1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



215 



as yet to prosecute. Can we tell through the daily papers 

 what we think ? We ought to do something. 



H. Rauchfuss — I move we pass a resolution requestiug 

 the publishers of the bee-paper giving their quotations to stop 

 them, and add the reasons. 



This resolution was carried by a unanimous vote. 



H. Rauchfnss — I move that a committee be instructed to 

 select proper persons to whom tha samples shall be sent, and 

 have them analyzed. Carried. 



LConcluded neit week.] 



.******< 



OONDnCTED BY 



DK. O. O. ami-JSR, JUARE2VGO, JI-Z,. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Qucen-Excluders Under Supers. 



I am going to work for extracted honey. Is it advisable 

 to put a sheet of queen-excluder over the brood-chamber, so as 

 to keep the queen down and avoid the possibility of brood in 

 the combs when I uncap to put in the extractor ? — W. R. A. 



Answer. — If you try both ways, you will probably decide 

 that you like the use of the excluder better than without. 

 Then you're sure to have no brood in the way when extracting. 

 Another important item in the opinion of many — an opinion 

 that is constantly gaining ground — is that honey extracted 

 from old combs that have besn used for breeding is not as 

 good as that from combs that have never been so used. Take 

 an old comb out of the brood-chamber, fill it with water and 

 let it stand a few days, then see how the water has been black- 

 ened. If the black matter gets in the water, will it not get 

 into the honey ? It may not be worth while to use queen-ex- 

 cluders when working for comb honey, but working for ex- 

 tracted is quite another thing. The point is just here: If 

 your queen will stay below of her own accord you don't need 

 any excluder, but if she will not then you better use an exclu- 

 der. 



M I M 



Growing Sweet Clover Tor Hay. 



I have noticed several articles in the Bee Journal on sweet 

 clover referring to dates earlier than when I first began tak- 

 ing it. I want to know how to grow it, and if it will answer 

 as hay for fodder to fatten sheep in the winter as a part of 

 their rations ? C. A. C, New York. 



Answer. — To get a stand of sweet clover, treat it the 

 same as red clover. It seems harder than red clover to get a 

 start, but you'll be perhaps surer of a stand if you have the 

 ground pretty hard, or if the ground is soft let the seed be 

 covered pretty deep. The trouble is that if the ground is soft 

 and the seed not very deep, the young plants will heave in the 

 winter. 



If cut the first year, or before blossoming the second year, 

 it ought to make good hay to form part of the rations for 

 sheep, but remember It is like Alsike, in that stock must learn 

 to like it. 



What Ails the Bce§ ? 



Last December I bought at a sale 5 colonies of bees, 

 brought them home and placed them in the yard in as near the 

 same position as they were placed in the man's yard where I 

 bought them. When we had our first cold weather and snow, 

 the bees became dissatisfied and came out of the hives in large 

 numbers, but never would return ; piles were lying dead be- 

 fore the hives. A neighbor advised me to take them to the 

 house. We have a large house, so I took them upstairs and 

 gave them a room by themselves, where they would not be dis- 

 turbed. All went well until now, and they are repeating the 

 same thing they did out-doors after the cold snap. We exam- 

 ined the hives and they seem to have plenty of honey, and 

 there seems to be quite a number of bees in the hives. 



1. Do the bees want water? or are they diseased ? I am 



afraid they will die off so that we will not have enough left 

 for a start in the spring. 



2. What time will be best to move them out of the house 

 in the spring. 



3. Is the way I have them housed a good one ? 



4. Do bees rear new brood in Ihe winter, or would they be 

 apt to be queenless, as all the colonies are alike in their ac- 

 tions. I never had any bees before, and know nothing about 

 them. G. B., Peru, III. 



Answers. — 1. From the description you give, it isn't pos- 

 sible to give any very positive answer, but it is quite likely 

 that the dead bees you saw on the ground were those that had 

 accumulated for some time and were carried out the first time 

 it was warm enough. Lots of bees may die through the win- 

 ter from old age in a strong colony, and no harm come. It 

 isn't likely that they are sufiering from want of water. 



2. See answer given to D. W. S. If the bees appear very 

 uneasy, then you may have to risk a little more, and take them 

 out the first warm day, even if you think cold weather may 

 come after it. Still there is a pretty fair chance for good 

 weather soon. 



3. As a rule, it is not a good way to have bees in a room 

 in a dwelling house. While you do confine them there, better 

 keep the room perfectly dark. 



4. No brood is reared through the winter until in Febru- 

 ary, and sometimes not till well along in March. Of course 

 there are cases of queenlessness, but it isn't likely that several 

 colonies together would be queenless. 



Placing Hires Close Together — Seven Frames in 

 an S-Frame Hive. 



I got 10 colonies of bees, keeping them in a shed winter 

 and summer. The shed is three feet high, and the front is 

 made with a door which I let down in summer or nice days in 

 winter. 



1. How far apart ought the hives to be in the working 

 season so that they don't interfere with each other? 



2. Is it necessary to have 8 frames in an 8-frame hive, or 

 would seven do just as well ? I run for section honey and 

 thought if I had less frames I would get more honey in the 

 sections or would'nt the bees do so well with seven frames ? 



We had a poor season last year, but we look for a good 

 honey crop this year. W. R., Iowa. 



Answers— 1. The bees do very well close together, if you 

 think you can work at them as well. One trouble is that if 

 the hives are crowded together as close as they can be, some- 

 times bees will get to crawling from one hive to another. But 

 that seldom makes trouDle, and the other danger is that when 

 a young queen flies out on her wedding flight she may return 

 to the wrong hive. So if the hives are all packt close togeth- 

 er, it's a good plan to have the front of every alternate one 

 painted a different color, or arranged in some way so they 

 don't look all alike. If you want room between them for your 

 own convenience, put them in pairs, two as close as they can 

 be together, then a space of perhaps two feet, then another 

 pair of hives, and so on. 



2. It's hardly worth while for you to try seven frames in 

 an eight-frame hive. You're pretty sure not to like it. You 

 seem to think that seven frames would let you have more 

 honey in the sections, and are probably figuring that the seven 

 frames would have less honey thar; eight. They might if there 

 was just as much brood in one case as the other. But if each 

 frame is entirely filled with honey, or if each frame in both 

 cases is filled just half way down, you'll find more in the seven 

 frames than in the eight. If you study over it a little while 

 you'll find it so. 



A PJe'W Binder for holding a year's numbers of the 



American Bee Journal, we propose to mail, postpaid, to every 



subscriber who sends us 20 cents. It is called "The Wood 



Binder," is patented, and is an entirely new and very simple 



arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 



Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 



Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 



reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 



get it yearly. 



*-»-*^ 



Xtie nicEvoy Foul Brood Xreattuent is 



given in Dr. Howard's pamphlet on " Foul Brood ; Its Natural 

 History and Rational Treatment." It is the latest publication 

 on the subject, and should be in the hands of every bee-keeper. 

 Price, 25 cents ; or clubbed with the Bee Journal for one year 

 —both for $1.10. 



