July, 1907. 



American l^ee Journal 



5b7 



thin bottoms go to pieces in a short 

 time. Worst of all, the joints in them 

 shrink here in Central Kansas until 

 robber-bees find it an easy task to en- 

 ter them and destroy a good colony in a 

 short time. I have, after 3 years' use, 

 thrown them away. 



Please, gentlemen, let us have no 

 more 5-16 bottom-boards. Many begin- 

 ners have been clieatcd by having these 

 trashy bottoms put ofY on tlicm, not 

 knowing Iiow little tliey are worth. And 

 some experienced bee-keepers ordered 

 hives with "x bottom-boards and had the 



thin bottoms sent them. I was caught 

 in just this trap once, and was "up 

 against" the proposotion of accepting 

 them or doing without hives, as it was 

 too late to get others, the swarming sea- 

 son being upon me. 



Such bad supplies with advancing, in- 

 creasing prices, are causing many per- 

 sons to try 10 make their hives them- 

 selves, which, as a rule, does not secure 

 a hive made ni good material, properly 

 cut and put together. Let us have 

 hives made- ni good material. 



Lyons. K.ins. (Continued on p. 601.) 



Conducted by E.NLMA M. VVlL.Su.N. MaiLiisio, 111. 



" Emma " Means " Honey-Bees" 



In olden times any change in the fam- 

 ily, as the death of their keeper, was 

 told to the bees, says Praktischer Weg- 

 weiser, and when a man entered matri- 

 mony he must introduce his young wife 

 to the bees, and hence probably arose 

 the maiden name "Emma," for the old 

 German name Emma is the high Ger- 

 man of "Imme," as the bees were called 

 at that time. Many girls of the present 

 time named Emma may not know they 

 actually bear the name of our busy 

 Uttle honev-gatherers. 



Retarding Swarming— Bee-Sting 

 Cure 



This promises to be a good year with 

 me. The bees are not swarming so much 

 as at other times, yet they are storing 

 honey in better quantities than usual. 

 So I had made up my mind that anxiety 

 to swarm is not an indication that they 

 are short of room. It is with bees as 

 with people, I guess. They must do 

 something, and if there is nothing to 

 gather for honey, they swarm. I have 

 been wondering if feeding the bees dur- 

 ing short honey-flow would retard 

 swarming'. 



I wish I had a sure and prompt cure 

 for stings. I do not get stung often, 

 but especially if stung on the face or 

 neck. I am badly poison-ed thereby, and 

 am sick for days. All the books, etc., 

 I have read on the subject say to handle 

 the bees during the middle of the day 

 when they are flying freely, yet that is 

 the time of all others that I avoid them, 

 as then they are decidedly warlike with 

 me. Early in the morning, while it is 

 yet cool, is the time I work with them, 

 and often I take ofif a super or put one 

 on, and not a bee comes out of the hive. 

 Often, ttio, a swarm that issues in the 

 heat of the day will not enter a hive, 

 yet will do so late in the evening, and 

 sometimes in the morning. 



If a virgin queen is clipped, how will 

 she mate, as that takes place during 

 flight? Mrs. Gertrude L. Goodwin. 



Roy, Wash., June 6. 



It is hard to understand very much 

 about what favors or retards swarm- 

 ing. It is not likely that you could 

 retard swarming by feeding, yet bees 

 are more likely to swarm with a very 

 moderate yield than with nectar com- 

 ing in a flood. 



A thousand and one cures for stings 

 have been given, yet it is not certain 

 that one of them can be depended upon 

 when it comes to the pinch. Perhaps 

 mud is as good as anything else. Your 

 course probably is to do one of two 

 things. You may try the plan of taking 

 the stings until you become immune. In 

 your case it is just possible that it would 



time iliey came to prefer the middle 01 

 the day. It is not so much the middle 

 of the day, either. Sometimes bees will 

 be gocd-natured in the forenoon and 

 cross at noon. Sometimes good-natured 

 in the afternoon. It depends upon the 

 pasturage. That's good sometimes in one 

 part of the day, sometimes another; 

 and when bees are busy gathering they 

 arc on their best behavior. So long, 

 however, as your bees sting less in the 

 morning, there is no reason why you 

 should not take that time of day to 

 handle ihem. When jx)u have bees 

 enough you have to work at all limes 

 of day. 



Bees are not to be blamed if they 

 don't want to go into a hot hive in the 

 middle of the day. You wouldn't, either. 

 You may find that it will make a great 

 difference if you have the hive shaded, 

 or sprinkled with water, and especially 

 if you have the cover partly oflf so that 

 the bees find it cooler in the hive than 

 out. 



If a virgin is clipped she will not mate. 

 If you have clipped a virgin, the best 

 thing is to clip oflf her head, also. 



T-Super Dimensions, Springs, Etc. 



Dear Miss Wilson : — Please give the 

 inside length of Dr. Miller's T-super, 

 that he uses on the 8- frame Langstroth 

 hive. Also the thickness of the "fol- 

 lower" that he uses. (I suppose the 

 supers are 12% inches wide.) 



Can the springs that he says are bet- 

 ter than wedges be bought of dealers? 

 Are they to be used loose, or are they 

 to be attached to the super? 



As I am going to make a few of those 

 supers, I desire to have them made right. 

 I take it for granted that the length of 

 the T-tins are 12 inches, 



I would very much like to see a de- 

 scription of his "super-filler." I believe 

 he has promised to describe it some 

 time. Mary M. Smith. 



Caldwell, Ida., May 27. 



.\ T-super measures, inside, when first 



FIG. l.-SUPER-FILLER. 



take so long and entail so much suflfer- 

 ing that it would not be worth while. 

 The other course is to wear gloves, and 

 dress so as to be proof against stings. 



Your feeling about the time of day 

 has been the same with others, but in 



made, 17^x12^^x45^ inches. Ours have 

 been in use for years, and now measure 

 414 in depth, which is a better depth. 

 But even well-seasoned lumber seems to 

 shrink with age, so it is better to make 

 them 4?^. If they were made 414 at 



