I04 



March, 1909. 



Ainc>rican ^Bec .Joarnal j 



in sectiuiis, and \\ hat with. If by a press, 

 wha: kind? 



3. In using bee- way sections, do you put 

 tlie b:e-way at the bottom or at the side? 



6. Which is best in standard supers, the 

 bee-way or plain sections? Kentucky. 



Answers. — i. I think you must have got it 

 into your head that there must be something 

 at the top of the super to support the T-tins, 

 somewhat in the way frames are supported in 

 a hive by the rabbet at the top. There is 

 nothing of the kind. The T-super is the plain- 

 est kind of a plain box with nothing about 

 it in the shape of a rabbet ; and the T-tins 

 are put inside, at the bottom of the super, 

 and supported there by supports that are nailed 

 on the bottom. Suppose you have your super 

 made — just a plain box without top or bottom. 

 Until the supports are nailed on of course the 

 top and bottom will be the same. With 

 your super lying flat on your bench before 

 you. you will nail on the ij^^xi inch piece of 

 sheet-iron flat on the edge of the box, or else 

 drive in the staples and bend them over. Also 

 you will nail your strips of tin (to support 

 the ends of the end-sections) flat on the ends. 

 Now your super is complete, but it is lying 

 upside down. Turn it over, and you will see 

 that the T-tin may rest down in the bottom, 

 and when the sections are put in they will 

 lie clear down flush with the bottom. 



2. A T-super will fit on any hive that is 

 fiat on top ; which is pretty much the same 

 as saying it \vill fit on any hive. My supers 

 are rather short to fit my hives. I count 

 that an advantage. Sometimes I want the 

 super to be shoved just a trifle forward to al- 

 low a M -inch space for ventilation at the 

 back end. When I don't want that ventilation 

 I tack on the super at the back end a strip 

 as long as the width of the hive or the super 

 and about V^kY^. That makes the super long 

 enough so it covers entirely the opening at the 

 top of the hive. The super being made just 

 as wide as the hive, of course it wHl be wider 

 for a lo-frame hive than for an 8-irame hive. 



J. In the private letter accompanying your 

 questions you say you are going to order 

 the book "Forty Lears Among the Bees," 

 Turn to page 87 of that book and you will 

 find very full details as to putting in founda- 

 tion with splints. The splints are only 1-16 

 of an inch square, and are left permanently 

 in the frame. If the frames are wired, the 

 wire is left for always. The wires are gen- 

 erally strung through holes in the end-bars, 

 3 or 4 horizontal wires being used, and the 

 wires are imbedded in the foundation by the 

 use of a wire-imbedder, which costs only a 

 few cents. 



4. If you have only a very few sections to 

 fill, yovi can use a putty-knife to press down 

 the edge of the foundation upon the wood, 

 or you can use a Parker foundation- fastener. 

 Much better, however, is the Daisy foundation- 

 fastener, which does the work faster and with 

 less exertion. 



5. The bee-ways are to allow a- way for the 

 bees to go up, so they are at the top and bot- 

 tom of the section. 



6. That's a matter of indiivdual preference. 

 Personally. I prefer the bee-way. 



Selecting Queen-Cells — Tariff on 

 Honey. 



1. I want to save all the queen-cells I cut 

 out during swarming time, that are the largest 

 and best that hatch. What is the best method 

 or system to follow ? 



Can you tell what kind of a queen a cell 

 will produce by its looks or size? That is. 

 if they are large or small cells, can you tell 

 whether they will be large or small queens? 

 Does the size of the cells have anything to do 

 in telling what a queen will be when hatched? 

 What is the least troublesome or least expen- 

 sive, or the best regardless of cost? 



2. What should we bee-keepers be doing to 

 keep the tariff off on imported honey and 

 wax? It is time we, or our bee-keepers' asso- 

 ciations, were doing something. 



New Yokk. 



Answers. — i. Your question is not the 

 easiest to answer. If you will pardon me for 

 saying so, your question is somewhat mixed. 

 You say you're going to save all cells, and 

 then save the largest and best that hatch, 

 which sounds as if you mean to select from 

 among the young queens; but immediately you 

 ask about deciding by the looks of the cells. 

