AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



169 



answered by 

 Marengo, III. 



In this department will he answered tliose 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the '~!0 or more apiarists 

 who help to maiie "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. 



E.earing Queens for Home Use. 



Can you give an easy method of queen- 

 rearing on a small scale, for 20 to 40 

 queens In a season ? I wish to rear 

 about 30 queens to Italianize my apiary, 

 and would like to do it beforie the honey- 

 flow in the spring, if possible ; but I 

 don't know how to do it, or if it can be 

 done. G. D. L. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



Answer. — If you want to supply all 

 your queens before the honey-liow in 

 the spring, perhaps the easiest and sur- 

 est way will be to send south and buy 

 queens. For good queens depend much 

 upon season and weather, and you need 

 not expect to succeed in rearing them in 

 advance of the honey-flow. If it were 

 otherwise, you would not find the most 

 expert queen-breeders complaining that 

 they could not iill orders in time because 

 the season was against them. Study up 

 thoroughly in the books, or in some one 

 good book, the general principles of 

 queen-rearing, and then you will still 

 find you have something to think over 

 to know just how to make them a^pply to 

 your particular needs. 



Candy for Winter Feeding. 



I have several colonies in the cellar — 

 some rather light in stores. I wish to 

 place candy on top of the frames under 

 the quilts. 1. How can I make the 

 candy for cellar feeding V I have Phenix 

 E sugar — will that do '? 2. Would it be 

 better to use part honey in making 

 candy ? If so, what proportion ? 



I have just been looking over the last 

 two volumes of the Bee Journal, but I 



do not find what I wish. But believing 

 this an age of improvement, I would 

 rather hear the advice of the present 

 time. c. B. H. 



Wellsville, N. Y. 



Answers. — 1. Any brand of pure 

 granulated sugar is 'good, and, on the 

 whole, probably nothing is cheaper. 

 That's for making hard candy, which 

 needs no honey, and is made by boiling, 

 like any candy. 



2. Of late, what is called Scholz or 

 Good candy, is much used. I quote from 

 Root's ABC instructions for making, as 

 follows : 



"Take good, thick honey and heat 

 (not boil) it until it becomes very thin, 

 and then stir in pulverized sugar. " After 

 stirring in all the sugar the honey will 

 absorl), taUe it out of the utensil in 

 which it is mixed, and thoroughly knead 

 it with the hands. The kneading makes 

 it more pliable and soft, so it will absorb, 

 or, rather, take up, more sugar." 



Lots of kneading seems to be very im- 

 portant, and when it is done you' will 

 have a stiff dough. After standing, 

 however, it doesn't always stay just the 

 same, and it wouldn't 'l^e a' bad plan 

 before giving it to the bees for you to let 

 it stand a day or two in the same atmos- 

 phere the bees are in. If it remains 

 without change, all right ; but if it gets 

 thin, you can knead in more sugar. 



Several Hives in One Box. 



I have my bees in long boxes, each 

 holding 10 colonies, and room for chaff 

 over and around them. I placed them 

 in these boxes early last fall, and ever 

 since I have noticed an undue amount 

 of dead bees at the entrance. We have 

 had a very light winter so far, bees have 

 flown almost every day, and should have 

 wintered well, as they have plenty of 

 sealed stores. 



1. Do bees, when placed as above, all 

 using one general entrance, get in the 

 wrong hive and get stung? If so, could 

 I remedy this by making a long box 

 wide enough to take the frames, this 

 box to be placed in the larger box, and 

 the box to be placed in it and separated 

 only by queen-excluding division-boards? 



2. Would the bees, on being suddenly 

 turned together, fight and kill each 

 others' queens ? If so, could I prevent 

 this by using wire-cloth division-boards 

 until they became of one scent ? If not 

 by this means, by what other means 

 could it be done ? 



I wish to leave them in this box all 

 summer. I will remove the sides and 



