April 26, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



369 



the largest percent of water. Suspect Dr. M. has a place 

 intended to be mouse-proof where the rodents get carried 

 in — and, once in, frequent the half-ripe sections as regular 

 ■drink. Watch out also lest mere digging through honey to 

 get at the bee-bread which is underneath it misled you. 

 Years ago I kept several stacks of sections a long time in a 

 mousy garret ; and, being surprised that so little damage 

 was done, the subject has been more or less on my mind 

 since. And the result is that I get confirmation, and not 

 contradiction, out of year-by-year experience. Still, 1 won't 

 deny that I'm a fellow pretty often mistaken. 



White mice, I understand, are no more than a casral 

 variety of the universal mouse. Tastes likely to be the same 

 (though they might differ). Quite possibly some readers of 

 our Journal have white mice as pets — if so, will they not 

 try them with honey and report ? At worst, any of us can 

 offer a prize to the boys for a nest of young miceold enough 

 to wean, rear them in a tame state, and find out all about 

 their likes and dislikes as to food. Do us good to divide the 

 work and test each prevalent species. The cow and the 

 sheep are both ruminants, and so near related, yet the 

 sheep is fond of beans while the cow will have none of 

 them. Beans are a much more perfect food than honey, 

 and yet many animals refuse them. So we might find that 

 the deer-mouse rather likes honey, while the universal 

 mouse abominates it. The red squirrel and the chipmunk 

 oft get in at the bee-man's treasures. May be mistaken 

 about them also, but incline to give them credit for stand- 

 ing next to the bear in fondness for honey. 



Introducing Queens 



I mildly object to Arthur C. Miller's style of language 

 on page 253. He has a right to say that in his experience 

 as many queens are killed on being released from cages as 

 when run in direct. Hardly has a right to say that that is 

 a " f act " falling under his observation. You see, his ex- 

 perience might be a little scanty, and mostly (perhaps un- 

 noticed by himself) abnormal in some respect. 



Sweet Clovers, Cow-peas and Jap. Buckwheat 



It was quite a simmer when 30-odd bee-plants of reputa- 

 tion simmered down so near to none at the Texas Experi- 

 ment Station. Only the two sweet clovers for waste land, 

 and cow-peas and Japanese buckwheat for cultivation, 

 could get a favorable mention. Well to remember that the 

 cow-pea has numerous varieties, varying greatly in nectar- 

 value. If the " whip-poor-will " is best then hurrah for 

 whip-poor-will. But I suppose we Northern folks are " not 

 in it " when cow-peas are to be raised. Page 254. 



=\ 



Doctor lUtHer's 

 (Question « Box 



j 



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

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

 Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Knowing Different Comtjs-Pindlng Queens— Increase 



1. How can I know the different kinds of combs? 



2. How can I find queeDS? 



3. My hives have crooked combs. Should I change the bees to 

 other hives; If so, how? Or should we put on supers aDd let the 

 combs remain as they are? We have 3 colonies and wish to increase 

 them. What is the best way ? We are working for comb honey. 



Maine. 



Answers.— 1. The greater part of the combs in a hive you will 

 find to be worker comb, made up of cells that measure 5 to the inch. 

 Drone-comb is made up of cells that measure 4 to the inch. Generally 

 you will Bnd drone-comb in the same sheet with worker-comb, and 

 where the change is made from one kind to the other there will be a 

 few irregular celis, called transition cells. Then there is also the 

 queen-cell, still larger than either of the other kinds, measuring 3 to 

 the inch. More nearly correct it is to say that a queen-cell is a third 

 of an inch in diameter; for you can never find a piece of comb made 

 up entirely of queen-cells Generally each queen-cell is by itself; and 

 even if you find several queen-cells apparently close in a group, you 

 will not find 3 such cells in the compass of an inch. 



(But now I must apologize to the readers of this Journal for o u- 

 pying space in answering such a question, for it should be learned 

 from a bee book, and the space here 6hould be occupied in telling 

 things that are not plainly given in bee-books. You are doing yourself 



a real wrong in trying to get along without a good bee-book. If you 

 can not have both, give up the journal for a time and get the bee- 

 book.) 



