198 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apr. 1. 



as defined by this Act, he shall on conviction before any Jus- 

 tice of the Peace, be liable to a fine of not less than $20 or 

 more than $50 ; and after being found guilty on two occa- 

 .sions of neglecting his duties as set forth by this Act, he shall 

 be disqualified from holding his office." The part relating to 

 disinfection was rejected, and the rest adopted, after the fol- 

 lowing discussion : 



Mr. Adams — What constitutes di>infection ? It should be 

 done between every two hives he visits. I do so. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — The inspector should carry an atomizer. 



The proposed addition to Sec. 7, forbidding under penalty 

 the moving of apparently healthy bees in an Infected district 

 In a county which has an Inspector, without a written permit 

 from the inspector, was adopted. 



A change In Sec. 11, requiring the inspector to make his 

 report to the county officials first, was adopted. 



A motion that the committee be instructed to add a clause 

 restricting the expenses of the inspector to a certain sum was 

 carried, but afterwards reconsidered, and the report as a 

 whole was adopted as amended. No action was taken either 

 to discharge the committee or to instruct them to present the 

 adopted amendments to the Legislature. 

 (Continued next week.) 



CONDUCTED BY 



OR. O. O. MIJ^LBIi, AULRENGO, ILL, 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.l 



A Gentle Hint to Questioners. 



The desire of the American Bee Journal is to give the 

 greatest freedom possible to all who write to it for informa- 

 tion or otherwise. When a question comes for answer, it will 

 receive earnest attention, no matter whether It be well or 

 poorly written. But It does make a difference as to one's com- 

 fort in the matter. Before me lies a postal card crammed full 

 of closely-written matter not the most easily read. It would 

 have cost a cent more for postage if it had been sent In a let- 

 ter, but I'd a good deal rather pay the extra cent and have it 

 in better shape. There's not the slightest objection to the use 

 of a postal card, and In some respects It is preferable, provid- 

 ing there is plenty of room on It for what Is to be written. 

 But please remember that when a question, or a series of 

 questions, is plainly written, without any crowding, it's a bit 

 easier to get at what Is wanted, and you're more likely to get 

 what you are after In the reply. Of course, there's no desire 

 to repress questions. Send them along, even if they must be 

 dimly scribbled on scraps of refuse paper, but if written with 

 some attempt at neatness and legibility the effort will be 

 appreciated. C. C. M. 



Contraction to Stimulate Breeding^. 



1. In restricting the bees to a small number of frames in 

 the spring to stimulate breeding, as described by yourself and 

 Dr. Oallup, are the frames not in use removed from the hive? 

 And if so, must the space all be taken by dummies? 



2. Should the division-boards which confine this restricted 

 brood-nest fit tightly at the top, bottom and ends ? 



S. At about what time in this locality should this process 

 be legun ? 



4. Pleise throw in any chunks of wisdom which you think 

 might be of use to— Cuucklehrad, Dupage Co., III. 



Answeh.s. — 1. As a matter of actual practice, I don't do 

 anything of that kind nowadays. Careful experiments made 

 In France (t think it was by Prof. (Jaston Bonnier) seemed to 

 reach the positive conclusion that the heat of the brood cluster 

 was conserved as much by having brood-combs left in place as 

 by using close division-boards. The experiments were made 

 by having a healing apparatus in the dilTerent hiv.^s and under 

 different conditions, and were given In detail by the French 

 bee-journals. It seems rather rra onable to suppose that a 

 close-futing division-board would be wariuer, but If it is, the 



difference Is not enough, I believe, to pay for the trouble of 

 making changes. Better have colonies of such strength that 

 there Isn't much chance to shut them down on two or three 

 frames, or even four. 



However, if you want to try restricting them, there's no 

 need to remove the combs from the hive, so far as the bees are 

 concerned. Just put in your division-board, crowding the 

 unoccupied combs sufficiently to make room for the division- 

 board. 



If for any reason you think best to remove the combs, no 

 need to replace them with dummies. 



2. If division-boards are to confine the heat, the more 

 nearly air-tight the better. But It's more troublesome to make 

 them close at the bottom than elsewhere, and not of much 

 consequence, for no warm air will escape at the bottom, but 

 cold air enter there, and if all is close above there is no chance 

 for escape of warm air, consequently no chance for entrance 

 of cold air below. 



3. From what has been said above, you may gather that I 

 would begin it about May 1, but if you think best to begin at 

 a different date, begin about the time of first spring flight 

 when it's warm enough to open a hive without risk of harm 

 from chilling bees or brood. 



4. As you get to be less chuckleheaded in the bee-busi- 

 ness, you'll probably settle down to have never less than eight 

 brood-combs in charge of the bees at any time of the year, 

 leaving to others the trouble of changing at different times, 

 and breaking up arrangements that seem to suit the bees very 

 well without your interference. Now that's the only chunk 

 you get till you ask some more questions, which I'll be glad to 

 have at any time. 



^ I — ^ 



Size and Sliape of Full-Pound Sections. 



If you sold your sections by the piece, and wanted them 

 to weigh full pounds, what size and shape would you use ? and 

 what surplus arrangement for 10-frame hives? E. 



Answers. — I don't know that I'd want anything of the 

 kind, but if I did I suppose I'd want them (If to be used with 

 separators) about 4J-.4x4,'!ix2, in T supers. But please under- 

 stand that you can't find a section of any size that will give 

 you a uniform weight of one pound. At least I've never yet 

 heard of a man who had succeeded in getting the same weight 

 throughout a super in different colonies and in different years. 

 I should consider it remarkable to find a super containing 24 

 sections with not more than X ounce difference between the 

 lightest land the heaviest. Moreover, I should consider it 

 equally remarkable to find a man who had for five consecutive 

 years got crops of 1,000 pounds or more with no greater 

 variation in that time than H of a pound between lightest and 

 heaviest. From my present knowledge, I'd use T supers. 



Questions on Spring Management. 



As I purchast two colonies of bees last fall, and am hav- 

 ing poor luck, and don't see the information in the Bee Jour- 

 nal I want, I thought I would ask a few questions. I have 

 lost one colony from some cause or other. I have them in the 

 cellar, and when I found they were dead or dying, I brought 

 them up, and on examining I found they were nearly all dead, 

 but had about 10 pounds of honey, but It was granulated, 

 and tasted rather old. All through the brood-nest were spots 

 of white mold. This Is my first experience with bees. I gave 

 the other colony two pieces of the honey, and they ate It. 



1. Would it be policy to give them any more? 



2. If they should live until summer, and swarm, would It 

 be policy to put a new colony in the old hive? 



3. If so, how am I to prepare it? Shall I takeout all the 

 old comb, or put in a new swarm just as it is ? 



4. When ought I to take them out of the cellar, and put 

 them on the summer stand ? D. W. S., South Dakota. 



An.swers. — 1. There is a great deal more danger of giving 

 too little than too much food. The only danger as to giving 

 too much is that if the brood-nest is too much filled with honey 

 the queen hasn't room to lay. Possibly, however, your ques- 

 tion may mean whether the stores taken from the dead colony 

 are wholesome food for bees. As the honey is granulated, 

 there is likely to be some waste In feeding It, but aside from 

 this there is no objection to feeding It, especially at this time 

 of year when the bees will soon have a flight. 



2. Yes, the old hive will bo good to use for a swarm. 



3. If the comb is clean and nice, it will need no prepara- 

 tion whatever. Very likely, however, the combs are moldy. 

 If vou h;t it remain in the cellar, everything In the hive will 



