June 27. 1907 



American Tiee Journal 



■where the latter is procurable. Gas, in 

 time, smokes up a church badly ; still, 

 it is used universally, showing that 

 candles are not demanded. 



If one is of an investigating mind, 

 he will find that in some churches, 

 what appear to be candles are nothing 

 more than porcelain made in immita- 

 tion of a caudle. A small gas-tip or 

 burner is set where the wick should be. 

 If all the Roman Catholic, Greek and 

 some forms of the Episcopal church 

 were to use beeswax-candles exclu- 

 sively during their services, there 

 would not be sufficient wax produced 

 to supply the demand. And, perhaps, 

 it is well they don't, for it would, to 

 my mind, be a useless waste of good 

 material — a product demanded for use 

 in the arts and sciences. The church 

 seemed to recognize this fact, hence 

 the minimum limit of two candles at 

 he sacred service. 



Durable Top-Bar Ends 



In examining a lot of colonies this 

 spring, I found that a lot of the end- 

 bars had decayed. This made it awk- 

 ward to handle frames so injured. It 

 was almost as bad as lifting a large 

 basket full of eggs and the basket 

 handleless. You have a dread all the 

 time that something is going to fall. I 

 find that Eastern (white) pine and a 

 Western spruce were the woods most 

 susceptible to rot. Oregon pine stood 

 the moisture better than I supposed. I 

 believe redwood will not rot, but it is 

 too brittle, though. Patrick Keating 

 uses it. Give me Oregon pine, for it is 

 almost as hard and durable as oak. 



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Docfor Miliarias 

 %iesffon^B9x: 



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Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, or to 

 Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 

 ' Dr. Miller does 7iut answer Questions by mail. 



continued bad weather, and it is well to be- 

 gin feeding at once. 



2. I think there are only '2 points to be 

 observed to prevent swarming, viz., plenty 

 of laying space for the queen by giving 

 empty combs when needed, and super-room 

 for the bees to prevent crowding. 



3. As we are not proliibited from read- 

 ing the "Sisters' Department," I am in- 

 clined to disagree with Miss Wilson in re- 

 gard to ventilation by opening the back 

 door at the top of the brood-nest (pages 

 451-2J. for in a climate of hot days and 

 cool nights the brood is liable to take a 

 bad cold with the back door left open over 

 night. 



4. Why will a densely populated colony 

 with a .young queen in the cell, on being 

 given 2 frames, with 'i-incli starter, refuse 

 to draw out the foundation, but proceed to 

 build drone-comb in a frame with a starter? 



.5. When the bees are vigorously fanning 

 with their heads to the entrance, which is 

 accomplished, cool air driven in or hot air 

 being drawn out? 



I will offer a possible solution to "Iowa," 

 page 469. Perhaps something in the wood 

 the shingles are composed of attractive to 

 the bees causes them to work through tlie 

 cracks made by shrinkage. We will not 

 credit the idea of their going down the 

 chimney to get into the house unless some 

 old comb should have been thrown into the 

 flreplace with little fire. Aricaxsas. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, if drones are driven 

 out any time before the close of the season 

 it is well to inquire whether stores are 

 short. Sometimes, however, drones are 

 driven out when plenty of honey is in the 

 hive and the season is not yet far ad 

 vanced. especially if the bees have reared a 

 new queen. 



■I. Yes, crowding either the brood or the 

 surplus apartment is generally agreed to 

 favor swarming, but most bee-keepers would 

 at least add to Ibis the matter of heat and 

 lack of ventilation. 



^. If you know of any case where harm 

 was done" by doing as directed. I wish you 

 would give particulars. The instructions 

 were given for extracted honey, and we 

 don't run for extracted honey here, but in 

 hundreds and hundreds of cases we have 

 given such ventilation to colonies working 



Somettiing Historical About Bees 



1. Mr. Leonard Chester and Rev. Henry 

 Smith died in 1048. In the inventory of 

 their estates bees were valued at £s in 

 each case. James Boosey died in 163U. In 

 the inventory of his estate 11 "skipps" of 

 bees were valued at £9. Comparative : 

 Horses £12 each, and cows £5 each. 



2. Were bees always here, or were they 

 imported? If so, when? Coxxecticut. 



AxswERS. — 1. Just as you state it, one 

 cannot tell for certain whether it took 11 

 "skipps" to be worth % as much as a horse, 

 or only 1 "skipp." If the former, bees were 

 not rated very differently from today ; if 

 the latter, bees were away up. 



2. In the latest edition of Dadant's 

 Langstroth, page 289, is the following: 



"Thomas Jefferson, in his 'Notes on Vir- 

 ginia,' says : 'The honey-bee is not a na- 

 tive of our country. The Indians concur 

 with us in the tradition that it was 

 brought from Europe ; but when, and by 

 whom, we know not. The bees have gen- 

 erally extended themselves into the coun- 

 try, a little in advance of the white settlers. 

