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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



months without using a large amount of 

 honey in rearing brood and filling their 

 hives. If the whole ten fill up well with 

 bees and stores for winter, you ought to 

 feel you have done well. 



We would divide, even if we had no 

 queens on hand, though it is a great help 

 to them to be saved the time wasted in 

 queen rearing. 



There are various causes for bees leaving 

 their hives after swarming. The best way 

 to prevent it, is always to give them a comb 

 with young brood from another hive in 

 the new one. It is better in every way to 

 divide than to trust to natural swarming. 



As I have been keeping bees but about 

 one year, 1 wish to ask a few questions 

 relative to the conduct of some of my pets. 

 On May 6th had a swarm, hived them, 

 and they appeared to do well; in fact, 

 did very well for a time. On July 8th, I 

 looked into the hive and found it queen- 

 less, without queen-cells, and, strangest 

 of all, the unsealed brood dead, but the 

 sealed alive. I coi;ld discover no odor 

 arising from the dead brood. What was 

 the matter ? 



About the middle of May, in passing a 

 hive about 7 A. M., I noticed about a 

 pint of dead and dying bees, and they 

 were still bringing them out. Among 

 them I found a queen; I think she 

 belonged to that hive, and if so, was 

 raised last year. I searched the hive, but 

 could find no queen, but found new brood 

 in all stages. I have extracted 85 lbs. 

 and took 35 lbs. box honey, which sold 

 readily at 20 and 25 cents per pound. I 

 commenced this spring with 8 stocks, 

 one of which was weak and queenless. I 

 have had but one swarm and have made 

 but one artificially. They are gathering 

 but little now. I have had but one colony 

 to work in boxes. I shall be glad to have 

 answers through The Journal. I, 

 with all others engaged in progressive 

 bee culture, deeply feel and deplore our 

 loss in the death of Mr. Quinby. 



Nashville, Tenn. J. G. Street. 



We judge that your bees had not 

 enough honey, and could not nourish the 

 brood. It looks to us as if the queen had 

 left with a few of her subjects, discour- 

 aged at the want of provender. 



Strange as it may seem, bees do sufier 

 sometimes in June and July for want of 

 honey. Probably a few pounds of sugar 

 fed to them would have saved them. 



We can give no other reason for the 

 condition of the other hive, found in May 

 than this — of poverty. If they had plenty 



of honey, we could see no reason for the 

 state you found them in. 



Complaints of the poor season come 

 from many quarters. 



Please inform me through your valuable 

 Bee Journal the object of having a hole 

 on each side of Langstroth's hive? Should 

 they be open or shut while the bees are 

 working? 



Do bees fill the top or bottom with 

 honey first? 



How many pounds can I take from a 

 hive in a year? 



Can you change the boxes more than 

 once ? 



Do you prefer large or small boxes ? 



Will this summer's bees swarm this 

 fall ? C. A. J. 



We do not think there is any use for the 

 holes you speak of, except to give ventila- 

 tion when bees are being moved some 

 distance. They should be shut always 

 when the bees are at work. 



Bees, as a rule, fill the top of the hive 

 first. They seem disposed to put their 

 choicest honey as far from the entrance as 

 possible. 



No rule can be given as to how houm 

 honey can be taken in boxes in a season. 

 We have taken nearly 200 lbs. of box 

 honey from one hive, but then again we 

 have many times failed to get a pound 

 stored in boxes. 



Small boxes sell the best; but on the 

 whole we think the bees work better in 

 larger ones. Cases with small frames in 

 them are better than boxes. 



Bees do sometimes swarm as late as last 

 of August, but not usually. 



I have been troubled several seasons 

 with queens deserting their hives; so 

 much so that I have found the work of 

 Italianizing my apiary greatly retarded. 

 Full blood Italians have worked well for 

 a while and suddenly disappeared; half 

 breeds the same, but I do not recollect of 

 any black ones doing so. Sometimes they 

 take a few workers with them, but in no 

 case a regular swarm. In every case their 

 is plenty of empty comb, brood, and honey, 

 and otteu the deserted colony raises a 

 crop of queen cells, and the queens, when 

 pickeil up in difl'erent parts of the apiary 

 and put into nuclei or quoonless colonies, 

 often do fair, not first-rale. In some cases 

 there is a want of bee bread, but in June 

 I think that need not matter. What is 

 the cause? A. W. 



We can give no idea of the cause of this 

 desertion of the hive by the queens. We 



