August, 1907. 



American ^ee Journal 



would be jeopardized by the killing of 

 the queen. You do not say whether the 

 queen had been laying continuously, 

 leaving eggs and brood in all stages 

 present. If no unsealed brood was 

 present, it may be that the queen was 

 no longer capable of laj-ing, hence voted 

 of no value by the bees, in which case 

 it would not seem so very strange that 

 they should get rid of her. But if the 

 eggs were still present, I should feel 

 inclined to inquire whether the queen 

 you found balled had not come from 

 some other hive, the queen belonging 

 to the colony still remaining at work. 

 Of course, you could decide this by see- 

 ing whether laying continued after the 

 removal of the queen. 



2. Tlie Jumbo hive is a modification 

 of the Langstroth hive made for the 

 benefit of those who might wish to try 

 a deeper frame without the expense of 

 making an entirely permanent change. 

 The only difference is that hive and 

 frame are in the neighborhood of 2 

 inches deeper (2% inches deeper, if 

 memory serves'), so that they could be 

 cut down to the regular depth if the 

 owner desired to change back. More- 

 over, cover and bottom-board would be 

 the same for the Jumbo as for the 

 shallower hive. The Dadant, or Quin- 

 by, frame is 185/2x1114, the same depth 

 as the Jumbo, but '.s longer. I'm not 

 sure whether the Dadant-Blatt is the 

 same thing. 



Queen and Nuclei Questions 



I. Some time ago I started to make 

 a few nuclei, taking one frame (with 

 adhering bees with nearly all of the 

 brood sealed in each frame) from each 

 colony, the youngest larva; or brood not 

 over 6 days in these frames, and there 

 was very little of this unsealed brood 

 in each frame used to form these nuclei, 

 and the most of the nuclei formed were 

 made 2-frame strong, but I made 2 nu- 

 clei with 4 frames in each hive, and all 

 of the nuclei were given a mated queen 

 that had laid in nuclei before, and the 

 queens were given to the nuclei in in- 

 troducing-cages, one day to 3 days after 

 the nuclei were formed. The 4-frarae 

 nuclei that I formed I gave a queen in 

 cage 3 days after they were formed, and 

 these 4-frame nuclei killed the queens 

 some time after they had commenced to 

 lay eggs in the frames. Now the two 4- 

 frame nuclei had queen-cells started with 

 at least 6-days-old larvae in the cells 

 when I was about to put in the cages to 

 them, but they were destroyed, and the 

 next time I looked at these 4-frame nu- 

 clei I found tliat the queens had started 

 to lay, but had been killed, and that the 

 bees had started to make queen-cells 

 from the eggs in the frames where the 

 dead queens had laid. I took away the 

 frames that the queens had laid eggs in, 

 and then gave them virgin queens, and 

 when they had released them they killed 

 them, too. I then gave them a frame 

 each of newly-laid eggs ; they started 

 queen-cells at once, and they hatched 

 out a queen each in these 2 nuclei, ana 

 these queens are now laying queens. 

 Why did these bees not want the queei.-> 

 and virgin queens I gave them in intro- 

 ducing-cages? 



2. Is it any safer to introduce queens 

 to one or 2-frame nuclei in place of a 

 4-frame or a colony of bees? 



3. Or, is tliere any harm if there are 

 any young larvje in the frames given to 

 make the nuclei? 



■ 4. About what is the right time to 

 give to a nucleus a queen, or to a col- 

 ony, after it has been made? That is, 

 how long should the bees be queenless ? 



5. I have the best luck in introducing 

 queens to bees that have been queenless 

 for 5 days and over, but not over 10 

 days. 



6. When worker-bees have com- 

 menced to lay in queenless colonies, 

 what is the best way to do with them 

 to get any use of these bees? Is there 

 any danger in giving them to one or two 

 colonies that are strong, without being 

 in danger of killing the queen that I 

 gave these bees to? Or will queenless 

 bees given to stronger colonies kill the 

 queens where they are shaken off? 



Nebraska. 



Answers. — i. It is an unusual thing 

 for bees to accept a queen long enough 

 to allow her to lay, and then to kill 

 her. Sometimes, however, they do it, 

 and I don't know why. As a random 

 guess, perhaps because they are not 

 entirely satisfied with the queen, but 

 allow her to lay long enough to give 

 them the material from which to rear 

 a successor. 



2. Perhaps there is no difference, but 

 if there is any difference it is safer to 

 introduce to the weaker. 



3. No. 



4. It is probably just as well to put 

 the queen in w'hen the nucleus is first 

 formed, but of course caged, so that 

 she will not be liberated for a day or 

 two. 



5. Perhaps you would succeed just 

 as well to try the Abbott plan. Put the 

 new queen in the hive without disturb- 

 ing the old one, the new queen being 

 in a provisioned cage, and the candy 

 covered so the bees can not get at it. 

