346 



AMERICAN BEE JOUlu^Al- 



May 29, 1901 



cloth for covering' next the bees ? Probably they would 

 find a dry top on six inches. Page 24S. 



CHAFF HIVES FOR WINTERING. 



Still debating-, whether the chaff hive is a dandy or a 

 dolt ! 'Spects Mr. Dadant had the right of it. All depends 

 on the weather and the style of winter. Severe winter with 

 long mild spells in it and they are excellent. Severe winter 

 with single warm days in it and colonies in chaff hives don't 

 get half the benefit they ought — takes more than one day to 

 warm the walls through. Presumably chaff hives ought to 

 be best where a long, severe winter has no let up at all. At 

 my apiary, and at present writing (May 13) nearly every 

 chaff hive has shown surplus bees at the door ; and not one 

 of the other hives has so done. But then, I remember no 

 other time in 23 years when the big hives have very 

 markedly shown superiority. Unfortunately my tests are 

 not between chaff' hives and single-walls. Instead of single- 

 walls I have 10-frame hives narrowed down to 7 frames by 

 dummies and things inside — much better than absolute sin- 

 gle walls, I think. Page 245. 



DISCUSSING BEE-BREEDING QUESTIONS. 



On page 246 Adrian Getaz shows remarkable valor in 

 " massacreeing " men of straw. Say, Mr. G., they tell us 

 the Kentucky colonels say " watah " instead of water ; who 

 knows.but that's " nigger-milk " working out ? Leastwise, 

 in working at deep and elusive problems it is dangerous to 

 go in with such a spirit as that shown by the following 

 quotation : " To the one possessing even an elementary 

 knowledge of physiology the error will appear at once." 

 Had that spirit been always victorious where would the 

 doctrine of parthenogenesis now be ? Sometimes the ele- 

 mentary things themselves have to be torn up. 



TOTAL EGGS OF A GOOD QUEEN. 



Doolittle's estimate of the total eggs of a good queen — 

 700,000 to 800,000. Page 247. 



INCUBATION OF BACTERIA. 



I was interested in A. W. Smyth's article on bacteria> 

 page 253. Period of incubation in bacterial diseases a num" 

 ber of days. Bacteria reproduce to the extent of many gen- 

 erations in one day. Yet (apparently ) no poison is secreted 

 by any of them until about the time the victim begins to 

 feel sick. If this is true so far it looks as if there might be 

 more valuable truths lying around in the same vicinity. 

 IVhat makes the earlier members of the new colony of mi- 

 nute pests refrain from secreting poison ? What determines 

 the time when poison secretion shall begin ? Do they all 

 go at it, or only a part of them ? The doctrine that bacteria 

 secrete poisons, and kill themselves and the patient also, 

 for the benejit of l/ie bacterial species — well, it seems to me 

 as if that doctrine would bear some more looking at. Ap- 

 pears a little like sawing off the limb they sit on. 



PROPER NAMES OF SWARMS. 



Yes, our literature is badly at sea about the proper 

 names of the different kinds of swarms. It is partly be- 

 cause we try to get along with too few names. The term 

 "first swarm " is objectionable because it sometimes is not 

 the actual first but third. Then when an actual first has a 

 virgin queen, things differ materially from what they 

 would have been with a laying queen ; and such a swarm 

 deserves a separate name. I say " prime," " virgin prime," 

 and "repeater prime," for these three kinds of swarms. But 

 I also say " repeater prime" in the quite different and much 

 more common case where the same bees fill a hive with 

 brood and then start out again bag and baggage — and that's 

 a weak point in my nomenclature. P^irst kind have plenty 

 of j'oung bees ; last kind are apt to be all old bees. Perhaps 

 the term " old-fool repeaters " would about fit the latter 

 case. Then, to extend if not complete the list, we have 

 "seconds," and "thirds," and "fourths," and "repeater 

 seconds," and also " hungry swarms," and "absconders" 

 not hungry swarms, and "fool swarms." The latter are 

 those which in early spring might evidently have lived and 

 done well had they not become so desperately excited that 

 they had to swarm. Page 229. 



Please send us Names of Bee-Keepers who do not now 



get 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 

 other matters. 



Questions and Answers. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, Afai-engro, HI. 



[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 



Honey More Than Increase Wanted. 



1. Not wishing any increase except one swarm from 

 each colony, would the swarms issue earlier were no supers 

 put on ? 



2. 'Would it be wise to put no supers on until after 

 swarming ? I wish honey more than increase. 



3. 'Would it not be better to have smaller swarms earlier 

 than larger ones later ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, at least in some cases. 



2. I think it would be unwise, unless your chief depend- 

 ence is a late flow. 



3. I don't think you would gain anything in honey by 

 having smaller swarms early. Besides that, so long as 

 honey is your desire, if you put on supers early enough, and 

 give abundant ventilation, some colonies will not swarm at 

 all, and you will be ahead on honey if an early flow, such as 

 white clover, is your chief dependence. If you depend 

 mainly on a late flow, then it might be better to have early- 

 swarms. 



Cost of Bee-Books. 



On page 330, " Southern Illinois " is told that it would 

 be money in his pocket to pay $5.00 for a text-book. Are 

 there no cheaper bee-books that are good? 



" Cheap Skate." 



Answer. — It was very careless in me to give an answer 

 that might be so misunderstood. You can get any one of 

 the best text-books for one-fourth that amount ; but it would 

 pay you %vell to give the $5.00 if you could not get one for 

 less. 



Hjving Swarms on Extracting-Combs Containing Pollen. 



'Will you please tell me whether extracting-combs with 

 bee-bread or pollen in them will be all right to hive new 

 swarms on ? Maine. 



Answer. — Yes, unless there is too large an amount of 

 pollen that is soured, moldy, or badly dried. 



Management of Swarms—Transferring— Increase— Keep- 

 ing Comb Honey. 



1. In hiving a small swarm it is best to contract the 

 space in the hive down to what they can fill? 'W^hat I 

 mean is, on just the frames that they are on or can hang on. 

 We will say we have a swarm of a quart of bees, now shall 

 I give them 3 frames, or shall I give them the whole hive 

 and contract the entrance? 



2. Having done transferring this spring by the Heddon 

 method, they staid in the hive 13 days then they swarmed 

 out. I hived them on starters. What caused them to leave ? 



3. I am running for increase. I let them swarm twice, 

 then I wished to stop them. I put on the extracting super 

 and raised 2 or 3 of the frames. Will that stop them? If 

 not, what is the best way besides cutting the queen-cells 

 out ? That will do when a man has but a dozen or two colo- 

 nies, I think. 



4. How can I keep comb honey until along in the fall 

 without the moth getting into it? I find it hard to have 

 a moth-proof house. Will it be safe to fumigate with bi- 

 sulphide of carbon ? California. 



Answers. — 1. There is hardly any need to contract 

 either hive or entrance, unless it be that you want to give 

 them starters for the first four or five frames, and then full 

 frames of foundation after the first are filled. That will 

 save foundation, but you are not so sure of having all 



