'ZL4: 



THii; AMJbiKlUA^ HEi^ JUUKiNAL. 



$ltart them right and they keep so. When 

 you have straight combs already, put an 

 empty frame between two full ones, and it 

 must be built straight. We now allow no 

 other comb building done, except between 

 two straight worker combs in any hive. 



Cold water applied at once, will in most 

 cases prevent swelling from bee stings. 

 The German Bee Sting Cure, advertised, is 

 highly recommended. After all, prevention 

 is better than cure ; and when you learn to 

 handle bees more easily, subduing them 

 before opening hives, you will have no 

 trouble from stings. 



I had a new swarm that came out June 

 14, with a queen of fine size, but it has 

 •did no good in the way of young brood. 

 It has laid no eggs. I would like you to 

 state the cause, and oblige, 



T. H. Baskett. 



We can give no catise, and would wait 

 no longer for her majesty, but replace her 

 with another, or brood to rear one. As it 

 was a natural swarm, it would seem you 

 must have drones. 



Dear Editor :— I write to you to get a 

 little information. 



1. Will bees gather honey and bee-bread, 

 and store it in the hive when they have no 

 queen ? 



2. Does the queen lay according to the 

 population of the stock V 



3. When there are but few bees in the 

 hive, and the queen two or three years old, 

 .and does not lay eggs, is it not time to have 

 a new^ queen ? 



4. What is the best way to make bees 

 make comb? as I see a journal says : "if 

 any one '■ contemplated bee-keeping, he 

 should spend one year iu raising comb, 

 then the next year he would be prepared to 

 make bees pay." G. D. Capewell. 



1. Bees will gather both pollen and 

 honey and store it when they have no 

 queen. At such times they accumulate 

 much bee-bread, because that is made for 

 and consumed by the larvtij. 



2. The queen seems to lay not only in 

 proportion to the population of the stock, 

 but to the amount of honey they either 

 have on hand or are gathering. They 

 .'Seem too wise to use up all their stores to 

 support brood, at the risk of their own 

 starvation. But when they have a good 

 surplus on hand, or are bringing in freely 

 to the hive, then the queen lays m propor- 



tion to it. If there are workers enough all 

 the eggs are cherished; if not, some are lost. 



3. We would not destroy such a queen 

 until we had given her more bees, or put 

 her into a strong colony. Have seen a queen 

 in a nucleous, that hardly deposited any 

 eggs ; on being removed to a full colony, 

 make one of the most prolific queens we 

 ever saw. 



4. We know of no other way to have 

 bees make comb, than to provide large 

 numbers of the bees with empty space, and 

 plenty of honey, (if they do not get it) and 

 arrange with the " clerk of the weather " 

 for an unusual number of hot days. The 

 gentleman referred to should "rise and ex- 

 plain." 



ist. What is the diiference in quality, if 

 any, in honey from Howlers of a tree, and 

 honey from the leaves of the same tree known 

 as lioney-dew ? 



2n(l. Wiil an Italian queen pure in her 

 birth— niathig witli a blaek drone, ever pro- 

 duce entirely black workers ? 



3rd. Or will a hybrid queen mating with 

 an Italian drone produce hybrids only ? 



J. A. E. 



1st. There is no similarity either in taste or 

 color. Honey stored from honey dew, so far 

 as we have seen it, is dark in color and pecu- 

 liar in taste — no matter from the leaves of 

 ■what tree it is gathered. 



2nd. An Italian queen so mated will pro- 

 duce some perfect Italian workers, some with 

 one and two bands and many geninue black 

 workers, as blaek as those from any black 

 queen. 



3rd. We have seen a hybrid queen, mated 

 with an Italian drone that produced uniform- 

 ly beautiful Italian bees — we never discover- 

 ed one poorly marked. This is an exception, 

 generally, we think a hybrid queen so mated 

 would produce all kinds of progeny. 



What shoidd be the width of a hive, from 



one in.side to the other, to contain 9 frames, 



and what would be the conseiiuence if it 



should be a 3^ inch or inch larger or smaller ? 



Miss. G. W. CiiUKCH. 



Thirteen inches from one inside to the 

 other is the orthodox width to contain nine 

 frames. If it should be half an inch smaller 

 it would crowd the combs too nuudi ; if half 

 an inch larger it would not matter so much, 

 provided the frames were all kept. In the first 

 place, adjusted to their proper distances, and 

 the vacant space kept at one side or the other. 

 Some bee-keepers always allow a margin in 

 this way, to secure more care in taking out 

 tlie first frame. When it is so left, care is 

 necessary when honey Is plenty, to prevent 

 the bees filling the vacant space with comb. 



