May 24, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



449 



because we forget, you know. If you are not enjoying a 

 bee-keeper's life, find out why you are not and try to 

 remedy the matter. There are some who make it their busi- 

 ness to smile, and such smiles make them more successful 

 and happy. Did you ever notice how a jolly fellow always 

 seems to get along pretty well ? I have, and have tried it 

 myself. Now you try it ! 



==^—= =\ 



Doctor Itliller'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 nol answer Questions by mail. 



Will Bees Swarm Under These Conditions: 



Will bees swarm when a young queen goes out to mate in a honey- 

 flow, the old queen having been taken away and all queen-eell6 cut 

 out but one" Iowa. 



Asswkr.— I don't know. G. M. Doolittle says no ; others say yes. 



All-Zinc or Wood-Zinc Excluder? 



Which is the better excluder to use in extracting — all-zinc or 

 wood-zinc? Nbw York. 



Answer. — Opinions differ. All-zinc gives larger opening be- 

 tween the two stories, but either seems to give abundant passage for 

 the bees. The wood-zinc keeps proper spaces above and below it 

 more rigidly, but one or more J^-inoh strips laid on top-bars seems to 

 answer with the other. The all zinc is not so fragile as the other. 



Serradella as a Honey-Plant 



Is serradella a good Jhoney-plant? If once sown in waste-places 

 will it seed itself afterwards? Is there any danger of it becoming a 

 troublesome weed ? When should the seed be sown? Penn. 



Answer. — I can not answer your questions. 1 have seen serra- 

 della mentioned as a honey-plant in bee-papers from across the sea, 

 but J think never in any published on this 6ide. It is " a Portuguese 

 species of bird's-foot clover (Ornithopus sativus), cultivated for fodder 

 in Britain and on the continent." 



Wiring Frames— When to Do Spring Bee-Work 



1. What do you think of using wire from baled hay or straw in 

 place of your wooden splints in brood-frames? Pierce the bottom-bar 

 with 4 holes, slip the wire through into the groove in the top-bar, and 

 fasten with melted wax from a Van Deusen wax-tube? 



i 2. My bees rob so now that I have not overhauled them yet. What 

 time in the spring do you work with yours? Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Such heavy wire would be objectionable. Only 

 very fine wire is used in wiring frames. 



2. The first day that is warm enough for bees to fly freely after 

 they have been long enough out of the cellar to have brood-rearing 

 well started, an examination is made to see that each colony has a 

 good queen, judging by the brood, and generally the queen is found 

 at the same time to see that she is clipped. This examination may be 

 in April, or it may be in May. Earlier than this, in this latitude, it is 

 not best to open a hive unless there is suspicion that something is 

 wrong, as a shortage of stores. 



Preventing Swarming— Removing Queen-Cells— Intro- 

 ducing Queens-Mold in Hives in Winter 



1. Which is the easiest way to prevent bees from swarming? 



2. Which is the easiest way to takeout the queen-cells, by taking 

 them right out of the combs, or by using a queen-trap? 



3. If I buy an Italian queen, do 1 have to destroy the old queen 

 before I put the new one in * 



4. What makes the hives mold inside in the winter? 



Minnesota. 



Answers.— 1. I don't know. I wish I did. The way that, is 

 probably at present practised more thin any other is shaking swarms; 

 that is, taking away all brood a little before swarming is likely to 

 occur. G. M. Doolittle says he has discovered a way that he seems to 

 think is better, and he will shortly publish it. C. Davenport says he 

 has a successful plan that requires no shaking of combs nor finding 

 of queens. He has not yet made it known, but doubtless will do so in 



time for this season's work, for if we may judge by his previous writ- 

 ings, he is not the kind of man publicly to mention 6uch a thing only 

 to keep it a secret. 



3. I suppose you mean to ask whether it is easier to cut out queen- 

 cells or to leave them untouched, and then trap the young queens 

 when they attempt to fly out. The trap i6 the easier of the two, but 

 neither way is a reliable way of preventing swarming. The trap, how- 

 ever, is used by some to catch the old queen when she issues with a 

 prime swarm, and the plan works well for those who allow their bees 

 to swarm, but do not wish to be all the time on the watch for swarms. 