 After 2 days remove the old queen, 

 and at the same time the covering from 

 the candy so that in a day or two the 

 queen will be hberated by the bees. 



6. Break up a colony with laying 

 workers, distributing bees and combs to 

 otlier colonies. No danger to the queen 

 unless you give so many bees from the 

 faulty colony that they outnumber the 

 colony to which they are given. 



iporf$ and^ 

 experiences^ 



Air-Slacked Lime for Robber-Bees 



I wish to give some experience with 

 robber-bees among my bees, and the 

 way I have stopped them. When I 

 found robbing going on I closed the 

 hive-entrance till only a single bee 

 could pass through, and then took air- 

 slacked lime and applied it freely at all 

 places where robber-bees were trying to 

 force an entrance. I applied it directly 



on the bees, and awaited results. I could 

 also find the ones that were robbing. 

 Cantril, Iowa. Leslie Smith. 



Light Honey-Flow 



We have a light honey-flow from white and 

 sweet clover. It began about July 20. The 

 bees were on short rations till that time. It 

 looks now as if we would take a little surplus, 

 with a fair prospect of the bees going into 

 winter quarters in good condition. It has been 

 the worst season for queen-rearing I ever 

 saw. Robert B. McCain. 



Oswego, 111., July 25. 



Bees Outdoing Themselves 



We are in the midst of the basswood honey- 

 flow, and bees are just outdoing themselves. 

 We had a nice flow of white clover honey, 

 so, with the prospects of plenty of buckwheat 

 for the bees to work on later, we feel pretty 

 well pleased. C. N. Greene. 



Troy, Pa., July 25. 



Light Honey-Flow in Mexico 



There seems to be a light honey-flo*r here 

 this summer, owing to the dry weather. I have 

 increased from 7, spring count, to is, and 

 all are fairly strong. One swarm issued April 

 8. I hived it and later moved it to a new 

 stand. I closed the entrance 24 hours. All 

 the combs melted down and the bees smoth- 

 ered. WiLUAM Winkler. 



Aldama, Mexico, July 19. 



Bees Wintered Badly 



I am 7i years, 6 months, and lo days old. 

 I have been in the bee-business over 30 years, 

 and have taken the American Bee Journal all 

 but one or 2 years during the entire time. 



December 3, 1906, I put 52 colonies in a 

 new stone and cement cellar under the house. 

 On May 15 I removed them to the apiary. 

 I had so colonies in the worst condition of any 

 year since being in the business. I think the 

 iiew cellar and buckwheat honey were re- 

 sponsible. I now have 63 colonies in good 

 condition. The white honey-fiow is nearly 

 over. I have hundreds of sections partly 

 filled. The weather is rawy and cool here 

 now. 



Success to the American Bee Journal. 



D. R. Van Amburgii. 



Benzonia, Mich., July 22. 



The Pecos Valley Country. 



It is some time since I wrote anything for 

 the .\mcrican Bee Journal. 1 have removed 

 to Eddy County, New Mexico, which is in the 

 center of the wonderful artesian belt of the 

 famous Pecos Valley. I think this is des- 

 tined to be one of the finest locations in the 

 world for bees. Near Roswell, which is located 

 at the upper end of the Valley, there are sev- 

 eral bee-keepers who get large crops of honey. 

 I am located 49 miles south of Roswell, on 

 the Santa Fe Railroad, and this town only 

 about 2 years old. Land here is comparatively 



Roswell is about 15 years old, and land 

 sown to alfalfa brings $60 to $100 annually 

 from 5 cuttings, and land is worth $200 to 

 $300 per acre. Mr. Hagerman has 700 acres 

 in orchard, which he has refused $1,000 per 

 acre for. Parker Earl, who was for 16 years 

 President of the American Horticultural So- 

 ciety, received $15,000 from one crop of pears 

 from a lo-acre pear-orchard. This seems like 

 a fairy tale, but it is true. This locality 

 has just as good land, and it is real cheap as 



The artesian wells are a wonder to behold— 

 wells that aj.1 you have to do is to open the 

 valve and the water flows at the rate of from 

 1500 to 4000 gallons per minute — enough to 

 irrigate from 160 to 320 acres of land. 



Men are planting hundreds of acres to al- 

 falfa here, and one man near Dayton has 440 

 acres in orchard. Many have smaller or- 

 chards. Nearly all unbroken land is covered 

 with bunches of mcsquite, which grows only 

 about one to 3 feet high, but has been in 

 blossom ever since I came here — nearly 4 

 months. They bear loads of beans in pods, 

 and I think produce lots of honey. There 

 are almost no bees in this locality, as 



every one who comes here sees a chance to 