2. There is no patent method, .lust take out the combs and look, 

 and you will soon learn to spot the one bee in the whole colony that 

 looks longer than any other. To be sure, you will learn through 

 practise some little kink6 that will help you; but the main thing is 

 to lift out the combs and lool< over the bees. If you have never tried 

 it, it looks like a very difficult thing to pick out a single bee among 10 

 or 20 thousand, but after you've tried it you'll probably think it no 

 great trick. 



3. As you seem to be entirely without experience, very likely your 

 best way for this year is to depend upon natural swarming for in- 

 crease, especially as that will help in the matter of getting better 

 combs. Leave your hives and combs as they are until the bees swarm ; 

 hive them on movable frames provided with worker-foundation, and 3 

 weeks later transfer as directed in your book. 



Comb Foundation Treatment for Swarms— Putting a 



Weak Colony Over a Strong One— Largest 



Honey Crop 



1. Do you still use the foundation treatment mentioned on page 

 186 of " Forty Years Among the Bees?" If so, has it proved more 

 successful since 1902? 



2. Have you ever tried putting a weak colony over a strong one, 

 with a queen-excluder between? If so, with what success? 



3. How many pounds of honey were there in the biegest crop you 

 ever had? What year was it? Michigan. 



Answers.— 1. I haven't tried it much since then; but I think I 

 shall give it another chance this year. I think the failures that 

 occurred were from the disappearance of the queen while confined to 

 the lower story, and it is possible that the queen deserted because 

 there was too little inducement for her to stay there, the foundation 

 being hard. I think I'll try it again with foundation that has not been 

 weather-beaten, and possibly give one frame filled, or partly filled, 

 with comb. 



2. I tried it in only a few cases, and with not the best success. 

 Possibly it would work better on further trial. 



3 In the year 1903, from 124 colonies I took 18,150 pounds of sec- 

 tion honey, and increased to 284 colonies. Do you think you can beat 

 that* If you can, maybe you think you can beat this: Another year 

 I took not a pound of surplus, and had to feed a lot of sugar to keep 



my bees from starving. 



*-•-*. 



Honey from Wild Mustard or Turnip and Pruit-Bloom- 

 When to Use the Queen-Trap 



1. Is there much honey to be gotten from the wild mustard or 

 turnip? What color is it? 



2 Is there much from fruit-bloom (principally apples) ? 



3 What month do you think that I should put queen-traps on 

 the hives to catch the queens during swarming? Some of my colonies 

 are working (March 31) in the sections in spite of the fact that it has 

 rained almost continuously all this month. California. 



Answers.— It is counted a good honey-plant, but I don't know 

 what the honey is like. 



2. I am in a region of abundant fruit-broom, but I never had a 

 pound of surplus from it. It is all used up in rearing brood. If it 

 came in the middle of June I should probably have had tons of honey 

 from it. Yet I wouldn't for many dollars have it in June. The 

 bees reared from fruit-bloom are what gather the surplus later on, and 

 so fruit-bloom is of the highest value. In this region apple is worth 

 all the rest put together, for it lasts two to four weeks, there being 

 that difference between earliest and latest varieties. 



3 Better not put on traps till the first swarm issues, or until you 

 think there is danger of its issuing. That may not be the same month 

 this year that it was last. 



Hardly seems you and I are living in the same country, does it? 

 March 31 your bees are working in sections and mine were yet in the 

 tellar. 



Painting Hives 



Planting Willow 

 Winter 



-Preparing Bees for 



I have 46 colonies of bees, and winter them on the summer stands. 

 I use all chaff hives— 18 9-frame and the rest 11 -frame. I had decided 

 to paint the hives black until to-day 1 am in doubt whether I should, 

 as I have 12 9-frame hives painted dark and the rest are all painted 

 white, and in the hives that are dark 1 found the chaff cushions were 

 all wet and the bees suffered more or less, while the rest were all dry 

 and the bees in better shape. I thought the dark color was better in 

 winter, as it absorbs more heat. , ,. t , , . A . 



1. Would you advise me to paint the hives black, or is the white 

 better in winter? 



2. I have Italian bees in those 9-frame hives. Does that make 

 any difference? , . . 



3. The chaff cushions 1 use are pretty thick, about 3 1 . to 4 inches, 

 with corn-cobs across the brood-frames. Are they all right? 



4. I would like to plant iotsof willow trees, of the yellow-brush 

 kind. Bees work on them very much. Do they yield honey I 



5 In preparing bees for winter, if I remove 5 frames from the 

 rood-chamber of a 10-frame hive that contain the most honey, and 



