May 31, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



469 



ODly essential point being that the queen be taken away, and that at 

 least one frame be taken out to make room— and then before you close 

 the hive put in the prepared frame. 



3. It would be about as well to leave lOas to leave 2, I think; that 

 is, the bees would be as likely to swarm again with 2 cells as with 10. 

 Most positively you must cut away all cells but one. if you are trying 

 to prevent a second swarm by cutting out queen-cells. 



3. I can not give you an exact answer and be positive about it. 

 The time will not always be the same. If the queen be removed very 

 quietly, 1 thitik the time will be longer than if the bees are thoroughly 

 aroused at the time of the queen's removal. I think that under like 

 conditions a weak colony will discover its queenlessness sooner than a 

 strong one. Probably it will not be fur out of the way to say that a 

 colony will generally discover its quueiilessne68 in about 24 hours. 



Reports anb 

 (Experiences 



A Flattering Prospect 



The prospect for the coming season so far 

 is very flattering. Bees have wintered un- 

 commonly well. I have lost only 3 queenless 

 colonies, and if a good honey season should 

 fall to our lot, a good crop may be expected. 



May the American Bee Journal prosper. 

 G. C. Greiner. 



La Salle, N. Y., April 21. 



Good Prospects for White Clover 



All my bees, except 9 colonies, died during 

 the winter. I put 36 into the cellar last fall. 

 Last year was the poorest for honey in this 

 part of the State in 25 years. I got less than j 

 100 pound6. I think prospects are as good 

 now as they were in 1903 for white clover. It 

 will be in bloom in about 2 weeks. 



Maquoketa, Iowa, May 19. F. P. Juel. 



weeks, then every colony would have starved. 

 Feeding is a niussy job at best, but a bee- 

 keeper can not afford to let bees siarve; and 

 there is a world of satisfaction in the thought 

 that such a disaster can so easily be avoided. 

 If it does cost some money, each colony fed 

 at such a critical time, when their natural 

 stores are fast being used up in brood-rearing, 

 may pay its owner a handsome profit many 

 times over the investment a short time after- 

 ward. Otto Sueltenfuss. 

 San Antonio, Tex., April 24. 



Bees Never Wintered Better 



I have ju6t come back from putting out my 

 bees in Vernon County. They never wintered 

 better. In one yard all came out alive. I fed 

 them heavy last fall, and wintered them in 2- 

 story hives. I know this last 16 the main rea- 

 son of my success. There wa6 very little 

 brood reared after Sept. 1, so lots of bees died 

 during the winter, in some cases filling the 

 lower stories half full. The top story gave 

 the bees plenty of room and air. 



Most bee keepers in Vernon county, and 

 also in Jefferson county, lost the greater part 

 of their bees. Some lost all. They extracted 

 as usual, and put their bees up for winter 

 ju6t as they happened to be. They could not 

 expect anything else as the result. 



Gcstave Gross. 



Lake Mills, Wis., April 21. 



April Favorable for Bees 



April has been most favorable for the bees. 

 Many colonies are strong enough to swarm. 

 I fed them to stimulate breeding, and it 

 worked like a charm. The weather has been 

 cold the past few days. Henry Alley. 



Wenham, Mas6., April 26. 



White Clover Thick— Burying Bees 



I have 36 colonies of bees in fine shape. I 

 never saw while clover thicker than it is this 

 spring, roadsides being a perfect mat of it, 

 and wheie there was none last year the 

 ground is covered now. 



For 2 years I have been burying my bees. 

 I learned it from a man here who has always 

 practised it. I like the results very much. 



Bellevue, Mich., April 30. C. H. Benson. 



[Mr. Benson is invited to send a detailed 

 description of the method he uses in burying 

 his bees in winter, and we will be pleased to 

 publish it for the benefit of our other readers. 

 —Editor.] 



Feeding Bees to Prevent Starving 



The bees have had a late spring here in 

 Southwest Texas. I had to feed until a few 

 days ago, when the first honey came in to 

 support brood-rearing. I had fed sugar syrup 

 la6t fall, but did not calculate on such a late 

 spring, and had I not fed the last month or 6 



Gallberry Honey 



Honey report up to Easter Sunday : Two 

 supers, 5 3 8 inches deep on an average, all 

 gathered from gallberry in 10 days; all comb 

 honey, although very little sealed to-day. 



D. J. Pawletta. 



Ft. White, Fla., May 3. 



Bees Short of Stores 



Bees run short of winter stores here — one 

 man having only 10 colonies left out of 116; 

 another having only 8 left out of 4S. That 

 was outdoor wintering. I always run about 

 20 colonies for extracted honey, but knowing 

 the bees were short of stores, instead of ex- 

 tracting the honey they stored I gave it to 

 them in the fall. I wintered 160 colonies in 

 the cellar; all came out alive, but a few have 

 died since. A. Coppin. 



Wenona, 111., May 8. 



Poor Season for Bees in 1905 



Last season was a poor one for tbe bees 

 around here, but I increased from 7 colonies 

 to 15, all of which wintered in good condition. 



I feel sorry that I did not get the American 

 Bee Journal 10 years ago instead of 1 year 

 ago. It is the best bee-paper I read. 



Quincy, Mass., May 8. John Ahlen. 



Heavy Loss from Starvation 



There is a heavy loss in bees in this part of 

 the country this spring— dying of starvation. 

