1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



67 



fT 



THE EDITOR'S ANSWERS 



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Questions are answered in order re 

 than we can answer in space available, 

 before answers appear. 



Wintering in Southern California — 

 Cross Bees 



1. Should I. in this climate (Southern Cali- 

 fornia), take off the supers? Would it do any 

 harm to leave them on over winter? 



2. Would it not be better to contract hive 

 entrances during cold weather, and about how 

 many inches should be open? 



3. I have one colony quite hostile, but lots 

 of honey. CALIFORNIA. 



Answers.— 1. Having never practiced bee- 

 keeping in Southern California, I should say, 

 like Dr. Miller: "I don't know." However, 

 since a reply is expected, I will suggest that, if 

 the supers are removed, put into a moth-proof 

 building and fumigated, the colonies will be 

 better off without them, until the opening of 

 the crop. Besides, if any of those colonies 

 should happen to become weak, there would ue 

 much more danger of the moths damaging the 

 combs on such a hive than in a good honey 

 house. So the answer would probably de- 

 pend upon the accommodations at hand. 



2. It is always best to contract entrances in 

 a time of dearth, to prevent accidental rob- 

 bing. But the size of the entrance should be 

 according to the strength of the colony, and it 

 is impossible to give that as an invariable 

 rule. 



3. A colony of cross bees should be deprived 

 of its queen and a queen given it of a more 

 gentle breed Sometimes, however, cross bees 

 are made so by mismanagement or by being 

 exposed to the attacks of other bees, when 

 there is nb crop. 



Two Queens in One Hive 



I note in the Journal an editorial which 

 states "more and more we are getting reports 

 of two queens in one hive." 



Here is another: I have a colony that 1 

 know positively has had two queens in it for 

 the last two months, that were still in there 

 the last time I looked. 



On one occasion I saw the old queen (which 

 is clipped) and her offspring within one-half 

 an inch of one another, apparently very peace- 

 able and contented. 



I raised a few queens in second story ear- 

 lier in the season, which may have gotten the 

 workers accustomed to more than one queen 

 in the hive. 



I would like to know now if the two queens 

 will survive the winter 



On account of our first light frost kilUng 

 goldenrod and tender plants in early October, 

 my winter stores are not as plentiful as I 

 would like. Our first real frost was October 

 29, temperature dropped from summer heat to 

 29 degrees. A late spring will call for lots of 

 feeding. KENTUCKY. 



Answer. — Whether the old queen will sur- 

 vive the winter is a matter of opinion, for we 

 "don't know." But it is prouable that the old 

 queen will disappear in some way. Evidently 

 neither the workers nor the young queen con- 

 sider her any longer as a queen, and she 

 probably does not lay. 



It is somewhat strange that frost should 

 have killed a part of the vegetation in early 

 October, at Louisville, on the Ohio, just above 

 the 38th degree, when it did not kill anything 

 at Hamilton, on the Mississippi, just above the 

 40th. Those are some of the freaks of tem- 

 perature. We had tomatoes ripening on the 

 vines till October 28. 



ceived. As we receive more questions 

 two or three months sometimes elapse 



be safe to feed bees in winter, or is there too 

 much danger of foulbrood? 



2. Can it be heated enough to ki.. the 

 germs? 



3.1s the bee sting in the ear or on a blood 

 vessel dangerous ? Has it proved fatal, to 

 your knowledge? OKLAHOMA. 



Answers. — 1. I would not, under any con- 

 sideration, feed to bees honey of which I did 

 not know the exact source. In many cases 

 this honey would be safe, but the risk to run 

 is too great. 



2. Yes, if you heat it, and keep it at the 

 temperature of boiling for half an hour, we 

 are told by those who experimented, that it 

 kills the germs. But such honey might not 

 be very good for wintering. Sugar syrup 

 would be safer. 



3. Of course, a bee sting on a blood vessel 

 will diffuse its poison faster than in the mus- 

 cles; but as there are blood vessels all through 

 the body, the sting on a large blood vessel will 

 not increase the trouble, but will probably 

 make it a little more acute at first. Stings 

 reaching a nerve are probably the most pain- 

 ful. But the very few people who have been 

 stung with fatal results have probably been 

 stung a number of times at the same moment. 

 Probably a doctor could give a more positive 

 answer. 



Top Entrances 



1. Do you know of any experiments with 

 top entrances? How would bees clean up 

 from the bottom, then ? 



2. What drug in food would act as a laxa- 

 tive? I am experimenting with a case of 

 mild Isle-of- Wight disease and think aperient 

 treatment would be good. ENGLAND. 



Answers. — 1. Top entrances have not usu- 

 ally proven satisfactory for the very objection 

 which you raise. 