 Well, I'll do the best I can, and if I don't 

 get at what you want I'll be glad to have you 

 ask again. But when the best is done it may 

 not be satisfactory, for athough one may be 

 able to decide something as to the value of a 

 queen or a cell by looking at it, it's hard to 

 tell some one else how to do so. 



As a rule, a large cell is better, although 



sometimes a queen of full size will come from 

 a cell so inconspicuous that it may hardly be 

 noticed as a queen-cell. A long, slim cell is 

 generally not desirable. A good cell ought to 

 be covered with deep cuts all over, although 

 there are exceptions. Allow me to say in 

 passing that the largest queens are not always 

 the best. The queen that I think produced 

 more brood than any other queen I ever had 

 was, I think, the smallest. 



One way will be to have a nucleus for each 

 cell. But that will oblige you to have a 

 nucleus for even the cells whose occupants 

 you reject. To avoid this you can have the 

 cells hatch out in a nursery of some kind, 

 and give your selected virgins to your nuclei. 



2. The way to influence legislation in this 

 regard is to write to your Congressmen. No 

 need to wait for associations to act, for each 

 individual has the right to write. But there 

 is by no means unity of feeling among bee- 

 keepers. Some would rather not have the 

 tariff changed. Certainly those comb-honey 

 producers who buy more wax than they sell 

 would hardly gain by a higher tariff; so you 

 cannot blame them for not being anxious for 

 a higlier tariff on wa.x. As to honey, they 

 will probbly say that imported honey is of 

 the lower grades, and does not come in com- 

 petition with good comb honey. 



Sorring Out Queens of Cross Bees. 



I have bees in one of my apiaries that will 

 follow me all about the yard, and will oc- 

 casionally attack horses that are being worked 

 near by. I don't want to change all the 

 queens in order to get the queens of the cross 

 colonies, but the difficulty is to tell the cross 

 colonies from the others, as they do not seem 

 different with ordinary handling. How would 

 a practical bee-keeper proceed successfully to 

 sort out the objectionable queens so that he 

 could replace them with gentle stock ? 



Colorado. 



Answer. — Not always the easiest thing to 

 spot the cross colony ; and sometimes one 

 colony will make so much trouble that it 

 seems the whole apiary is cross. _ Sometimes 

 if you walk rather briskly close in front of 

 the colonies, the bees of the cross one will 

 dart out at your legs. Or, knock lightly on 

 the hives, and see which one flies out at you. 



your eye on the "Sisters' " department I'll 

 get her to tell how she does it. 



3, I'm not sure whether there's any better 

 way than to lay a separator on a flat surface 

 and scrape it with a hatchet. But they cost 

 so little that I've thrown away a good many 

 and bought new. 



4. Yes, I've used in T-supers, with fences, 

 4 '4 plain sections, and also tall sections, same 

 as in catalogs. I like them as well as in 

 other supers, but prefer the common sections 

 with plain separators. 



Partial Clipping of Queens. 



1. Would it be possible to "hobble" a 

 queen? That is, to clip her wings so she 

 still could fly, yet not be able to fly high or 

 far? To what extent, and what wings would 

 you clip for such purpose? 



2. Do you ever sell any queens? I should 

 like to have a few of your hybrid queens 

 to breed from, even though they be <»ld ones. 



Illinois. 



Answers. — i. Yes, I think it was Mr. \s- 

 pinwall who did that very thintr, and 'if I 

 remember rightly, quite successtully. All four 

 wings should be cut the same length. I'm not 

 sure, but I think Mr. Aspinwall cut ofl nearly 

 or quite half of the wings. 



2. I rear queens only for my own use, but 

 sometimes spare an untested queen of best 

 stock in July. 



Depth of T-Supers — Cleaning T-Tins 

 — Fence Separators in T-Supers. 



1. I think your super-followers are 4'4 x 5-16 

 inches, with notches for T-tins. I have some 

 lumber about the right thickness, but a little 

 too narrow for 454-i"ch. Would it be any 

 disadvantage to have them only as wide as the 

 plain-sawed separators, 3^, and without notch- 

 es for T-tins? What would be the disadvan- 

 tages, if any? 



