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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



June 7, 1906 



parent colony, and distribute to the nuclei, putting all, or 

 nearly all, sheets of sealed brood into one nucleus, and thus 

 make sure it will rapidly become a strong colony. As you 

 have these frames of comb from common stock in your 

 hands, before putting them into a nucleus, you would better 

 destroy all queen-cells found on the combs; and thus save 

 the young queen in the nucleus the trouble of doing so. 



When the young bees begin to hatch out in the strong 

 nucleus, move it beside the "swarm" that I have designated 

 the hummer, and face the same wav. Now wait and 

 watch. As the old field-bees begin to die off, the swarm 

 will rapidly grow weaker, as it has no hatching bees to take 

 their place and in the meantime the nucleus has become a 

 strong colony. 



When the proper time comes, (use judgment), take the 

 supers off the swarm, and transfer them to the nucleus- 

 having previously given both colonies the same scent A 

 sliced onion, or camphor-gum, shoved under the brood- 

 frames of each will do it. Move the swarm to the opposite 

 side of the nucleus, facing swarm to rear. In 2 or i, days brin<* 

 die swarm around so it will face the same wav as\he nucleus! 

 Now open the swarm, and kill the old que'en; she will be 

 readily found, as she will not have many bees with her • 

 brush whatever bees she has in front of the nucleus, and take 

 away the hive that contained the swarm. 



If the starters that were in the swarm have been drawn 

 out to any extent, use them to replace the frames of sealed 

 honey that you take from colonies for winter feeding- or 

 rather for spring feeding. Repeat as other swarms issue.' 



Thus we have the greatest yield of honey per colony, and 

 have reared the best of queens from select stock, and have 

 prevented increase, or reduced it to a minimum. 



Davis Countv, Iowa. 



Southern 

 4* 23eebom -f 



Conducted by Lodis H. Scholu New Braunfels, Tex. 



Progeny of a Golden Queen and a Black Drone (?) 



Is it possible for a 5-banded queen, mated to a black drone to 

 produce all 3-banded workers? I think I have such a case 



Glennville, Ga. H. C. Barnard. 



Yes, in some cases. In one of my yards of blacks 

 golden queens were used to improve the stock of this api- 

 ary. Daughters of these goldens were mated to black 

 drones, and in several cases the resulting progeny were the 

 most evenly marked 3-banded Italians. The majority 

 showed a great variation, however, some of the bees being 

 almost golden or S-banded, while others of the same colony 

 were as black as their black ancestors on the male side, and 

 variations all the way between. 



Another thing that came to my notice was this : If the 

 mating of a queen does not affect the drone progeny, how 

 does it come about that drones from a pure golden queen 

 will vary if mated to a black drone ? They should all be 

 golden drones, but they were not. 



To Rid a Colony of Laying- Workers 



Will you ylease tell me your plan of ridding a colony of layine- 

 workers, and getting a queen in their stead? 



In some way 2 of my colonies, about 16 or 18 days ago, lost their 

 queens, and before I had discovered the loss they both had layine 

 workers. I have given them 2 different combs containing eggs and 

 larvae, but they refuse to build queen-cells and rear a queen In 

 fact, I have tried all the plans I ever heard of, including those given 

 in the book " A B C of Bee Culture," but with no success. 



If you can give me any assistance or advice, I will certainly aDnre- 

 Clate "• J. W. Simmons 



Quite a number of hives were used in experimenting 

 with colonies of laying workers at the Texas A. and M. 

 College apiary several years ago, and many " remedies " 

 were tried with the result that it was finally concluded that 

 the best thing to do with such colonies is to break them up 

 and distribute the combs among other colonies, then to 



build up a new colony in place of the one that contained 

 the laying workers. 



In most cases such colonies are, or have, become rather 

 weak, hence of not much value, and still decreasing in bees 

 until a new queen can be introduced, unless hatching brood 

 is given. If the colony is still populous when laying work- 

 ers are discovered, it may be proceeded with as follows : 



Cover the top of the hive with wire-screen, and over this 

 place an upper story. Place in this a comb with brood, 

 honey, a laying queen and the adhering bees taken from a 

 queen-right colony. Let them remain over the screen 2 or 

 3 days, when the screen is to be removed and the colony will 

 have a laying queen. 



Sometimes we have trouble with obstinate colonies that 

 persist in destroying queen-cells or virgin queens when 

 trying to introduce them. These may be treated as the 

 above for laying workers. Old or mismated queens that 

 can generally be found in an apiary are splendid for this 

 method, and if the plan should fail to work no valuable 

 queens would be lost. 



Bee-Paralysis and "Cures" 



Mr. L. B. Smith, of Rescue, Tex., advocates the follow- 

 ing for this disease, supposing, of course, that the bees are 

 in movable- frame hives : 



Most of the complaints about this disease have come 

 from bee-keepers of North Texas, who keep bees in box- 

 hives, or those with frame hives who are not classed with 

 the experienced bee-keeper. He lifts out the combs of 

 brood and honey, bees and all, and sets them in a clean, 

 new hive ; notes the condition of the queen, and if she is 

 feeble or failing he destroys her and introduces a new 

 queen. What will be better is to exchange the brood-combs 

 of the diseased bees for those from healthy colonies, espe- 

 cially if the diseased colony is to be allowed to rear their 

 own queen, as he has reasons to believe that the disease is 

 inherited, and not contagious, hence it would reappear if a 

 new queen were reared from brood of the diseased colony. 



Mr. Smith then also feeds the bees about a pint of warm 

 sugar syrup at night, with a little less than a teaspoonf ul of 

 table salt well mixed in the syrup. Salt is sprinkled over 

 the top of the frames and on the bottom-board of the hive. 

 The feeding should be kept up for at least 10 days. 



Many remedies have been given as a sure cure for this 

 disease, but as the disease often disappears without any 

 special treatment from the apiarist, he seriously doubts any 

 of the remedies being of much value, and especially so 

 after having tried most of the remedies with varied results. 



In our more southern localities this disease generally 

 appears only occasionally in a few colonies, disappearing 

 as soon as new honey and pollen come in. 



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(Eanabtcm 

 4-23eebom-f 



Conducted by Morlbt Pbttit, Villa Nova, Ont 



Educate the Public on Honey 



J 



The limited demand for honey, says the Mail and Em- 

 pire, is responsible for low prices. It is " up to " the bee- 

 keepers to educate the demand. The craze for pure foods 

 makes the time opportune. Let the bee-men explain at 

 meetings, at exhibitions, and through the local press, the 

 advantages of using honey. Get the children interested. A 

 lecture on honey, illustrated by an observatory hive, in the 

 school-house, will accomplish much in this direction. 



Honey as Nature's sweet has of late been supplanted by 

 the manufactured article — granulated sugar. Bee-men 

 should turn the tide back to Nature. 



World Value of Clover 



Cyril G. Hopkins, of the University of Illinois, shows 

 in the Farm, Field and Fireside the great importance of 

 clover in the household economy of the world. He first 



