314 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



September 



4. You must not expect them to enter it 

 without fail. Decoy hives are only occasion- 

 ally accepted by the bees, and it probably 

 makes little difference whether yours is near 

 to the other hives or not. 



Answers to Questions 



1. After I subscribed to the American Bee 

 Journal I sent in some questions to Dr. C. f. 

 Miller, as I did not know he was sick. I have 

 rertived two copies of the Journal, but they 

 are not in it. Why? 



2. I saw at the top of Dr. Miller's Answers 

 to send an envelope stamped and addressed and 

 you would send the copy it is in. Why is this, 

 when a nerson has already subscribed ? 



3. Will the bees make straight cells when 

 the foundation is slightly bulging out between 

 the wires ? 



4. I am going to requeen the first swarm, as 

 the queen is two years old. Should I leave 

 her »o lay a few eggs first? If so, how long? 



5. How soon will a queen just introduced lay 

 eggs f 



6. Will 'ho bees build out on medium brood 

 fourdatior. f;isl enough for the queen to lay in 

 about 24 hours? (A new swarm). OREGON. 



Answers. — 1. Answers to questions, whether 

 they come from Dr. Mnier or from the edi- 

 torial room, cannot always be answered the fol- 

 lowirg month. Sometimes we have enough for 

 2 or more months ahead. 



3. You misunderstood the explanation at the 

 head of the Question and Answer Department. 

 Dr. Miller never replies directly to the en- 

 quirer. But the editor has undertaken to 

 send a copy of the replies to be published by 

 mail, to ihe enquirer, if he sends an ad- 

 dressed envelope. This is for the purpose of 

 giving immediate satisfaction to the man who 

 is looking for a reply to his questions at once. 



3. If the foundation is bulged, the cells 

 cannot be straight. 



4. Yes, it may be best to let her lay eggs 

 for a week or so. 



5. The laying of an introduced queen is im- 

 mediate if she is not fatigued and conditions 

 are good. 



6. Yes, usually. But that depends on the 

 strength of the swarm. 



When to Sow Buckwheat 



Could you advise me when to sow buck- 

 wheat for best results, and who makes a spe- 

 cialty of handling the seed? ILLINOIS, 



Answer. — The time to sow buckwheat in 

 Illinois and Middle States is from June 1 to 

 August 1. The seed should be secured from 

 seedsmen, unless you can buy it in your vi- 

 cinity. 



Mouldy Foundation 



I have about 10 pounds of thin foundation 

 that seems to have quite a bit of mould on it. 

 Can this be used in the hives for honey? Or, 

 if not, what can be done to it so it can be 

 used? NEBRASKA. 



Answer. — If the mould on the foundation is 

 similar to mould often enquired into by bee- 

 keepers, a tew minutes' exposure to the sun 

 will cause it to disappear. If the foundation 

 was kept in a very damp place and there is a 

 growth upon it, there may be a little more 

 trouble. Try the sun exposure, but do not 

 leave it exposed long enough to melt it. 

 Spreading it on a clean table will answer. 



Metal Combs — Transferring 



1. What do you think about the aUiiiiinuni 

 honeycomb? Do you think that it is a good 

 thing? 



2. Is May too late to sow sweet clover in 

 an old garden? What is the best honey pro- 

 ducing, white or sweet clover? 



3. When is the best time to transfer a col- 

 ony of bees that is in an old hive to an up-to- 

 date hive? ILLINOIS. 



Answers.— 1. Aluminum honey combs have 

 some advantages and some disadvantages. 

 Their success depends principally upon the 



climate. Try them on a small scale, say a 

 hive or two. 



2. It is never too late to sow sweet clover. 

 But what you will sow after this date will 

 probably not sprout till next spring. Better 

 wait till fall. White clover is better than 

 sweet clover, but you cannot grow both in 

 the same soil. Sow the sweet clover in waste 

 land, and in ditches. 



3. Questions on transferring have been 

 answered in May, page 170; in January, Feb- 

 ruary and April. The best time to transfer 

 is during fruit bloom. But you can drive the 

 bees out of a box hive at any time during the 

 honey crop, when the weather is warm enough 

 so the brood will hatch. If you drive out the 

 bees and queen and put them in a new hive, 

 the balance of. the brood will hatch in 21 days, 

 provided there are young bees enough left in 

 the box to keep the brood warm. Then you 

 can drive out the balance of them and break 

 up the old combs. The bees may be given to 

 the original swarm or to any weak colony. 



State Apiarist — Good Yield 



1. Would you please tell who the State Api- 

 arist is for South Dakota? I have a neighbor 

 about half a mile from me who has had bees 

 and has lost them with foulbrood and has left 

 his hives out on the old stand with honey in 

 them. Can he be made to destroy them? 



2. Last spring I bought two hives of bees. I 

 got 6 new swarms and 300 pounds of comb 

 honey from all. Is that good enough? 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



Answers. — 1. L. A. Syverud, of Yankton, is 

 bee inspector for eastern South Dakota. 



2. 300 pounds of comb honey is good for two 

 colonies, but 6 swarms is too many for best 

 results unless one wants increase more than 

 honey. 



Attracting Bees — Best Race • 



1. Is there anything known to be of value 

 in enticing or drawing bees to a decoy hive 

 other than a hive with drawn combs or founda- 

 tion ? 



