1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



497 



the time taken in going from one 

 flower to another, took 5 seconds. 

 The collection of nectar took 3 only, 

 making a total of 8 seconds per 

 flower. The bee therefore visits with 

 profit 7 flowers a minute, or 420 to 

 the hour. 



"The above experiment, cften re- 

 peated, has shown us that the bee 

 fills her honey stomach in three min- 

 utes; divided by 3 seconds, the time 

 spent on each flower for tho collec- 

 tion of nectar, we find that it takes 

 60 buckwheat flowers to make a load. 

 These 60 flowers multiplied by 8 

 seconds, the total time spent on each 

 flower (searching and exhausting), 

 make 480 seconds; that is to say, 8 

 minutes. 



"For our bees the most distant 

 field is 3,500 meters (a little over 2 

 miles), the nearest is 200 metei's, and 

 the average 1,800 meters. A bee 

 travels at a speed of 1 to 8 meters a 

 second; the average being 4.50 me- 

 ters, or 270 meters to the minute. 

 The time taken to cover this average 

 distance will, therefore, be between 

 6 and 7 minutes. For good measure, 

 let us take 5 minutes for going, there 

 being no burden, and 7 for the re- 

 turn with the greater weight. With 

 the 8 minutes for search and loading 

 up, that gives a journey every 20 

 minutes. As the flow of buckwheat 

 honey only lasts about 3 hours per 

 day, in the morning, every field 

 worker makes scarcely 9 trips a day." 



Virginia. 



e 



BEEKEEPING IN BULGARIA 



In the accompanying photograph is 

 given an exhibit of American bee- 

 keeping appliances in Bulgaria. Mr. 

 Nicholas Baracoff, the exhibitor, on 

 the extreme right, was instrumental 

 in making a public exhibit of this ma- 

 terial, which attracted the attention 

 ot all beekeepers and of the Govern- 

 ment authorities who saw it. 



His opinion is that a resumption of 

 normal rates of exchange and of nor- 

 mal transportation facilities will 

 mean the introduction of many 

 Amex'ican methods in Bulgarian bee 

 culture. 



There are already many beekeepers 

 keeping bees by modern methods, but 

 they are the exception rather than the 

 rule. 



THE EDITOR^S ANSWERsl 

 ^^ » 



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. 



Loss of Queen 



About the middle of September, I caught a 

 little swarm of bees. I put the bees into an- 

 oth(;r colony and took the queen and turned 

 her in at the entrance of a hive whose queen 

 was getting old and worthless. 1 kept watch to 

 see which one the oees would kill, but I did not 

 find either of them, the next day, at the en- 

 trance, as expected. I looked into the hive and 

 found the young queen, but could not find the 

 old one, to kill !ier, and the robbers got so bad 

 that I quit. On the third day I found the 

 young queen dead outside. What was the rea- 

 son she was killed, after having been accepted? 



IOWA. 



Answer. — I think I can explain what hap- 

 pened; The old queen was worthless, as you 

 thought, so the bees tolerated the new queen, 

 When you went back to look for the queen, the 

 robbers that were thick made the bees angry 

 and they treated that new queen as a robber. 

 You have probably noticed that all those who 

 succeed in introducing queens urge that one 

 leave the colony alone for a week or more. 

 The purpose of that is to prevent the queen be- 

 ing killed as a stranger, before the bees got 

 entirely used to her All the beekeepers who do 

 much introducing have more or less experience 

 in that matter and all agree that it is the ap- 

 pearance of robbers that causes the bees to kill 

 a queen that has apparently been accepted. She 

 is only tolerated, but would soon be considered 

 as the true mother if such an event did not 

 happen. 



Dadant Hives — Average Yields 



1. How much does a Jumbo frame of honey 

 weigh? 



2. About what would the general average 

 honey yield be for bees in Modified Dadant 

 hives in good location, having good care, count- 

 ing only st-ong colonies? 



3. Why is the per colony average for the vari- 

 ous States so low? NEW YORK. 



Answers. — 1. The surface of a Jumbo frame 

 is about equal to 10 sections. If it is well 

 filled and all sealed, it may weigh as much as 

 10 pounds. But it may run much below that, 

 even when apparently well filled. 



2. Our location is only middling good, and we 

 have always figured on an average of 50 pounds 

 of extracted honey, one year with another. But 

 if you count only the strong colonies, it is quite 



another thing. The question would be : how 

 strong a colony would you accept as a yielder? 

 You might run it into IfiO pounds average. 



3. Perhaps the explanation is that so many 

 colonies of bees do not get any care and that 

 many locations are unfavorable to honey pro- 

 duction. 



Honey Vinegar 



Is there such a thing as honey vinegar? How 

 is it made, and is it any better than any other 

 vinegar? MISSOURI. 



Answer. — Honey vinegar is made by mixing 

 IH to 2 pounds of honey with a gallon of water, 

 adding fruit juice enough to start fermentation. 

 After the alcoholic fermentation is well started, 

 the acetic or vinegar fermentation will start 

 if the liquid is sufficiently exposed to the air. 

 Its quality is that of fhe best vinegars, al- 

 though it is not as good, perhaps, as vinegar 

 made from high-grade wines. But it s certainly 

 above the average cider vinegar. 



Do Bees Dance? 



My bees seem to be doing the "shimmy" on 

 the alighting board in front of the hive. Thty 

 move back and forth about one half inch with 

 heads down as if trying to polish the board. Is 

 this anything serious? FLORIDA. 



Answer. — No, it is not serious, for we have 

 seen healthy colonies do that often. It really 

 seems to me as if the bees were polishing the 

 front board. Perhaps they are. Whoever finds 

 a good explanation for this action will confer 

 a favor on us by giving it so that it may be 

 published in the American Bee Journal. 



Exhibition of American bee supplies in Bulgaria 



Loss Through Manipulation 



Upon opening a hive with the use of smoke, 

 the bees at once fill themselves with honey. 1 

 would like to know what disposition is made of 

 the honey so eaten; that is to say, do the bees 

 afterwards re-deposit this honey in the cells, or 

 is it consumed by them? I wish to know if 

 there is a loss of honey each time the hive is 

 opened, or whether it is merely temporarily 

 withdrawn and afterwards re-deposited. 



VIRGINIA. 



Answer. — I don't know, and it would be 

 somewhat difficult to find out, positively. How- 

 ever, I will submit some surmise: 



The average European beekeeper seems to 

 think that whenever you disturb a hive of 

 bees, if it is ever so little, you confuse the 

 bees and they lose both time and honey. Per 

 sonally, I have never thought that the opening 

 ot a hive with smoke did much harm, if any at 

 all. I have seen bees fly out to the field 

 through the open top of a hive, while manipu- 

 lating it. 



There is, however, a question of how greatly 

 your bees are disturbed. If you smoke them 

 thoroughly and compel every bee to fill with 

 honey, just as they do when they prepare to 

 swarm, there will evidently be a lull in the 

 work; they may hang in clusters for hours and 

 consume considerable honey, both through the 

 digesting stomach and through the wax-produc- 

 ing organs. But what need is there of so much 

 smoking? It is merely necessary to frighten 

 such bees as seem disposed to show anger, and 

 make those bees fill their honey sac. 



Undoubtedly the honey is re-deposited in the 

 cells, when the excitement is over. But how 

 much of it, if any, is consumed, is still an open 



