is;»7 



GLKANINtivS IN Rlvl-: CULTUR?:. 



705 



])un up some ratluT short t^rass and st-attiT it 

 over Ihc lop of the teed for a lloat, to keep the 

 bees from drown in ij. and set up a piece of sec- 

 tion in sucli a way that the hees can climb on 

 it over to the feed. He sure that all cracks 

 under and about your cover are bee-tight, oth- 

 erwise you may have a bad time with robbers. 



'A. Can 1 not put off feedintj till winter just 

 as well ? 



.-ifis. — No ! a thousand times i/o ! When 

 will peo])le learn not to put ofT the feeding of 

 bees till cold weather comes? October 1st to 

 lOtli is quite late enough to feed bees ; but 

 should it so happen, from sickne.ss or other- 

 wise, that the bees are destitute of food when 

 winter sets in, take the box hives to the cellar, 

 turn them bottom side up, and every day or 

 two sprinkle a few tablespoonfuls of honey 

 over the bees and combs, having the honey a 

 little more than blood-warm. If they are a 

 large colon}-, or seem to require more, use as 

 much as a half-teacupful each time. In this 

 way bees have been wintered successfully ; 

 but the chances are that a loss of feed and bees 

 will be the result. 



4. Would it do to leave them till winter, and 

 then set them in a warm room under netting, 

 to feed ? 



Atis. — No, I should not like to try that. 

 From my experience in the past, such a pro- 

 cedure would cause them to become uneasy 

 and to go to breeding, thus consuming large 

 quantities of food, which w'ould in all proba- 

 bility cause diarrhea, resulting in death. There 

 is a chance for such occurring where fed in 

 the cellar, but not as much as in the warm 

 room. 



o. Could these bees be wintered in a warm 

 room? 



Ans. — The chance for this would be very 

 slight indeed, although such has been tried 

 with success in a few instances, I believe. The 

 cellar is a much better place, and requires 

 much less labor and care, hence I see no rea- 

 son for desiring to try such risky experiments. 

 [See page 697.— Ed.] 



6. I am about to make some new hives. Is 

 there any advantage in both upper and lower 

 story being just alike, .so they can be used to- 

 gether or separately ? If so, how would you 

 arrange the entrance ? 



Ans. — There are many advantages in having 

 all hives in use of the same size, and several 

 in having both stories just alike. In making, 

 you can get along with much less bother ; you 

 can use the upper story for the same purpose 

 you do the lower, at any time you so desire, 

 which will be quite often ; and one, two, 

 three, or more will fit together like clock- 

 work in tiering up, without any outside shell 

 to cover them. By making the entrance in 

 the bottom-board where it should always be, 

 this part need not affect the hive at all. If 

 made right, you can enlarge or contract the 

 same by simply moving the hive a little back- 

 ward and forward on the bottom-board, thus 

 saving any entrance-blocks. 



7. Would you advise me to buy wired frames 

 by the hundred, filled with foundation? 



Ans. — That depends upon conditions. If 

 you are to work your apiary for extracted 



lioiuy it miglit be tlie better ])laii ; and if you 

 work it for comb honey, and have not the 

 time to look after the combs properly when 

 being built ; or if your titne is very valuable, 

 it may be the better way. Rut with the aver- 

 age bee-keeper I think it will pay fully as 

 well, especially where the .sections "are filled 

 with thin foundation, to use only starters of 

 comb or comb foundation in the brood-frames, 

 say from 3^ of an inch to an inch wide, as it 

 will to fill the frames full of the same, to say 

 nothing about the saving of money and time. 

 It is the opinion of several of the best bee- 

 keepers of to-day, that as much or more comb 

 honey can be secured by allowing the bees to 

 build their combs in the brood-frames, using 

 starters as above, than by any other mode of 

 procedure. Certainly comb honey of the most 

 fancy make can be produced in this way, and 

 the difference in selling price between this 

 and that built by a colony having old black 

 combs below, where much of the old wax 

 gets into the capping of the section honey, is 

 an item worth looking after, but one which 

 has no bearing on the foundation question, 

 however. 



S. A neighbor of mine is using metal-cor- 

 nered frames. Are they enough better than 

 all-wood frames to pay the diiTerence in price 

 and the extra trouble of making ? 



Ans. — I tried the metal-cornered frames 

 several years ago, and did not like them well 

 enough to use any more of them. The trou- 

 ble I found with them was that, in carrving 

 the hive from one place to another, they would 

 move about so, even after the combs were 

 built, that the frames would require respacing 

 after every time moving, else a lot of bad 

 combs was the result. Then in handling, the 

 corners would get bent unless care was used, 

 so they would not hang true in the hive ; and 

 sometimes the fingers would get cut. I won- 

 der if the Roots use them now. [A I. R. used 

 to like them ( perhaps he does now ) , but there 

 are none in use in our apiary now; in fact, we 

 do not even offer them for sale. They were 

 displaced in our apiary by self-spacing frames, 

 which we prefer. — Ed.] 





PREDICTING THE HONEY-CROP PREMATURELY. 



Jllr. Editor: — I've come to the conclusion 

 that I do not want to report the honey crop. 

 It is usually much spotted; that is, there may 

 be a good flow^ of honey in this locality, and 

 only a few miles distant a failure. If I report 

 a good crop, it lowers the price. If I report a 

 failure, onl}- a short distance away there 

 may be a good crop. Those who have honey 

 to sell, seeing my report of a failure, ship in 

 here, injuring the market for those who live 

 near. 



When there is a good flow for a day or two. 



