312 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May IS, 1902. 



correction that extracted too soon, and not properly ripened. 

 is the real trouble — that is, for the most part. Perhaps I 

 can add one more important consideration. Almost any 

 nectar which has a decided flavor is liable to be dreadfully 

 over-flavored when the yield is very scant. Nature seems to 

 pour in her little spoonful of flavoring extract without much 

 regard to whether she is pouring into a gill or into a barrel; 

 and in the former case she made a bad mess of it. Apple 

 honey has a reputation for being bitter from this cause. 

 Sweet clover in many regions is rather more liable to scant 

 yield than are most of the flowers we look to for honey. 

 Page 213. 



THAT '* STE.iM BOTTOM-BO.'^RD." 



It occured to me that Mr. Dupret failed to indicate to us 

 where the steam should be turned on to run all these little 

 parts and items of his steam bottom-board. But then critics 

 are liable to get over-critical a great many times. Page 214. 



GETTING EXCITED BEES OUT OF A CELLAR. 



The experience of C. Davenport in getting an awful 

 stack of excited bees out of a too contracted cellar makes an 

 instructive anti-climax to the experiences of Dr. Miller. 

 Surely circumstances alter cases. Perhaps some who never 

 had any such troubles think they could have weathered the 

 situation all right. Old maid thinks she could have made 

 an angel out of the '"enfant terrible." Every one could 

 have managed the bad wife save the poor fellow that had 

 her. Editors could always succeed at farming, and farmers 

 always succeed at editing. But don't ask me to succeed at 

 Mr. Davenport's job. My advice to the young brethren is : 

 Don't get into any such a scrape in the first place. Pages 

 215-217. 



BEES PERISHING WHILE " CLEANING HOUSE." 



So two bee-brothers came to an agreement that quite a 

 lot of bees perish by •' cleaning house " while in the cellar. 

 It stands to reason that the bee which tumbles to the floor 

 with a dead bee it is dragging off is not likely to get back 

 again. Outdoors they frequently fly off with the dead ; but 

 I don't think they would try that in'the darkness of a cellar. 

 A fence half an inch high terminating the exposed edges 

 of the bottom-board would make it impracticable to ,drag 

 the dead any further. And the fences could be made of 

 strips of tin, or even of stiff paper. But, let me see, bees 

 even at two dollars a pound would be 22 for a cent ; and I 

 am not sure you could not save enough to earn wages while 

 erecting your fences. Page 221. 



EXPOSED BROOD AND ROBBING. 



As to page 222, I have my doubts whether setting out a 

 frame of brood for a few minutes would incite robbing any 

 worse than setting out an adjoining frame from the same 

 hive with no brood in it. If. in mending combs or transfer- 

 ring, you scatter small chunks of mangled brood on the 

 ground and leave them there, the consequences may make 

 you think that brood is specially " bad medicine " for rob- 

 bing. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. ailLLBR. Afareng-o, 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 Bend answers bv mail. — Editor. 1 



Fumigating Brood-Combs. 



The past winter was a hard one on bees. I am 10 colo- 

 nies short, all last year's swarms, and I have 80 frames of 

 nice, white comb, and want to keep them from the moth. I 

 have had lots of trouble in keeping them clean. 



I now have a nice house, 12 by 18 feet, for a honey-house 

 and a workshop, full 8-foot story, with floor above and room 

 to store odd stuff. Now I have some 1-inch square pieces, 18 

 feet long ; if I were to nail these to the under side of the 

 upper joists and hang the frames up there, could I fumigate 

 them with brimstone, or something that would kill moths, 

 eggs and all ? 



I have a little honey on hand, all in tight shipping- 



cases. Would that be hurt by the fumigating ? Tell me all 

 you know on this line. 



The rest of my bees seem strong and in good shape. 