 While I have only lost 8 out of 117. I would 

 have lost more if I had not looked after them 

 very closely. A. W. Swan. 



Centralia, Kan., April 9. 



Bees Wintered Well 



My bees came out well. I lost 4 out of 50 

 colonies. They are working on plum blooms 

 and dandelions uow, and are in good condi- 

 tion. They were in 5 months just as they 

 stood outside when the supers were off; no 

 south side ventilation and no disturbing dur- 

 ing the time. Wm. Cleary. 



Algona, Iowa, May 8. 



Vetch Honey— Good Prospects 



I took off 47 pounds of native vetch honey 

 to-day from 1 hive— 1 super of 27 pounds, and 

 20 pounds in another super. I left 7 pounds, 

 not quite sealed, in the super from which I 

 took 20 pouads. They are good, heavy, filled 

 sections, and good, thick honey. Most of the 

 sections weigh mure than a pound. Prospects 

 show for a good crop of honey. 



Augusta, (la.. May 9. J. L. Patterson. 



Value of Bees to Blossoms 



Not long ago a Connecticut bee-keeper in- 

 quired in regard to pollination effected by 

 bees in an orchard. Here are some figures; 



On the 6ecoud day of April, 1863, a bee- 

 keeper in Germany counted 50,400 bees heav- 

 ily loaded with pollen come to the hive of a 

 colony of black bees; on April 19, 1863, 54,870 



Italians. Huber says that each worker-bee 

 vi6its 50 blossoms before she has a load. 

 Another German paper gives a statement of 

 17,000 colonies owned by a Bociety. They 

 averaged 40,000 loads from each colony for 

 100 days, or 68,000,000,000 loads. Suppose 

 each bee had visited 50 blossoms, if only one- 

 tenth of these visits effected pollination, they 

 would have pollinated 340,000,000,000 blos- 

 soms. So the benefit, if only 7 out of 50 blos- 

 soms visited would be put at 1 cent, would 

 be worth to farmers, gardeners and orchards 

 1194,295.91; or per colony it would be £11.42. 

 So our bees not only give us honey, but they 

 perform other work worth more than the 

 honey. Julius Prikster. 



Oregon City, Oreg., April 24. 



Fastening starters— Hiving Swarms 

 — Pure-Blooded Bees 



This is how I fasten starters in sec- 

 tions: I cut the section foundation 

 across so I get 27 starters from one 

 sheet of section foundation, and S start- 

 ers from one sheet of brood founda- 

 tion. Now take a board M>-inch thick 

 and 17 inches long-, straight edge on 

 one side, and fasten this piece so the 

 straight edge is right to set the starter 

 on edge against it. Now get a board 

 y 2 -inch wide and as long and Bush 

 with the outside of each end-bar. Now 

 cut a notch in each end so the straight 

 edge will come to the center of the 

 under edge of the top-bar of the frame, 

 and draw a pencil line in the center of 

 the frame. Put the notched board 

 against the straight board. Drop the 

 starter in between the two pieces; 

 press close (not to mar the founda- 

 tion); with a table-knife turn the edge 

 of foundation above the two boards on 

 the one with the notches; set the 

 frame, and run hot wax on the pencil 

 mark. Then take the notched board 

 with the starter and place it between 

 the end-bars and press down tight. 

 Push the notched board endwise; 

 loosen, then press the second time and 

 it will be firm and solid. 



I fasten the section starters as de- 

 scribed above. My bees fill the sec- 

 tions, top, sides and bottom solid, and 



1 have no fault to find; so with brood- 

 frames — straight combs and true. 



This is the way I got down swarms 

 in the summer of 1905. Every one of 

 the swarms settled high, so I had to 

 contrive how to get them down. I made 

 a swarming-box that will hold 5 stand- 

 ard Langstroth frames. Take out the 



2 outside, also the center frames, which 

 leaves 2 frames, a space in the center 

 and at each wall. Drive a nail in each 

 end of the frame-rest, cut a saw-kerf 

 in each end of the frame, and hang 

 both frames on the nails. (The frames 

 must have old combs, or are no good.) 

 Make the box and cover of Vs-inch 

 lumber; let the cover come flush with 

 the sides and ends of the box. Drive 

 2 nails in the upper edge on one side 

 of the box in place of hinges; then rut 

 a saw-kerf so the cover can slide under 

 the nail-heads; on the other side drive 

 a small staple. Cut a hole in the cover 

 and let the staple come up through the 

 cover so that a nail will close it tight. 

 Nail „n each end of the cover two- 

 strips of wood to hold the frames in 

 their places, when the cover is put in 

 its place. Get two strips of pine 2x1 

 inch nail an inch-strip in the center 

 of the 2-inch strip — T-pole 16 feet, or 

 any other length you wish. Put on 

 windlass rope and relay pin so you can 

 raise or lower it in place. 



Place the swarming-box in the tree 

 just above the swarm, and if the bees 

 don't go into it fast enough, smoke 

 them wiili woolen rags fastened on a 

 pole wiili line wire. Don't let the smoke 

 get into the box where you have the 

 bulk of the bees. Put the smoke where 

 the bees settled. This is Hi- best plan 

 I have found yet to hive bees. 



Indiana wants to know if bis 7 red- 

 clover queens are pure Italian. I say 

 thev are not. A pure Italian queen is 



