Sept. 20, 1906 



803 



American Ttee Journal 



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my top-bars are % thick, while his top-bars 

 are % thick, and he has no trouble with build- 

 ing between them. If I had to get a lot of 

 new frames, 1 think I should do some experi- 

 menting as to thickness before I got fully 

 stocked up. 



4. I think not; but I have 6ome trouble 

 with spraying in time of cherry-bloom. The 

 owner of a large cherry-orchard is one of the 

 best and straightest men in the community; 

 but somehow he can't get it through his head 

 that he is hurting himself by spraying when 

 trees are in bloom ; and he says if he doesn't 

 begin spraying a little before the bloom falls 

 that be can't get through the whole, in time. 

 When as good a man as he is can not see any 

 wrong in subjecting me to serious loss for the 

 sake of a little inconvenience to himself, it 

 shows that no effort should be spared to have 

 Illinois come to the front like some other 

 States, with a strict spraying law. If I un- 

 derstand the matter rightly, a man lays him- 

 self liable to penalty if he puts out poison 

 purposely to kill my bees, but if he poisons 

 them incidentally while spraying fruit-bloom, 

 he goes scot free. Let us hope that the effort 

 to get the right law that came so near suc- 

 ceeding last time may succeed entirely next 

 time. 



Extracting and Feeding Back 



The season for gathering honey since July, 

 has been very bad, and the brood-nests in 

 all my colonies in 8-frame hives are, you 

 might say, empty now. I run my colonies 

 for extracted honey in 5%xl7>; frames. I 

 have on hand enough supers of this size, 

 well filled and sealed. Will it be good policy 

 to leave one of these well-filled supers on each 

 hive for winter stores over comparatively 

 empty brood-combs, or would it be safer to 

 extract this and feed back into brood-frames '. 

 My latitude is parallel 39, or about this. 

 Feeding back is considerable work, but 1 am 

 willing to do so rather than to risk uncer- 

 tainties. MI9SOURI. 



Answer. — I don't believe I would be to the 

 trouble of extracting and feeding back. 

 There is little doubt that the bees will carry 

 down enough honey for winter stores if you 

 put a super of shallow frames over each col- 

 ony, especially if you mash the surface of the 

 combs in the shallow frames. If the honey 

 were not carried down to your liking, there is 

 no law in latitude 39 degrees against leaving 

 a super on each hive all winter. You could 

 also, after brood has hatched out of them, 

 take 3 or 4 frames out of the lower story, 

 crowd the rest of the frames to one side, and 

 put in 3 or 4 of the shallow frames solid full, 

 working them out in the spriog before any 

 brood gets in them, provided, of course, that 

 the frames in each story are of the same 

 length. 



■ — • — m i 



Late Building Dp of Colonies-Feed- 

 ing Bees Maple Sugar 



1. I bought 3 colonies of bees last winter. 

 When spring came one proved very light, 

 with only a few bees but a good queen ; one 

 had lots of bees and no queen They doub led 

 up, leaving me 2 good colonies, but one 6ad 

 combs built solid in the hives and all crooked. 

 We took a hive with 10 frames and starters 

 and put the hive with bad combs on top , and 

 they moved into it all right. We diet not 

 want them to swarm, so cut out all queen- 

 cells and have not had a swarm this 6ummer. 

 I bought 3 Italian queens, fitted up 3 10- 

 frame hives with starters, gave them some 

 brood, and set them in place of old hives. I 

 have now 5 hives well filled with bees. Now 

 one of these has been queenless nearly all 

 summer. It had a queen a little while, then 

 she disappeared. I gave them a frame of 

 brood with a queen-cell; she filled a number 

 of frames of brood and then disappeared. 

 Then we tried introducing an Italian queen, 

 and although successful with our other 2 col- 

 onies, they would not have her— balled her 

 after they let her out. Then we rolled her in 



honey and thev cleaned her; then they stung 

 her so she died. Then we gave them a frame 

 of Italian brood with 3 sealed queen-cells. 

 Now these all hatched 10 days ago, and all my 

 other hives have sealed and unsealed brood, 

 but there is no sign of a queen in this hive. 

 The others are well 6tored with honey, but 

 this one has hardly any. Would you divide 

 them with the other colonies? I have had 

 them fill 10 frames with honey to feed in 

 spring, but otherwise they have stored very 

 little. 



2. I have some maple sugar that has been 

 damp so it is unfit for market. Would this 

 make good food for bees? Maine. 



Answers. — 1. It is pretty late now to do 

 very much in the way of building up, as 

 queens are letting up on laying, and if 1 un- 

 derstand correctly, very little brood has been 

 in the hive in question for some weeks, 60 the 

 bees are old and likely to die off badly in 

 winter, if not before winter, so it will be ad- 

 visable to break up the colony, distributing 

 the bees among the other colonies as you sug- 

 gest. 



2. It may be profitably fed next spring after 

 bees are flying, to be used up in rearing 

 brood; but don't give it to the bees for win- 

 ter food. 



Extra Frames After Uniting 



If I unite 2 colonies in the fall, what can I 

 do with the frames in the hive from which I 

 drive the bees? Montana. 



