June 7, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



489 



ever knew, and capping honey so watery -looking that they are lit for 

 extracted honey only. Caucasians are yet an unknown quantity ; the 

 best according to some; worthless according to others. 



2. During fruit-bloom has been a favorite time, but of late the 

 tendency is toward waiting till they swarm, and then breaking up the 

 old box-hive 3 weeks after swarming. 



3. The old rule is to put on supers when bits of white wax are 

 seen along the upper parts of the comb and frame That's probably 

 a little late, for the white wax is an indication of crowding. If your 

 first harvest comes from white clover, put on supers just as soon as 

 you see the tirst blossom opened out. No harm to put them on a 

 little before time, even if the brood-chamber is not yet filled. 



4. I don't know much about them, and it might not be easy to 

 find them pure in this country. See what Louis Seholl 6ays about 

 them, page 446. 



5. That depends upon how dry and how wet. Better results are 

 obtained when a little too dry than when a little too wet. In a wet 

 season the bees lose some time when they can not be at work on ac- 

 count of showers, and when they do work they must bring in more 

 water with the nectar, so, although they may bring in the same 

 volume in a wet as in a dry day, there will be more honey in a dry- 

 day's gathering. 



6. Blackberry is not generally in sufficient number to count much. 

 I don't know for certain, but I think it might be important where 

 there are large fields of it. In any case, whatever it does yield is of 

 importance because it comes early enough to fill in the gap between 

 fruit-tree bloom and clover. 



7. Probably a flat one perfectly rain-proof and double, so as to 

 have a dead-air space. I have some with a space of % inch between 

 the upper and lower parts, and covered with zinc. They are excellent, 

 but expensive, costing something like 30 cents each. 



8. A good time to requeen is any time when you have the queens 

 when honey is yielding well. It's largely a matter of convenience. 

 Other things being equal, there is perhaps no better time than well 

 along in the honey-harvest. It is easier to have good queens then 

 than earlier. But if you are getting a queen to breed from, it may be 

 better to do so right away if you want the benefit of her this season. 

 You will perhaps do best to use the plan for introduction that will 

 accompany the queen you buy. Don't make your colony queenless in 

 advance of getting your queen. 



9. There is no difference except that the latest edition has the 

 Appendix. If you have the old edition all you need to do is to send 

 10 cents to the American Bee Journal office for the Appendix. 



Italianizing Black Colonies 



1. I have 3 colonies of black bees. Can I keep them from swarm- 

 ing and from mixing with some choice Italians I have by using en- 

 trance-guards on the blacks? 



2. Do you think I could form colonies with the Swarthmore 

 method, by taking bees from the black colonies and a frame of young 

 brood from a select-tested Italian queen? and will they rear a queen 

 from that brood? I want to get them all Italianized. New York. 



Answers. — 1. No, entrance-guards will not prevent swarming. If 

 there is any difference at all, a colony will be just a little more sure to 

 swarm with an entrance-guard than without it. The only thing ac- 

 complished by an entrance-guard is to prevent the passage of queens 



and drones. An entrance-guard, in the way of a trap at the entrance, 

 will allow you to trap the drones of your black colonies, and so pre- 

 vent these drones from meeting your Italian virgins. You may ac- 

 complish the same thing by keeping all drone-comb out of the black 

 colonies. But this will avail little if there are other black bees within 

 a mile or so. 



Possibly I don't exactly understand your question, and if so I'll 

 be glad to have you ask again, for I don't see what difference it will 

 make to have your blacks swarm, nor even if some of the black bees 

 should enter the hives of your Italians. It's the black drones you are 

 to fear. If you allow natural swarming, there's one way that you can 

 work it nicely. Draw brood from the strongest of your blacks and 

 give to the Italians, so the Italians shall be stronger than the others 

 and swarm first. Suppose we call the Italian No. 1, the strongest 

 black No. 2, the next strongest No. 3, and the weakest No. 4. When 

 No. 1 swanii6, set the swarm on the stand of No. 1, set No. 1 on the 

 stand of No. 2, and set No. 2 in a new place. In a little more than a 

 week No. 1 will be pretty sure to swarm again. Set the swarm in 

 place of No. 1, set No. 1 in place of No. 3, and set No. 3 in a new place. 

 A day or so later No. 1 will swarm again. Set the swarm in place of 

 No. 1, 6et No. 1 in place of No. 4, and set No. 4 in a new place. When 

 No. 1 swarms next, set the swarm in place of No. 1, and set No. 1 in a 

 new place. You will have black and yellow bees mixed up in all your 

 hives but No. 1, but the queens will be just the same as if no black 

 bees had mixed in. 



2. Yes, your black bees will rear just as yellow queens as will your 

 yellow bees. But don't think of having queen-cell6 started by only a 

 few bees. 



Bitter Honey— Comb-Honey Management 



1. My honey is bitter this spring. What makes it so? What must 

 I do to remedy it? 



