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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 21, 



Ji-inch passage between the frames of the two stories, and 

 for three years this was one of the strongest colonies and the 

 first to cast a swarm, raising the question whether it might 

 not be desirable to have a passage cut in the center of each 

 comb. If our Canadian friends will look up the matter, they 

 will find that such passages were used many years ago, but 

 for some reason little has been said about the matter lately. 

 One trouble was to keep the passage open, a tin tube some- 

 times being used for that purpose. Sometimes, however, it is 

 well to reconsider some of the things that have been allowed 

 to pass into "innocuous desuetude." 



Unslieltered Apiary the Best.— A correspon- 

 dent of the Bucher Beige — an advocate for keeping hives 

 sheltered by buildings — tested the matter for several years, 

 putting half his bees in sheds facing the south, and the rest in 

 open air facing the northeast. The result made him change 

 his views, for entirely alike from the greater convenience of 

 handling his hives in the open, he found they stored more 

 honey than those that were covered. This he attributed to 

 the fact that the bees in the open air started out earlier to 

 work than those in the sheds. 



Driving: Bees Ont of Supers.— A new kink in 

 driving bees out of supers is given by N. F. Boomhower, in 

 Gleanings. The editor vouches for its efficiency. Take hold 

 of one corner of the cloth that covers the supers — use a rob- 

 ber-cloth if no other is present — and while blowing smoke 

 from the smoker by the side of the cloth flap the cloth up and 

 down quite rapidly. This flapping seems to carry tie s uoke 

 all through the super in such a way that the bees will be 

 driven out much more quickly and completely than by the use 

 of the smoker alone. 



Controlling: Fecundation of Queens.— In 



the Australian Bee-Bulletin a writer says he has twice made a 

 success of fertilizing queens by hand, failing all other times. 

 Years ago N. W. McLain, then in charge of an experiment 

 station of the United States, made the same claim, but as no 

 one else ever succeeded in it, nor did Mr. McLain afterward, 

 it was believed that he was somewhat given to romancing. 

 The man who discovers some practical way by which the mat- 

 ing of queens can be controlled will not need a marble shaft 

 to keep his name in remembrance. 



Locating: Apiaries in France. — The bee-keep- 

 ers of department de la Meuse, France, were quite stirred up 

 over the attempt to establish a law forbidding the placing an 

 apiary less than ten meters (about two rods) from adjoining 

 lands. The bee-keepers' society made an earnest protest, re- 

 citing fully the Importance of bee-culture and the damaging 

 effect of such a law not only to apiculture but to agriculture 

 in general, and the law was left in statu quo — leaving bee- 

 keepers free to locate apiaries anywhere. A striking feature 

 in the case is that this bee-keepers' society numbers 800 

 members, and that in an area less than a twentieth of Illinois. 



■Winter Stores. — Editor Holterraann advises against 

 feeding by percolation, for fear the stores will granulate in 

 winter. Is there any proof that granulation is worse after 

 percolation than after boiling? Isn't the reverse likely to be 

 true ? Only of course it will not do to feed by percolation as 

 late as October, for the bees haven't then time to evaporate 

 and otherwise prepare their food, tiranulation has occurred 

 with syrup that has been boiled, and at least one case was re- 

 ported by a Michigan bee-keeper in which the boiled syrup 

 granulated badly after having acid added to prevent granula- 

 tion. Probably granulation depends somewhat on the time 

 given by the bees to proper preparation, and this can be more 

 fully given if the food be administered very thin — by percola- 

 tion equal parts of sugar and water — but it will not do to feed 

 thin syrup late in the season. There seems to be a popular 

 notion that cooking Is essential, but has not all granulated 

 sugar been most thoroughly cookt? 



A Ne'^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. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, MARENGO, ILL. 



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



Starling in Bee-Keeping:. 



I am a young man,'a school teacher, and am very anxious 

 to find some employment that may take my spare time, and 3 

 also be the means to help build up a business that I might ■ 

 follow in the future. I bought, two years ago, two colonies of 1 

 bees for .§.t.0(), and before long the one weak colony, by rea- 

 son of worms, went away, and the other workt faithfully all 

 summer, and stored much honey, but did not swarm. The 

 following summer I purchast six more colonies for .S12. I 

 have now 17 colonies, having doubled up the weak colonies. 



My home, where my bees are located, is in Herkimer 

 county, and ray mother owns a small place devoted partially 

 to berries and fruit-trees. Last spring I sowed about 1 ' 6 of 

 an acre of alfalfa clover with a crop of oats, and got a very 

 good seeding. 



1. My bees are all in the square-box hives, and if con- 

 venient and profitable I would like to transfer them all to 

 movable-comb hives. My grandfather takes care of them for 

 me. Aside from the hives, what will I need in the line of 

 comb to thus make the change ? I would like to go into that 

 business as soon as I get a stock suflicient to guarantee me a 

 fair livelihood, for then I may build up my trade to Its de- 

 mands. 



2. Please give me an estimate of what will be the cost of 

 comb and hives necessary to make the change ? What could 

 I give as a reasonable price for 12 colonies in common boxes? 

 I am sufficiently posted on bees to warrant me quite a pleas- 

 ure to handle them, and I do it void of any fear. I wish to 

 make this my exclusive business, and practice this motto, that 

 whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. 



New York. 



Answers. — 1. You will not think of doing any transfer- 

 ring before some time next year, probably about the time of 

 fruit-bloom. The most valuable advice that can be given you 

 is to get a good text-book on bees and study it thoroughly be- 

 tween now and then. The cost of the book will be returned 

 to you ten times over before a year, and no one should think 

 of making a business of bee-keeping without studying one or 

 several good text-books. You will find in your book full in- 

 structiou as to everything needed in transferring, and if there 

 are any poiuts not fully explained or understood, this depart- 

 ment will be always open, and your questions will be cheer- 

 fully answered. 



2. Prices of bees in box-hives vary greatly, and it is hard 

 to tell what you ought to give. Something depends on the 

 strength of the colony, and also on the time of year, a lower 

 price being paid in fall than in spring. If you can get 12 

 strong colonies in box hives for .?50 In the fall, you will prob- 

 ably do well ; but as Intimated before, local circumstances 

 may make the price quite different. 



Late Feeding Tor Winter. 



Kindly advise me how I am to winter a strong colony of 

 bees taken from a tree Oct. 2, the owner of the tree getting 

 the honey and I the bees, with only three small combs. I in- 

 tended to feed extracted honey, but was told the bees would 

 uot build comb so late in the season. Is it so? 



We had a splendid crop of white clover in this (Hunter- 

 don) county, the best In ten years; but the buckwheat crop 

 was a failure, owing to two weeks of constant rain. My bees 

 averaged ()5 pounds (nearly all white clover) to the colony ; 

 but Mr. Vandcrbilt, the old veteran, beat me 12 pounds per 

 colony. I would like to hear from the other parts of Jersey, 

 through the Bee Journal, or don't they take it? If they 

 don't, they had better get it. It is a splendid place for bees 

 here, on account of the abundant crops of clover, but I am 

 afraid the Delaware river, which Is here 400 yards wide, cuts 



