Feb. 7, 1907 



American ISee Journal 



years of age. I have had no schooling in this 

 country. 



2. Laet year I had 21^ colonies, spring count, 

 and doubled them up to lit, and had 7 at home 

 and I2at Oak Park, 4 miles away from home. 

 They produced 70 and 330 pounds of honey, 

 respectively, so that proves to me there are 

 too many bees in this part of the country. I 

 had my queens clipped, and shook the swarms 

 of one on combs or foundation, and put the 

 brood over the still weaker colonies, and in- 

 creased to 2'd. I will move out to O^levie, 25 

 miles from here, in the spring, on a small 

 farm, and milk some cows and keep bees. 

 Minnesota. 



Answers. — 1. Your supers are 16.\20 inches 

 outside, and if made of % stuff they are 14 '4 x- 

 18^4 inside. If you intend to u-e the popular 

 ■l'4.'£4i4 section, the width of your super will 

 do, but the length, I8'4, is J„ too much. It 

 depends upon how they are made, whether it 

 will be easy to cut off that ,'„' and nail them 

 together again ; but if it is not easy, all you 

 need to do is to nail in one end a ^„ board. 

 Then if your super is any deeper than 4'. > or 

 4"k', it must be cut down to that depth. Pos- 

 sibly your supers are extracting-supers, and of 

 such depth that each one can be cut in two, 

 making two supers. Then, for each super, 

 you will need 2 strips of tin ",, inch wide, and 

 <5 staples, or else 6 pieces of sheet-iron 1x1',, 

 inch. You will nail a strip of tin on the bot- 

 tom at each end to support the sections at 

 each end. On the lower edge of each side, 

 just at the middle, will be a staple, and half 

 way between this and each end another staple. 

 Drive each staple into the lower edge of the 

 side, and about I4' inch from the inside, and 

 then bend it over, so that when the super 

 stands flat upon a table the staple will be flat 

 on the table. If you prefer to use sheet-iron 

 pieces instead of staples, two wire-nails will 

 \ hold them. 



"That proves to nie there are too many 

 bees in this part of the country." Not neces- 

 sarily. If you have been in the business only 

 .3 years, it may be that those were 3 bad years, 

 and that next year will be a good year. It 

 may be, however, that the locality is over- 

 stocked, for all that. 



A very nice thinu i< ground corn and oats. 

 Set a shallow box of it out in the sun, tipped 

 to one side, ami when the bees work It down 

 level tip it the other way. They will use out 

 the flne parts, anil you can feed the coarser 

 parts to your 4 footed stock. I wouldn't 

 wonder, after all, if the bees have all the pol- 

 len they need in the new hive now. It may 

 be in cells with honey over it and sealed, so 

 that you would not see it. 



2. The right time to take out depends upon 

 the season. In this locality I generally take 

 out my bees about the time red or soft maples 

 are in bloom, and that may be from the mid- 

 dle of March to the middle of .\pril. Perhaps 

 you could go by the same sign, although you 

 are in the uorthern tier of counties in Ne- 

 braska, and so you are farther north than I. 

 So long as the bees are quiet in the cave there 

 is no need to hurry them out, and you need 

 not be alarmed at some of the bees dying, for 

 a good many may die from old age. 



3. Honey of best quality is probably the 

 best thing for bees, especially when brood 

 is to be reared; but if you haven't that, then 

 syrup of best granulated sugar conies next. 



Bee-Bread or Pollen In Winter- 

 ing Bees Out in Spring 



Tak- 



1. I have a colony of bees which I thought 

 had plenty of honey. I put them into a cave, 

 or outdoor cellar, on Nov. 8, 1906. I took 

 them out Jan. 23, as it was a very warm 

 day, and found a good many dead bees in the 

 bottom of the hive. They have 9 frames full 

 of comb, but the bottom half is empty nearly 

 half way up the frames; but I don't find any 

 bee-bread in any of the frames. Will they 

 winter all right without bee-bread, or can I 

 feed them anything as a substitute for iti 



2. They Hew out in large numbers until 5 

 p.m. They carried in water till 4:30. It seems 

 as if the honey is partly candied in the upper 

 part of the frames. It is warm and nice in 

 the cave. Nothing freezes in it. When is 

 the best time to take them out of the cave 

 and put them on the summer stand? 



3. We are up on the high table-land where 

 it has been very dry for a number of years. 

 Bees had done no good until the last 3 years. 

 Last year they did fine. Some took off from 

 some colonies 70 to 75 pounds of honey of fine 

 quality. What is the best to feed the bees in 

 case they haven't plenty of stores In the 

 spring to feed the young bees? Do you think 

 that extracted honey is better than granulated 

 sugar? We have had a nice winter, not much 

 snow, but the wind blows a good deal of the 

 time since the sun crossed the line in Septem- 

 ber. Nebraska. 



Answers.— 1. Whey will winter all right 

 without any bee-bread, but they can not rear 

 brood in the spring without it. It may be 

 that they can get pollen as soon as they fly in 

 spring, and you can easily tell it they do by 

 seeing them carrying in loads of pollen. If 

 so, you need not interfere. But if they get 

 no pollen you can give them a substitute of 

 almost any kind of meal you happen to have. 



be too deep. I have had bees build comb in 

 a \'4 inch space, although from what you say 

 your bees may not yet have built in such a 

 space. I should feel safe with a ;|-ioch 

 space, and likely there would be little DuUd- 

 ingwith a spa<e of 1 inch. My bottom-boards, 

 however, are all 2 inches deep; then during 

 the busy season I All half or more of the 

 space with a sort of rack, which prevents the 

 bees building down, yet gives them the 

 chance for much ventilation. In winter the 

 bees have the whole of the 2-inch space, which 

 is an important advantage. 



