February, igogi. 



American ^ee Journal 



having started about the middle of last sum- 

 mer with one colony of Italian bees, in a 

 lo-frame alternating hive. I bought them 

 just after they had swarmed, and they stored 

 enough honey for their use this winter. 

 About 1 1 o'clock on September 25, they 

 swarmed again with a medium-sized swarm. 

 I went over to our bee-supply dealer to get a 

 hive and he had nothing left but a Massie 

 hive, and said if I wanted to change it for 

 an alternating hive in the spring, I could. 

 Which would you advise me to choose for my 

 hive? 



5. I fed my late swarm of bees about 20 

 pounds of granulated sugar in as much water, 

 with a Miller feeder. They gathered what 

 little honey they could. Will that be suffi- 

 cient to keep them in good trim this win- 

 ter? T, X 



I have been taking the American Bee Jour- 

 nal and enjoy it immensely. I would not 

 do without it, as it brings up so many good 

 points of interest to bee-keepers. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. I don*t know. I've been trying 

 for some 40 years to find out what is the 

 best way for me, and am still trying without 

 having the question fully settled. Even if I 

 knew the answer for myself, I might not 

 know the answer for you. In "Forty Years 

 Among the Bees" I've tried to give my whole 

 method of procedure, but it would take pages 

 of that to tell the story, and then, as I said, 

 it might not hit your case. 



2. Might be. W. Z. Hutchinson practised 

 introducing each year young queens obtained 

 from the South, and the plan was a success 

 in preventing swarming. But the plan did 

 not succeed with mt, although when the young 

 queen was reared in the colony itself that 

 colony could pretty surely be counted on not 

 to swarm. Still, I had exceptions. 



On reading your question the second time, 

 and especially reading the question following, 

 I thinlc you want to know whether by intro- 

 ducing new blood you may get bees less in- 

 clined to swarm. Yes, it is possible that your 

 bees are unusually bad about swarming, and 

 that you might get in new blood with less 

 inclination that way. 



3. The royal daughters of a queen are by 

 no means sure to be just like their mother, 

 but if the mother is badly given to swarm- 

 ing you may count on a general disposition 

 that way among her daughters. 



4. The great majority seem to prefer a 

 lo-frame dovetailed hive, although some who 

 can give very close attention to their bees 

 prefer an 8-frame dovetailed hive. 



5. Yes, but keep a sharp lookout next spring 

 after brood-rearing begins, for then is the 

 time when stores are used so rai)idly that 

 they may run out before you know it. 



Transferring Bees from Boxes. 



I have 2 colonies of bees caught in the 

 woods last summer. They are at present in 

 2 cracker-boxes, wintering on the honey they 

 stored up during the summer. I should like 

 to get them into a frame-hive in the spring 

 as early as possible. When is the best 

 time, and what is the best way? 



Connecticut. 



Answer. — You would only lose by trying 

 to make the change too early. Generally no 

 one thinks of transferring from a box-hive 

 to a frame-hive before the time of fruit-bloom. 

 Latterly the plan preferred is to allow the 

 bees to swarm, hiving the swarm in a proper 

 hive, setting the hive on the old stand, and 

 then 21 days after the issue of the swarm 

 to break up the old hive, adding the bees in 

 it to the swarm. By that time all the brood 

 will be hatched out except perhaps a little 

 drone-brood, and the old combs can be melt- 

 ed up. 



Comb Honey Without Separators — 



Folding Sections — Wiring 



Foundation. 



1. In producing comb honey, can the supers 

 be used without the fences or partitions, or 

 separators, between the rows of sections?^ 



2. How should I manage the sections? 

 Must they be wet before bending, or bent dry? 

 I see a hand-machine advertised for bending 

 them. Would you advise the use of one, 

 or bend by hand? 



3. Please expain how foundation is wired 

 for brood-frames. Do you fill the entire frame? 

 I enclose drawing to explain the way I saw 

 some put in. It was fastened to the top-bar 

 with wax. There was about fi of an inch left 

 on each side and at the bottom, with the 

 corners cut off. Kentucky. 



