26 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ANSWERS BY MRS. TUPPER. 



My bees in the cellar are very uneasy — 

 they keep up a continual noise and many 

 of them are running about the entrance 

 and outsides of the hives. "What causes 

 this, and how shall I quiet them ? H. 



They are too warm or else your cellar 

 is light. Reduce the temperature in some 

 way; leaving the outer door open at night 

 is a good plan and exclude every ray of 

 light. If there comes a warm day, set 

 them all out for a few hours and let them 

 fly, then put them back. 



I have 4 Langstroth hives with honey 

 boards. Were put in cellar Nov. 4th, 

 that being a clear, dry day. From vari- 

 ous causes was only able to feed them up 

 to that time 9 flbs sugar in 3^ gallons 

 water to each hive, besides which they 

 had about 3 lbs honey each. Entrances 

 contracted to about 5 inches in length, 

 and are % inches high, and are now 

 covered with wire cloth. My intention 

 is to take off honey-board and put on a 

 box or frame the same length and width 

 outside as the hive, having a bottom of 

 bagging or some similar substance of 

 loose texture, sides 2 inches deep, with 

 top of woolen cloth, and filled in with 

 cut straw. Temperature of cellar to-day 

 is about 53 ° Fahrenheit, and the bees in 

 three hives are excited and buzzing. 

 Shall I feed them, and if so, how ? The 

 cellar is dark. C. E. S. 



Your cellar is too warm— and that is 

 one reason of the excited state the bees 

 seem to be in; 40 Fahrenheit is warm 

 enough — lower than that will do well, 

 never higher. 



We think you put your bees in too 

 early, and would advise, if there comes a 

 warm day, to set them out and let them 

 have a good flight. Your idea of top 

 boxes is good, but they should have been 

 put on before you put the hives into the 

 cellar. We avoid all disturbance after 

 they are put away. Put a pound or two 

 of plain sugar candy over the frames 

 under the box on top, and remove all 

 wire from the entrance. The confinement 

 helps to make them uneasy. After hav- 

 ing them put away once more, let them 

 alone until the Ist of March. After that 

 they may be set out, and fed if necessary. 



Yoices from amon^ the Hives. 



Sanilac Co., Mich.— Dec. 7, 1875. — 

 " lu the spring of 1874, I had 48 stocks 

 in Langstroth hives, 311 common bees; 

 increased to 54, good season. I got 4,200 

 lt>s of box-honey, and 1,500 lbs of frame 

 honey. Our honey-producing plants are: 

 white clover, raspberry and buckwheat. 

 By August 1st bees became numerous. 

 As I did not like to have them idle I put 

 an empty hive on the top of tlie other, and 

 three eleven pound boxes on the top of 

 that. Honey was 18 to 20 cents per lb. 

 The year 1875 was a poor season ; cold 

 and dry. On the first of April, I set out 

 52 stocks, most of them wintered very 

 poorly; I lost 12 in spring by dividing. 

 Reduced to 40 stocks ; increased to 56 by 

 dividing; only 36 made any surplus. 

 They made 3,000 lbs box honey, besides 

 enough to winter on. Price of honey, 20 

 to 22 cents a pound." Joseph Lee. 



WoODViLLE, Miss. — Nov. 19, 1875. — " In 

 the spring got from 120 to 130 lbs honey 

 per hive, counting nuclei and all — about 

 doubled stocks. No honey after August 

 till the 27th ult. ; for eight days did well; 

 filled from five to eight frames heavy and 

 others light. Unprecedented dearth, pre- 

 vious to this little harvest, caused a sad 

 thinning in the ranks of my little work- 

 ers and I have doubled up a number of 

 stocks and given away seven or eight. 

 Poplar is vinrivalled, blooms from April 

 1, for about four weeks. Holly, from 13th 

 April about four weeks, and sweetbay 

 from March 22 about 10 days. Linden 

 is not plentiful ; clover (white), very 

 abundant, but yields no honey for me. 

 Sourwood, chincapin, sweet gum, black 

 gum, water oak all did well this year, also 

 the crape myrtle and china. Last year 

 the golden-rod surpassed everything else,, 

 this year it has scarcely been visited by a 

 bee — so I find it hard to determine the 

 relative value of our best plants. No- 

 frost yet to hurt and flowers abundant but 

 no honey." Anna Saunders. 



Lee Co., Miss.— Sept. 7, 1875.— "Last 

 spring I opened a hive about 9 o'clock in 

 the morning, in which there was an 

 Italian queen that would have been five 

 days old at 11 o'clock the same day. In 

 the hive was a small piece of drone 

 comb. I was surprised to see an egg in 

 each drone cell. I opened the hive again 

 in the evening, and there were no more 

 eggs. The next morning tliere were 2; 

 eggs in every drone cell, and in some, 3. 

 No more eggs were laid for five days, 

 when she began to lay worker eggs. I 

 have been keeping bees 8 years, and have 

 read everything during that time on the 

 subject that I could get hold of, and I 

 have never seen an account of a similar 

 case. The drone eggs hatched, and in> 

 due time were capped over." 



T. W. Johnson. 