 Last summer I ran out of hives, and put 7 swarms in 

 cracker-boxes, with frames and starters ; then I sent for S 

 hives, and in the latter part of the season I lifted out the 

 bees, frames and all, and put them in the new hives, all in 

 good shape. The 2 left in the cracker-boxes came through 

 all right. The boxes were on bricks facing the south, and 

 covered nearly all over with snow for some time. The box 

 is only ^s inch thick, with 1', inch space at each end, and 

 covered over bees, with '2 incli space above the frames. 



Illinois. 



Answer. — Brimstone will do no good whatever in kill- 

 ing the eggs of the moths. It will only kill the larva;, and 

 will not make the very best work at that after the larvae 

 have attained full size. If you put the frames in a small 

 space, and brimstone them very heavily, vou might succeed 

 in killing the larva;, but it would take another fumigation 

 after all the eggs were hatched. In so large a room as you 

 have you would hardly make a complete job of it with the 

 frames hanging at the top of the room. No harm, however, 

 would come to the honey in the cases. 



You will do better with bisulphide of carbon. That will 

 kill eggs and all. Read up about it in back numbers of this 

 journal, especially in the report of the Buffalo convention. 

 Make two piles of your combs, putting them in hive-bodies, 

 five in a pile ; set an empty hive-body on top, and set in it a 

 saucer containing bisulphide of carbon ; cover up tight, and 

 leave covered 24 hours. But don't bring a light near it to 

 blow you up. 



Perhaps it may be as well, or better, to let the bees at- 

 tend to the job. Put a hiveful of the combs under a strong 

 colony, and you may feel sure the bees will clean them out 

 and keep them clean. 



Making Increase by Dividing. 



Is it time for me to jog your rriemory (as you suggested) 

 so that you would give me a plan for making increase by 

 dividing, or artificial swarming, in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal ? 



Will there be time enough if I get a queen in June, to 

 make some nuclei and give them cells from the new queen ? 

 How shall I go to work to do it ? 



I wish I lived near some one that made it a business to 

 keep bees, but as a rule my neighbors know less than I do. 

 One old farmer told me the drone-bees laid the eggs for the 

 swarms. Did 3'ou ever see such ignorance ? 



We are having a cold April — a great deal of rain — but 

 hope soon for spring weather. Connecticut. 



Answer.— Let me answer your questions without tak- 

 ing them in their exact order. Although too early yet in 

 your locality to take any active steps toward artificial in- 

 crease, it is none too early to study up plans with regard 

 to it. 



If you get a queen in June, there will be plenty of time 

 for you to make colonies queened by her royal progeny. 

 There are different ways of proceeding. I'll give one that I 

 think appropriate for those with only a few colonies : 



The first thing is to get your new queen in a strong- 

 colony. If the colony is not very strong when she is first 

 introduced (and it is usually a little easier to introduce into 

 a colony not too strong), you can strengthen it by drawing 

 from others. A frame of brood, as nearly as possible all 

 sealed, will in a short time add considerably to the strength 

 of the colony. Indeed, a comb may be so well filled with 

 brood that four of them, when the brood has all hatched out. 

 will make 20,000 bees — not a bad colony. Be sure never to 

 give more brood than the bees can cover ; that would be a 

 waste. You may, however, give more than the bees can 

 cover, if, with the brood, you take the adhering bees. But 

 if you put in too large a proportion of strange bees there is 

 danger that the queen may be attacked. If there are three 

 frames of brood already well covered by bees in the hive, 

 there is probably no danger in introducing a fourth frame 

 with bees from another colony. But it might not be safe to 

 introduce two frames from another colony, for that would 

 make too strong a proportion of strange bees. If you add 

 more than one frame of bees, it is safer to take them from 

 different colonies. If you use bees that liave been queenless 

 48 hours or more, you may have little anxiety about adding 

 any nuinber. These remarks apply to strengthening either 

 nuclei or full colonies by taking brood or bees, or both, from 

 other colonies. Remember that it is safer to use queenless 



