June 21, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



other that I have ever seen. 1 have never seen it advertised in stock. 

 It was originally gotten up by Elvin Armstrong, about 25 years ago. 

 and was favorably spoken of by the American Bee Journal at the time. 

 He was then engaged in the bee-supply business, but soon quit. I 

 have always had to send a sample to the manufacturers to get them 

 made. When put together to go on the hive, I could throw them over 

 a fence and they would not come apart. I would like to have you see 

 one. It may not suit you, but it 6uits me. I wish I could draft it 

 and send you a draft or describe it, but I can do neither. I would 

 send you a sample all ready put together with sections less the starters 

 if you will pay the express charges. I have had to pay 50 cents ex- 

 pressage where I sent samples. They are put up for 8-frame hives, 

 but I use them indiscriminately for 8 or 10 frames. Iowa. 



Answers.— 1. As there would be only the one queen in the hive, 

 and no possibility of rearing another, it would be suicidal for the bees 

 to swarm. We have had accounts lately of millionaires committing 

 suicide, but don't expect such foolish things of bees, but there have 

 been reports of exceptional cases when the bees didn't seem to have 

 any more sense than millionaires. For all practical purposes, how- 

 ever, it may be said that when a virgin is in a hive with no queen- 

 cells, and nothing from which a queen can be reared, there will be no 

 swarming. 



2. They will accept them at once, as the queen and bees belong 

 together and have never been apart. 



3. No, I don't think there is anything " fishy " about workers 

 standing guard over cells to prevent the free virgin from destroying 

 them You can satisfy yourself on that point by a little observation. 

 When a second swarm is contemplated, if the weather delays it, the 



idea of further swarming may or may not be given up. If it is given 

 up, then the cells are no longer guarded, the virgins that have been 

 quahking in the cells are allowed to emerge, there is a fight to a 6ni6h, 

 and all immature queens are destroyed in their cells. 



4. You have lots of company in your ignorance. Yes, you cage 

 the workers with your bare fingers, pushing them into the cage 

 through the little round hole. Take the cage in the left hand, find a 

 bee with its head stuck in a cell helping itself to honey — partly be- 

 cause it's easy to get such a bee, but also because such a bee is gen- 

 erally of the best age to stand confinement — grasp it by both wings, 

 puBh its head into the hole, and it will generally run into the cage 

 without any ceremony. Some, however, put it in tail foremost, push- 

 ing upon its head to make it go in. Then the forefinger of the left 

 hand keeps the hole closed till another bee is caught. 



5. I'm not sure that I've seen it ever mentioned in print, but I 

 think such a proceeding as you mention is the rule rather than the 

 exception ; only I think it is unusual for so many bees to be killed. I 

 have not paid much attention to it of late years, but years ago, when 

 I gave a queen somewhat in the way you describe, I was surprised 

 to find a good many times a number of dead bees carried out of the 

 hive. My final surmise was that there were two factions, one for the 

 queen, and one against her. I'm sure about the fact of the bees be- 

 ing killed, but I may be wrong in my surmise. 



6. I think I have among my accumulation of all sorts of things a 

 super such as you describe. I have never yet seen any variation that 

 seemed to me as good as the simple super with loose T tins. If I 

 should begin paying carriage on samples of things that are offered me, 

 I'm afraid it would " break " me. 



Iteporf 5 am 

 experiences 



A Heavy Honey-Flow 



Bees are doing fine. We aie having a heavy 

 honey-How 



The American Bee Journal gets better every 

 week. T. L. Shawler. 



Silver City, Iowa, June 7. 



Working on White Clover 



White clover is in full bloom at present, 

 and bees are doing good work on it. 

 Nisbet, Pa., June 14. Grant Stanley. 



Season Disastrous to Honey-Flow 



The season here is disastrous to the honey- 

 flow. The dry weather early in the spring re- 

 tarded the clover growth until we have but 

 very little, and it is so cold now that the bees 

 can work but little. George M. Rumler. 



Mohawk, Ind., June 13. 



Should Have a Full Honey-Flow 



My bees wintered in the cellar. I did not 

 lose a single colony. All have queens and are 

 populous. White clover is coming on fine. 

 Soon sweet clover will be in full bloom. What 

 few basswood trees we have here are showing 

 up first-class. We ought to have a full honey- 

 low. W. A. Wiseman, M. D. 



Camargo, 111., June 7. 



Killed by the Frost— Peaeh-Bloom 

 for Bees 



The late freeze killed at least 75 percent of 

 the strawberry crop. About 95 percent of 

 the peaches are killed. All of my 100 Japan 

 plum-trees were white with bloom, and it 

 " fixed " nearly every one of them. About 

 100 pear-trees were in bloom, and it killed 

 nearly all the Duchess and the delicious 

 Tyson, but I'll probably get 20 percent of a 

 crop of Kieffer, Garber and Wilder Early. I 

 had 40 apricot-trees with apricots already 

 formed, and it "fixed " all but a few in the 

 very top of the trees. 



I have been waiting several years for a 

 peach crop, and only for the fro6t the pros- 

 pect was good for 500 bushels or more. I 



don't expect now more than 20 or 25 bushel6 — 

 probably not that much, and I may get 50 

 bushels of Keiffer pears, and 2 or 3 pockets 

 full of apricots. However, crying over spilt 

 milk will not feed the hungry, and I still have 

 much to be thankful for. There are none of 

 us sick. We are all enjoying life as usual. 

