632 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 2, 1902. 



fluids of the body decline some also, as the harvest ceases 

 and famine times come on. Often the enterprising- apiarist 

 wishes to select the large bees and breed from them till all 

 the bees are larger. It seems to be rather a tough -job to 

 select correctly. When two colonies seem to differ in size 

 April 1st, how shall we tell how much is real difference in 

 size, and how much is difference in distention ? 



KILLING OFF BEES ON THE SLY. 



I rather think that kind of dirty-souled people are not 

 very common — the people who kill off their neighbors' bees 

 more or less on the sly. If the bee-keeper himself is un- 

 wisely inclined to go on the war-path he may awaken pas- 

 sions of this kind which would otherwise remain dormant. 

 In one case, long since, I remember wondering if some one 

 was not infecting certain bees with foul brood on the sly. 

 When it comes to keeping discoveries secret for fear a bad 

 use may be made of them — that sort of thing is liable to be 

 greatly overdone. Don't keep a new and better way to kill 

 flies secret for fear some one will use it to kill bees. Page 

 557. 



THE PAIN OF BEE-STINGS. 



And so Mr. Harrington thinks that after the first few 

 stings the rest of the hundred or so didn't hurt much. I 

 rather think that that is a genuine and not very uncommon 

 phenomenon. It's queer. Same thing appears when one 

 gets a multitude of small wounds in succession, I believe. 

 As to the why of it, call it one of the wonderful results of 

 nerve-power. Do we rise above pain by sheer inner force ? 

 Or do some of the nerve trolleys get off, and the nerves 

 kind o' forget to bring up the pain reports ? My best guess 

 is that it takes a magnetic current to carry the impression 

 of pain to the brain (otherwise no pain at all), and that 

 whenever we get into a general and miscellaneous rumpus 

 there are so many other uses for the current that there is 

 very little left to carry pain reports with. Page 563. 



QUBEN-RBARING AND SWARMING, 



I felt comfortably assured that I was right before ; but 

 yet I'm glad so strong an authority as C. P. Dadant says 

 the same : 



•' My experience is that when a populous colony is made to rear 

 queens during the swarming season it will swarm with the first queen 

 hatched more readily than if it had not been caused to rear queens 

 stall." 



So a little too late and your bees swarm ; and if you are 

 not late j'ou weaken the colony badly and decrease the har- 

 vest. In fact, any seasonable application of the method 

 weakens the colony badly. Probably Mr. Dadant is right, 

 that the only practical application of the principle is to 

 have the young queens reared the season before. Helps 

 some to discourage swarming even then. 



THE STING-TROWEL THEORY — OTHER STINGS. 



Well, well I From the warrior feeling for a position to 

 stab home, and the queen troweling the egg into position 

 with her sting, how many miles is it to the " sting-trowel 

 theory " which we have pelted with garbage ? 



"Always " is a big word. And all the bees that sting 

 did not sting Mr. Cheshire. I prefer to believe that there is 

 now and then an exceptional bee that stings without anj- 

 poking around to locate. 



Questions and Answers. \ 



\ r 



CONDUCTED BV 



DH. O. O. MFLLEIt, Marenfgo, ni, 



(The Qaestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal ofBce, or to Dr. Miller 



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



Doctor to send answers bv mail.— Editor.1 



Feeding Back. 



I have a few colonies of bees that are without winter 

 stores and must be fed. I also have some colonies that are 

 stronger and have a full supply, and it is my opinion that if 

 they were to find any more they would put it in the sections. 

 Would they do this if the honey is fed to them ? If they 

 would, would it not be wise to feed them, as there is a good 

 demand here for section honey, retailing at from 25 to 30 



cents during a light crop ? Or, would what is fed to them 

 diminish in quantity enough to leave no profit at all. If 

 you think that there would be a margin, would you advise 

 feeding a No. 1 article, or would the bees not convert an in- 

 ferior honey to a superior lot ? Maryland. 



Answer. — Unless you have had a good deal of experi- 

 ence you will find it unprofitable to feed honey to have it 

 stored in sections. Some say they have made it pay, but 

 most bee-keepers, even these of much experience, have not 

 been successful at it. If you feed back, use only the best 

 honey if you want a good article. The bees will not im- 

 prove the quality of honey you furnish them. 



Not Working in Sections-^Knowing ttueens- 

 Bees. 



-Feeding 



My bees swarmed once in July, so I have 2 colonies, and 

 neither works in the sections. The colony that is left in 

 the old hive does not seem as large as I think it should be. 

 There are acres of goldenrod, ironweed, highbush, smart- 

 weed, and corn, as well as vines. Now that is all right for 

 them, and there are no other bees in the country. I fear 

 the old colony has not a fertile queen ? How may I know 

 her ? Shall I feed the bees ? If so, how ? 



Answer. — Possibly you have been expecting your colo- 

 nies to be stronger than they ought to be. The swarm can 

 have no young bees hatching out for three weeks, and dur- 

 ing all that time the bees will be dying off daily, so it will 

 be getting weaker during all of that three weeks. The 

 mother colony is likely to be left quite weak, but will gain 

 rather than lose during the first three weeks. Then will 

 come a falling off for some days, until the progeny of the 

 young queen begins to emerge. Lift out the combs and 

 see whether you can find eggs or unsealed brood. The 

 presence of these is proof that the colony has a laying 

 queen. 



Look up the matter of feeding bees in your text-book, 

 and if anything in that is not understood, feel free to ask 

 questions about it in this department. 



Storing in the Supers— Fears Short Stores. 



Does it deprive the bees of their winter supply to let 

 them continue storing honey in the supers until thej' quit 

 of their own accord ? If so, please tell me how to stop 

 them, and at what time. Iowa. 



Answer. — Generally bees of their own accord will grad- 

 ually contract the brood-nest and fill up the brood-chamber 

 with honey. Of course you can prevent them from storing 

 any more in the supers bj' taking supers off. A better plan 

 is to have a supply of combs of sealed honey, and then after 

 supers are taken off one of these combs can be given wher- 

 ever needed. You will find good use for a number of them 

 next spring. 



Eggs that Failed to Hatch. 



During the month of August I brought 3 select queens. 

 The last one I introduced by the wire-screen method. She 

 had commenced laying before I gave the bees free access to 

 her. They accepted the queen all right, but would not ac- 

 cept her eggs — at any rate they failed to hatch into larvas 

 of any kind. Plenty of eggs can be found at any time ; 

 they are laid in as nice rotation as any queen could lay 

 them, but there seems to be something wrong. On opening 

 the hive the bees will commence a low hum or moan, not 

 just like a hopelessly queeuless colony, but something simi- 

 lar. I put on a feeder and commenced feeding, but that has 

 not changed matters a bit. 



1. Can she be a drone-layer ? 



2. What becomes of the eggs ? 



3. What would I better do in the case ? 



West Virginia. 



Answers. — 1. It is possible, but not probable, that she 

 is a drone-layer. 



2. I don't know. Likely the workers eat them, after 

 they have been in the cells two or three days. 



3. It is not an uncommon thing for bees to stop breed- 

 ing toward the last of September, and sometimes as early 

 as the date of your letter, Sept. IS. It is generally supposed, 

 I think, that the queen takes the initiative in this matter, 

 the bees continuing to take care of the eggs as long as the 