Answers. — i. If you are producing a few 



sections that you do not expect to ship, you 

 may get along without separators of any kind. 

 If they are to be packed in a shipping-case, 

 separators are almost indispensable. 



2. Sometimes sections can be put together 

 all right without wetting; generally too many 

 of them will break unless the joints are wet. 

 If you have many sections to fold, you will 

 find it better to have some kind of a section- 

 press. 



3. Quite commonly foundation is fastened 

 in by' 3 horizonal wires, although some pre- 

 fer 5 vertical wooden splints. It costs less 

 for foundation in the first place if the corners 

 of the sheet be cut away in the way you 

 sketch, but it is an extravagant way in the 

 long run. The bees are sure to fill in the 

 vacant spaces with altogether too much drone- 

 comb, and you can hardly afford to keep so 

 many drones. I never feel I can afford to 

 keep so many drones. I never feel I can 

 afford to have less foundation than to fill 

 the entire frame. 



Wind and Nectar-Secretion — Sowing 

 Buckwheat — German Bee-Paper, 



1. I have read in a farm paper that flowers 

 do not yield nectar when there is a south 

 or east wind. Is that true? 



2. I have 6 colonies of bees, and intend 

 to sow an acre of buckwheat for them so they 

 can dig into it after clover bloom. What time 

 should I sow it, and into what soil? 



3. Is there a German bee-paper published 

 either here or in foreign countries? 



Minnesota. 



Answers. — i. I don't think it is, although 

 the direction of the wind may have some in- 

 fluence. 



2. About the first of July is a good time. 

 i>uckwheat is not very particular, hut will 

 do better on fairly good soil. 



3. No German bee-paper is published in this 

 country, but a number across the water, 

 among them Schweizerische Bienenzeitung, 

 Praktischer Wegweiser, Leipweiser Bienenzei- 

 tung, Bienen-Vater, Deutsche Imker aus Boeh- 



Noises Over a Bee-Cellar. 



I. If bees are put into a cellar under the 

 kitchen, would the noises incident to the 

 kitchen-work — running a washer, bringing in 

 wood, constant walking, etc. — be a detriment 

 to the bees, provided the hives were not 

 jarred by any of these various operations? 

 Or would a cellar under a parlor be better, 

 where it would be quiet most of the time, 

 with an occasional day or evening when there 

 would be considerable noise above the bees, 

 but no jarring of the hives? Or would the 

 position beneath the living room where there 

 is a piano be better than either of the others? 



Michigan. 



Answer. — I can not speak with entire posi- 

 tiveness; but I have never noted any bad re- 

 sults from noises overhead (although I never 

 had anything very bad in that line), and never 

 heard of it from others; so I don't believe 

 you need take into account the matter of 

 noise, but put your bees in the place that 

 gives you the best temperature and ventilation, 

 providing there is any difference. 



Transferring Bees — T-Super. 



1. I have bees in a box. I wish to put 

 thean in hives to drive out a swarm next 

 spring. Then in 21 days I want to take the 

 box for another swarm. How far will I have 

 to take the first from the old stand ? My 

 plan is to smoke and then drive them by 

 knocking on the box. 



2. What is the difference between the T- 

 super I read about and others? I bought 

 some bees in Root hives. The supers have 24 

 sections with fences between them. The su- 

 pers of that size will fit any hive which I 

 make myself. They are the size of the ones 

 I see advertised. Please give price and where 

 to buy the T-super, and any information you 

 can. 1 have never produced comb honey. 



Kentucky. 



Answers. — i. The distance is not important, 

 although it makes a difference whether a hive 

 stands alone or is surrounded by others. If 

 other colonies are near, 6 feet is far enough 

 to move it; if it stands alone, a rod is better. 



2. The chief difference between the T-super 

 and other supers is that in the T-super the 

 sections are supported by supports of tin hav- 

 ing a horizontal lower part on the center of 

 which stands an upright part, making it in the 

 form of an inverted T. These T-tins are 

 loose, and make a very strong support which 



at the same time takes up almost no room. 