 We have 7 cows, lots of milk, butter, and sev- 

 eral yearlings and little calves ; some hogs, a 

 lot of full-blood, fine strain of Bradley Barred 

 Rock chickens, about 150 little chickens, a lot 

 of hens sitting, and then there are the bees. 

 True, my wife thinks I am feeding them more 

 than they are worth, but as raspberry is 

 almost ready to bloom, I think I won't have 

 to feed any more, except 3 or 4 weak cotonies. 



I never saw bees in such need as they have 

 been this 6pring. I have had to feed nearly 

 every colony to keep them from starving and 

 to keep up brood-rearing, but some will be 

 ready for supers in a few days if the weather 

 is favorable, as we have lots or both wild and 

 tame raspberries here. There are lots of 

 wild crab-apple6 in the woods near here, 

 which are now in full bloom, and the dande- 

 lions are abundant in the pastures and are 

 now in bloom. The wind has been blowing 

 so hard during a good part of May so far, 

 that the bees could not work well even on 

 warm days. For 2 days the peach-blossoms 

 gave a flow of honey almost like basswood. 

 I'll agree with Mr. Hasty on peach-blossoms. 

 Peach and pear bloomed together, but the bees 

 sung a much louder song in the peach-trees 

 than in the pear-trees. And the Japan plums 

 that were also in bloom, got but very little 

 attention from the bees during those 2 good 

 days of peach-bloom. The cherries were also 

 in bloom, but showed very few bees. The 

 peach-trees were just humming with them. 

 J. E Johnson. 



Williamsfield, 111., May 14. 



An Experience With Bees 



First, I am a locomotive engineer. So you 

 see a farmer is not the only person who can 

 keep bees and produce honey. I started in 

 the spring of 1003 with 1 colony in a Root 

 double-story chaff hive, and 1 in a store-goods 

 box. These gave me 4 good colonies and 140 

 pounds of honey that season. But, of course, 

 the honey was not all in as good shape as A 

 No. 1 should be, but it was all stored from 

 flowers, and no sugar 6yrup. These 4 colonies 

 I wintered, and the next season increased to 

 7, and produced 2N5 pounds of A No. 1 honey 

 and 100 pounds of unfinished sections, and 

 all, or nearly all, bad enough in to use. All 

 the money I ever invested for supplies was 

 ¥10. I bought 3 queens, and killed others to 

 make places for them. I could have had sev- 

 eral more colonies of bees last summer, but 

 did not want them. I make all my own hives, 



S and 10 frame Langstroth. The first year t 

 had lots of bees hanging on the front of the 

 hive, but last summer I never had a pint of 

 bees hang out. I have my super arrange- 

 ments fixed so that 1 can give them lots of 

 ventilation by 6imply raising the cover a lit- 

 tle. I expect to make my bees give me 100 

 pounds of honey (I speak of section-comb 

 honey) next summer. 



I live in a town, with neighbors on all 

 sides not 200 feet away. I take the American 

 Bee Journal, and have " A B C of Bee-Cul- 

 ture" and " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee. " 



Now for a little of the other side: I had a 

 colony that swarmed July 6. I hived the bees 

 on the old stand, and set the mother colony 

 about 20 feet away. They did not have any 

 queen-cells, but lots of brood and eggs. In 

 about a week I looked and still no queen-cells 

 and no eggs. So I sent to a breeder for a 

 queen, and July 17 I introduced her in the 

 cage she came in, with the candy method, and 

 she was killed Aug. 12. Still no eggs and no 

 brood. I introduced another queen, leaving 

 the cage lie on top of the frames 24 hours be- 

 fore I gave the bees access to the candy. 

 August 18 she was not yet out of the cage. I 

 released her and all seemed to be all right, 

 but on Aug. 21 I could find no queen nor eggs. 

 Then on Aug. 22 I united them with a nucleus 

 having a laying queen. This I did in the fol- 

 lowing manner: 



1 closed the rebels and set them on top of 

 the nucleus with wire-cloth between for 24 

 hour6. Then I made a small hole in the wire 

 and let them work down and out through the 

 nucleus. They killed the queen and almost 

 all of the bees of the nucleus, and started cells 

 on larvae of the nucleus. September 9 a friend 

 gave me a good, strong nucleus with a good 

 queen. So I shut the rebels up and set them 

 away for 3 days and put the nucleus on the 

 stand. Then I took the rebels and shook all 

 the bees off their combs on the grass and let 

 them run into the nucleus. They fought 

 some, but on Sept. 12 I examined them and 

 found the queen in the hive, also 3 queen- 

 cells, but no eggs, as this queen had stopped 

 laying. I pinched the cells out and thought 

 all would be well, but Sept. 16 I looked again 

 and the queen was gone, and 5 more cells 

 started. I pinched them out and tried to 

 introduce another queen, but they killed her. 

 All this time there was not an egg laid in this 

 rebel colony; so don't say laying worker. I 

 left them until Oct. 30, and still there were 

 about 2 quarts of bees left. These bees car- 

 ried pollen and honey nearly all the time, but 

 not a single egg or brood of any kind, so I 

 introduced a dose that they all took — about 1 

 tablespoon ful of sulphur. 



Now, will some one explain what was 

 wrong! I would like to see an answer in the 

 American Bee Journal. Lewis. 



Jersey Shore, Pa. 



