1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



169 



very cross. In the winter, Mrs. Peter- 

 son took an ax with the idea of de- 

 stroying a colony of the cross bees 

 near the house. She split off one cor- 

 ner of the hive, about 2 inches wide 

 each way. But the bees frightened 

 her away. These bees wintered finely, 

 in spite of the ventilation. 



The farm papers ought to instruct 

 their readers ton when to spray the 

 fruit trees. I think that is where I 

 lose the largest number. 



O. A. REES, 

 Pennsylvania. 



Maryland State Association 



The third night meeting of the 

 Maryland State Beekeepers' Associa- 



tion of the winter series was held at 

 the Hotel Rennert on the night of the 

 27th, with Mr. L. R. Watson as the 

 principal speaker. His address was 

 on the adaptation of practice to the 

 behavior of the insect. 



Following this paper an essay on 

 "The best System of Spring Manage- 

 ment to Secure Comb Honey and Pre- 

 vent Swarming" was read by each of 

 the following members, who were 

 competing for a prize offered by the 

 Association. Mr. George Harrison, Jr., 

 was winner of the fi/st prize, with Mr. 

 T. G. Lytle recorded honorable men- 

 tion. Approximately SO members were 

 present. ERNEST N. CORY, 



Secretary-Treasurer. 



r 



DR. MILLER'S ANSWERS 



=^ 



Answered by the Editor during the illness of Dr. Miller. 



J 



If £n addressed stamped envelope is enclosed with the questions 

 asked, a copy of the reply to be published will be mailed to the en- 

 quirer. Some questions require too lengthy answers to be available 

 in this department. In such case the enquirer will be referred to the 

 proper authorities or treatises. In many cases if the enquirer will 

 read the questions of the previous numbers he will Bnd exactly what 

 he seeks. 



Raising Queens 



1. I would like to buy one or two Italian 

 queens to raise my own queens, but as I have 

 only blacks. I would like to know whether the 

 queens raised would be purely mated? I 

 would not want to buy queens for all my hives, 

 as it would cost too much; so would like to buy 

 a few only to use as breeding queens. How 

 would it be to have those colonies with the 

 Italian queens some distance from the others? 



2. I have a supply of goldenrod honey and 

 some don't care to buy it, and I don't know 

 what to do with it. What do the people who 

 have bad tasting honey do with it? 



LOUISIANA. 



Answers. — 1. You would have to keep those 

 bees at least 4 miles from the others and make 

 sure that there were no other bees in the vi- 

 cinity to insure their pure mating. Better take 

 all the drone comb out of your black colonies 

 and replace it with worker comb. Then put 

 one good, big drone comb in the center of one 

 of the Italian colonies, so as to raise plenty of 

 Italian drones. You will probably still have 

 some mismatings. But as the drones from your 

 mismated queens will be pure Italian, owing to 

 parthenogenesis, the next generation will be 

 more likely to have pure matings. It is diffi- 

 cult at first to obtain pure bees when there are 

 blacks all around. But we have all had to go 

 through this difficulty, and yet there are many 

 neighborhoods now where the Italians are in 

 great majority. 



2. I thought goldenrod honey was a very 

 saleable article. You might blend it with some 

 other grades, by heating both slightly. Or you 

 may sell it to dealers in honey. Usually this 

 honey is in good demand. 



which you will nail together so as to fit exactly 

 over the top of one of your hives. Tack a 

 sheet of wire cloth over each of these frames 

 and nail them on top of the hive bodies, after 

 having removed the cover and honey board, if 

 there is one. You should have the wire cloth 

 at the upper edge, so as to leave a space of an 

 inch between the frames and "the wire netting. 

 Nail the bottom boards fast. Put the covers 

 back on for the rest of the day. 



The following evening, after the bees have 

 ceased to fly, close the colonies by nailing a 

 slat in front of the entrance. No screen there. 

 Give air above, enough to keep them from 

 smothering. 



The next morning, get up before daylight and 

 load your bees on a buggy, or a wagon or a 

 truck, just as early as you can see to do it, 

 and haul them to their destination. You should 

 be able to get them there by sun up. Cover up 

 the screens and release the bees at the en- 

 trance, using a smoker to frighten them thor- 

 oughly. Place a slanting board in front of 

 the entrance, so they may see that their sur- 

 roundings are changed as soon as they take 

 flight. You will lose but few in this way. You 

 may remove the screens at leisure. 



If the weather is very cool they may be 

 hauled at any time after being confined. We 

 surmise that your colonies are strong and the 

 weather warm. 



