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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 23, 



can hardly be any question about the advantage of giving 

 abundant ventilation during the storing season, the only ques- 

 tion being as to the best way or the best place for it. No 

 doubt your plan will be good, but perhaps it may do just as 

 much good to have the hive raised so as to let air come in 

 without let or hindrance all around the bottom. When work- 

 ing for extracted honey it is an excellent plan to set the super 

 or second story far enough forward to allow a passage at the 

 back end between the two stories. This passage may be a 

 quarter of an inch or more, and of course the whole width of 

 the hive. This plan has the objection when working for 

 comb honey that the bees are very slow to seal up the sections 

 that come next this opening. 



2. Untested queens are queens that have already com- 

 menced to lay, but the sender does not yet know what their 

 progeny will be, as he has not waited the three weeks to see 

 them. 



A Fair Average Honey Crop. 



What would be a fair average crop of honey ? Take, for 

 example, an apiary of "200 or 300 colonies, located in this 

 State, and properly cared for ; and let the Sgures indicate 

 comb honey. If you are not acquainted down here in the 

 neighborhood of Peoria, an answer based on the conditions 

 where you are will bo equally acceptable; but if there is prob- 

 ably a difference between the northern and central part of 

 Illinois, I would thank you to mention that also. Of course, I 

 appreciate that such an answer can be but an approximation, 

 but I will be obliged if you will give me an idea. 



Figures. 



Answer. — Seasons in the northern part of the State differ 

 from those of the center, yet in the long run perhaps there 

 isn't much difference. That is, it may this year be better in 

 the north than in the center, while the reverse may be the 

 case next year. Take an apiary of two or three hundred col- 

 onies, in either place, and taking one year with another a fair 

 average crop of comb honey would probably be perhaps 20 

 pounds less than nothing. That is, you would have to feed 

 each colony 20 pounds of honey to get them through the win- 

 ter, aside from what they gathered for themselves. Bring 

 the number of colonies in an apiary down to 75 or 100, and 

 you might count on an average crop of perhaps 35 pounds. 

 In California and Australia it may be possible to keep profit- 

 ably 200, 300, or even 600 colonies in one apiary, but such a 

 thing can hardly be done in Illinois. 



Placini; Bees Near i\leisiibor§ — Cutting Out 

 <lueen-Celi$ to Prevent Sivarmins< 



1. How near to my neighbor's boundary line, also to the 

 public road, can I keep my bees, by the law of Illinois ? and 

 where can I find such laws ? I have one very particular 

 neighbor. Can I follow my own bees, on his land, and hive 

 them there ? 



2. If I am very particular, and keep all my queen-cells cut 

 out, will not that prevent swarming ! Subscriber. 



Answers. — 1. A lawyer or justice of the peace ought to 

 be able to show you the law. I think there is nothing in the 

 law to prevent your placing your bees anywhere you please 

 without reference to boundary line or highway, only it will be 

 wise for you to be a law unto yourself, for if you put them 

 uncomfortably near to a neighbor's dwelling or to a public 

 highway you will be responsible for any damage that may re- 

 sult from them. You can, however, put them safely close to 

 a highway by having a close hedge or high fence between the 

 bees and the road. 



2. Many and many a one has thought of that and tried it, 

 but generally gave it up after trial. Sometimes bees will 

 swarm without a sign of a queen-cell, and sometimes a queen- 

 cell will be right on the middle of a comb projecting so little 

 above the surface that the mest careful observer could hardly 

 be blamed for missing It. Still you might succeed in some 

 cases. 



Is There a RfKlil and Wrons Way to Hang 

 Fuiintlulion in I'rauieM t 



sheet was fastened in the frame. I have several times noticed 

 that when left entirely to themselves bees build their combs 

 so that the cells have two of the cell-walls horizontal and the 

 other four diagonal. Accordingly, I take it that the latter 

 way is the correct one. 



