Sept. 25, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



617 



can sometimes t)c utilized in liimtinf,' <iiiccns--dovva^;cr 

 fouiiil with the first bees down, virj;in with those remainiiij,' 

 when most are oil'. This is anent the article of Adriun 

 tJetaz, papeS34. 



<JUKKV. — Is it broodrcarinK' or outdoor labor tliat 

 wears out the lives of bees '. Whichever way you answer 

 don't be too fanatically sure of it. I am pretty sure Mr. 

 Getaz is jjettirijif " into the pictures " when he holds one of 

 these views to such an extent as to pronounce e.xtra lon- 

 gevity for the bee of no use. Actual and mechanical wear- 

 ing out of their bodies (if that were all) would not occur so 

 regularly at 42 days. Varied circumstances and conditions 

 under whicli the work was done would vary it greatly. ]?ees 

 little one-hoss shays, eh ? I'll aflirm that, had the deacon 

 made a swarm of one-hoss shays, some would have dropped 

 oir at 100, some at 110, and some at 55. 



AI.LEV AG.\INST THE WORLD. 



"Athanasius against the world" did not come out sec- 

 ond best after all, at least we are given to understand so 

 sometimes, but Alley against the bee-keeping world will, I 

 fear. Leastwise when the B.-K. W. says a pint colony in a 

 nucleus hive will presumably rear a poor (jueen, and Alley 

 says it will always reara good one — well, we at least scratch 

 our heads. Also, it's somewhat singular that all the queens 

 our Nestor rears should be so good, while all the other fel- 

 lows have to send out queens worth less than the postage 

 stamp required to "hist 'em." Page J>i2,. 



EUROPEAN vs. AMERICAN BEE-CONVENTIONS. 



Lots of wisdom in the Dadant article about conventions. 

 Yet, if everything was remodeled in the light of these wise 

 suggestions, American conventions might still be small. 

 Getting a Yankee into a convention is like getting a day- 

 old chicken into an egg-shell — don't fit him, somehow. I 

 think most Europeans are more moderate in their expecta- 

 tions of a convention than we, and so less constantly dis- 

 appointed. But once let the same persons get Americanized 

 by coming across the Atlantic, and they, too, will drop off 

 like big boys from Sunday-school. Page 533. 



Questions and Answers. \ 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. O. O. MILLER, Marengo, m, 



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



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



Doctor to send answers bv mail. — Editor. 1 



The "Answerer's" Short Absence. 



An absence of ten days on account of the National con- 

 vention at Denver has caused no little delay in some of the 

 answers in this department, a delay which is much re- 

 gretted ; and the assurance may be given that no National 

 convention shall interrupt again for some months to come. 



C. C. M. 

 ■*-•--*• 



Perhaps Foul Brood— Other Questions. 



1. I have a queenless colony, and there are about 200 

 cells on each comb sealed, but the brood is putrid and some- 

 what ropy, and looks brown, and does not give off a bad 

 odor. Do you think it is foul brood ? or is such condition 

 common in an apiary ? 



2. On Aug. 5 a colony of hybrids cast a swarm, and I 

 found the frames of the parent 'nive filled with brood clear 

 to the wood, and not an ounce of honey in the brood-nest, 

 and very little pollen, but there were two supers on top, 

 filled. The hive contained six frames. The colony is very 

 vicious. Would you breed such stock ? The other colonies 

 of the same breed have a tendency to crowd the brood-nest. 



3. Do you keep dummies in the hive to contract all sum- 

 mer, and if so, what do you put in place of dummies when 

 the season is over ? 



4. Do you think it better to hive swarm on eight frames 

 in a place where there is a continual flow from July to Sep- 

 tember ? Would you advise putting the frames that have 

 the most honey in the center of the brood-chamber for 

 winter ? 



5. The cnirancc to the chalT-hivcs i« only 'yz inch by 12 

 inches, and I am thinkingof lioring a 1^2 -inch hole through 

 the casing and brood-chambir, and put a wooden tube in 

 the hole. Do you think it wfuild improve the hives' 



6. The frames in the chaff-hives are the old-fa»hioncl 

 Hoffman frames, and I am thinking of replacing with 

 staple-spaced frames, but that would leave a bee-space of J^ 

 inch. How would you arrange it ? New 'y'OKK. 



Answers. ^1. The condition you mention is by no 

 means common in a healthy colony, and the fear is that 

 foul brood is on hand. Better send a sample to Dr. Wm. K. 

 Howard, of Fort Worth, Tex., with S2.00 to secure an 

 analysis. 



2. The viciousness makes it hardly desirable to continue 

 the stock, but crowding the brood-nest is not objectionable, 

 and is just what might be expected with a good queen and 

 only six brood-frames. 



3. No, dummies are not now used for contracting. 



4. Yes, if full sheets of foundation are used. Some 

 think it wise to give only half the number of frames at 

 first, using shallow starters, and after ten days or more, 

 when these frames are filled, giving frames filled with 

 foundation to fill out the remaining vacant space. 



5. Hard to tell. Better try only part, and see how they 

 compare with the others. 



6. I'm not sure I fully understand the case, but if bars 

 are I's inches wide there need be only '4 -inch space. If I 

 don't get the right idea, please write again. 



Do Queens Carry Foul Brood '.' 



Is it safe to take a queen from a foul-broody colony and 

 place her with a healthy colony ? Indiana. 



Answer. — It is claimed that a queen will not carry the 

 disease. I have had no personal experience. 



Will Bees Store All for Surplus? 



Is there any danger of bees storing all the honey in the 

 supers and not storing enough below for winter use ? Mj* 

 bees have the brood-chamber full of brood and pollen, and 

 are storing honey in the supers very rapidly. 



Pennsylvani.\. 



Answer. — You will find that although the combs may be 

 so full of brood that not one-fourth enough honey is present 

 for winter stores, as the brood advances and hatches out 

 there will be a tendency to restrict the brood and increase 

 the amount of honey toward the periphery of the brood- 

 nest, allowing plenty of stores in the brood-chamber for 

 winter. Still, it sometimes happens that in an 8-frame hive 

 the stores will be so scanty that you must add to them. 



Troubles with Queens and Bees. 



1. A certain high and mighty editor has suggested that 

 we write to you and get your opinion upon some very pecu- 

 liar things, to-wit : 



We bought two queens about a month ago. The weather 

 being bad here we did not pay much attention to them, ex- 

 cept to see that they were accepted. We look at our bees 

 about every week, but this time, from one thing and 

 another, we did not look at them thoroughly until we had 

 had them a month. When we did we found one had filled 

 the hive with drones, and the other had not laid one egg, 

 and when we opened the hive and took out the frame she 

 was on she gaily flew to the fence, and when I tried to 

 catch her she sailed away as light and airy as you please, 

 and we have not seen her since. We gave the drone-layer 

 the " water cure." The only reason for this that I can give 

 is, that the time for the queens to fly must have been when 

 they were in the mails, and the time passing they did not 

 mate at all. I think the queen that did not lay at all is the 

 real conundrum. 



We have an immense colony that will not work in the 

 super, but I think we have gotten ahead of her. It was in a 

 Danz. hive, and we took a Jumbo body and nailed their 

 frames — out of their hive full of brood, etc. — to the top of 

 frame of the Jumbo, and put them in, and put sections un- 

 der them. That just fills a Jumbo body; those that the 

 queen lays in we will leave until late, and when they fill 

 these we are going to raise them up and put a super under 