Answer. — Just what shall be done with the 

 extra frames depends upon circumstances. If 

 empty tbey may be kept almost anywhere out- 

 doors or indoors, only so mice can not get at 

 them. It is better if they are where they are 

 allowed to freeze, as then any eggs or larva" of 

 the bee-moth will be destroyed. If only a 

 little honey is in them, they may be put a 

 few rods from the apiary for the bees to clean 

 out before being closed so mice can not get at 

 them. If enough honey is in them to make it 

 worth while to be kept for needy colonies 

 next spring, put them down cellar, of course 

 looking out for mice. 



B^HBK 



■ 



Imports and 

 experiences 



Bees Did Well 



Bees have done very well here so far this 

 season, and there is a tine prospect for a good 

 flow from asters and golden-rod. I have 174 

 colonies in tine condition, and have sold (13 

 colonies this season. W. S. Feeback. 



Carlisle, Ky., Sept. 9. 



Hopsemint— Sowing and Growing 



One of the best honey-plants of Texas is 

 horsemint (Monarda punctata) which grows 

 wild over a large portion of the State. From 

 it tremendous crops of honey are procured 

 during 6ome seasons. This being the case, I 

 have gathered a few seed which I have sold 

 to the editor of the American Bee Journal for 

 his distribution, thinking that possibly it will 

 assist some bee-man who wishes to grow pas- 

 turaga for his bees. 



Horsemint begins to bear honey while it is 

 very young and 6mall, and continues for 6 to 

 S weeks. It grows from 6 inches to 4 feet 

 high, and as thick as wheat. It is a very 

 hardy plant. It is a great drouth-resister 

 after it gets an inch or so high, and stands 

 any amount of cold weather with impunity. 

 Zero temperature does not hurt it. It germi- 

 nates every year when we have lains at the 

 right time: otherwise the seed will be dor- 

 mant for years and then come up. In this 

 latitude it must have a good, heavy rain, and 



the ground kept wet and moist for a week or 

 two and real seasonable a week or so after 

 that, to get up a good crop of it and get it 

 started. This wet spell must come here from 

 Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, or we will have no mint 

 the following year. It must come up and get 

 a little start about one month before frost. It 

 will not come up after late in December or 

 January, no matter how much rain may fall 

 thereafter. This accounts for its periodical 

 growth here. It will fail to come for 2, 3, or 

 4 years at a time, then the following year 

 after a wet fall we have an excellent crop of 

 mint if it is any ways seasonable the follow- 

 ing spring. 



It grows here on any kind of land, all over 

 the prairies, in the woods, amid grass and 

 trees, in the fence-rows, in fact, anywhere 

 where other wild weeds grow. It does far the 

 best on good, rich soils, especially accumula- 

 ted soils where water has washed it into beds. 



1 believe under proper cultivation, fertilizing, 

 and irrigation, that 5 or 10 acres of it will 

 give honey returns that will startle the most 

 conservative. Under such management a 

 single stalk every 2 feet each way will make 

 a solid bed of tassels as thick as wheat or 

 barley. Remember that the variety here will 

 make from 1 to 10 blooms or seed-rings to a 

 stem. 



We never cultivate it here, but from what I 

 know of its natural habits 1 will suggest the 

 following culture methods for it: 



Plant the 6eed about one month before frost 

 is expected in the fall, and keep the ground 

 moist, allowing very little or no crust to form 

 until the plants are up. Plant the seed about 



2 feet apart in rows, about J j'-inch deep, 3, 4, 

 or 5 seeds to the hill, so as" to be sure of a 

 plant in each hill. The overplus of plants can 

 be transplanted during a wet time, if desired. 

 Cultivate the weeds away as in other crops 

 with plow and hoe until it begins to bloom, 

 then stop. If you have good soil and a loca- 

 tion that suits its growth, you can expect the 

 plant6 to grow 3 feet high and 2 feet across. 



T. P. Robinson. 

 Williamson Co., Tex., Sept. 10. 



[We have 50 small sample packets of the 

 horsemint seed, and so long as they last we 

 will send them postpaid for 10 cts. each ; or to 

 any one sending us $1.00 at once for the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal for 1907 (of course including 

 subscription arrearage, if any) we will mail a 

 packet of this seed free. Address the office of 

 the American Bee Journal. — Editor.] 



Bees Did Fairly Well 



My bees have done fairly well this season, 

 giving an average of 70 pounds of comb honey 

 per colony ; but I think they should have 

 done better, as the best colony gave 140 

 pounds, and the poorest but 14 pounds. Poor 

 stock is the cau6e, as all received the same 

 treatment. D. G. Little. 



Hartley, Iowa, Sept. 6. 



Poof Season for Bees 



This has been a poor season for bees here ; 

 not a pound of honey. But they will have 

 enough for the winter. 8. N. Black. 



Clayton, 111., Aug. fi. 



Good Honey-Flow 



The honey flow wa6 good for this locality, 

 which i6 rather a poor one. Twenty colonies, 

 spring count, averaged 44 pounds each, with 

 no swarming, natural or shaken. 



Melchosin, B. C, Aug. 26. W.Fisher. 



A Good Honey Season 



I am getting a line crop of honey this sea- 

 son. I have 2 out-yards, and the ba6swood 

 yield was up to tbe average this season ; 

 while clover also gave a good yield here. My 

 average up to date is about 50 pounds per col- 

 ony, and the fall crop to come yet, of which I 