3. Usually the old queen is removed at the time the new queen is 

 given, the latter being given in a cage so arranged that the bees will 

 liberate the queen by eating through the plug of candy. There is 

 probably greater safety in the Abbott plan of putting the caged queen 

 into the hive 2 or 3 days before the old one is removed, not allowing 

 the bees to liberate the new one till after the removal of the old one. 



4. The same that makes mold anywhere— a sort of vegetable 

 growth favored by dampness and darkness. 



Painting Bottom-Boards-Corkdust Cushions— Best 



Comb-Honey Hive-Best Queen Excluding 



Honey Board 



1. Is it a good idea to paint both the inside and outside of bottom- 

 boards? T 



2. I want to make some cushions for winter protection. 16 the 

 cork sawdust that usually comes with California grapes good for the 

 purpose? If so, how thick 6hall I make them? 



3. Which would be the best way to make them, by sewing the top 

 and bottom together, or sewing a strip 2 or 3 inches wide between the 

 two, so that when they are stulf ed they will look like small mattresses? 



4. Which do you think would produce the most comb honey, the 

 10-frame or the 8-frame Hoffman, or the Danzenbaker, all of them 

 using Danzenbaker supers? 



5. In producing extracted honey, which queen-excluding honey- 

 board do you consider the best? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. It is not a common practise, but it ought to make 

 them last longer. 



2. Corkdust is one of the best. A thickness of l, 1 ., or 2 inches is 

 probably enough. 



3. Likely the mattress plan is the better. 



4. With colonies of the same strength, you would not be likely to 

 find any difference. 



5. There is little choice as to the kind of excluders. Although 

 most producers of extracted honey use queen-excluders, it is only fair 

 to say that so good bee-keepers as the Dadants do not use them. 



Gasoline Treatment for Wax-Worms- Dark and Light 

 Colored Clothing for Bee-Work 



1. I have S5 brood-frames that I did not use last season. I had 

 them in a corncrib all last summer in the dry, strung on a frame. In 

 September I put them in the workshop, overhead on frames, and was 

 away from home 3 months, and when 1 returned I found the wax- 

 worm had worked on them all through this time. I had them 1>£ 

 inches apart. I do not want to lose them. I saw in the Bee Journal, 

 some time ago, where some one used gasoline, and it put the worms 

 to sleep, never to wake up. Do you think the scent of gasoline in 

 combs will annoy the bees so they won't accept them when 1 hive 

 bees on those combs? 



2. What is there about the color of clothes to make the bees quiet 

 when handling them? Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. Unless you have a special brand of wax-worms 

 different from all others, you may rely upon the gasoline treatment. 

 Look the combs over, and wherever you see the least show of their 

 webs, give a little squirt, and that ends it. In a very short time the 

 gasoline evaporates so it will be safe to give the comb6 to bees.— [See 

 page 328 for full directions for giving the gasoline treatment.— Editor. J 



2 I don't know why it is; I only know the fact, that cross bees 

 are not so likely to sting one with light as with dark clothing. I have 

 worn a good many different pairs of mason's or painter's white over- 

 alls for the sake of avoiding stings. I don't think white clothing 

 particularly appropriate to my style of beauty, and in going through 

 town to the out-apiary, I'm not fond of appearing on the streets 

 arrayed in white, but I'd rather do that than to take the increased 

 number of stings with dark clothing. But, mind you, I get all the 

 stings I care for, even with white clothing. If bees are cross enough, 

 they'll sting through the whitest clothing. 



Frames of Buckwheat Honey for Spring Feeding- 

 Preventing Increase 



I U6e the Danzenbaker hive, and run for comb honey. I winter 

 my bees in a single brood-body out-of-doors. 



1 Now how would it be next fall, when the buckwheat honey - 

 llow is on, to let the bees fill a lot of shallow frames such as are used 

 in the Danzenbaker super, then put them away until next spring, and 

 when it warms up, and the bees begin to carry in pollen (or before, it 

 they need it), put a super filled with shallow frames of honey on each 

 colony— strong and weak alike— and leave it thereuntil a heavy honey- 

 flow sets in, then raise it up. put a super filled with sections and foun- 

 dation under, put on a bee-escape get the bees all down out ot the 

 shallow frames, and put tbem away until next year, if they are more 