2. I never tried it, but those who have 

 tried it generally condemn the practise. I 

 remember especially E. D. Godfrey, of Iowa, 

 who, some yeirs ago, suffered loss by it. The 

 editor of Gleanings has been trying it lately, 

 and reports that when the bees find themselves 

 imprisoned, they make such a to-do as to stir 

 up the whole colony. I have used wire-cloth 

 at entrances in winter, but it was of coarse 

 mesh, 3 meshes to the inch. 



Proper Temperature of Bee-Cellars 



On page 14, R H. Smith says the best tem- 

 perature for wintering bees is 45 to 48 degrees 

 above zero. If I remember rightly, all our 

 best authorities agree on 42 to 45 degrees for 

 the most successful wintering in cellars. I 

 have one Standard barometer and 3 Fahren- 

 heit thermometers. One of the latter is filled 

 with quick silver, or mercury, and the others 

 with colored fluids. I have all these in my 

 cellar, and the variation from the one that 

 shows the highest to the one that shows the 

 lowest, is 10 degrees. Upon which can I de- 

 pend for the desired 42 to 45 degrees which is 

 necessary for successful wintering of bees, as 

 claimed by our best authorities? 



Wisconsin. 



Answer.— So you're up against that mixed 

 matter of temperature in cellar. If there is 

 anything like a general agreement, it is that 

 the right temperature is about 45 degrees. 

 But, as you have found out, thermometers 

 vary. You will also probably And that cellars 

 vary, perhaps on account of difference in dry- 

 ness, perhaps for some other reason, so that 

 if the same thermometer is used in 2 cellars, 

 it may need to be higher in one than the 

 other. I don't know which of your ther- 

 mometers is best; and it doesn't make very 

 much difference, although on general princi- 

 ples it's better to have it correct. But here is 

 what you're to do: Take whichever ther- 

 mometer you thinU- best, and keep close watch 

 until you find at what degree your bees are 

 quietest; then keep your cellar as near that 

 temperature as you can. whether it be 42, 45, 

 48, or something else. The idea is to find at 

 what temperature your bees are most quiet by 

 your thermometer, in your cellar, no matter 

 what authorities say. 



Space Below Brood-Frames — Wire- 

 Screening Cellared Bees In the 

 Hives 



1. .\s I expect to make my bottom-boards, 

 I would like to know how deep an entrance 

 can be before the bees will build comb from 

 the bottom-bars to the bottom-board. I have 

 been using them 's inch deep, but I notice 

 the bees alight outside and crawl in, the same 

 asa'*„-inch entrance; but if 1'4 inch they 

 don't alight on the bottom-board, but on the 

 combs. It seems to me this must save quite a 

 little of the bees' time. Would 2 inches be 

 too deep? 



2. What do you think of shutting bees in 

 the cellar with wire-screen? I use a frame 

 with wire-screen on both sides. I close up 

 the entrance with 2 small nails and a strip of 

 wood. I use another strip to hold all together 

 instead of staples. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know just how deep 

 a space would do, but I'm sure 2 inches would 



%?porf5 an 



WlntepinK Well— Cold Weather 



Bees are wintering well. We had a mild 

 winter, with but very little snow, till about 

 Jan 20. We now have about 6 inches of snow, 

 and it is cold. On Jan. 24, the mercury was 

 26 degrees below zero. My last season's crop 

 of honey was about 4500 pounds from 63 col- 

 onies. C. F. Baker. 



Belmont, N. Y.. Jan. 2S. 



Fair Season in 1906 



The past season was a fair one here. I 

 secured about 1350 pounds of comb honey, 

 which was my largest yield since keeping 

 bees. I took the 1st premium on a case of 

 alfalfa honey, 2d premium on display of comb 

 honey, and 3d on a case of amber honey, at 

 the Kansas State Fair at Hutchinson. I think 

 that is not so bad for a bee-keeper of only a 

 few years. Jso. A. Dunn. 



Abbyville, Kans., Jan. 23. 



Cold Snap— Material Commotion 



We have had our cold snap. Yesterday 

 morning it was 10 degrees below zero, and 

 now it is 14 degrees above, with 2 inches of 

 snow. Bees apparently are all right. 



There seems to be a commotion in the ma- 

 terial world-" earth shakes," floods, and 

 Minnesota snows. The traditional spiritual 

 calm seems on the " quake" also, in France. 

 Well, bee-keepers are a staid lot, and we can 

 rely on them for honey and perseverance. 



Farwell, Mich., Jan. 24. T. F. Bingham. 



Indians and Wild Bees 



I never kept bees, but no one has had more 

 experience than I and not keep them. I have 

 tried to outdo bees ever since I can remember. 

 First, the bumble-bees — how to rob them and 

 get the honey. I have put in days, while 

 herding sheep in Kansas, killing bumble-bees 

 and pulling them in two and dropping the 

 big drop of honey into my mouth. But not 

 without stings, so you don't have to tell me 

 a bumble-bee can sting more than one time. 



Last summer I happened to go into Indian 

 Territory. Stopping over night with an In- 

 dian family, they made the remark that if 

 they had some sulphur they would rob a bee- 

 tree. It made me "come alive," and I asked 

 how they did it. 



To cut the tree, burn most of the honey and 

 all the bees, was the plan described. So I 

 made a smoker out of a baking-powder 

 can, etc., and fixed a box for them. They all 



