Oct. 16, 1902. 



/N.MOICAN BEE JOURNA) , 



667 



tfood market, liy honest doalitips a fancy market can be 

 biiilt up amon;;^ private customers. Now the object of all 

 these details is to jfet advice from a man of experience. 



Would you advise me to jjo into the bee-business exclu- 

 sively? Could I handle an apiary of 2.SI) colonies ? I would 

 expect to beg'in with about 4i) or 50 colonies and build up to 

 that number, at the same time adding; to my fund of expe- 

 rience. I have eiiouffh cash to support myself and wife for 

 two years. My partner and I expect to divide our apiary 

 soon. Illinois. 



Answer.- It is impossible for any one to say in advance 

 what your success would be. Some men makinp a success 

 with SO colonies would make a failure with five times that 

 number, while others niiffht succeed with ten times that 

 number. If your sole aim is the money that is in it for you, 

 the probability is that the same amount of brains and mus- 

 cle put into some other business would bring greater re- 

 turns. But if you have a real love for bee-keeping:, the 

 happy and healthy life you would live would be worth a 

 whole lot of money, and if you couldn't make so much in a 

 year you would have more years to make it in. So if you 

 have a born taste for beekeepitifj, it would in all probability 

 be a good thing for you to follow the plan you have out- 

 lined, beginning with 40 or .^0 colonies, and increasing till 

 you felt you had reached a fair limit. With increased ex- 

 perience you would very likely have no more trouble with 

 250 than with .^0 colonies, and it would not be a hard thing 

 to hire some help when you felt it was needed. 



Winterinz Bees. 



1. I have read all of the American Bee Journals and in 

 all the remarks on different things it does not tell the space 

 between the hive and the winter casing. 



2. I would like to know whether I could put a shallow 

 brood-chamber on the old hive in the spring. The frames 

 are 5 !2 inches deep. I have the S-frame Langstroth hive, 

 and I was thinking that if I could put a shallow brood- 

 <;hamber on the hive in the spring it would give the queen a 

 better chance for the next honey season. Ontario. 



" 1 Answers. — 1. In the chaff hive the space is two inches. 

 Where the outside case is separate from the hive, the space 

 varies from two to six inches, according to the different 

 views of beekeepers, the tendency being hardly as much to- 

 ward the larger space as formerly. 



2. It will be all right to add the shallow brood-chamber 

 in spring, only it must not be put over the story already 

 occupied till that is fully occupied, for it would be a loss of 

 heat to have a story put over before needed. If the added 

 story be placed under, then it does not make so much differ- 

 ence if it is given before needed. 



GZ Producing Section Honey— Wintering ttuestions. 



1. It is claimed that the main drawback in the produc- 

 tion of comb or section honey (versus extracted honey) is 

 that the bees dislike to build and store in such smatl boxes 

 as a one-pound section. Therefore, would it not be a good 

 plan to have the bees produce their comb honey in frames 

 ( full or half depth, with or without separators, and if separa- 

 tors, only perforated ones), and then transfer the honey into 

 sections, allowing the bees to fasten it in securelj', clean up 

 drip, etc. ? We would thus have few or no pop-holes, all 

 cells would be sealed, and we would obtain more honey 

 than if the bees had built and stored from the beginning. 

 There would be less swarming ; the bees would not have to 

 be crowded, etc. The question is. Would the extra amount 

 of honey obtained, the advantage of not being bothered 

 with swarms (of course there might be a few), etc., pay for 

 the, time used in transferring the honey to sections ? 



2. In regard to out-of-door wintering, do you recommend 

 sealed covers (board or quilt), or porous coverings, the hives 

 in each case to be packed on the top and sides ? 



3. How large should the winter entrance be ? 



4. If the bees on a cool night cover only 4 or d frames, 

 would you leave in the other 4 to 2 of the S-frame hive ? 



6. How much top packing do you recommend ? What 

 kind? Cork sawdust seems good, and I have enough of 

 that. 