2. Give the best method of working for comb honey where the 

 principal, and you might say all the honey-flow, comes between May 1 

 and 15. Arkansas. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know of anythinglikely to make the honey 

 bitter except the source from which it is obtained, and I don't know 

 of any remedy for that. You can not control the bees so that they 

 will not visit flowers that yield bitter honey, and after they have gath- 

 ered it there is no way that you can take the bitterness out of the 

 honey. The only thing you can do is to see that it does not get mixed 

 in with good honey. It will be all right to let the bees have such 

 honey for their own use, probably, and the honey is all right for 

 mechanical purposes. 



2. The only special thing in such a case is to do your best to have 

 all colonies strong early enough for the harvest. You will find that 

 early in the season some colonies will be much stronger than others, 

 and that the weaker colonies will be very slow about building up. 

 Suppose you have some colonies with 8 frames of brood, some 7, some 

 6, some 5, some 4, and others weaker still. You can take brood from 

 any colony that has more than 5 frames, enough to reduce it to 5 

 frames of brood. Now, don't bestow that brood indiscriminately to 

 the weaker colonies, but let the weakest wait till the last. Give a 

 frame to each colony that has only 4, and when these are all supplied. 

 then help those that have only 3, and so on. If all can not be brought 

 up in time, let it be the weakest ones that are neglected. 



Reports cmb 

 (Experiences 



Gatting the Honey Now 



In my apiary in Southern California the 

 bees are gathering what seems to be unlimited 

 amounts of honey. Two of 6 colonies have 4 

 supers. 3 have 2 supers, and the remaining 1 

 has 1 super. Moreover, they are the standard 

 10-frame supers. Two other colonies I in- 

 creased to 8, and am waiting the results with 

 much interest. They are rearing their own 

 queens, having been made by a modification 

 of the nucleus method. E. E. Richter. 



Belmont, Calif., May 22. 



Too Cool for Bee-Work 



Clover is in bloom and bees are busy, but it 

 is rather too cool so that but little opening of 

 hives can be done. There is some swarming. 

 John M. Davis. 



Springhill, Tenn., May 8. 



Prospects for a Good Season 



I have 5 colonies of bees. I would not 

 know how to manage them without the " Old 

 Reliable." I wintered them in the cellar, 

 and put them out April 1". They had brood 



hatching when put out. The prospects are 

 for a good season. Mr. C. Davenport's method 

 of swarm control (on page 185), also hi6 

 queen-finder (on page 252), are wonderful dis- 

 coveries. He should describe them before 

 some one else does, and take the credit from 

 him. If I were to make any discoveries of 

 value I would not be able to contain them. I 

 would have to make all haste to inform "ye 

 brethren." G. A. McDonald. 



Cambria, Wis., May 7. 



Working in the Supers 



Bees are doing well, and are working nicely 

 in the 6upers. It is quite dry, and has been 

 cool and cloudy for 2 or 3 days. 



Milo, Mo., May 2H. Chas. M. D arrow. 



Season Late in California 



The season in California is very late. 

 Southern California has had abundant rain, 

 but so far it has been too cool for honey. The 

 sages here do not promise well, the flower- 

 buds not being well developed. Swarming is 

 very light. However, the bees have been at 

 it for 6 weeks when it was warm enough. 



G. F. Merriam. 



San Marcos, Calif., April 17. 



Late and Backward Season 



We are having cloudy and cool weather 



here now. My bar eter registered at 20.20, 



and it has always ruined the past winter when 

 at this point. Kees have used much of their 



stores, and some I have to feed until good, 

 clear weather comes. The season is very late 

 and backward. Bees are swarming with no 

 honey. The sages look fine. 



M. H. Mendleson. 

 Piru, Calif., April 14. 



Iowa Pure 



Honey-Flow Has Begun- 

 Food Law 



The honey-fiow has ju6t begun here. I have 

 been feeding about 100 colonies since April 1. 

 I have gotten most of them in tolerably strong 

 condition, and began supering day before 

 yesterday. I packed 120 colonies last fall and 

 have lost about a dozen of them, mostly due 

 to loss of queens. The weather has been 

 quite cool yesterday and to-day. Iowa now 

 has a pure food law which will be in force 

 after July 1. Edwin Bevins. 



Leon, Iowa, May 28. 



A Good Queen— Moving Bees 



In 1904 I got a queen as a premium just in 

 time to prevent a colony from becoming hope- 

 lessly queenless. She brought that colony up 

 into good shape that season, and has been my 

 pet ever since. I divided her force several 

 times in 1905, in order to rear queens from 

 her, and eaeh one of those divisions did at 

 least as well as a good prime swarm, besides 

 giving me a goodly number of queens for 

 Italianizing. So far this 6eason I have one 

 swarm and 2 "divisions" from her direct, 

 besides half a dozen fine specimens of her 

 progeny — I mean young queens which I in 