Now when starters are used in brood-frames, according to 

 the former, and the bees are started off in that way, will the 

 combs which they build after they get beyond or below the 

 strip of foundation ever sag so as to allow drones to be reared 

 in them ? Ohio. 



Answer. — In actual practice it makes little difference 

 how the cells are placed. Hang a full sheet of foundation in 

 a brood-frame without any wiring or other support, and you 

 are likely to find the upper portion of it made into drone- 

 cells, no matter which way it runs. If properly supported, or 

 if only a narrow starter is used, the bees will not stop to in- 

 quire how it is hung, but will draw it out in worker-cells. 



Distance Apart to Place Hives. 



What distance from each other would you consider bee- 

 hives should be put to insure perfect safety of the queens in 

 mating. My apiary is protected on the north and west by a 

 wall, and the ground slants to the south. My hives face the 

 south. I have them 73^ feet one way, and l4 feet the other 

 way. Do you think I could have them closer together, and 

 not lose queens in the virgin flight ? 



North Carolina. 



Answer. — As to the safety of young queens, or bees get- 

 ting into the right hives, it isn't altogether a matter of dis- 

 tance. If you put a hundred hives in a straight row on a 

 naked prairie, there will be some trouble even with hives 10 

 feet or more apart, I have had many cases in which entrances 

 were not six inches apart, and never knew any loss to occur 

 from their being so close. The position of hives, the direction 

 they face, and especially surrounding objects, have perhaps 

 more to do in the case than distance. My hives are set In 

 pairs. Nos. 1 and 2 are placed just as close together as they 

 can stand without touching. Then between No. 2 and No. 3 

 there is a space of perhaps 3 feet, and No. 3 and No. 4 form 

 the seeond pair, and so on. A bee that belongs to the north 

 hive of a pair is not so likely to go to the south hive of the 

 same pair as she is to go to the north hive of the next pair. 

 Trees and other objects help to locate the right pair. The 

 wall, and probably other objects, and the distance the hives 

 are apart, make it very improbable that your young queens 

 will have trouble finding the right hives. 



Hive Dimensions and Enlrances- 

 painlcd Hives. 



-Painted or Un- 



Mr. Dadant said in a late n'umbor of the American Bee 

 Journal that there is a right and wrong way of putting in 

 foundation. Nearly all the foundation I have bought, the 

 sheets were cut so that the cells were with two of the cell- 

 walls perpendicular, and the other four diagonal when the 



1. Wishing to make my own hives, please give exact in- 

 side dimensions of the hive-body for 10 Hoffman frames. 



2. I prefer to make the entrance by cutting it in the hive. 

 What size entrance should I have? Would a lO-inch en- 

 trance be large enough ? I have been making the rabbet for 

 the frames to hang on, by nailing a thin strip of wood at each 

 end of the hives. 



3. Which is the best for bees, rough hives, or drest and 

 painted ones? Louisiana. 



Answers. — 1. I have just measured a dovetailed hive 

 made for eight Hoffman frames, and it is inside measure 18?^ 

 inches long, 12}8 wide and 9?^ deep. As the frames are 

 spaced Y% inches from center to center, that would make it 

 2% inches wider for 10 frames, or 14% wide. 



2. By all means have the entrance full width of hive. 

 After having used some 400 hives with entrances cut in the 

 hives, I am now having all my new hives made without any 

 entrance cut in them, and like them very much better. Prob- 

 ably all the hives now sent out from factories of the ordinary 

 kind are made without entrances in the hives. Still, if you 

 prefer to have them so, it is an easy matter to make them so. 



3. Probably most of the hives made are drest and painted. 

 Perhaps a very few may like them rough. Some of the best 

 authorities on both sides of the ocean say it is better for the 

 bees that the hive should be left without paint. They say 

 such a hive dries out quicker than a painted one. Very likely 

 in the long run you will find a drest hive without paint will 

 give you good satisfaction. Perhaps paint on a hive is more 

 a fashion than anything else. 



^y See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 813. 