2. A laxative, to our mind, is perhaps need- 

 ed to cure Isle-of-Wight disease, but we doubt 

 the efficacy of anything of that kind. A tonic 

 would perhaps act well towards preventing the 

 coming of the disease. At any rate, we would 

 try a tonic if we were in a Isle-of-Wight lo- 

 cality. The Italians recommend a tea of 

 rosemary, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, thyme, 

 etc., boiled in water and mixed in honey. 



Honey for Feeding- -Stings 



1. Will honey from Texas and other SUtcs 



Cleaning Connbs 



Is it necessary to return combs to bees to 

 clean out? 



I had American foulbrood, two cases of it, 

 and am afraid to let the bees clean them. I 

 usually extract the combs the second time, 

 and that leaves a very little honey in them. 



INDIANA. 



Answer.— We usually return the comos to 

 the hives to be cleaned by the bees, imme- 

 diately after extracting, or the same evening. 

 Some people give them out to the bees, in 

 the open. This method would be deadly if 

 there is any trace of foulbrood. To avoid the 

 spreading of the disease, the only way is to 

 return to each colony its own combs, so that 

 there will be no increase of danger of con- 

 tagion, to any other colonies than those al- 

 ready contaminated. 



Whether there is much or little honey left 

 in the combs, there is always a danger if 

 there is any disease at all. It would perhaps 

 be best for them to be cleaned before win- 

 ter, as the honey left in them would not run 



the risk of spreading the disease in spring, 

 since it might be consumed. But it is now 

 too late to do anything of the kind. If you 

 treated your bees and did away with the dis- 

 ease, there is a probability that your combs are 

 immune. 



Carbon Disulphide 



Will honey in comb that has been treated by 

 carbon disulphide, to kill the wax moth, be 

 poisonous to eat? MISSOURI 



Answer. — Although we have never made a 

 positive test of this, I do not hesitate in say- 

 ing that those combs and the honey in them 

 would be perfectly safe to eat, for the very 

 simple reason that it is the fumes that kill the 

 insects and those fumes evaporate readily. 

 Moreover, I find in the "United States Dis- 

 pensatory," 19th edition, the statement that 

 the disulphide has been used "in diarrhea, in 

 a 3.5 per cent solution, a dose of which is 

 two tablespoonfuls four or five times a day." 



The disulphide is very volatile, so that it 

 vaporizes rapidly, therefore very little of it, 

 if any, would remain on the surface of the 

 combs. When we add to this the fact that 

 comb-honey, when treated, is usually sealed, 

 we can see no danger whatever in its use to 

 asphyxiate the moths. 



It is unnecessary to add that the liquid car- 

 bon disulphide is not intended to be used in- 

 ternally. The man who would use it would 

 be on a par with the good woman who bought 

 "bedbug powder" to kill the bedbugs that an- 

 noyed her sick husband, in bed, and after 

 having treated him to a dose of it, was very 

 much astonished that it should have made 

 him sick, while "it did not seem to affect the 

 bedbugs." 



Bui]ding Up Nucleus 



How many pounds of sugar would it take 

 to feed a three-frame nucleus to enable them 

 to build up to a six-frame colony in as short 

 a time as possible, when there is no honey 

 flow on? MISSOURI. 



Answer. — This cannot be done without per- 

 mitting the bees to fly each day, the amount 

 of sugar necessary is problematical, for bees 

 will find honey while they are hunting for 

 pollen. They need pollen as well as hcney. 

 The quantity of sugar needed will therefore 

 depend upon the conditions if the field. The 

 warmth of the atmosphere will also influence 

 the result. In cool weather the bees would 

 consume a great deal more than in warm 

 weather. They would also sr read the brood 

 less readily in cool weather. So you will see 

 that an answer given in pounds might lead 

 you astray. 



Laws in Illinois 



1. What are the laws of Illinois in regard to 

 taking bees into the State ? Do bees have to 

 have a certificate of inspection ? 



2. If I should want to ship bees to New 

 York State, 800 miles, can 1 ship them by 

 freight in December ? My hives are all 

 double- wall dovetailed hives. ILt-INOIS. 



Answers. — 1. The State law, as far as we 

 know, does not forbid the introduction of bees 

 into the State. But it declares diseased bees 

 and their appurtenances a "nuisance," and any 

 one who sells, barters or gives away bees that 

 are diseased exposes himself to a fine. It 

 would evidently be the same for the man who 

 imported diseased bees into the State. 



2. Do not ship bees by freight to any gseat 

 distance, unless you go with them, or ship 

 them in carload lots. If you want to ship 

 bees to New York State, better send them by 

 express, if there are not enough of them to 

 make a carload. 



