellar, and lust fall they acted as if they were 

 affected with paralysis. Do you think it is dangerous to U6e the hive 

 and combs for bee6 again this spring? Iowa. 



Answer. — There is no appearance of disease about the comb, and 

 you need have no hesitation about using the hive and combs again. 

 The disease of which bees generally die in winter is diarrhea, but that 

 is not a disease that will be conveyed by the comb to a colony placed, 

 the following season, in hives or on combs left by a colony killed by 

 it. It is nothing strange that more dead bees were found in front of 

 this hive, because more of the bees in that hive were dying, and most 

 likely dying of diarrhea. 



Controlling: Swarming and Increase-Comb Honey and 

 Excluders— "Appendix" to 'Forty Years" 



1. What method have you used for controlling swarming and in- 

 crease during the past two seasons? 



2. In working for comb honey without queen-excluders, are you 

 not troubled whh pollen in the sections? 



3. When you write the " Appendix " to the forthcoming edition 

 of your " Forty Years Among the Bees," will it be sold separately to 

 those who have the old edition? West Virginia. 



Answers.— 1. This has been the program generally : As 60on as 

 the possibility of 6warming is suspected, a few of the strongest colo- 

 nies are examined to see if cells are started. If none are found in 

 these strongest ones, then it isn't necessary to examine the rest. As 

 soon as any are found, then all colonies are examined for cells every 10 

 days or so. If only eggs are found in queen-cells, they are destroyed, 

 and nothing more, for sometimes it happens that when these egg6 are 

 destroyed the colony gives up further attempt at swarming. Ind.'.d, 



it sometimes happens that eggs may be found every 10 days for 2 or 3 

 times, and then the bees give it up fur the season. Generally, how- 

 ever, the next visit will show larvae half-grown in cells. When any- 

 thing more than eggs or very young larvae are found, they are de- 

 stroyed, then the queen is removed, and the colony is left queenless 

 for about 10 says. Then there is given to the colony a queen, and if it 

 is a laying queen of the current season's rearing, there is no thought 

 of further swarming for the 6eason. It isn't quite so sure if an older 

 queen is given, although the chances for swarming are so few that it 

 is hardly worth while to pay further attention. If a queen is better 

 than the average, that queen will probably be kept in a nucleus during 

 the 10 days her colony i6 queenle6S, and then returned. Sometimes a 

 colony swarms when no one is by, and in that case the colony is found 

 queenless at next visit, and a queen is given to it, as nearly as can be 

 judged, 10 days after it has become queenless. Of course, all queen- 

 cells are destroyed at the end, as well as at the beginning, of the 10 

 days queenlessness in all cases. 



This plan is more troublesome than merely shaking swarms, but 

 it yields more honey per colony, and I think more for the amount of 

 labor. 



2. No; but I might be troubled that way if I didn't fill sections 

 with foundation. If there isn't plenty of drone-comb in the brood- 

 chamber, and only small starters in the sections, then the queen is 

 likely to go up to lay in drone-cells in sections, and that will bring 

 pollen in the sections. I don't mean that I never have pollen or brood 

 in sections, but that it is so rare that it wouldn't be worth while to U6e 

 excluders. 



3. I don't know; that's a matter with the publisher. [Yes, we 

 will be able to furnish the " Appendix " for 10 cents, postpaid.— Ed.] 



Hives in Long Rows and Sunflower Shade— Tar-Paper 

 for Hlve-Coverlng 



1. I have a bee-yard where I can put hives in long rows, with no 

 shade. How would it do to have the hive-rows 15 feet apart, and 

 plant a mammoth sunflower about a foot south of the entrance of the 

 hive for shade, and keep the bottom leaves trimmed off? Clipped 

 queens could climb up the sunflowers. 



2. Would you advise covering the hives with tar- paper for spring 

 protection? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. It wouldn't make the very best shade, but it would 

 be better than none. Better not do very much clipping of leaves. At 

 any rate, wait till the plants are well grown before you trim up any, 

 for those lower leaves help to make strong growth. 



2. Likely tarred paper i6 as good as anything else. 



Starting With Bees-Sweet Clover 



I have been taking the American Bee Journal something over a 

 year, and I am getting in the bee-notion. Perhaps the Italian bee- 

 fever would be nearer the real thing. I am going to begin with the 8- 

 frame dovetailed hive. Now, like all beginners, I want to ask a lot of 

 questions that likely have been answered three or four times the last 

 year. I haven't had anything to do with the honey-bee for over 30 

 years, and then I was about years old, but I remember that warm 

 summer day yet ! There is no one near here that keeps bees, so I will 

 have to get them from a distance. 



1. I am in Northern Minnesota. Does it make any difference 

 whether I get bees from the Southern States, or would it be better to 

 get them as near home as possible? 



2. What is the best to start with, a colony, or less* 



3. I see a good many seem to think sweet clover is a good honey- 

 plant. Where can 1 get the seed? Minnesota. 



Answers.— 1. Better get them as near home as possible. Trans- 

 portation from any distance south would be more than the cost of the 

 bees. If you can't do any better, get black bee6 in box-hives, and 

 then you can transfer and Italianize. 



2. It will be better to start with two full colonies. Of course you 

 can start with less than a colony, by getting a 3-frame nucleus, but it 

 will take more time for it to build up. 



3. You ought to find it advertised in this Journal. 



Increasing a Nucleus— Placing a Doollttle Feeder 



1. I have purchased a 3-frame nucleus. Will you tell me just how 

 I must proceed to increase this two or three fold the coming season. 

 Please give me the method in detail. Do not refer me to some standard 

 work, but give me the process step by step. 



2. I wish to feed some colonies I have bought and which are light 

 in stores. In using the Doolittle feeder where in the hive shall I put 

 it — as an outside frame, or in the center of the hive? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. My good friend, I'm afraid you misapprehend the 

 purpose and scope of this department. It is intended to supplement, 

 not to supplant, the teachings of the text-books. Every little while a 

 fresh set of beginners enters the American Bee Journal family, and 

 each of them needs to know all that he would get from a good book of 

 instruction in bee-keeping. If he is not to be referred to any standard 

 work, but is told in this department all he needs to know, several 

 numbers of the Journal will be filled. Then when another fresh set 

 starts in the same thing must be told over again, and after you have 

 been a subscriber for several years you'll be likely to object to so much 

 repetition, won't you? Of course it would be a nice thing for each be- 

 ginner so long as he is a beginner, but after he has been a beginner 