 You will find the T-tins advertised in supply 

 catalogs at a little more than a cent apiece 

 (it takes 3 for a super), but strange to say 

 the supers themselves do not appear. You 

 can, however, have them made to order, and 

 they ought to be the cheapest of all supers^ 

 being so simple. In the reply to "Pennsyl- 

 vania," on page 19, you will find instructions 

 for making it yourself. 



Likely Laying Workers. 



Today I was surprised to find drones flying 

 from one of the hives. The day being pleas- 

 ant, I made an investigation, and discovered 

 plenty of bees and stores, and an average 

 number of drones of good size and color, as in 

 mating season. There were a number of eggs 

 in cells, principally in drone-cells, sometimes 

 2 eggs in a cell. No young brood. I did 

 not find the queen, but there is a capped 

 queen-cell of fair size which will open in about 

 7 days. The queen was from the season of 

 igo8, and is of dark Italian stock. This is a 

 case of supersedure. 



Did you ever learn of a like experience at 

 this season of the year? Louisiana. 



Answer. — Your statement that eggs are 

 "principally in drone-cells, sometimes 2 eggs 

 in a cell," makes it pretty certain that you 

 have a case of laying workers, unfortunately 

 nothing very unusual. If my guess is cor- 

 rect, you will find that the queen-cell will 

 never hatch, and if you open it you will 

 find a drone in it. There is a possibility of 

 a drone-laying queen, but more likely laying 

 workers. 



Choice of Locusts. 



In your locality, wtiicii would be your choice 

 of the locusts as a honey-plant — black locust 

 of honey locust. Subscriber. 



Answer. — I don't know which is best. Who 

 does? 



Introducing a Virgin Queen. 



I dropped a virgin queen on a frame of 

 brood in a queenless colony July i, and 

 looked 4 days later and found the queen 

 present. In 10 days I looked again and found 

 one frame with eggs. Thinking all O. K., I did 

 not look for 21 days. I then found the same 

 frame -filled with brood with only a few cells 

 containing pap applied to one side of the egg. 

 In a few days I looked again and found eggs 

 as before, with pap at the side of the eggs, 

 but no eggs hatched. I left the brood sev- 

 eral days more, but no eggs ever hatched. 

 Even though this queen might have been a 

 drone-layer why did not the eggs hatch? The 

 eggs were large, developed eggs, not worker- 

 eggs, as she laid in a mating-box after being 

 placed there. Michigan. 



Answer. — I had one case at least, and other 

 cases of the same kind have been reported, 

 in which the queen laid, but no eggs hatched. 

 I don't know why. The unusual thing in 

 your case is that the queen at first laid eggs 

 that hatched (for you found brood present 

 35 days after giving the queen), and later 

 no eggs hatched although fed by the workers. 

 I never heard of such a case before, and can 

 give no explanation. 



Beginner's Questions, 



1. Where one is running for honey, is it 

 best not to let the bees swarm? 



2. What is the best way to keep bees from 

 swarming, where one is too timid to cut out 

 queen-cells? 



3. After a queen is mated to the drone, 

 does she remain in the hive all summer, or 

 does she come out for a flight? If so, how 

 often? 



4. If I have a hive full of crooked combs, 

 and do not wish to cut them so as to get at 

 the queen to catch her in order to introduce 

 a new queen, how would it do to set a queen- 

 trap for her? 



5. Are queens always shipped in introducing 

 cages? That is, where a person buys the 

 queens from a practical bee-man? 



6. If you were going to start over again 

 with bees, laying all prejudice aside, what 

 kind would you prefer? 



7. In buying a full colony of bees from a 

 practical bee-man, docs he send a made-up 

 colony, viz., a few bees, brood, and some 

 honey from several colonies, or a colony that 

 has been working together for some time? 



8. I am thinking of getting a start of pure 

 Italian bees, but I have a neighbor who has 