2. How do you get the propolis off T- 

 tins? You probably have a quicker way than 

 I have for cleaning them. 



3. What is a good way to clean the plain 

 sawed separators used in T-supers? 



4. Did you ever use fences and plain sec- 

 tions in T-supers? If so, how did you like 

 them? I suppose they were the same as are 

 listed in supply-catalogs. 



Pennsylvania, 



^Answers. — i. I'm not surt» whether it would 

 make any difference. I don't think it could 

 make anv difference at the top; but there 

 might be' a little bulging at the bottom, es- 

 pecially if the bees were crowded for room. 

 Possibly, however, that might not happen, for 

 bees are not much inclined to bulge at the 

 outer sides of a super. 



2. I made very slow work scraping them; 

 but my assistant found a way that does the 

 business in perhaps a fourth of the time, and 

 does it ever so much better. If you'll keep 



Average per Colony — Comb vs. Ex- 

 tracted. 



If I remember, you reported over 260 

 pounds of comb honey per colony the past 

 season. Where is the bee-keeper who runs for 

 extracted honey in the same locality, who re- 

 ported more pounds to the colony ? It has 

 been running through my head for years that 

 where the honey is left on the hive until it 

 gets thoroughly ripe there is not as much 

 difference in the yield as some people would 

 try to make us believe. Illinois. 



Answer. — There's a big mistake somewhere. 



I don't think I ever averaged 260 pounds to 

 the colony, or even 260 sections. My best 

 year was 1903. In that year, from 124 colo- 

 nies, spring count. I took 18.150 pounds of 

 comb honey, or an average of a little more than 

 146 pounds per colony. If 12 sections weighed 



II pounds, that would be nearly 160 sections 

 per colony. It would be interesting to know 

 j ust how much more I would have taken 

 if I had been running for extracted honey, 

 but I'm afraid I'll never find out. Likely 

 what is true as to the difference with one man 

 or one place would not be true as to another 

 man or another place. 



Similar to Spring Dwindling. 



Irving Long: — I wish to ask your opinion 

 i^f something about bees. I am always glad 

 lo help any one that I can in regard to the 

 many different things that we bee-keepers rub 

 up against, and I am quite sure you are 

 also. 



I call myself a beginner in bee-keeping, 

 although I have been making it a close study 

 for 5 years. Perhaps I have passed the be- 

 ginner's stage, but there are many things that 

 I am unable to decide for myself. The ques- 

 tion that I wish to ask you is this: 



Kvery spring I notice that after spring 

 comes and the bees have brood-rearing well 

 advanced, and everything humming to the mu- 

 sic of the bee, then comes sometimes what 

 we bee-keepers call "black-berry winter," a 

 cold, wet time that keeps the bees at home 

 to take care of their maturing brood, and 

 brood of all ages — a time that keeps them 

 boused vip 2 or 3 days. They will begin to 

 carry out brood. 



Is "it the natural instinct they have to pre- 

 pare for hard times by cutting down the 

 mouths to feed? We know a little later in the 

 season under the same conditions they will 

 go to work on the drones. I am unable to 

 decide whether it is this desire to save stores, 

 or whether it is chilled brood. We know that 

 they would be compelled to contract their clus- 

 ter to keep their brood warm in the center 

 of the brood-nest, and thereby leave brood in 

 the outside combs that would become chilled, 

 and, of course, they would carry that out. 

 If they waited to do that until it warmed 

 up, I would say it was chilled brood, but 

 they commence it about the second day after 

 being housed up. If it is chilled brood, you 

 see it is my fault in not having furnished 

 warm hives, or the entrances should be con- 

 tracted at such a time. What is your opinion? 



These questions properly solved, go to make 

 up our successes. The brood that they carry 

 out is usually of the age when they resemble 

 a young spider — legs, but no wings. But I 

 know you have seen the same thing many a 

 time. H. C, G. 



Saline Co.. Mo. 



Answer. — I will gladly answer your ques- 

 tions to the best of my ability. What you 

 speak of is similar to spring dwindling. In 

 fact, spring dwindling is caused probably by 

 the same thing: lack of proper protection 



