812 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAj 



'ax9 



ANSWERED BY 



DK,. O. C. IvlII-iLiEK/, 

 Marengo, III,. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies iTom the '.iJO or more apiarists 

 who help to malse "Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting on another pag-e. In the main. It 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularlj' interest beginners.— Ed. 



Sweet Clover. 



1. I inclose herewith a weed that I 

 am very anxious to know what it is. It 

 is surely the finest bee-pasturage in this 

 part of the country. Only a few bunches 

 are growing on some of the back lots. 

 Some here call it " sweet clover." 



2. Where can the seed be obtained ? 

 Leonardville, Kans. J. N. T. 



Answers. — 1. The plant you send is 

 melilot or sweet clover. The flowers on 

 this are yellow, the ordinary kind being 

 white. I think I have seen it stated 

 that the yellow is inferior, as a honey- 

 plant, to the white, but I know nothing 

 of this personally, as I have never seen 

 but a few plants of the yellow. 



2. The seed has been regularly adver- 

 tised in this journal by Thomas G. New- 

 man. 



Origin of Honey-Comb and Propolis. 



1. Where does honey-comb come from? 



2. Where does propolis come from ? 

 Brown City, Mich. G. V. 



Answers. — 1. Some years ago a cer- 

 tain Dr. Cox advanced a theory that 

 honey-corab is a growth of a certain 

 kind, not made by the bees, but making 

 a kind of spontaneous growth in the 

 hive, even in the middle of winter, al- 

 though it may have been stipulated that 

 in order to secure growth in winter it 

 must be in the cellar. 



This theory, however, never gained 

 very wide credence, and it is not a very 

 hard matter for you to convince your- 

 self as to what is the truth in the case. 

 Honey-comb is manufactured by the 

 bees, and you may watch them at work 



at it, adding the wax, bit by bit, and 

 fashioning it into proper shape with 

 their mandibles or jaws. 



A little observation will also enable 

 you to satisfy yourself as to where the 

 material for making the comb is ob- 

 tained. When bees are busily engaged 

 at comb-building you may find scattered 

 on the floor of the hive and on the 

 alighting-board, little white scales some- 

 what pear-shaped in form, and these 

 thin little scales are pure beeswax. Now 

 keep a sharp lookout and you will see 

 many of these same wax scales sticking 

 along the under side of the abdomens of 

 the workers. They seem to grow there, 

 or to be more exact about it, they are 

 secreted there. Somewhat as a cow eats 

 grass and it turns into milk, a worker- 

 bee eats honey and it turns into these 

 little scales of wax which seem to grow 

 in the wrinkles of its abdomen. 



2. Propolis comes off the legs of the 

 workers. Did you never see a load of it 

 carried in or on their pollen-baskets ? 

 Possibly you called it pollen, but look 

 more closely and you'll see the difference. 

 It is smooth and shiny, which pollen is 

 not. The bees gather it in various 

 places, being thankful at times for a 

 ready supply furnished them by you 

 when you scrape it off some part of the 

 hive and throw it where the bees can 

 gather it up again. But the principal 

 source of the supply is probably the res- 

 inous gum that is found on the buds of 

 various trees, notably on the Balm of 

 Gilead. 



Managing Bees in "Gums," Etc. 



1. How shall I manage my colonies ? 

 They are all the little black bees, in the 

 old-fashioned round and square gums. 

 How can I separate or catch the queens, 

 as I wish to order the Italian queens, 

 this month ? 



2. How many workers can be sent by 

 mail with a queen at one time ? 



Senia, N. C. M. T. 



Answers. — 1. I doubt whether it will 

 be advisable for you to try to change to 

 Italians till you have at least one colony 

 in a hive with movable combs. Still it 

 can be done, and to answer your question 

 directly, you will have to drive the bees 

 out of the hive before you can catch the 

 queen. Turn the hive upside down, set 

 a box over it, having cracks between 

 stuffed with rags or closed in some way. 

 If too hard to make a fit otherwise, you 

 can place a board or boards over the 

 hive, having as large an opening as pos- 

 sible for the bees to pass up through. 