2. Which do you consider the best. ail-around 

 breed of bees for this locality? ILLINOIS- 



Answers. — 1. No. 

 2. The Italian bees. 



Uniting 



Having a couple of colonies which I thought 

 had been weakened by winter, I followed your 

 advice and put one on top of the other, first 

 putting a sheet of paper between. 



I find, however, that the bees do not leave 

 their comb and go into the lower hive-body, 

 which was my intention, as I wanted to use the 

 vacated body. 



As they are likely to swarm any time, I 

 would be much obliged for your advice as to 

 how to handle them now. Whether to take the 

 top body off or smoke them out, or what. 



WASHINGTON. 



Answer. — You evidently did not kill the 

 queen of the weaker colony, else they would 

 have united to one another readily. 



If they are strong enough that you fear they 

 will swarm, it may be as well to again sep- 

 arate them, especially if they both have brood 

 and queens. But when you examine them you 

 may find them in different condition from y<)\ir 

 expectation. 



If you still want them united, open the top 

 hive, find the queen and kill her. They will 

 join the others without trouble then. 



Old Combs— Honey Plants 



1. Is it best to remove bhick conilt iiml re- 

 place with foundatiun or drawn cunib' 



2. Can you tell me where 1 can get the di 

 mensions for a double-walled hive? 



3. Is timothy a honey plant? How about 

 vegetables and grains? 



4. I started to clip my queen's wings the 

 other day, but on finding her I discovered she 

 had both her wings together on her back. How 

 can I separate them, and what is best to clip 

 them with? 



5. What is the best method of hiving a 

 swarm? 



6. \Vhat stimulates brood-rearing and makes 

 them more active, entrance feeding or over the 

 frames? 



7- Should the bees be gone over once in spring 

 and then let alone until time for cutting out 

 queen-cells, putting on supers, etc.? 



OREGON. 



Answers. — 1. No; so long as they are perfect 

 worker-combs, their blackness and age are not 

 objectionable. Indeed, the bees prefer old, 

 black combs. 



2. Probably from the manufacturers or those 

 who sell them. 



3. Timothy yields much pollen, but no nec- 

 tar. Some vegetables are fine honey-plants, as 

 beans and onions, but are of little consequence 

 in ordinary gardens because in too small quan- 

 tity. The large bean fields in California are 

 very important. Except buckwheat, I don't 

 know that the grains amount to much for 

 honey. 



4. When a queen's wings are at rest they are 

 always folded together on her back. Slip the 

 scissors under the wing at one side, and you 

 will find it easily raised. A pair of small 

 scissors of almost any kind is good for clipping. 

 Embroidery scissors are much used. I prefer 

 blunt-pointed scissors, not because they do bet- 

 ter work, but because I carry them safely at 

 all times in my trousers pocket. 



5. That's a question for your bee-book, and 

 hardly belongs in this department. After you 

 have had full instruction you will still be 

 guided by your common sense. If your 

 queens are clipped, a good way is to move the 

 old hive to a new stand, set an empty hive on 

 the old stand, and let the returning swarm 

 hive itself. 



6. Either way is good. Feeding near the en- 

 trance may cause robbing. 



7. Depends on your plan of management. 

 Some do not open the hives till time to put on 

 supers, and some open them a number of times, 

 depending on what is to be done. 



Demaree Plan — Excluders, Etc. 



1. To what extent do you believe in resort- 

 ing to the Demaree treatment for swarm pre- 

 vention? 



2. Does the presence of nurse-bees in the 

 lowest story militate against attainment of the 

 rest desired therewith? 



3. What, if anything, seems best to do to get 

 these nurse-bees out from that lowest story, es- 

 pecially when one has at least two hive-bodies 

 upon excluder, the latter on that lowest hive- 

 body ? 



4. Do you believe that with having but the 

 excluder to pass through, the aforesaid nurse- 

 bees would persist in remaining below, when it 

 would seem that they would knOw even better 

 than any human being tiiat there was brood 

 above? For. do not the nurse-bees just love 

 to be with the brood — or is there no need of 

 them with capped brood? 



5. Then again, if the queen under the ex- 

 cluder lays and, of course, soon then larvx 

 appear, is it not self evident that the nurse- 

 bees would devote themselves to the latter, and 

 so they would have to stay below? Some one 

 asserts that the nurse-bees, if remaining below, 

 are apt to nullify the aim of the Demaree pro- 

 cedure. 



f). As to No. 197, page 92, of Dadant-Lang- 

 stroth. 1!>U; all I can recognize about brood 

 is whether it is capped or uncapped^ — of the 

 lines 3, 4, 0, where the respective days are 

 given— which of these lines, embrace one or 

 the other, viz.: capped or uncapped? 



7. Addenda: I must acknowledge that the 

 Demaree treatment both in 191S and 1911» 

 seemed not much of a success, in that while 

 there was honey over excluder, the queens 

 below did next to nothing, and the bees scarcely 

 built out any foundation in the lowest story. 

 The colonies 1 had last year for extracted 

 honey averaged $10.50; there seemed a fair 

 number of bees, but very little work in the 

 lowest story. I fixed up each colony with a 

 liberal amount of stores, yet "wonder" how 

 they will look this spring. , . .„ . 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Answers. — J. It is probably the best for the 



