American Hq^ Journal 



April, 1909. 



the bees would venture out and be lost. It 

 can be seen that, with twice as much of a 

 clearing, and with the timber only 50 _ feet 

 high, there is some circulation of cool air in 

 the yard, which will hold the flying forces 

 back whenever the general weather conditions 

 outside are unfavorable. The fortunate man 

 is the one who has just enough outside pro- 

 tection and no more. With no outside pro- 

 tection at all, as in cases where the hives 

 stand exposed to the full force of the wind, 

 during breeding time in the spring it is very 

 difficult for colonies to build up to the proper 

 strength for the early honey-flow in June. 

 A high board fence is of but little avail for 

 this outside protection, for it protects the 

 hives only enough to entice the bees out-of- 

 doors when it is too cold for them_ to fly, 

 so that they are caught in the cold wind and 

 lost." 



Ants and Bees. 



Ants are sometimes troublesome in 

 and about hives in the North, but the 

 matter is not so serious as it is in the 

 South, where they sometimes clean out 

 a whole colony. A. I. Root, in Glean- 

 ings, tells how they were mastered on 

 the island of his winter home in the 

 South. He says : 



My good friend, we had the same trouble 

 on the island; but when Mr. Shumard had 

 about 200 laying hens right in the dooryard 

 and all around the apiary, not an ant troubled 

 his hives. 



Little chickens and big went for the ants 

 just as soon as the nest was stirred up any- 

 where in the garden or apiary, until the ants de- 

 cided that that was not a healthy locality for 

 them. Finally the women-folks complained so 

 much about having so many chickens around 

 that Mr. Shumard fenced them off to another 

 part of the island, and then the trouble with 

 the ants began. He placed all his hives on 

 benches with the legs standing in basins of 

 water, as you suggest. But this was a good 

 deal of trouble, for leaves and trash would 

 get into the water, and the ants would get 

 across. By putting some kerosene on the 

 water it prevented the evaporation and re- 

 pelled the ants better than pure water alone; 

 but so long as he kept the chickens a\yay, 

 there was a constant warfare. Every little 

 while the ants would find a hive unprotected, 

 and sometimes they would almost ruin a good 

 strong colony just over night. I do not know 

 of any thing that succeeds so well as a lot 

 of chickens. 



Dr. Miller's Question-Box 



(Continued from page 128. i 



could get the bees that could work red clover 

 blossoms? The *'A B C of Bee Culture" says 

 that one man succeeded in doing that. 



4. Have the Italian bees longer tongues 

 since they have been bred in this country? 

 and is it possible to increase the length of 

 their tongues by constant selection? 



5. On page 279 of "A B _C of Bee Cul- 

 ture," is a plan for making increase. What 

 do you think of it, and how do you like the 

 nucleus system? Indiana. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, it is unusual, and not a 

 very good thing. As far north as Indiana 

 a queen reared in March is not likely to 

 prove of much value. 



2. You could gain hut little by merely 

 swapping escorts, and might lose much; for 

 the new escort might kill the queen. 



3. Control of mating would be a great help 

 in trying to breed for any trait. 



4. I don't think there is any difference in 

 general; and yet it is possible that there may 

 be some difference in particular cases if care 

 in selection has been for any length of time. 



5. The nucleus plan is good, as also the 

 plan you mention in "A B C of Bee Culture." 

 Which is best depends upon circumstances. 

 But by the Alexander plan you quote in 

 Gleanings you are probably led to believe that 

 you can get two colonies in place of one to 

 start in on the clover harvest, and thus get 

 twice as much honey. I am sure that would 

 not be so here, and I doubt if it would be 

 so with you. I can get more clover honey 

 from the single colony than from the two that 

 result from dividing. 



Buckwheat — Decoy Hives — Tobacco- 

 Smoke and Bees. 



1. Does buckwheat bloom at the same time 

 that white clover does ? How much should 

 be sown to the acre? Does it make the bees 

 want to swarm in the fall? Is the grain 

 good for chickens? 



