1004 



Dec 6, 1906 



American Ttee Journal 



Docfor Miltarts * 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 

 Db. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 

 ' Dr. Miller does not answer Questions by mail. 



Leaving Empty Supers in Hives in 

 Winter 



This has been a very poor season for 

 bees. I have about 14 colonies, and but 

 one that has stored any surplus, and 

 that one is an Italian colony. I have 

 always taken off the supers in the fall, 

 and have put on empty supers filled 

 with old rags, etc., but as there is 

 no honey in the supers, will it not do 

 to leave the supers on? Will the bees 

 winter just as well? Missouri. 



Answer. — It will take quite a bit 

 of the heat of the bees to keep warm 

 the empty space in the super over 

 them, and as far north as you are, 

 there will be no heat to spare. Besides, 

 if the super is a section-super, the sec- 

 tions would be spoiled to leave them 

 on over winter. 



New Pure Food Laws ana Bee-Keepers 



Referring to the new pure food law, 

 as given in Gleanings, what is to pre- 

 vent a dishonest dealer from buying 

 honey, mixing glucose with it and sell- 

 ing on the guarantee of the bee-keeper 

 of whom he bought it? Or rather, 

 what protection has the bee-keeper, or 

 what assurance has he that such will 

 not be done? To illustrate: 



A is an honest bee-keeper. He sells 

 1,000 pounds of extracted honey to B 

 (a dishonest dealer), in 60-pound cans, 

 giving B a written guarantee that it is 

 pure honey. B unscrews the tops of 

 the cans, empties out the honey, mixes 

 1,000. pounds of glucose with it, puts 

 it back in the 60-pound cans and pro- 

 ceeds to sell it to C, D, E. etc., on 

 down to Z, giving each a guarantee 

 that it is pure honey. Z discovers it 

 is adulterated and goes back on B, who 

 falls back on his guarantee from A. 

 How is A to prove his innocence? 



It may be that I am unduly alarmed, 

 but I really am afraid some poor bee- 

 keeper who is not able to stand a long- 

 drawn-out lawsuit is going to have 

 trouble, and I think it well for this 

 matter to be discussed in the papers, 

 and. if necessary, some means de- 

 vised by which the cans may be sealed 

 in such a manner that the honey can- 

 not be removed without breaking the 

 seal. It would be well for bee-keepers 

 to be fully prepared to protect them- 

 selves by the time they harvest another 

 crop. Texas. 



Answer. — Your question is a timely 

 one, and yet it was evidently not left 

 altogether out of view by the editor of 

 Gleanings. As he says in substance, if 

 A sells a package of honey that is 

 adulterated he is safe from punishment 

 if he can fall back upon B, from whom 

 he bought it with B's guarantee of 

 purity, and B can in like manner fall 

 back upon C, the producer. But note 

 that he adds, "As I understand it, this 

 guarantee will not apply in any case 

 where the original package in which 

 the goods were received has been 

 broken and the goods have been put 

 into other packages." Then comes into 

 play your suggestion that the producer 

 must seal the package in such a way 

 that it will be easy to prove if the seal 

 has been broken. 



Disturbing Bees in the Cellar 



I began keeping bees a year ago last 

 spring. I put 9 colonies into winter 

 quarters Nov. 10. They were all in 

 good shape except 2 colonies, which 

 had foul brood, and I did not know it 

 till quite late in the season. I changed 

 their frames twice, giving them one- 

 inch starters first and full sheets of 

 foundation the last time, so they 

 hadn't time to get enough honey for 

 their needs. I fed syrup vigorously 

 till it got so cold that they could not 

 take any more. They seem to have 

 quite a little supply, but I am a little 

 "scary" about it. They are my best 

 colonies. Last winter I had some col- 

 onies that were short. They had a lit- 

 tle along the top-bars of every frame. 

 So I used to go and look at them about 

 once in 2 weeks and move the outside 

 frames towards the center, for they did 

 not seem to get to them if I did not 

 do so. I brought them through all 

 right. Do you think it pays to bother 

 them in the cellar, or would they get 

 along better if let entirely alone? 



I am trying to winter a small nucle- 

 us whose queen died along in the sum- 

 mer. Before I noticed it they were 

 almost nothing, so I felt sorry for the 

 little things and got a queen for them, 

 put them in a nucleus hive, and fed 

 them, and soon the queen got to lay- 

 ing and had quite a little brood by the 

 end of the harvest. I made a feeder 

 of my own design to go on the out- 

 side of the hive about half-way up to 

 the rear end of the hive. As far as I 



can see, they are all right. I filled the 

 feeder full of thick syrup before I put 

 them away for winter. Minnesota. 



Answer. — Disturbing the bees once 

 in 2 weeks throughout the winter is 

 certainly no benefit; but as they came 

 through all right in your case, it 

 could not have done so very much 

 harm. The probability, however, is 

 that in the cellar the bees would have 

 reached the stores without any inter- 

 ference on your part. If the cellar is 

 of the right temperature, never much 

 below 45 degrees for many days at a 

 time, I think I would risk letting them 

 hunt the stores for themselves, so long 

 as plenty of stores were in the hive. 



Moving Bees a Short*,:Distance— Cor- 

 rect Amount of Winter Stores 



1. I would like to change my bee- 

 hive places, but leave them on the 

 same piece of ground. What time of 

 year is the best for this work, so that 

 the bees won't mix? 



2. What direction should I turn the 

 hive-entrance, or does it matter what 

 direction this far south? 



3. All my bees had from 20 to 25 

 pounds of stores per colony, November 

 10. Do you think it is enough for 

 the winter? Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. The best time is when 

 they have been confined to the hives 

 the longest, so that their first flight 

 after their long confinement will be 

 from their new location. If you could 

 tell just when their last flight would 

 be before their longest winter impris- 

 onment and their first flight after it. 

 the ideal time to move them would be 

 on the evening of the day of their 

 last flight, or in the morning before 

 their first spring flight. 



2. Small matter which way they 

 face, although there is a somewhat gen- 

 eral preference for having them face 

 south and southeast. 



3. Being in latitude 3S or 39. yen 

 undoubtedly winter bees outdoors, and 

 very likely the weather will allow your 

 bees greater activity than in localities 

 farther north, resulting in greater con- 

 sumption of stores. Some colonies 

 may pull through with 20 pounds of 

 honey, and others may starve with 25. 

 It would certainly be safer to have 

 them heavier. 



>rfs and 

 fpefiences 



_ '-—L- 



Size of Winter Hive-Entrance— 

 Winter Losi of Queens 



I notice that there is a great difference in 

 ideas among amateur bee-keepers about the 

 size of entrance for winter, but I believe 

 nearly all agree on 2 square inches capacity. 

 It is all right if given in the right place, or 

 rather at each corner, but if it is given all in 

 the center, and the cluster of bees is in the 

 center, through a long cold snap it gets 

 clogged with dead bees. Then if there comes 