Moving Bees 



I have purchased 3 hives of Italians. I don't 

 know how to get them home, as they are just 

 as busy now as they were last summer. They 

 are carrying pollen all the time, and I can't 

 imagine where they get it this time of the year. 

 I only have to move them one mile, but do 

 not know how to go about it, as it is not cold 

 enough any day to confine them to the hive. 

 Please let me know how to move them without 

 leaving too many behind. TEXAS. 



Answer. — Make frames of 4 slats 1x2 inches, 



Honey — Ventilation — Uniting 



1. To keep extracted honey from granulating 

 I understand one should heat it to 160 degrees 

 or less befoxe putting up and sealing? Is there 

 any danger of a thermometer breaking when 

 dipping into honey? 



2. When you want ten frames of foundation 

 filled out, should you put it above a strong 

 colony, or below, to get it done quickest? 



3 When sending off for a breeding queen and 

 a pound of bees what date would oe best to re- 

 ceive it? 



4. If queen and bees are gotten from Tennes- 

 see, do the climatic conditions of Washington 

 and Tennessee make any difference as to the 

 working of the oees? 



6. When supers are "staggered" one inch 

 back first super, ahead on second, etc, for ven- 

 tilation, should wire cloth be put over this 



space. I should think the vent space would 

 cause robbing. 



6. When uniting a swarm of bees back to its 

 colony I have read one can just dump the bees 

 in front of the hive and let them go in. But 

 isn't there any danger of them killing the 

 queen in the old hive in spite of the fact that 

 you discarded the queen from the swarm be- 

 fore uniting, or won't the virgin queen be 

 emerged from the cell yet if I unite them the 

 next day? WASHINGTON. 



Answers. — 1. The thermometer does not us- 

 ually break, but to be entirely safe you might 

 insert it in the honey when you begin heating. 

 Better stir the honey from time to time. 



2. The quickest way to have the foundation 

 worked is to mix it among the combs of a 

 strong colony. Usually they will work it if it is 

 below the hive body. 



3. This depends upon your honey crop. Bet- 

 ter have them too early than too late, say a 

 month before the crop begins. 



4. As a rule, when bees are shipped from a 

 country farther south, they are encouraged to 

 work and have more activity. 



5. Don't "stagger" the supers when there is 

 the least danger of robbing. It is not neces- 

 sary then. Neither should you do it unless the 

 colony is very strong. It may be easily over- 

 done. 



6. There is very little danger of the queen 

 being killed when you return the swarm to the 

 same colony, unless you wait too long. Two 

 days should be the limit. 



Queen 



1. How am I to determine whether the col- 

 ony has a queen? 



2. If the swarm seems weak, would you ad- 

 vise buying a pound or two of bees, or a new 

 queen and bees? 



3.. What is meant by nuclei? 



4. Can I buy a queen and a few pounds of 

 bees and put them in a new hive with founda- 

 tion, same as introducing a new swarm? 



ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. From the outside, the only 

 way to determine whether a colony has a queen 

 is to watch whether the bee are carrying in 

 pollen freely. If they are it is very probable 

 the colony has a queen. If you open the hive 

 and examine the combs, you should' find brood 

 in the combs. That is good evidence. 



2. Buying bees by the pound does not seem 

 advisable unless you buy a queen with them. 

 Then it is best to build up a colony from those 

 bees. If you buy bees without a queen, they 

 will probably not do very well. Then many of 

 them may be killed by introducing them to a 

 queenright colony. 



3. A niiclexis, plural nuclei, is a diminutive 

 colony. The word nucleus is from the Latin 

 and means a pod, a core. 



4. Yes, you can build a colony from a pound 

 or two of bees and a queen. But you must be 

 sure that they are well supplied with food, if 

 there is no honey in the field. 



Wintering — Settling a Swarm 



1. How many pounds does one brood frame 

 of honey weigh? 



2. Will a colony of bees have enough honey 

 for winter if the orood chamber is full of 

 honey? 



3. What should be done to settle down the 

 bees on a branch of tree when a swarm issues 

 in air? NEBRASKA. 



Answers. — 1. That depends on the thickness 

 of it and on how full it is. When exceedingly 

 well filled and thick, it may weigh 8 pounds. 

 It may be as light as 6 pounds. 



2. It certainly does not need to be full of 

 honey from top to bottom to have enough. You 

 rarely have brood frames entirely filled with 

 honey. 



3. A very good way is to fasten a dry comb to 

 a pole and place it in reach of the swarm. But 

 in some cases, no matter what you do, they 

 will settle where you least expect them to. 