2. Will you please explain decoy hives. I 

 have seen the word used several times in the 

 American Bee Journal. I believe that they 

 are used to attract swarms. 



3. Does it hurt the bees to use tobacco 

 smoke. Missouri. 



Answers. — 1. No, buckwheat is much later, 

 usually being sown after clover is in bloom, 

 say about the last of June. Some sow a 

 peck to the acre, some twice as much. It is 

 not likely to make bees swarm. The grain 

 is good for chickens. 



2. Leave an empty hive anywhere where a 

 swarm may enter of its own accord — that's 

 a decoy hive. 



3. It may, if used heavily. 



Rearing Queens for Italianizing. 



I have 2 Italian colonies and 30 black ones. 

 I wish to rear Italian queens. 



1. After I have a frame of queen-cells pre- 

 pared with Italian larvae, will it have any 

 effect on Italian queens if I put the frame 

 over zinc in a black colony to be nursed by 

 black bees? 



2. Can I mate a queen with drones in con- 

 finement, by putting a young queen in a 2- 

 frame nucleus and the desired drones? 



Subscriber. 



Answers. — 1. No; but if you are counting 

 that you will get cells started merely by put- 

 ting brood over an excluder, a laying queen 

 being below the excluder, you will probably 

 have more failure than success. 



2. No. 



Bee-Cellar and Honey-House. 



I am just beginning to keep bees, and 

 would like to build a bee-cellar with a honey- 

 house over it as given in the diagram. I live 

 on the top of a large hill, and think it would 

 be too cold to winter the bees outside. I live 

 in the central part of Crawford Co., Wis. 



I ask your advice as to whether to build or 

 not. If you think it best for me to build, 

 how should I build? Is my plan a good one? 

 I have 8 colonies of Italian bees. 



Wisconsin. 



Answer. — Your scheme is good. An out- 

 side stone-wall 9 inches thick, and an inside 

 wall of the same thickness, with a 6-inch air- 

 space between ought to make a warm cellar. 

 You propose to have your cellar 4 feet under 

 ground and 3 feet above ground. Unless there 

 is something in the lay of the land to pre- 

 vent, you might have more of it under ground, 

 making it warmer. You propose to have fresh 

 air enter at the ceiling and have foul air en- 

 ter at the bottom of the cellar. Better let 

 fresh air enter at the bottom and foul air start 

 out at the top. If you should make a perma- 

 nent business of bee-keeping, you may want a 

 larger building than 18x14 feet. 



once, 2 or 3 rods away from the apiary, or 

 farther, and the bees will clean them up with- 

 out tearing the combs. But suppose you have 

 only 5 supers for 50 or 100 colonies. In that 

 case put the o in a pile, cover them over, 

 leaving a hole where only one bee at a time 

 can get in, and the business will be done all 

 right. As to the sections on hand now, you 

 can treat them the same way, only it isn't 

 so certain that they'll clean out the granules. 

 In the fall they can clean them out before 

 any of the honey is granulated, in which case 

 they will be sure to make a clean job of it. 

 If I understand him correctly, so good an 

 authority as G. M. Doolittle holds that if you 

 let the bees now clean out the candied honey, 

 itwill be all right to give the bees tne sections 

 with tha candied honey in them, as they will 

 clean out the sections before putting fresh 

 honey in them. I have some question about it. 

 If vou try any of them, I wish you would re- 

 port. 



Granulated Unfinished Sections. 



I have 31 colonies of Italian bees, and ex- 

 pect to build up a fine apiary, as I have one 

 ot the best locations in the United States for 

 alfalfa and sweet clover. I am running for 

 comb honey and am using T-supers, and agree 

 with you in thinking they are far superior 

 to the section-holders. 



The honey-flow stopped sooner than I ex- 

 pected last fall, and I was left with 12 supers 

 of unfinished sections on hand, i tried feed- 

 ing them back last fall on the hives, but the 

 bees would not remove the honey so I still 

 have them in my honey-house. Last vear I 

 had 2 or 3 such supers, and I put them about 

 6 rods from the hives in the spring, and the 

 bees soon found the supers but they not only 

 got the honey, but they ate the combs so badly 

 that I could not use them for baits. The 

 honev that is in the 12 supers in the honey- 

 house at present is granulated. How can I 

 feed that back to the bees and have the combs 

 for baits? Some sections have very little 



in, and others from a quarter to a third full. 

