236 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAj 



nucleus with two or more frames of brood 

 and bees, and a young queen or a cell 

 nearly ready to hatch, then let them build 

 up of their own accord, or give them addi- 

 tional combs of brood if you think they 

 will not have time to build up. 



Several Questions Asked. 



1. Do mice eat live bees ? 



2. Are combs that have some pollen in 

 them, any good for breeding, if exposed to 

 frost ? 



3. Does frost kill the germs of the wax- 

 moth ? A. B. 



Chippewa Falls, Wis. 



Amswers. — 1. Reports have been given 

 where the legs were alive after the abdomen 

 had been eaten. 



2. Yes, they're good, frost or no frost. 



3. Severe enough freezing will finish 

 them. 



Caging Queens— Solar Wax-Extractor 



1. I see in a back number of Gleanings, 

 that you practice caging the queen at the 

 beginning of the honey-flow. How would 

 it do to remove the queen and allow each 

 colony to re-queen, removing all queen- 

 cells at the time when removing the 

 queen, and all but one nine or ten days 

 after, or give it a queen-cell from your 

 choice queen ? If increase is desired, the 

 queens removed can be given to nuclei, and 

 built up during the season. Have you ever 

 tried such a plan ? If so, how does it work ? 



2. Which would be the best to use in a 

 solar wax-extractor, tin or Russian iron, 

 such as is used in stove-pipes ? If the iron 

 is best, how would you fasten the screen in? 



I have tried the " shoe-string binder," 

 and it gives excellent satisfaction. 

 DeWitt, Iowa. C. H. 



Answers. — 1. After a full trial I did not 

 like caging queens. I've never tried ex- 

 actly the plan you suggest, but it could do 

 no harm to try it. 



2. Tin, by all means. 



Heating the Cellar for Bees. 



This is my first wintering bees in the 

 cellar. Would it be good to heat up the 

 cellar once in awhile, when the tempera- 

 ture in the cellar is from 38 to 41 degrees ? 

 The bees seem to be pretty quiet. 



I have all my bees in 10-frame Simplicity 

 hives ; would it be good to take the covers 

 off, if the strongest colonies and those close 

 to the wall show a little dampness between 

 the quilt and the cover, and if the outside 

 frames are a little moldy ? I have 20 colo- 

 nies in the cellar, and the cellar is under 

 the house. I have made a good air-tight 

 partition between the bee-cellar and the 

 vegetable-cellar. The bee-cellar is 10 feet 

 wide, 9 feet high, and 22 feet long, but I 

 have no ventilation in the bee-cellar. For 

 the last 5 years I have wintered my bees 



on the summer stands, but I thought to try 

 cellar-wintering once. 

 Minnesota. O. G. 



Answer. — Yes, it might be a good plan 

 to heat up the cellar once in awhile. Don't 

 be alarmed if it seems to stir up the bees a 

 little at first, providing they are quiet 

 afterward. 



You may find that the fire will help dry 

 out the dampness, or you might put some 

 little thing, like a nail, under the cover so 

 as to raise it an eighth or a quarter of an 

 inch. 



Bee-Stings for Bheumatism. 



Are bee-stings good for sciatica, alias neu- 

 ralgia of the sciatic nerves, alias sciatic 

 rheumatism, lumbago, and that tired and 

 heavy feeling in the rear of the shoulders ? 

 I have not had an attack for one year, but 

 I am not able to do hard work, or to be on 

 my feet more than a few hours at a time. 

 I killed about nine bees last summer to get 

 two to sting my legs, and I was a long time 

 in doing this. 



Suppose a fellow would go to a hive with 

 gloves and veil on, cut the drawers (by 

 cutting a strip out) so as to cover only 

 about three-fourths of the leg, and tie with 

 lace ; then disturb the bees, what are the 

 chances for the patient ? Cure or kill ? Is 

 it too much of a risk ? J. K. 



Answers. — This is one of the questions 

 upon which there is no settled agreement. 

 Some say they have been cured of rheuma- 

 tism by bee-stings, others say they are no 

 good. 



If I were in your place I should try it. 

 There is little chance that any harm could 

 come of the plan you propose. 



CZZZZZZZZZZZZZXZZZZXZXZZZZZZZZZZZ3 



Ho. 68 .-(}. R. Pierce. 



The subject of our sketch this week, 

 Mr. G. R. Pierce, was born near the 

 village of Bala, Wales. His parents 

 came to the United States when he was 

 a mere child, and settled in what was 

 then the woods of Wisconsin, but which 

 is now the site of the flourishing and 

 beautiful city of Racine. His father, 



