10 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ANSWERED BY 



OK/. O. C. 1^I3Lj3LiH3K. 

 Marengo, Ii.l. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 20 or more apiarists 

 who help to malie "'Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting- on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Piping of a Q,ueen — Stingless Bees. 



1. I was standing by one of my bee- 

 hives last summer, looking for the bees 

 to swarm, and I heard a noise inside the 

 hive — a sound as if some one was in 

 there trying to scare me off — like a 

 bumble-bee in a log when you punch it 

 with a straw, but louder than I ever 

 heard before. When I was a boy, I was 

 always " deviling " them up, and you 

 have perhaps done the same, and know 

 the sound they make. 'What was it ? 



2. Are the stingless bees any good ? 

 Where are they to be found ? Will they 

 work in the apiary with other bees ? 



Bankston, Ala. M. W. G. 



Answers. — 1. The next time you have 

 a swarm, from a strong colony, see if you 

 can't hear the same sound again, by 

 going and putting your ear to the hive, 

 in the evening, seven, eight or nine days 

 after the swarm has issued. It is the 

 young queen piping, and your descrip- 

 tion of it is decidedly amusing. I never 

 "deviled" with bumble-bees in a hollow 

 log when a boy, but as I recall the noise 

 made by bumble-bees when their nest in 

 the grass was disturbed, it was by no 

 means unlike the piping of a queen. 



Sometimes an old queen pipes, but not 

 often. If the second swarm does not 

 issue the next day after you hear the 

 piping, you will probably hear it stronger 

 the next evening. You may also hear it 

 at any time of the day, but it can be 

 heard more distinctly in the still of the 



s evening. Besides the piping, you may 

 also hear the quahking of the other 



^ young queens that have not yet left their 

 cells, if the bees do not contemplate 



swarming again, you will probably hear 

 no piping. 



Piping is not heard before the issuing 

 of first swarms— only before after- 

 swarms. 



2. Don't fool away time with stingless 

 bees. They're no good. Get a hive full 

 of bumble-bees lirst. 



Feeding Rye Meal to Bees. 



To what extent would it be profitable 

 to feed rye meal to bees ? H. 0. F. 



Strawberry Point, Iowa. 



Answer. — There are some who are so 

 situated that their bees have opportunity 

 to store more pollen than tliey need, 

 and it becomes a nuisance, cramming 

 the combs that are needed for brood or 

 honey. In such a place there might 

 need to be care about feeding rye or 

 other meal to bees. Generally, how- 

 ever, bees get no more pollen than they 

 need, and even if some substitution is 

 fed in the spring, they will take no more 

 than is profitable, It seems to be a 

 good thing for the bees to gather pollen 

 in the spring, and even if they have a 

 good deal stored in the combs, it seems 

 to stimulate them to new activity in the 

 way of brood-rearing, if pollen is brought 

 in from outside. The result is the same, 

 so far as can be readily seen, if instead 

 of natural pollen some substitute is 

 brought in. 



Harm might be done in all cases, if 

 there were no limit to the amount of 

 rye meal that bees would take. But 

 just as soon as they can get natural pol- 

 len from any kind of flowers, your rye 

 meal will be deserted by them. So un- 

 less you are in one of those places where 

 so much pollen is gathered that it is 

 never all used out of the combs, I should 

 say that you might profitably feed rye 

 or other meal to any extent that the 

 bees would allow. 



'*A Modern Bee-Fsii*iii and Its 



Economic Management." is the title of a 

 splendid book on i)ractical bee-culture, by 

 Mr. S. Simmins, of England. It is 5%x8X 

 inches in size, and contains 2~0 pages 

 nicely illustrated. ;iad bound in cloth. It 

 shows •• how bees may be cultivated as a 

 means of livelihood; as a health-giving 

 pursuit ; and as a source of recreation to 

 the busy man." It also illustrates how 

 profits may be ''made certain by growing 

 crops yielding the most honey, having also 

 other uses; and by judgment in breeding a 

 good working strain of bees." Price, post- 

 paid, from this office, $1.00; or clubbed with 

 the Bee Journal for one year, for $1.60. 



