166 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



' Treating Combs for Moths 



By C. C. Miller 



Allow me to thank W. S. Pangburn 

 for his article in the American Bee 

 Journal, March, page 90. He seems to 

 have gotten down fine the matter of 

 treating wormy combs with carbon 

 disulphide. 



He is no doubt right in emphasiz- 

 ing the importance of "confining the 

 gases as long as possible, and giving 

 each set of combs the same strength 

 dose." That the fumes of carbon di- 

 sulphide are heavier than air is fa- 

 miliar, but that that makes it import- 

 ant to have each set of combs shut up 

 separately is new to me, I confess. 

 But it surely must make a safer thing 

 to let each story have its own dose. 



Where convenient it is well to have 

 the treated combs inside a building. 

 Outside, especially with open cracks 

 in a strong wind, the fumes will not 

 remain confined so long. 



That failure of long confinement is 

 probably the secret of most of the 

 failures. And there is little excuse 

 for it, seeing it is hardly conceivable 

 that the combs will be needed for use 

 again within a week; for it is hardly 

 worth while to fumigate them if the 



bees are to have them in that time. 



In order to make tight the joints 

 between the stories I like to use clay. 

 Simply mix clay and water stiff 

 enough so the clay will not run, and 

 then, without any scraping, lay a roll 

 of this dough upon the upper edge of 

 the super (no need to scrape the 

 edge), lay your paper over, put on 

 another roll of dough and set on this 

 the next super. You will have a close 

 fit. C. C. M. 



Wiring Again 



There have been shown different 

 systems in the American Bee Journal 

 about how to wire the frames. I use 

 five horizontal wires and in the sec- 

 ond place I use three brace wires. The 

 advantage of this system is this, the 

 brood-comb will be solid as a rock; it 

 cannot sag; the queen can lay eggs 

 clear up to the top bar and it cannot 

 break down in the extractor. The 

 disadvantages are: It takes more 

 wire and time to fix it this way, and 

 it cuts up the foundation more when 

 the wires are imbedded than the old 

 system does. 



JOHN ARBTIN, 



Des Moines Iowa. 



BEEKEEPERS BY THE WAY 



M. C. Richter, of California. 



A Much-Traveled Beeman 



The more a man sees of the way 

 others do their work the better is he 

 prepared to conduct his own business. 

 On this basis M. C. Richter, of Mo- 

 desto, Calif., should be well equipped. 

 Not only is he familiar with Califor- 

 nia from one end to the other, but he 

 has visited the beekeepers of many 

 countries, including those of central 

 Europe. In 1911 he became official en- 

 tomologist to the Government of Chili 

 at Santiago. He also established api- 



aries of his own in that South Ameri- 

 can country where he found condi- 

 tions somewhat similar to California. 

 except that the seasons are reversed. 

 Richter is one of the best-known 

 California beekeepers, having en- 

 gaged in honey production in that 

 State for a number of years. He is 

 the author of an extensive bulletin on 

 the honey plants of California, pub- 

 lished by the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege, and is prominent in the affairs 

 of the Co-operative Beekeepers' Ex- 

 change. 



Bees and Chickens 



In the February number of the 

 American Bee Journal, page 60, the 

 question is asked if bees can be kept 

 near chickens. 



My chickens, young and old, have 

 free access to my bee-yard and spend 

 hours there each day, scratching and 

 hunting for worms and bugs, dead 

 larvae, etc., especially those of drones 

 which have been thrown out of the 

 hives. My hives are set on boards 

 laid flat on the ground, and they 

 even scratch away narrow boards 

 that I have lying in front for the bees 

 to alight on, and I never yet have 

 known a chicken to get stung. But 

 they are a bit shy > f bees buzzing 

 around their heads, and if they get 

 too annoying the chickens simply 

 march out and return again when 

 they feel like it. 



On the same page, your reply to the 

 question asked as to the differ- 

 ence between a ripe queen-cell and a 

 fresh one, is not quite in harmony 

 with my idea. 



From my observation, a fresh or 

 newly-sealed queen-cell looks some- 

 what like a peanut shell, except that 

 the depressions are deeper and more 

 prominent and less so toward and in- 

 cluding the end, and remain thus un- 

 til about 12 to 24 hours before the 

 queen liberates herself. Then the 

 bees remove the wax from the end in 

 order to make it possible, or at least 

 a more easy task, for the queen to 

 thrust her sharp mandibles through 

 the cocoon, as if done with a sharp 

 knife. She cuts the cap from the 

 end of the cell. 



ELIAS FOX, 

 Union Center, Wis. 



Queen Supersedure by the Bees 



By E. C. Schoemaker 



WHILE my experience on queen 

 supersedure is of necessity 

 limited by reason of the num- 

 ber of colonies I have, I am never- 

 theless absolutely certain of the data 

 I gathered. 



During June, 1918, I opened up colo- 

 nies numbers 4 and 11 and found that 

 supersedure had taken place, un- 

 dipped queens being present in each. 

 The queen in number 4 was already 

 laying. 



I did not look for the old queens at 

 that time, as I held to the usual the- 

 ory that only one queen would be tol- 

 erated under any condition. About 

 one week later I again had occasion 

 to examine number 11, when, very 

 much to my surprise, I found the old 

 queen. She seemed to be very slow 

 in her movements and did not look at 

 all vigorous. I immediately figured 

 that she had disposed of the young 

 queen that I had seen a week earlier, 

 and had been injured in the combat. 

 I went on with my examination, 

 and upon lifting out the next frame 

 found my young queen, a perfect 

 beauty, at work filling the cells with 

 eggs. I immediately found the old 

 queen and removed her, and in colony 

 number 4 soon located old and young 

 queens on adjoining frames. 



