isyy. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



311 



CONDnCTED BT 



DJt. O. O. itU^LES, MAKEXGO, ILL. 



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



Rape a« a lloncy-Piant. 



Is rape a good plant for bees? 



Peris, Oreg. 



Answek. — Rape is counted one of the best honey-plants. 

 In this country little is said about it, perhaps because there 

 aie selilutu large tieldsof it, and a few scattered plants amount 

 to little, no luatter how good a yielder a plant may be. ISiit 

 in Germany bee-keepers count much on it, sometimes hauling 

 iheir bees to the rape-fields during the period of bloom. 



Keeping Aiil!< Out or Hives. 



How can I prevent ants from getting into the bee-hives ? 



WlSSOUBI. 



Answer. — In the North it's about as well to let them 

 alone. Tbey don't seem to do much harm, seeming to care 

 mainly for the heat of the hive. If they are in a hive that 

 has quilts or sheets over the brood-frames, they make nests on 

 top of these latter, and annoy the operator by running over 

 his hands and biting them every time the hive is opened, but 

 if a hive is used with a board cover and no quilts to afford 

 lurking places, the bees will keep them out without any 

 trouble. But in the South they are reported as sometimes 

 being mischievous to a serious degree. Possibly the kind is 

 different. Some succeed in driving them away by sprinkling 

 pulverized borax. A sure plan is to have the hive on a stand 

 with four legs, the foot of each set in a sardine box or some- 

 thing of the kind filled with water or kerosene oil. If water 

 is used, it must be filled up as fast as it evaporates. 



Piittins on Supers, Ete. 



The weather is fine, and I have my one colony of bees on 

 the summer stand, apparently doing well. H. J. VV. wants to 

 prevent swarming. Now I would like my one colony to 

 swarm say five times, then next winter I would try wintering 

 some on the summer stands and some in the cellar. Small 

 grain is all in, and wheat is up. Imagine me sitting on the 

 grass these warm days watching the bees. I would give a 

 cooky if I could see inside of the hive, and what they were 

 doing. I feel sorry for Mr. Boomer. I rather think if he 

 drops the Bee Journal he will feel lonelier still. 



I see something about putting on two supers, but I don't 

 know when to put on the first. S. D. 



Answer. — If you want to know what's going on inside the 

 hive, why don't you lift out the frames and see ? But it may 

 be better for the bees not to be disturbed, for whea they are 

 getting along all right, the less tbey are meddled with the 

 better. 



The general rule is to put on the first super when you find 

 the bees putting bits of white wax along the upper parts of 

 the comb or along the top-bars. If white clover is your chief 

 yielder, there will probably be no need to put on a super till 

 you find white clover in bloom quite plenty. 



Slurlins ^villi Uccs from Trees. 



I have a piece of land in the foothills of the coast range 

 mountains, and while there last summer, in June, I noticed 

 many bees working on the clover and creeping blackberries, 

 and being an old bee-hunter I had no difficulty in locating two 

 trees in a very short lime. I cut the trees, and from one of 

 the colonies I secured 100 pounds of nice, clear honey, and 

 from the other 300 pounds. All people that tasted it pro- 

 nounced it of the finest quality. I saved the bees, as it is no 

 trouble to do so. I would not break up their homo if I could. 



Now I do not suppose it would pay any man to hunt bees 

 to start an apiary with, that was not an expert in hunting 

 them, but I can find them as sure as one bee comes to my bait ; 

 and what I wish to know is, must 1 save the brood, fasten it 

 into frames, and give them new queens? 



I find that there is a big difference In the bees I find on 

 the fiowers, and half, or nearly so, have more or less Italian 

 blood, but as I am not an expert I cannot tell how much Ital- 

 ian blood. But the woods are full of bees, and I am quite 

 sure this is one of the best locations for bees in the State, as 

 the honey-fliiw is continuous. First come the blackberries 

 and huckleborrlKS (red variety) ; then the white clover and 

 mount:ii!i pea-vino, which blooms for two months, and its 

 bloom is always covered with bees ; and long before that is 

 out of bloom comes the elkweed (or fireweed), which blooms 

 till frost comes the last of October. I am sure it's a good 

 location, and I would like to try my band in the bee-business. 

 I can get the bees, and get them into the hives, but the ques- 

 tion is to make them store the honey in the hive as well as 

 they do iu the trees. I am anxious to learn. 



I enjoy the Bee Journal very much. Success to its editor 

 and the paper. I am glad of the vigorous stand it takes 

 against all frauds. Count me in to lend a hand, if needed at 

 any time. 1 had the pleasure of being present at the Cali- 

 fornia State Bee-Keepers' Association at Los Angeles the past 

 winter, and enjoyed it very much. Montaville, Oreg. 



Answers. — When saving the bees, it is well to put in 

 frames all the worker-brood, but it isn't necessary to give 

 them a queen, for their own queen will do just as well in a 

 hive as iu a tree. 



If the workers of a colony all have three yellow bands 

 they are considered pure Italians. 



There is no reason why they should not store as much 

 honey in a hive as in a hollow tree. One as successful as you 

 In getting wild bees, especially with such yields of honey, 

 ought to be able to build up an apiary in that way very 

 profitably. 



^ I ■ 



Faslcning Foundation in Seetions. 



Do you think the plan for fastening foundation in sec- 

 tions, given on page 24:1, is any better than the Daisy fast- 

 ener ? Irene. 



Answer. — I don't know of any respect in which it is any 

 better, and can hardly s?e how any one who has given the 

 Daisy a fair trial could possibly prefer the plan of cementing 

 with melted wax. In the latter case the starters must be 

 ca'efuUy laid in place and time taken to pour on the melted 

 wax, whereas with the Daisy the foundation comes imme- 

 diately in contact with a plate kept so hot that the edge of 

 the foundation is at once melted, then a quick motion slides 

 it at once against the wood, resulting in such rapid work that 

 the other is not to be compared with it. When it comes to 

 cutting the comb of honey out of the section, that on which 

 the Daisy fastener has been used is as easily cut through as 



the natural comb. 



^ — » — ^^^^— 



Killing Drones and Deserting. 



I transferred a colony of hybrids from a boxhive to a 

 movable-frame hive. I cut out the combs and tied them in 

 the frames, leaving out the drone-comb. They seemed very 

 well satisfied, but in a few days they commenced killing the 

 drones, and in about a week after transferring them they 

 swarmed out. I hived them in another gum, and they are 

 working nicely. I have a colony of blacks transferred, and 

 they are staying in all right. Why did they kill the drones 

 and swarm out? I examined the hive they were in — they had 

 gnawed the caps off the brood. 



Since the last day or two all ray colonies are fighting 

 drones. Bees have not swarmed yet, either, nor gathered 

 any surplus, but have built up well. 



Denny, S. C, April 15. 



Answer. — The killing of drones probably had nothing to 

 do with the swarming out. The drones were probably killed 

 because the bees failed to find pasturage. It isn't easy to say 

 why they left the hive. As it occurred during or just after 

 their killing drones, it could not be a case of natural swarm- 

 ing, but was a case of desertion, and was caused by some un- 

 satisfactory conditions, possibly because too hot. But some- 

 thing entirely different may have been at the bottom of the 

 trouble. 



B^" This is a good time to work for new subscribers. 



