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AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAI- 



Oct. 9, 1902. 



4. Is there need of any device over the frames of double 

 brood-chamber ? 



5. Is there need of any packing above a double brood- 

 chamber ? 



6. Would it do to sow sweet clover, say in October, har- 

 rowing- it, to be ready to grow in the spring ? 



7. What is the best way to keep a few extra queens over 

 winter ? 



8. Please tell me what you think is wrong in any of 

 these plans, and what you think is the best way to prepare 

 bees for wintering out-of-doors. 



9. I sowed some red clover last spring; it grew well, 

 but did not bloom well. Will it live over winter, and bloom 

 in the spring ? 



10. What time in the season does phacelia bloom ? and 

 how long does it continue in bloom ? Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. I am not sure that I understand your 

 third plan. Bees left to themselves store their honey so 

 that they must work upward or backward to reach it. al- 

 though they will manage to get it from any direction. If 

 you mean there is an air-space of 1/2 or 2 inches above the 

 brood-frames, that would not hinder the bees from getting 

 the honey, as they would probably cluster upon the combs 

 rather than in the air-space, but it is doubtful that there 

 would be any advantage in such space above the frames. 



I don't know whether the dummies would bean improve- 

 ment. The best way to decide the question would be to 

 make the trial on a small scale. 



2. Opinions are divided. Some prefer the board with 

 the '4 inch space over top-bars, while others prefer the 

 cloth. 



3. Better have honey in both, the upper one having the 

 most. 



4. No. 



5. The matter of packing should probably be the same 

 with a double brood-chamber as with a single brood-cham- 

 ber under the same circumstances. 



6. It would probably do well, especially if the ground be 

 made hard by rolling or by tramping of stock. 



7. In nuclei, two or more nuclei being kept in one hive 

 separated bj- partitions. 



9. It may live over, and if it does it will bloom ; but it 

 may winterkill. 



10. I have had no experience with phacelia. It is most 

 praised as a honey-plant and also as a forage plant across 

 the sea. and is said to have been obtained from California. 

 Can any of our brethren from the Golden State inform us 

 about it. 



Swarming of Young Queens Reared in the Hive. 



In your answer to my question, on page 538, you request 

 me to let you know if I have had any swarms issue in such 

 cases, as late as June. In reply I will say that I had a fine 

 colony of Italians from which I desired to breed. They 

 swarmed June 9, 1902 (and the swarm gave me 100 finished 

 sections this year). I had other colonies which swarmed a 

 few days before, and some a few days after. In order to 

 furnish all colonies with a queen of this particular breed, I 

 cut out all cells from the others and introduced cells from 

 this choice queen. I had five hatch, mate and swarm the 

 past season, under the above circumstances. One queen 

 was not 6 weeks old when she and her colony swarmed out. 



New York. 



Answer. — This seems a plain violation of the rule, and 

 there seems nothing left but to say that, at least in some 

 cases, a swarm may issue with a young queen reared in the 

 hive the current season. Thanks for the information, even 

 if the fact is one to be regretted. 



Forming Nuclei. 



I notice what you say on page S.S3, in answering Mr. 

 Doolittle in regard to forming nuclei, the bees leaving the 

 hive and returning home. Now, my experience is exactly 

 the same as yours. I, for some cause, am not troubled 

 very much with swarming, only last July I had the most I 

 ever had, but I killed what queens I could get my hands on 

 in returning prime swarms (which was about half). I could 

 expect when the young queens hatched out to have what 

 you may call after-swarms. The reason for putting back 

 the prime swarms this year was because it was too cold and 

 wet in June for the bees to do anything ; and July 1st came 

 in bright, and the weather was lovely from that on, and 



what honey I would get I knew must be secured in the next 

 10 days. So I returned all prime swarms. The plan worked 

 to perfection ; quite a number of the colonies that I re- 

 turned, and having failed to get the queen, did not bother 

 about swarming again, but went to work with a will. The 

 plan will be tried further next season. 



Now, as I said, I am, as a general thing, not getting the 

 increase desired, without making nucleus colonies in some 

 manner; and as I usually run one-third of my bees for ex- 

 tracted honey, after the last extracting, which is not done 

 very close, I go to all the extracting supers, and in those 

 that have no sealed brood I insert a frame, then in a few 

 hours after the bees have found it above, I break the super 

 off (which is always a hive-body the same as the brood-cham- 

 ber below), and carry it to a new location, closing the en- 

 trance until after dark. When it is opened, and in the morn- 

 ing of the next day, I can notice no bees leaving for home, 

 and am not troubled in the least by having the colony 

 dwindle. 



I made several 2-frame nuclei last month, and few bees, 

 if any, returned. I usually make them in the afternoon, 

 close the entrance until dark, then open, and all is well 

 with them. Ohio. 



Answer. — Your practice is a little different from the 

 usual way of taking bees and brood from a hive containing 

 a normal queen. If you take out of such a hive, directly 

 out of the brood-chamber, two or three frames of brood with 

 adhering bees, and put them in an empty hive on a new 

 stand, I feel pretty sure you will find a goodly number will 

 return to the old stand. But your plan is to put brood over 

 a colony and let the bees collect on it. Why such bees 

 should stay any better on a new stand I do not know, but in 

 a number of instances I have found they did so, although I 

 think I have never seen it mentioned in print before. 



Heating Extracted Honey— Market for Combs- 

 Trap. 



Drone- 



1. Is it necessary to heat extracted honey from ISO to 

 170 degrees, for any other reason than to prevent granula- 

 tion ? Would it keep without fermenting or souring if put 

 up in jars cold and sealed ? 



2. Is there a market for new combs in Langstroth 

 frames? If so, what are they worth ? 



3. About the last of July, wishing to go away over Sat- 

 urday and Sunday, I looked one colony through, Friday 

 night, and cut out all queen-cells; on Monday morning 

 when I looked through the hive, before six o'clock, I found 

 they had swarmed and gone, after starting new cells, but 

 not one was sealed, as I caged all and I knew when the first 

 one was hatched. This same colony had cast one swarm 

 May 24, and the second came out about 2 weeks later, and I 

 returned it. Is this right, to occur so often ? 



4. If I use the Alley drone and queen trap to cage the 

 queen when the swarm issues, is it not necessary to empty 

 the trap of drones every night ? If so, this trap would not 

 be practical to use in an out-apiary, if not visited oftener 

 than every 3 or 4 days, would it ? I mean practical to use 

 as a preventive from losing swarms. 



M.\SSACHUSETTS. 



Answers. — 1. Well-ripened honey ought not to ferment 

 or sour if put up in jars cold and sealed, neither ought there 

 to be any trouble if it is unsealed unless it be in a place that 

 is damp or otherwise objectionable. 



2. There is no regular market for them, but if you have 

 any to dispose of you could probably find cvistomers by ap- 

 plying to other bee-keepers near you, or by advertising in 

 this journal. I don't know what the price ought to be, and 

 I suppose it would vary greatly in different places, say from 

 15 to 25 cents each. 



3. It is an unusual thing for bees to swarm before they 

 have sealed queen-cells when they are left to themselves ; 

 but when they are baffled in their preparations by having 

 queen-cells cut out, they are not so particular about their 

 preparations, and may even swarm without any cells started 

 at all. 



4. The Alley drone-trap is successfully used without be- 

 ing seen more than once a week. The suppression of drone- 

 comb within reasonable limits does not leave enough drones 

 present to make much trouble. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



