AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



427 



makes the best vinegar. I don't know, 

 however, but your honey would make just 

 as good vinegar as if you had started to 

 make vinegar of it before it soured. 



2. I wouldn't be too hasty in condemning 

 them. There may have been some satis- 

 factory reason why they did not do as well 

 as others. If. however, on close watching, 

 you find that with exactly the same chance 

 in every way they don't keep up with 

 others, then replace them. Perhaps you 

 can best do it sometime during the honey 

 harvest, at least you might put them on 

 trial until then, and you will hardly have 

 good queens to spare before. 



reedinp to Stimulate Brood-Rearing. 



Is it an advantage to feed in spring to 

 stimulate brood-rearing if there is plenty 

 of honey in the hive ! H. C. L. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



Answer. — There is some difference of 

 opinion as to this question. If bees are 

 short of stores, it is undoubtedly well to 

 feed, not only a little, but an abundance. 

 But if there is an abundant supply in the 

 hive, I think most agree it is well enough 

 to let them alone. Try part each way, and 

 see if you can find any difference. 



Getting Bid of Old Hives. 



I have a few old patented hives with 

 holes up through the top covering, for 6- 

 pound boxes. In order to get rid of these 

 hiveg, would it be as well to transfer the 

 bees just before swarming, or Ipt them 

 swarm and then drive out the balance ? 



Bennington, Vt. F. S. C. 



Answer. — Either time will do. If you were 

 sure they would swarm in good season 

 it might be well enough to let them swarm. 

 Put the swarm on the old stand, setting 

 the old hive to one side facing another way, 

 or else behind. In 21 days drive out all 

 from the old hive and unite with the 

 swarm. 



If you don't want to wait for them to 

 swarm, drive out most of the bees, being 

 sure the queen is with them, but leave 

 enough bees in the old hive to take care of 

 the brood. Set the "drive" on the old 

 stand, and the old hive to one side or be- 

 hind, as in the other case, and in 21 days 

 drive out the remainder. You see if you 

 drive out all the bees at the first, you'll lose 

 all the brood. 



Honey-Board or Q,ueen-£lxcluder. 



Last season I secured 550 pounds of sec- 

 tion honey, using section-cases with slatted 

 bottoms without honey-boards, and with 

 one exception I had no trouble with queens 

 laying in section-cases. This season I in- 

 tend to use in all my new cases the T tin 

 section supports. Will it be necessary to 

 use a honey-board, either plain or queen- 

 excluding, between the brood-nest and sec- 

 tion-case ? If so, which one would be pref- 



erable ? I use the 8-frame Langstroth-Sim- 

 picity hive, with V-shaped top-bar, 1)4 

 inches wide. S. L. 



Jarrett, Minn. 



Answers. — Before answering your ques- 

 tion satisfactorily, I need to ask you a few 

 questions. For you see it makes quite a 

 difference whether you use separators, 

 what sized sections, and what kind of top- 

 bar. 



I should say in general that you ought 

 not to have much more trouble than last 

 year, for unless the slats under the sections 

 were quite thick, the sections would not be 

 much farther from the brood-combs with T 

 tins than with slats. 



Still, I don't think the distance from the 

 brood-combs is so important as some other 

 things. If you have no separators, and 

 sections as far from center to center as 

 brood-combs, I should expect the queen to 

 do a land-office business laying in the sec- 

 tions. But separators will hinder, and so 

 will thicker sections. 



Your top-bar is V-shaped, but it makes a 

 difference whether the V is shallow or deep. 

 But with separators I think you ought not 

 to have much more trouble than last year. 



Hive and Comb 8 Years Old. 



What can I do with an old colony of bees, 

 that have been in the hive about 8 years ? 

 Can I transfer them ? Their comb is as 

 black as coal. J. T. 



Logansport, Ind. 



Answer. — If you want to get the bees 

 out so as to melt up the old combs, wait 

 until three weeks after they swarm, and 

 then drum out the bees. But what do you 

 want to get them out for ? If the combs 

 are only S years old, that's not so very an- 

 cient. I have combs 25 years old, and 

 probable blacker than yours, and I wouldn't 

 swap them for new white combs. Give bees 

 their choice, and you'll find they prefer the 

 old comb every time. Put new, white comb 

 on one side of the brood -nest, and old, black 

 comb on the other side, and see which the 

 bees will use. 



A J^e>v Edition of " The Bee-Keepers' 

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It will be noticed that the price hereafter 

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