7. Is the pepper-bush (white alder) known by any other 

 name ? Massachusetts. 



Answers. — 1. I think that something of the kind you 

 suggest has been tried and condemned as unprofitable. It 

 will be an easy thing for you to try it on a small scale for 



yourself. In some parts, especially in Texan, "chunk" 

 honey is strongly advocated, and many tons of it are sold. 

 The honey is cut out of the frames, packed in cans, and the 

 spaces tilled with extracted honey. No separators are 

 needed. 



2. The weight of opinion at present seems to favor some 

 kind of packing that will allow an upvrard passage of air, 

 but in very small quantity. 



3. Perhaps theetjuivalent of three square inches. 



4. Yes. 



5. Hardly. 



6. Two inches of cork sawdust can hardly be beaten. 



7. Besides its botanical n3.mc — Clet/ira a/nifo/ia— it is 

 also called "sweet pepper-bush." 



Ptiacella Seed. 



Where can I get phacelia seed ? Suusckibbk. ' 



Answer. — I do not know where it can be obtained, un- 

 less it be the seed offered among tlower-seeds. It may be 

 found in any considerable catalog of flower-seeds, but I do 

 not know whether that is the forager-plant so highly praised. 

 It is. however, a beautiful Hower, and bees seem to have a 

 great liking for it. 



*-•-• 



Superseding Queens. 



1. I have 25 colonies of bees into which I introduced un- 

 tested Italian queens last summer, and I want to know if 

 there is any probability of them being superseded this sum- 

 mer ? 



2. Do bees as a rule supersede queens that are only one 

 year old ? 



3. Please explain to me the way they supersede a queen. 

 Do the bees build the queen-cells and then the queen lay in 

 them ? or do they build cells around larv£e that are already 

 hatched out ? 



4. What is the plan of rearing queens from a colony 

 which wants to supersede their queen ? Do you take away 

 the cells as soon as they are sealed over and give to queen- 

 less colonies, and let the bees build more ? 



5. Will the bees of the superseding colony kill the old 

 queen before a young queen is hatched and fertilized, or 

 just as soon as she is hatched ? 



6. I have had a very good flow of honey from bitterweed 

 during the last of July and all of August, until about Sept. 

 10, and several of my colonies have reared late drones. Is 

 this any indication that they want to supersede their queen ? 



7. Would not this be a splendid locality for rearing 

 queens, on account of having a long honey-flow, beginning 

 April 10 and lasting until Sept. 10 without stopping ? 



Mississippi. 



Answers. — It would be nothing strange if some of them 

 should be superseded. 



2. No, but queens that are introduced are more likely to 

 be superseded than if they had been reared in the same 

 hive. 



3. They may be so hostile to the new queen that they 

 never allow her to lay at all, in which case the bees start 

 cells from larva? present ; or they may allow the queen to 

 la}', in which case the queen-cells will be built before the 

 eggs are deposited in them. 



4. Yes, your guess is the right one, only the cells may 

 be left any length of time after being sealed till near the 

 time of hatching. 



5. If the introduced queen is accepted and allowed to 

 lay, she will generally continue till the young queen 

 emerges and sometimes both queens will be laying together 

 for some time. 



6. It hardly means superseding so much as a general 

 feeling of prosperity which allows the indulgence of such 

 luxuries as the presence of drones. 



7. Y'es, it ought to be a favorable place. 



" The Hum of the Bees in the Apple-Tree Bloom " is 

 the name of the finest bee-keeper's song — words by Hon. 

 Eugene Secor and music by Dr. C. C. Miller. This is 

 thought by some to be the best bee-song yet written by Mr. 

 Secor and Dr. Miller. It is, indeed, a " hummer." We can 

 furnish a single copy of it postpaid, for 10 cents, or 3 copies 

 for 25 cents. Or, we will mail a half-dozen copies of it for 

 sending us one new yearly subscription to the American 

 Bee Journal at $1.00. 



