266 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ANSWEHS BY MRS. TUPPEK. 



Please tell me how to smoke bees with- 

 out injuring or killing them. This time 

 of year they are so out I cannot put' a 

 smoking rag to the entrance without hurt- 

 ing them, and you say, when working 

 among themc^o "f^ot masli any. How is it 

 ito be helpe#^hen they crawl so continu- 

 lally where they should not? I brush 

 ihem back, but before I can put a honey- 

 box on, they are out. Where shall I keep 

 loney this time of year to keep it good? 

 low many pounds of surplus honey 

 fehould a good stand of common bees 

 store in a season ? J- M. 



Do not put your smoker too near ; blow 

 the smoke among them at the entrance, 

 ^nd to avoid crushing the bees, have a 

 jjmall broom or wing and brush them out 

 ^of your way, then a puff or two of smoke 

 n\\ keep them down. 

 Keep honey, at .this time *-f year, in 

 reome dry upper room — not in the cellar. 

 It is impossible to tell you how much 

 honey you ought to get from a good col- 

 ' ony ; seasons and locations differ so much. 

 All the way from none at all to seven hun- 

 dred pounds have been reported from one 

 colony! 60 or 70 lbs. box honey is not 

 an uncommon yield from a hive, this 

 year, in some places; in others, even the 

 best colonies have made no honey. 



Please tell us how to cut the honey- 

 comb and fit it to a small box of four to 

 six pounds, which will look as if the bees 

 had done it. My honey for market is in 

 frames of from six to seven and a halt 

 pounds. I like to cut and fit it to the 

 small boxes. J- M. Telles. 



Cass CO., 111. 



Take the combs carefully from the 

 frames and lay them on a folded clolh, as 

 in transferring; cut into pieces a little 

 larger than the box, slide and crowd them 

 carefully into it. Put in the glass and set 

 the box over a strong colony whose hive 

 is filled with honey. The bees will fasten 

 the pieces nicely in a short time, if it is 

 done while the weather is warm. 



How are we to know a fertile worker 

 from a drone-laying queen? A friend of 

 mine has two stocks without fertile 

 queens. Eggs are found in both; in one 



eggs are found in worker cells, but the 

 cells in which eggs are laid are extended 

 one-fourth of an inch to give the desired 

 length. The cells sometimes contain 

 three or four eggs, and are left sticking 

 to one side of the cells. In the other hive 

 the eggs are all laid in drone cells, the 

 bees removing the honey from them to 

 give the desired room ; the cells contain- 

 ing from one to half a dozen eggs or 

 young larvae. Both hives are unwilling 

 to reserve queen cells and are doing very 

 little. Are they both workers or unfertile 

 queens? A Subscriber. 



A drone-laying queen looks exactly like 

 any other queen ; a fertile worker, like a 

 worker. It is easy to find a queen, even 

 though she is a drone-laying one, but al- 

 most impossible to find a fertile worker. 

 We think your friend's hives both contain 

 fertile workers. Look over the combs 

 and, if you find no queen, you may be 

 sure of it. 



Which is the most practical and profit- 

 able hive— one 8 frames 18 inches long 

 and 11 inches deep, or one 14 frames 11 

 inches long and 14 inches deep ? 



W. G. W. 



We do not like either size of frame 

 named, as well as one 12x12 inches. No 

 doubt bees can be managed in any framcr 

 but that is our preference. If bees are 

 kept with a desire to increase as fast as 

 possible, a hive with 9 frames each, 12x12 

 inches, is large enough. If you want to 

 secure the most honey possible, make a 

 hive to contain double that number of 

 frames. 



Please tell me how to keep my bees 

 safely through the winter. They have 

 done well for me this summer, and I want 

 to be sure they will live over. We have 

 not many cold davs here, when bees can- 

 not fly ; is it necessary to house them or 

 protect them in any way ? 



Beekeeper. 



If we lived in Southern Missouri, where 

 this beekeeper does, we should try putting 

 bees in a house or cellar. We think bees 

 need protection just as much there as far- 

 ther north. Sunny days draw them out 

 of the hives; they consume more honey 

 when thus excited, and there is nothing 

 for them to gather, be the weather ever so 

 pleasant; so nothing is gained by their 

 flight. Wlienever the season of rest comes 

 to vegetation, we believe that it will pay 

 to put bees away and give them a rest, 

 loo. We have never tried it in Missouri, 



