September. 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



709 



may be united; but the flying bees, or at 

 least some of them, will go back. If a comb 

 and empty hive are left on the old stand to 

 catch tliese bees they can be carried back. 

 After this has been practiced once or twice 

 the bees will stay. In the case of blacks or 

 hybrids the returning nuisance is not so great 

 as with pure Italians; but usually smoke 

 must be used to prevent them from fighting. 

 With gentle bees such a procedure is un- 

 necessary. 



Where one has a series of yards, uniting 

 can be practiced without bees going back to 

 very good advantage by putting the weak 

 colonies of one yard with the weak colonies 

 of another yard. When uniting, it is always 

 advisable to take away the inferior queen 

 and cage the other. Where there is no 

 choice of queens, let the bees fight it out. It 

 sometimes happens that both queens are 

 killed, but usually one will be left. 



J. H. G., Tennessee. — I find in a good many of 

 my combs considerable pollen. How can I get it 

 out? 



A. Don 't get it out. Combs containing 

 pollen in a colony of bees in the spring are 

 worth as much as combs of stores. Indeed, 

 there are times when we would give more for 

 combs of pollen than for stores. The latter 

 we can get by feeding; but the former can- 

 not be secured artificially in a manner that 

 is at all satisfactory. Eye meal, or cotton- 

 seed meal in the absence of natural pollen, 

 will do sometimes, but it by no means takes 

 the place of the natural article. 



To answer your question specifically, you 

 can soak combs containing pollen in water 

 for several days and then throw out con- 

 siderable of the pollen with the extractor. 

 But do not do it. Carefully preserve them 

 in hive-bodies where the moth-miller cannot 

 get at them. 



I. S. B., Iowa. — How late in the fall can queens 

 be mated ? 



A. As long as there are drones flying. 

 In most localities drones will be killed off 

 unless there are queenless colonies after the 

 honey-flow. If there are drones, queens can 

 be mated up till cold weather. 



It is not advisable to depend on virgin 

 queens mating in late fall — in your state, 

 not later than Oct. 15. We do not believe 

 that a late-mated queen is as good as one 

 that is raised and mated earlier in the 

 season. 



S. W. B., Illinois. — Most of my colonies are two- 

 story. They are quite strong. Shall I winter them 

 this way in two stories, or shall I crowd them into 

 one story for winter? 



A. There has been quite a tendency of 

 late to winter strong colonies in two stories. 

 Sometimes the plan works, and sometimes it 

 does not. The advantage of the two-story 

 plan is that bees can go up into the upper 

 hive and will then be a little further away 

 from the chilling winds at the entrance. As 

 a general rule, the strong colony by fall will 

 reduce itself in size until it can occupy only 

 one story. Where this is the case we would 

 advise wintering in one story. The two- 



story colony requires a large winter case of 

 extra depth. If cellar wintering is prac- 

 ticed the two-story hives are heavy and 

 awkward to handle. 



Generally speaking we fare better with 

 colonies in one story; but it is important to 

 see that the colony has plenty of stores and 

 covers when cold weather comes on, at least 

 five or six frames. 



Strange as it may seem, extra-strong colo- 

 nies often do not winter quite as well as 

 those of medium strength. One reason for 

 this is that they consume their stores a 

 little too early, with the result that they run 

 short and sometimes starve in the spring. 

 Starvation is one of the principal causes of 

 winter or spring losses. 



S. A. B., Pennsylvania. — My locality is very 

 hilly — so hilly, indeed, that it is difficult to till the 

 soil. I run a small fruit-farm and raise a little 

 grain, and also keep about 50 colonies of bees, but 

 the amount of bee-pasture is somewhat limited. 

 Would you advise me to plant anything to increase 

 the flow of honey ? 



A. Sweet clover is,, perhaps, the best 

 and most easily grown artificial pasturage 

 that can be put out. The seed may not 

 grow readily unless the soil has been inocu- 

 lated. If you cannot find a place where 

 sweet clover grows naturally, the bacteria 

 can probably be obtained of your experiment 

 station, or at least they will tell you where 

 to get it. Otherwise some of the soil where 

 the sweet clover grows should be gathered 

 up and scattered over the fields or roadsides 

 where you propose to grow it. After sweet 

 clover once gets a foothold it can be grown 

 readily. The next thing in the line of arti- 

 ficial pasturage is alsike clover along with 

 white clover. The alsike would have to be 

 grown on cultivated fields, and it would come 

 in nicely with your other farming operations. 



L. B. W., Massachusetts. — Somehow I manage 

 to get stung a good many times in handling my 

 bees. The stings swell on me, besides leaving a 

 sore spot for two or three days afterward. Some 

 beemen tell me that they get but few stings. I 

 wish you would tell me the secret of handling bees 

 so as to get few or no stings. 



A. Bees will sting worse at some seasons 

 than at others. They will sting much worse 

 toward evening and early in the morning 

 than during the middle hours of the day. 

 They may sting any one if he is an awkward 

 bungler, and they may sting those who are 

 very nervous and jerk their hands back, 

 slapping and striking at the bees. 



To avoid stings one must, first of all, 

 select a favorable time during the middle 

 hours of the day, and he must be very de- 

 liberate in his movements. He must have 

 his smoker in good working order, and fuel 

 burning well. It is not necessary to use a 

 great amount of smoke, but a little at the 

 right time and at the right place is better 

 than volumes and volumes of smoke after 

 the bees are enraged and on the warpath. 

 If one is very timid he should wear gloves 

 to begin on. After he becomes bolder he 

 may cut off the ends of the fingers, for one 



