506 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL- 



Aug. 7, 1902. 



swarms were not troubled. Did they fly away, or go back 

 into the hive in which they were reared ? 



The last swarm. No. 2, came out of another hive two 

 days afterward, on a very sultry day, there was scarcely 

 any air. I could not get them to stay in after chasing them 

 in from three different trees ; they finally flew away so far 

 I could not carry the hive, so I lost them. 



I find by the Bee Journal that it was as I thought — be- 

 cause it was too warm, and they preferred hanging on the 

 trees to being in a hive. 



Our bees are small brown ones, and I have been told by 

 persons who know, that they are Italians ; they are great 

 workers. Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. The dead bees j-ou found in the cellar 

 may have been nothing more than the usual number of 

 bees that died from old age. 



2. It is an unusual thing for a swarm to desert a hive 

 after nine days ; yet too great heat may have caused the 

 bees to leave then — a view that has some confirmation in 

 the fact that the foundation broke down. 



3. The queen would not object to the return of the bees, 

 but it is by no means certain that there was such return if 

 you did not actually see it. The issuing of a swarm from 

 the same hive a second time may have been nothing more 

 than the issuing of an after-swarm that is likely to be a 

 part of the regular program with a strong colony. 



You will no doubt find plentv of information in future 

 numbers of this journal equally as valuable as those already 

 found, and the study of a text-book would be a matter of 

 the greatest profit. 



#-•-♦ 



Bee-Keeping in Oscoda Co., Mich. 



1. How about the climate and honey-plants of Oscoda 

 Co., Mich.? 



2. Would bees do well in a basswood location in Oscoda 

 County ? 



3. Could I winter bees by packing in a shed in that cli- 

 inate without much loss from freezing ? 



4. Is the season too short for the bee-business in that 

 county ? Ohio. 



Answers. — 1. As the counties of the different States 

 run up into the thousands it would be difficult to have a 

 knowledge of all, and if any possessed such knowledge it 

 would not be of sufficient general interest to occupy the 

 large amount of necessary space with it. Some acquain- 

 tance living in that county can probably set you on the way 

 to find out what you want. 



2. You may count safely on basswood anywhere, al- 

 though even so good a honey-plant as basswood has its 

 years of failure. 



3. Most likely, as it is less than 45 degrees north, and 

 between two of the great lakes. 



4. No. 



^ * » 



Changing aueens for Bee-Paralysis. 



I wrote you some time ago in regard to a colony of bees 

 that was suffering from disease which you pronounced 

 " bee-paralysis." I acted on your advice and let them alone 

 for about 3 weeks, during which time the mortality in- 

 creased very much, to the extent that perhaps ISO to 250 

 bees fluttered around the alighting-board each day and died 

 before night. The queen all this time was doing her duty 

 nobly, keeping the combs pretty well filled with eggs; she 

 was a fine looking queen but I did not know her age as she 

 was in a colony I bought in the spring of 1901. I thought 

 possibly she might be very old, and I had about made up 

 my mind I might as well break up the colony, as the death- 

 rate about equaled the number of young bees produced, and 

 the colony was not getting any stronger. About this time 

 there was an article in the American Bee Journal by Dr. 

 Gallup, in which he said, " If you have bee-paralysis take a 

 sharp ax and cut off the head of the queen and give the 

 colony another queen, and you will have na bee-paralysis, 

 provided the queen you give is healthy." It was June 27 

 when I read that article, and I destroyed the queen and gave 

 a queen-cell about ready to hatch ; in a little more than a 

 week she was depositing eggs. This is perhaps two weeks 

 ago, and the disease seems to have disappeared. 



Now, Doctor, was this a happen so, or is there some con- 

 nection between the facts and the results ? 



The books seem to give no cure for this disease, indica- 

 ting that not much is known about the disease, and I quote 

 these facts to you in the hope that yourself or some one else, 



by putting facts together from different sources, may 

 eventually work out the cause and a cure. Ohio. 



Answer. — It is not an easy thing to prove that when a 

 cure occurs after the administration of a certain remedy the 

 cure was the result of the remedy, and perhaps equally difli- 

 cult to prove that there was no relation between the two. 

 Changing the queen of a colony is one of the many reme- 

 dies put forth as a certain cure, only to prove a failure when 

 tried by another person. Root's " A B C of Bee Culture" 

 has this to say about it : 



" In many cases destroying the queen of the infected 

 colony, and introducing another from a healthy stock, 

 effects a cure. This would seem to indicate that the disease 

 is constitutional, coming from the queen ; but in the South, 

 where the disease is much more prevalent and destructive, 

 destroying tlie queen seems to have but little effect." 



That statement, together with the fact that in the North 

 it is a common thing for the disease to disappear when no 

 remedy is attempted, makes it at least not certain that the 

 change of queen had any thing to do with the cure. 



Changing Queens Now— Keeping Queens. 



1. I would like to know whether it will do to change 

 queens at this time of year or not? I have a colony of bees 

 that were transferred about 2 weeks ago, and they have 13 

 queen-cells started, and I cannot find the queen ; I suppose 

 she was lost in transferring, by having so many cells 

 started. I have a new colony of hybrid bees, which were 

 found on a bush June 27. I would like to have the good 

 queen in this hive, but they have a queen-cell started, and 

 a very nice-looking queen. Can I take the queen from this 

 colony and give it to the queenless one, and give the new 

 queen to a good colony ? 



2. How long can I keep a queen before I introduce her ? 



Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, this is a good time of the year to 

 change queens, or at any time when honey is freely coming 

 in, and you can make the desired change if you observe the 

 precautions advised in your text-book. 



2. With a sufficient escort of workers and plenty to eat 

 and drink, there is no trouble in keeping a queen a number 

 of days while the weather is warm, possibly a month. 



Transferring and Perhaps Robbing. 



We lost the colony of bees transferred from the old box- 

 hive to a new Danzenbaker hive. The bees were all, appar- 

 ently, driven into the new hive, and the old hive, which con- 

 tained but little honey or brood, and a lot of old dark-colored 

 comb broken up and the pieces left lying near the stand. 

 They seemed gradually to leave the new hive and to merge 

 with another colony in the hive alongside, until the new 

 hive is now empty, except a few dead bees. These bees in 

 the two hives had not worked much all summer, and we are 

 in doubt whether to risk transferring the other colony to 

 the new Danzenbaker or not. Illinois. 



Answer. — Without full particulars it is not easy to 

 make a diagnosis. You do not say whether you left the 

 new hive on the old stand, but it is supposed that you did. 

 The fact that the old hive which contained some honey was 

 broken up and the pieces left lying near the stand awakens 

 suspicions that you left lying on the ground near the trans- 

 ferred colony the remains of their old residence, there being 

 in the scattered combs some honey. It might not be a very 

 wild guess, in such case, to say that other bees commenced 

 promptly to work on this unprotected honey, and when that 

 was cleaned up the marauders would turn their attention to 

 the transferred colony, as yet in a somewhat demoralized 

 condition, and then the robbed colony would join the rob- 

 bers. This would be likely if in your locality, as in some 

 other parts of the State, there has been something of a 

 dearth in the harvest. It is not a safe thing to transfer 

 when bees are not gathering. 



Swarming- 



Italianizing— Rearing Queens 

 Keeping Bees in a Building. 



Dividing 



1. On July 8 I had a swarm come from a colony that 

 had not swarmed for two years. About seven o'clock they 

 came out and alighted in the top of a tall maple tree. At 

 9 o'clock I went to hive them ; I sawed the limb off but be- 



