1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



455 



such movement might have happened, 

 but the numbers never got to boiling 

 strength. I am trying to winter them 

 as they are, and hoping for better re- 

 sults next season. 



A Scotch beekeeper near London 

 kindly sends me a photograph of his 

 apiary, and this I send to the editor, 

 as I think many would like to see how 

 Britons run their yards. The risers 

 I have spoken of are in evidence on 

 these hives, but my venture in this 

 direction was no imitation of the Brit- 

 ish system of beekeeping, it was mere- 

 ly the logical outcome of the experi- 

 ments in wintering I have been mak- 

 ing for years. Similar climatic con- 

 ditions produced like results. It was 

 only after I had reached my final con- 

 clusions that I realized I had adopted 

 the British principle. 



Mr. Wilson for several years has 

 discarded the beekeeping system of 

 his native land and followed that of 

 British Columbia with much advan- 

 tage, he says. The idea of the British 

 beekeeper is to take all the honey in 

 the fall, and winter on sugar. In 

 spring sugar is fed steadily. These 

 beekeepers think they are doing well 

 if they have 10 of their frames, with 

 an available brood space of 1,800 

 square inches covered with bees at 

 the beginning of the honey flow. In 

 British Columbia we want at least 10 

 solid frames of brood, over 3,000 

 square inches, which means we have 

 at least 20 frames packed with bees. 

 I have often seen 14 frames of solid 

 brood, and 30 frames solid with bees 

 as early as the end of May. To my 

 mind it is largely a question of win- 

 ter stores. Whenever we get a man 

 to the point where he will leave a 



solid second story of honey for the 

 winter. We feel a new beekeeper is 

 born ; but how few will surrender im- 

 mediate gain for future profit? Mr. 

 Wilson, adopting our system, says he 

 gets powerful colonies, and when sea- 

 sons are good he secures big crops; 

 but alas for human skill, in his pres- 

 ent location, with thousands of acres 

 of white clover and sainfoin around 

 him, he has not got a crop of any 

 kind from 100 colonies for four years. 

 Withering drought or steady rain has 

 been his lot when honey flow time 

 came. 



British Columbia. 



BEES ON WILD CARROT 



The wild carrot, commonly called 

 Queen Anne's Lace, or bird's nest 

 plant, is a common weed in fields and 

 waste places throughout the eastern 

 states. In places in New York and 

 New England it is so common in 

 fields that one sometimes mistakes it 

 for a buckwheat field at first glance. 



Chas. F. Hoser writes that he has 

 been a beekeeper in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, Pa., for 24 years and 

 never until this year has wild carrot 

 been of any value to the bees in his 

 vicinity. During 1921 the bees have 

 worked it freely and apparently have 

 secured considerable nectar. 



Eastern beekeepers only report 

 bees working on it occasionally, so it 

 is evident that it is seldom of much 

 importance in the east. In the west 

 where the cultivated carrot is grown 

 for seed, it is said to be a valuable 

 source of nectar. 



(T 



THE EDITOR^S ANSWERS 



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When stamp is enclosed, the editor will answer questions by mail. Since 

 we have far more questions than we can print in the space available, several 

 months sometimes elapse before answers appear. 



Queen Cells 



I received a two-frame nucleus on the 5th of 

 Augu-st, with an untested queen introduced. In 

 about ten days the bees started queen cells 

 and have completed six up to date; the first 

 three have been removed. The bees are in 

 an eight-frame hive and are working good, and 

 the queen seems to be a good layer; she lays 

 an egg in every cell that is empty, once in a 

 while two in a cell. Should these queen cells 

 all be removed, and why are they building 

 them. NEBRASKA. 



Answer. — It happens quite often, when bees 

 are shipped, that the queen becomes fatigued 

 from the journey and is not in good trim to 

 lay eggs for quite a while. When the bees no- 

 tice this, they may start queen-cells with the 

 intention of superseding her. But. often also, 

 as in your case, the queen gels rested and be- 

 gins to lay actively. Then the bees cease 

 their superseding preparations. The fact that 

 your queen sometimes lays two eg s in one 

 cell shows either that she is still inexperi- 

 enced, or that she is producing eggs faster 

 than she can find empty cells in which to place 

 them. 



Robbers — Goldens 



1. I h ve a colony of Italians that have a 

 few peculiar looking bees. They have a shiny. 



pure black, wasp-like appearance. When I say 

 pure black I mean the head, thorax and abdomen 

 are black, otcept that they show three yellow 

 bands. They have no fine hair or fuzz on their 

 thorax or abdomen. The other bees are con- 

 tinually pulling them out of the hive. The 

 queen is a young Italian that I received from a 

 queen breeder this spring. What is the trou- 

 ble? 