 The Indians, therefore, call them the white 

 man's fly.' 



"According to the quotations of the 

 American Bee Journal common Ijees were 

 imported into Florida by the Spaniards pre- 

 vious to 1763. for they were first noticed 

 in west Florida in that year. They ap- 

 peared in Kentucky in 1780, in New* York 

 in 17;>3, and west of tlie Mississippi in 

 1797." In 1857 they were taken to Cali- 

 fornia. 



So you see that the account you give 

 antedates anything given in the book quoted 

 by more tlian a ^-entury, making it a very 

 interesting item. 



Driving Out Drones ~ Preventing 

 Swarming— Hive Ventilation, Etc. 



in sections, and I never knew of brood be- 

 ing injured by it. 



4. With a virgin in its cell the bees 

 seem to know that drones are of the utmost 

 importance, and so they are anxious for 

 drone-comb. 



5. When I have put the back of my hand 

 near the entrance it has always felt as if 

 the current were toward my hand, and so 

 drawn out of the hive. 



Vicious Bees-Perhaps Absconding 



1. On May 20, W. It. Burden and I cut 

 down a bee-tree and found the queen and 

 placed her in a hive and brought them 

 home, and on the next day the bees all 

 came out and began stinging everything 

 within 200 yards of the hive. They killed 



2 hens in a coop 30 yards from the hive, 

 stung people 200 or 300 yards away, and 

 were trying to settle all the time, but did 

 not. They settled down or went back in 



3 or 4 hours and have been working some, 

 and now have 3 pieces of comb about 6x8 

 inches. What was the matter with them? 



■2. In the spring of 1906 I had a nice 

 swarm of bees come out. I hived them in 

 ;\ new hive and they worked fine. They 

 larried in a great deal of pollen. In 7 

 weeks they sent out a swarm, and in 10 

 liavs. on examining I did not find a bee in 

 that hive that sent out the last swarm. 

 The first swarm I hived lay out around the 

 entrance and the hive was full of nice 

 comb. No moth-worms when I noticed it, 

 and no bees in it. Did the bees all come 

 out. or did they die, or what was the 

 matter? 



3. What is meant by "W. K. M. m 

 "Strav Straws" in Gleanings? 



KENT0CKT. 



ANSWERS. — Evidently those bees were of 

 a very vicious disposition, and beyond that 

 it is hard to say why they were on such a 

 special rampage. It is barely possible that 

 there was some robbing going on. making 

 them worse, but one can only guess why 

 they should swarm out. 



2. Again you've given me a nut harder 

 than I can crack. It seems to be a ease 

 of absconding rather than swarming. As I 

 understand it, the bees left the hive, bag 

 and baggage. 7 weeks after they had been 

 hived as a swarm. It is very unusual for 

 bees to desert a hive after fairly getting 

 to work in it, but sometimes they do. 

 Whether too hot. or lacking in food, or what 

 may have been the cause in this particular 

 case, is more than I can guess. 



3. "W. K. M." are the initials of W. K. 

 Morrison, one of the assistant editors o£ 

 Gleanings. 



When Bees are Gattiering-Best Race 

 of Bees-Bees Starving, Etc. 



1. I want to ask a few simple questions 

 and give a few points for beginners to ob- 

 serve. First, when the drones are being 

 run out and killed off in early spring, it is 

 conclusive evidence of a honey-dearth, or 



1. Is there any way one can tell when 

 bees are gathering by the appearance when 

 they come in from the field? My bees seem 

 to come in heavily loaded, but there is 

 nothing in bloom except dandelion and 

 strawberries. 



2. Do they gather much from other 

 plants ? 



3. What race of bees do you think is 

 best for the production of comb honey ? 



4. One of my neighbors says his bees 

 are bringing out lots of young larvie on 

 the alighting board. Why? Some say it 

 is chilled brood. We have had it fearfully 

 cold here this month. 



5. Do bees that gather pollen gather 

 honey also, or are there two classes? 



0. Since writing the above today (June 

 2) I notice the bees are coming in so 

 heavily loaded that they drop before they 

 reach the alighting board. They do not 

 seem to be on dandelion. What can it be? 

 Is it a Sign that they are gathering? 



Maine. 



Answers. — 1. If they are seen carrying 

 in pollen, they are generally carrying in 

 nectar also. When the harvest is plentiful 

 some of the bees are likely to drop down 

 in front of the hive, apparently resting a 

 while before starting up again. You can 

 catch a bee returning to the hive and find 

 whether it is carrying in nectar or only 

 water. 



2. In some places dandelions are so 

 scarce as to be of no great importance. In 

 others they are plenty and of great value. 



