May 8, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



297 



be enouKli. and just when the conditions positively de- 

 manded soniotliiiii,'- stronger, it iniKht he a blessing'- As it 

 is, I fear ten will waste time, and let the blaze get unneces- 

 sarily bi^,^ for each one that will succeed in puttin^; the 

 blaze out. Page 198. 



REMOVING BEKS I'KOM THK CKI.I.AK. 



About removing bees from the cellar in the spring, I 

 trust that readers will at least not fail to notice that Dr. 

 Miller has no trouble at all, where many of the brethren 

 have serious troubles indeed. This for many years. Must 

 be some reason — and it's queor if his success cannot be 

 duplicated. Serious nuisance to have to secure Id or 12 

 good days to put out when one would suffice ; and even then 

 the first ones get on their robbing clothes and rob the last 

 ones. I winter bees outdoors, and had no recent experience 

 in putting out — and my surprise is that he insists on sun- 

 shine instead of a mildly cloudy, warm day. Of course, he's 

 right rather than I who does not know anything about it. 

 May it be that bees once out stay out until they feci dry, 

 and that that time arrives very much quicker in sunshine? 

 Page 200. 



VARIOUS " AFTERTHOUGHTS." 



A locality in New York where there are no Italian bees ! 

 Who'd a-thought it ? Page 200. 



S. E. Miller did well to extemporize a double-walled 

 melter for $1.')0. Page 203. 



Dried apples and water to keep the slender queen from 

 g'etting through the zinc — worth more than the carrier-pigeon 

 suggestion, Mr. Alpaugh. Make the pigeon eat the queen 

 first ; then she'll go all right. Page 204. 



Too much divergence of the doctors about the maximum 

 of dead bees from 100 colonies — 4 quarts or 2 bushels. Page 

 206. 



Yes, have several wise fellows measure tongues from 

 the same colony and see how they tally. Page 206. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTKD BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, afareng-o, ni. 



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



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



Doctor to send answers bv mail. — Editor.] 



A Reporter's Error. 



Are you quoted correctly in the convention report on 

 page 245, second paragraph, right hand column, where 

 they made you say ? " I built a cellar purposely to winter 

 bees, 36x40 feet. I don't use it at all now." I supposed you 

 always wintered your bees in the cellar. 



Pennsylvania. 



Answer. — No, I don't know whether the reporter, the 

 printer's devil, or some other person is to blame for the tan- 

 gle, but the two paragraphs in that second column credited 

 to me were spoken by some one else. 



Getting Bees to Work in the Sections. 



I would like to know the best method to follow to get 

 bees to work in sections. California. 



Answer. — Usually there is no great trouble if condi- 

 , tions are favorable. The sections should, of course, be easy 

 of access, preferably directly over the brood-nest, and as 

 soon as there is any surplus to store the bees are likely to 

 store it. Remember, however, that it is only the surplus 

 that will be stored in the sections, and as long as there is 

 plenty of room to store honey in the brood-chamber it can- 

 not properly be called surplus. 



There are, however, times — perhaps it would be better 

 to say there are bees — which will continue to crowd honey 

 into the brood-nest, when in all reason it ought to be putting 

 it in the super. It will help very much to make them change 

 their minds if you will give them a super filled with drawn- 

 out comb. Even a single " bait "-section — that is, a section 

 containing comb more or less drawn out, either with or 

 without honey in the bait — will have the effect to hasten the 

 work in nearly every case. In a season of failure I have 



had many a case in which the bait was filled and sealed and 

 not a drop of honey in another section in the super. In 

 some cases a single bait may have the effect to start the bees 

 so much sooner that it will make all the difference between 

 swarming and not swarming. It would take a good deal of 

 money to induce me to put on supers without having at 

 least one bait in the first super given to each colony. 



Another way recommended by some is to take a super 

 or a section, bees and all, from a colony that is working well 

 at storing, and give it to the balky colony. 



Building a Bee-Cellar. 



1. On account of heavy winter losses, caused by out- 

 door wintering of rav bees, I have decided to build a cellar 

 which I wish to hold 100 to 125 colonies without crowding. 

 About what should be the length and width ? The height 

 will be b'x to 7 feet. I shall probably use the Danzenbaker 

 hive. 



2. Which would you prefer to use for the walls, brick or 

 stone ? Illinois. 



Answers.- -1. A cellar 6'; feet high to hold 125 colonies 

 should be about 14 feet square, inside measure, or 12x15, or 

 10x19. 



2. I don't know. If there is no trouble about keeping it 



warm enough, perhaps the brick might be better, for brick 



being mere porous would allow more air to pass through the 



wall. 



* . » 



Changing Langstroth to Danzenbaker Hives. 



1. I have had a few 10-frame Langstroth hives, and 

 desire comb honey. A.s I think the 10-frame hive too large, 

 I am thinking of cutting down the hives to about the size of 

 the Danzenbaker, and using the Danzenbaker supers. Do 

 you approve of the plan ? 



2. Will it pay to buy clover honey (extracted) and feed it 

 to the bees in the month of August (when it is very hot and 

 no honey coming in), thus turning it into comb honey for 

 which I can get 16 cents per pound ? I have to pay 8 cents 

 for the extracted honey. 



3. Candidly, what do you think of the Danzenbaker hive 

 for comb honey ? Minnesota. 



Answers.— 1. Better go slow about changing from 10 to 

 8 frame hives until you know by some trial that 8 frames will 

 be better for jtiK. Moreover, are not your lO-frarae Lang- 

 stroths already the right size for Danzenbaker supers ? 



2. I don't believe it will. But you can decide by trying 

 it with one colony. 



3. The only experience I have is with two hives, and 

 that did not decide me that I would gain anything by chang- 

 ing from dovetailed hives. The claims made for it by others 

 are so strong that I may give it further trial. 



Sweet Clover Honey Other Questions. 



1. Does not sweet clover honey taste very rank ? A year 

 ago last summer I got very little honey, as basswood was a 

 failure, and there was considerable sweet clover around, the 

 honey was very strong and I laid it to the sweet clover, but 

 last year mv honey was fine in flavor. 



2. How old do bees have to be before they become field- 

 workers ? Do they act as nurses a while ? Do certain bees 

 stand guard, and do nothing more ? 



3. Which are the best comb-makers, young or old ones? 



4. Is not the wax sweat through the bees after they 

 gorge themselves with honey ? They can't make wax when 

 they can't get a surplus of honey, can they ? 



5. Why do some hives have small, black, shiny-looking 

 bees in them sometimes, which the other bees kill? What 

 is the cause? An old queen ? 



6. What is the best plan to keep the bees from swarm- 

 ing, and keep them up to the strongest working point ? 



Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know. I have made no little effort 

 to overcome my ignorance with regard to sweet-clover 

 honey, but I feel a good deal mixed about it. I have eaten 

 honey that was supposed to be unmixed sweet-clover honey, 

 and I didn't like it, nor did any of the family. I have had 

 some that I supposed was a mixture of white clover and 

 sweet clover, and we thought it better than any other honey 

 we had ever tasted. Some say that if sweet-clover honey is 

 not thoroughly ripened it will have a rank taste. I can 