 I will have more unfinished sections next fall, 

 and I would like to know how I can get them 

 cleaned out if the bees will not do it by put- 

 ting them on the hives. Utah. 



Answer. — First, let me tell you what to do 

 next fall. If you have enough supers of un- 

 finished sections so that you have about one 

 for each colony, set the whole business out at 



Probably Common White Clover. 



We have all over this part of the country 

 a little white sweet-scented clover, which we 

 call little wild clover. Is this the clover that 

 is called white or sweet white clover in the 

 American Bee Journal? When is the best time 

 to sow the seed? Illinois. 



Answer. — I think it is the common white 

 clover. It is sweet-scented, although the scent 

 is not strong. It does not grow high, each 

 leaf starting from the ground. Spring is a 

 good time to sow% although it may be sown 

 almost any time. 



Tiering Up Supers. 



I have the S- frame hives. Is it wise to 

 place more than one story on the hive? What 

 I notice is, after having put on one super 

 the same size of the hive, then another, that 

 then when we take the 2 supers off, a cluster 

 of bees can't get in the hive, and they hang 

 outside and either die or stray away. Is this 

 not discouraging to the rest ? Would it be 

 better not to put more on than one super, 

 then take it off and replace by a fresh super? 



Ontario. 



Answer. — I think you have hardly been 

 careful in your observation. If bees hang 

 out because too crow^ded or too warm in the 

 hive, they neither die nor go astray, and are 

 not at all discouraged. If they are busy 

 gathering, give them super-room enough so 

 they needn't hang out. To lessen the num- 

 ber of supers would do no good, and probably 

 result in less honey. If there is nothing for 

 them to do in the field, let them hang out to 

 their heart's content. 



Comb Honey Management — Best Size 

 of Hive? — Long-Lived Bees, Etc. 



1. Your article in the Bee-Keepers' Revievv, 

 and the experience of a Mr. Myers, of Michi- 

 gan, refutes the idea that our Northern land 

 is not adapted to comb-honey production. Mr. 

 Myers used the S-frame Langstroth in home- 

 made Hilton hives, heavier and thicker than 

 those made by the factory. Would it be ad- 

 visable in my locality to kill the queens in 

 July each year ? Two hundred and fifty 

 pounds of comb honey were produced by Mr. 

 Myers in some of his 40 colonies. He cut the 

 queen-cells every 8 days. He used the T- 

 super with, I believe, wooden separators. 



2. If at the beginning of the honey-flow 

 we put the frames of foundation in the _ old 

 hive and put the brood in a hive, or in hives, 

 on top of a super section with a Porter bee- 

 escape underneath, would that repress the 

 swarming fever more than the system you 

 practice of cutting queen-ccIls out every 10 

 days? I believe that bees are more contented 

 with new combs or foundation than old brood- 

 combs. 



3. Mr. Townsend advocates a 10-frame hive 

 with extracting frames to the side of the comb 

 honey sections in the section super for comb 

 honey. Mr. Chapman told me himself that 

 the 10-frame was too heavy, and he uses the 8. 

 When doctors differ who shall decide? Had 

 we not better try to find out for ourselves? 



4. Is it not easier to cut out queen-cells in 

 the Danzenbaker hive than in the LangstrotH? 

 I am pretty badly smitten on the Danzen- 

 baker hive, but I see you do not like it as 

 well as the 8-frame Langstroth. 



5. One writer in the American Bee Journal 

 says it is advisable for beginners to use the 

 10-frame Langstroth at first; that it can be 

 used for an S-frame Lane^troth. and then he 

 can satisfy himself hereafter which style he 

 likes best. Is not his method logical? 



6. I am at present of the opinion that a 

 larger colony can be obtained by your system 



