42 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 16, 1902 



north as you ;ire ( il di-grces), if you get young queens to laying 

 before .Tune tliev are not likely to be of the best. 



If you begin stimulative feeding in the winter, or too early 

 in the spring, you may have fewer bees than to let them en- 

 tirely alone. Indeed, it is possible to ruin a colony entirely 

 by injudicious early interference in the way of feeding. If 

 your object is to get as much honey as possible from the white 

 honey harvest beginning in .Tune." it will probably be best for 

 you to do no dividing before the time of the harvest. Some- 

 thing, however, depends on the strength of the colonies in the 

 spring, and upon tlie weather at that time. The thing I'm 

 afraid of is that somehow you've got it into your head that by 

 beginning very early to feed, and using feed enough, you can 

 increase largely your number of colonies, and at the same 

 time your harvest of honey. Please set that down as a serious 

 error. Stimulative feeding is a two-edged sword that is not 

 very safe in the hands of a beginner, unless he be of a very 

 cautious turn. Your safe plan is to let it alone, if not entirely, 

 at least till weather is warm enough for the bees to tly daily, 

 and it will be a safer plan to do no dividing till about the time 

 of natural swarming. 



Was It Foul Brood ? 



I now have 23 colonies from 10 that 1 bought last spring. 

 I had one colony very weak when bought in April : it didn't 

 do well all summer: it was in a box-hive. In August I trans- 

 ferred it to a Langstroth hive, and noticed notliing wrong in 

 the ajipearance of the bees or brood. Sept. 2y, after I had 

 all H.xed for winter, this colony swarmed out. I didn't know 

 it for a week, and I then discovered it was gone, and the other 

 bees robbing tlie honey. I shut it up at once and afterwards 

 examined the hive and brood. The brood was all capped, 

 filled regularly, no vacant cells, but looked entirely natural : 

 but on opening the cells there was a rotten mass, attended 

 with some odor quite offensive. I burned the frames, combs, 

 brood, honey and all. in my house furnace. 



1. Was that foul brood ? 



2. »f so, can I hope that the bees tliat robbed part of that 

 honey will have it consumed by winter use before brood-rear- 

 ing in the spring, and consequently escape inoculating their 

 brood and hive with the disease? 



:!. If not foul brood, what, probably, was it '? 



-1:. In view of all the facts, what should I do, and when do 

 it? 



My other colonies are strong, and have lots of lioney, and 

 are well-packed in winter-cases, tilled witli planer-shavings, 

 and a super full nf shavings on top of the frames. Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. Possibly, and possibly not. 



2. If it was a case of foul brood you may pretty safely 

 expect the disease to be carried to the robbing colonies. 



3. I don't know. It is just possible there was no disease 

 at all. 



4. Let the bees alone till warm weather. In the mean- 

 time study up the subject carefully in your books and back 

 numbers of bee-papers, and thus you will become so well in- 

 formed that when'warm weather comes yon will be well armed 

 to meet the foe, if foe it proves. Don't omit Dr. Howard's 

 pamphlet on foul brood. 



Can Bees Hear' 



Do vou think bees can hear ? 



SUBSCKIBER. 



Answ?;i!. — Opinions are divided. Some authorities whose 

 opinions are deserving of c(jnsideration insist that there is no 

 evidence that bees can hear. As proof that they do not hear, 

 instances are cited in which whistling and loud noises close to 

 the bees have failed to make the bees show in the slightest 

 degree that anything had been lieard. while a slight touch 

 upon the entrance-board would bring from the bees an immedi- 

 ate response. Such proofs, however, are only negative. If 

 twenty men should testify that they had not seen Smith kill 

 Jones, their testimony would be outweighed by thc> testimony 

 of one man who had actually seen the murder. That a bee 

 shows no sign of having hi'ard a sound can not bo considered 

 proof positive that it has not heard the sound. Sounds may 

 be produced in which bees have no interest, and no heed paid 

 to them, while sounds to which we might pay little heed might 

 produce a lively impression on them. If you were taken by a 

 band of brigands, and they should state iri the most positive 

 terms, but in language unknown to you, that you are to be 

 killed forthwith, you might pay little heed to it, and the brig- 

 ands might say you were deaf ; but if you were to hear the 



Al'IART OP .V. KrBIN, ST. CL.\IK CO., ALA. 



sami' thing spoken in your own tongue, the brigands would be 

 likely to say that your hearing was acute. 



If you put your ear to a hive on a still summer evening, 

 the great variety of sounds heard will awaken the inquiry, 

 " Why do bees make all these noises if they cannot be heard ? " 

 But that is no positive proof that they do hear. Some years 

 ago when one of my colonies swarmed with a clipped queen, I 

 moved the old hive to a new place ; but the bees of the return- 

 ing swarm fovind it and began to enter, making as usual a 

 loud call. I moved the hive to a new place, and the the bees 

 soon found it. Then I put it on a wheelbarrow and started to 

 travel with it; but whenever I stopped the bees seemed to hear 

 the call and began to cluster about the entrance. That was 

 kept up for some time, and I can hardly understand how the 

 bees found that Itive unless they heard the call. It will not 

 do to say they recognized the hive by sight, for if the same 

 hive were moved, at a time when no call was made, only to 

 the distance of six feet. Init beyond another hive, the bees 

 would never find it. Yes. I think bees can hear, but I don't 

 know. 



Have They Enough Winter Stores? 



I have seven colonies of bees this fall. Two of them are 

 from the woods; one of these is in the chunk yc^t, the other 

 I put on dry combs and the brood. Then I fed them 1 1 quarts 

 of half water and half sugar, well stirred. Will they have 

 enough till warm weather? Wisconsin. 



Answer. — If I understand you correctly, you gave them 

 5}^ pounds of sugar. That would be equivalent to about 1'^ 

 pounds of honey, and it is considered wise to have about 30 

 pounds of honey for out-door wintering, and 25 for the cellar. 



Method to Keep Down Increase. 



I do not wish any increase. My queens are all clipped. I 

 work for comb honey, and want to re-queen all my colonies. 

 How would it work to have a s\ipply of virgin queens on hand 

 at swarming-time, and when a swarm issues destroy the old 

 queen, clean off all the queen-cells in the hive, and when the 

 swarm returns drop a virgin (lueen among them ? Do you 

 think that would put an end to swarming ? Michig.4.n. 



Answer. — Very likely it might prove successful in most 

 cases. A virgin queen would be kindly accepted if very young 

 without any difficulty, but there might be trouble if she were 

 several days old. At a guess, I should say that in some cases 

 the bees would start cells again. Please rejiort after you have 

 experimented. 



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g'et the American Bee Journal, and we will send them sam- 

 ple copies. Then you can very likely afterward get their 

 subscriptions, for which work we offer valuable premiums 

 in nearly every number of this journal. You can aid much 

 by sending in the names and addresses when writing us on 

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