200 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 27, 1902. 



Santa Monica, where pneumonia, coupled with his chronic 

 stricture, removed him from us. 



Dr. Clute married a most estimable ladj- — MissMerrilees 

 — in 1869. He leaves her and five children, none of whom 

 were with him at the last trying- hour. 



As an earnest student, a devoted friend of agricultural 

 education, a writer of vivid, exact English, a warm, earnest 

 friend, and a man of sterling character. Dr. Clute was an 

 exceptional man, and one who will be sorely missed. 



A. J. Cook. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. C. C. MILLER, Mfirengo, ni. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor. 1 



Cleaning Up Combs Where Bees Died. 



I have a lot of combs taken out of hives where the bees 

 died. lam straining out the honey, and would like to have 

 the bees clean up the refuse: also the hives which are 

 smeared with hone5'. 



1. When should I put the hives and refuse out for clean- 

 ing up. 



2. Would it tend to prevent robbing if they were placed 

 say 20 or 30 rods oif from the apiary ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. It matters little when ; but perhaps it 

 will be well to wait till bees are flying freely. 



2. It will be well to set them some distance away, al- 

 though there is little danger from having the work done 

 near the hives,, providing; you do not take away the combs 

 till after the honey has been cleaned out, and not only till 

 then but till the bees have ceased trying to vrork over it. If 

 you want to make a sure case of robbing, set a hive with 

 honey near the apiary for the bees to rob, and then take it 

 away while the bees are working at it in full blast. 



Taking Bees Out of the Cellar. 



I have 100 colonies of bees to take out of the cellar this 

 spring. They are all in good shape. Last year they were 

 all right when I put them out, and it was very warm, and 

 putting them out all together they would all go out of the 

 hive, and they do not all go to their home again : some hives 

 would be crowded with bees and the other colonies would be 

 very weak— just little bunches of bees with their queens. 



Would it be better to take them out at night, or when it 

 is colder, so they would not rush out of their hive and get 

 mixed up ? The weather is very nice now, and I may take 

 them out soon. Minnesota. 



Answer.— I am not sure I know enough to advise what 

 is best to do. For many years I have taken out my bees 

 without any such trouble as you mention, yet I know that 

 others have had just that trouble, many colonies being 

 ruined by the wholesale desertion of hives. Having had no 

 experience in the matter myself. I can only give you the 

 advice that others give to avoid the trouble. I think the 

 common advice is to avoid bringing out a larg-e number at 

 once. They say that a large number coming out at one 

 time rnakes so much excitement that the bees rush out of 

 their hives pell-mell, as if swarming, and then they don't 

 know enough to get back into their own hives. In a late 

 number of Gleanings, a writer advises to bring out about 

 one out of twelve each good day till all are out, setting a 

 board in front of each entrance as soon as the bees of that 

 colony have had a good cleansing flight. The idea in this 

 is to avoid the excitement that occurs when so many are 

 taken out. 



Without advising you to take the course I pursue, I'll 

 tell you what I do that may possib/y account, for the fact 

 that I have no trouble when I take out two or three hundred 

 at a time. 



The evening before I think I will take out the bees, I 

 open wide all cellar doors and windows as soon as it gets 

 late enough in the day so that the bees will not fly out of 

 the cellar. Very likely the cellar has been opened up in this 



way every night for several days, and not closed up in the 

 morning till there was a show of bees beginning to fly out. 

 Put that down, then, as the first essential, that the cellar 

 must have been well aired all night previous to taking out. 

 The next is that the weather must be right. The sun must 

 shine, and there must be nothing in the way of clouds or mist. 

 Neither must there be a strong wind. If the day is not of 

 the right kind, then the only thing is to wait till a day 

 comes that is of the right kind. In that way I have safely 

 taken my bees out in large numbers for more than a quarter 

 of a century ; but you must use your own judgment as to 

 whether the thing will be the best for you. 



I may add that as a rule my bees are very quiet when 

 taken out, sometimes four or five colonies being carried out 

 one after another before the first one of the four or five be- 

 g-in s to fly. 



*-.-•. 



Feeding Bees Increasing an Apiary. 



1. Will it be a good plan to feed my bees after I put 

 them out-of-doors ? 



2. By feeding them will it make stronger and better 

 colonies of them when the honey-flow comes on ? 



3. Should bees be fed in the cellar? Am I doing it 

 properly by placing unfinished sections over the cluster, 

 and leaving the top cover ofl: ? 



4. I wish to increase my apiary to about 100 colonies. 

 Would it be advisable to buy bees in box-hives in April, for 

 52.00 to S3. 00 per colony, and then transfer them into other 

 hives? There are no Italian bees in this section. 



5. Would I get pure Italian bees bj' purchasing 2 or 3 

 Italian queens and introducing them into my hives ? Would 

 the bees in the colonies in which they were placed be pure 

 Italian bees? Would it be advisable to do this, as my best 

 colony last year produced 80 one-pound sections of honey in 

 the super while some of the others stored scarcely enough 

 to winter on? New York. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, if they have not enough feed to last 

 them till they can gather. If they have plenty it will prob- 

 ably be better to let them alone. 



2. If they have plenty of honey to last them through, 

 extra feeding, unless in the hands of a person of much ex- 

 perience, may weaken instead of strengthen them. 



3. Your plan of feeding is all right ; but it may be well 

 to give no more than you think necessary to bring the bees 

 through. 



4. Yes, only it is possible you may do as well to let the 

 bees swarm, and keep the box-hives for swarms another 

 year. 



5. If you give a colony a pure Italian queen, all the 

 workers coming from her eggs will be pure Italian, but, of 

 course, there will be workers there till the progeny of the 

 former queen have time to die off. It will pay to replace 

 any very poor queen. 



*-»-* 



How to Get Increase of Colonies. 



I wish to ask a few questions through the American Bee 

 Journal about how to get increase of colonies. I now have 

 20 colonies. I have taken the American Bee Journal for the 

 past 5 years ; I also have Cook's " Bee-Keeper' Guide," and 

 4 volumes of the American Bee Journal in Wood binders, 

 but cannot find just what I want to fit my case. 



I use the lOframe Langstroth hives, and run for comb 

 honey, extracting only unfilled sections. 



There is lots of sweet clover close by, but no other bee- 

 pasture after maple-bloom until sweet clover. I think that 

 is why I don't get increase during maple-bloom, fruit- 

 bloom, etc. 



The colonies build up fast, get strong, and act like 

 swarming, then all of a sudden there is a change ; some of 

 the colonies kill off their drones and show in other ways 

 that there is no honey to be had. Then for 3 or 4 weeks 

 they get barely enough to keep them from starving until 

 the sweet clover comes, about July 1, then they begin to 

 rush, and then it is too late. I don't want them to swarm, 

 but want to get them in the supers and keep them so busy 

 that they will forget all about the swarming, except 2 or 3 

 strongest colonies which will throw off a great swarm, but 

 no more for the past 4 years. I have had only 2 to 3 prime 

 swarms a j'ear. From IS colonies 4 years ago I have 20 col- 

 onies now; the losses each year and increase keeps me 

 about even ; for the past three years I had an average of 

 100 pounds of surplus honey from each colony, spring count, 