Why are golden Italians irritable? 



2. On p^ge 26 in Frank C. Pellett's book, 

 "Practical Queen Rearing," he says: "'While 

 it is quite true that some strains of Goldens are 

 not desirable, being neither hardy nor good 

 honey gatherers, there are strains where proper 

 attention has been given to other points, which 

 are very satisfactory. CALIFORNIA. 



Answers- — 1. The black, shiny bees, which 

 have lost all their hairs are usually robber 

 bees, who are shiny because of lurking about 

 corners and trying to steal honey anywhere ex- 

 cept in the blossoms. We can hardly blame 

 them, for, often, those bees are rendered 

 dishonest by the opportunities which have been 

 offered them in exposing honey where they 

 could get at it. If they are mishandled or ill- 

 treated, it may be that they are in a hive to 

 which they do not belong, or that by pilfering 

 they have acquired a foreign odor; or perhaps 

 they are so worn as to be considered as of no 

 . value in the hive. 



2. The irritable golden bees, high tempered 

 and restless, are usually secured from a cross 

 with Cyprian drones. The ugly disposition of 

 the Cyprian seems to remain in the race a long 

 time, with the bright color. The gentle goldens 

 are from continuous selection of bright col- 

 ored Italian bees and queens. We do not 

 know who is a breeder of these strains, but if 

 you wish to get gentle goldens, ask the ques- 

 tion of the breeder from whom you propose to 

 order. Tell him you want peaceable bees. 



Wintering — Moths^ Etc. 



1. Last fall X had a late swarm of bees which 

 did not make enough honey to winter. I gave 

 them sugar and water in a super. They took 

 down about a quart of this and had sugar 

 candy in the super. When the honey was all 

 gone, February 15, they all died. Please ad- 

 vise how to keep a light swarm, for { have 

 two or three lor this winter. 



2. What is a good thing to kill bee moths and 

 keep them away from bees? 



3. I have in an old hive of bees about 125 

 pounds of honey; the bees did not swarm. Was 

 it because they had so much room? 



4. Please advise a good waj to get a swarm 

 of bees out of a stone house without tearing it 

 down. The bees have Deen there at least two 

 years. 



5. I had an old hive of bees which, when 

 heavy enough, built about five or six queen 

 cells. About a week after I cut them all out 

 but two. Then I took the old queen and one 

 drone and half the bees and put them in a new 

 hive in the place of the old hive, an moved 

 the old hive quite a distance away. A lot of 

 the bees went to the new hive. The old hive 

 did not make enough to winter; I rather doubt 

 if they will live through the winter. Did I 

 swarm them wrong? NEW YORK. 



Answers. — 1. To keep sugar syrup from 

 crystallizing, add about 10 per cent of honey to 

 the syrup. Don't give them less than 25 pounds. 



2. A good thing to keep moths away from the 

 hives is to have none but strong colonies. 

 Moths cannot damage healthy, strong colon- .s. 

 Italians are better than blacks in this respect. 



3. Of course it was. 



4. The only way is to take out the wood 

 wainscoat on the inside, to get to the bees. 

 Otherwise you can only kill them by pouring 

 bi-sulphide of carbon into their opening and 

 closing the holes; bi-sulphide is inflammable, so 

 do not bring a light near. 



5. This might have been all right if the sea- 

 son had been very good, but you took too much 

 away from the old hive. As to the one drone, 

 there w«s no need of him. You need to read a 

 good text book on bees. 



Partnership 



A and B go into the bee business. A fur- 

 nishes 50 per cent of the purchase price of bees 

 and equipment, a honey house and an apiary 

 site; B half the capital and does all the work. 

 What would be a proper division of the profits? 

 Also if B furnished only one-seventh of the 

 capital. CALIFORNIA. 



Answer. — It has always been our under- 

 standing that th^ labor put upon an apiary 

 equals the interest of the money and wear and 

 tear of the capital. So, we figure about half 

 and half, if one man furnishes all the invest- 

 ment and the other all the work. From that we 

 would conclude that the man who did the work 

 and furnished half the capital should receive 

 about three-fourths of the income. We also fig- 

 ure that the man who furnishes the apiary site 

 and the bee house and watches the possible hap- 

 penings is entitled to one-tenth of the crop. 

 But these matters must depend somewhat on 

 conditions, location, expenses, labor required, 

 etc. So it would be difficult to pass on this 

 without knowing all the circumstances. There 

 is also a difference in opinions on the matter, 

 according to the greater or less experience of 

 the man who does the work and the greater or 

 less cost of the bees and equipment. Much of 



