May, ipop. 



American Hee Journal 



trance. When should I change them? I have 

 them on the smallest way now. 



Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, if at any time you put on 

 a new stand one or more frames of brood in 

 all stages with adhering bees, the bees will 

 rear a queen. But if too weak they may 

 desert. Even if quite strong, you may not get 

 a good queen, for there will be no field-bees, 

 no honey coming in, the bees will feel dis- 

 couraged, and a discouraged lot of bees is not 

 the thing to rear a first-class queen. If vou 

 vary the matter a little, you will have a good 

 queen. When the colony is strong and honey 

 is yielding well, take 2 frames of brood with 

 the queen and aohering bees, and put them in 

 a hive on a new stand. The bees in the old 

 hive will be in the best condition to start good 

 cells. About a week after taking the queen 

 away, take away the hive with the queen, 

 and put on the stand a story filled -with brood 

 and bees (or as many frames as you like), of 

 course taking queen-cells with them, from the 

 old hive. Put the queen with her 2 frames 

 of brood back in the old hive, and the bees 

 will do the rest. 



2. The shallow part of the bottom-board 

 should be put uppermost as soon as honey 

 begins to yield, or even as soon as bees fly 

 in spring, and reversed again after the fall 

 harvest is over. The deep space is for advan- 

 tage in wintering. 





Tough Spring on Bees. 



This has been a tough spring on bees here. 

 The bees have got almost nothing. The peach- 

 bloom is j ust passing with not much to the 

 bees. Today it is windy and cold. No 

 swarms yet. 



R. B. Perry. 



Greenfield, Tenn., April 1?. 



Bees Wintered Well. 



Out of 125 colonies and nuclei of bees put 

 into the bee-cellar last fall, 124 were taken 

 out alive and in good shape this spring. The 

 125th one starved through the carelessness of 

 their keeper. Yet it is said that the golden 

 Italians do not winter well! 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., April 11. 



Bees Wintered Well. 



Bees have wintered well. They have not 

 gathered much honey yet. It has been so cold 

 that the fruit has not bloomed yet. 



I wish that the next meeting of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association would be held at 

 Kansas City, so that the members who live in 

 Kansas could attend. 



J. L. Young. 



Manhattan, Kans., April 20. 



No Loss in Wintering. 



Bees came out of the cellar in good order 

 — 50 colonies without any loss. I run for 

 comb honey altogether. I have my hives and 

 foundation, everything but sections. This 

 makes 78 years without any vacation, but i 

 don't keep so many as I formerly have kept. 

 John Cline. 



Darlington, Wis., April 24. 



Bees Wintered All Right. 



I put my bees into the cellar October 15, 



1908, and took them out to fly March 31, 



1909, at which time they appeared to be all 

 right, although the temperature in the cellar 

 stayed at about 35 degrees, Fahrenheit, all 

 winter. It was very damp and some of the 

 combs were a little moldy. 



David E. Dobbs. 

 Indus, Minn., April 16. 



"Taming," Bees, Etc. 



After reading the American Bee Journal, 

 I am struck forcibly by the difference' in my 

 knowledge of bees now from when I tried to 

 handle bees before reading a word about them. 

 In 1883 I first tried my hand at "taming" 

 bees. I put on a heavy pair of fur gloves. 



took a pail of water and molasses, equal parts, 

 and I sprinkled the hive or box, then sprinkled 

 the swarm like a woman sprinkles clothes to 

 iron, etc, but before I got my bees "put," I 

 had a quart of them crawling in the fur of 

 the gloves, all stinging and roaring. I put the 

 colony in a frame-building to winter. In the 

 course of a few months I went back and 

 found most of the bees in a window, dead, 

 and the hive empty. I would know better 

 now. 



I would like to see a law passed to com- 

 pell a man to pass an examination before 

 being allowed to keep bees. 



I*. W. Benson. 



Liberty, Nebr. 



Bad Spring Weather. 



We have had some bad weather here since 

 the evening of April 28. It snowed about 5 

 or 6 inches, then a long warm rain for a 

 few days, which melted the snow. This made 

 a big flood. We have had just a day now 

 and then that the bees could fly. Saturday 



and Sunday were very bad. I have 21 colonies 

 of bees. They wintered well — just one weak 

 one. They have been gathering some pollen. 

 Ralph E. Stevens. 



Scio, N. y.. May 3. 



Cold and Backward Spring. 



Though the bees wintered splendidly, and 

 are in fair condition still, there have been 

 periods of long duration this spring with icy 

 winds. I never saw the old bees taken away 

 so rapidly before. Searching for pollen they 

 get chilled never to return. Tonight, as I 

 write, the ground is white with 2 inches or so 

 of snow, a steady fall of snow having been 

 in progress some 3 hours. 



Allen Latham. 



Norwichtown, Conn., April 29. 



Swarms on April 6. 



I have 24 colonies of fine Italian and hy- 

 brid bees in lO-frarae Jumbo, double-wall hives. 

 I have had 2 large swarms — one on April 6 

 and the other April 11. Other hives are run- 

 ning over with bees and will swarm soon. 

 White clover is beginning to bloom. Fruit- 

 bloom is almost gone. Then comes black- 

 berry bloom, poplar, etc., and cotton later. 

 J. W. Lewis. 



Charlotte, N. C, April 13. 



Likes This Journal— Wintered Well. 



Out of 8 to 10 periodicals that come into 

 my home, the American Bee Journal to me 

 is the most interesting. I have taken it but 

 one year, but so tightly has it gripped my 

 interest, that I belive I am safe in saying 

 I will continue on its list of subscribers as 

 long as I live and keep bees. 



I am practically a beginner with bees, 

 but have 23 colonies which have been win- 

 tered on the summer stands without the loss 

 of a colony, and what is still more remark- 

 able, without the loss of one queen. 



George W. Fuller. 



Cattaraugus, N. Y., April 1. 



Moving Bees a Long Distance. 



The moving season is doubtless well over. 

 All have been seeking the Eldorado, and have 

 yet to find that they have reached the de- 

 sired place. I am one of the movers, having 

 come to Southern Illinois from Central Louis- 

 iana. I stopped short of Eldorado by 8 

 miles, and so I suppose that I may expect some 

 disappointments and failures. 



My move up here was a disappointment so 

 far as the manner in which my car was 

 knocked and brought up short with a jerk 

 at some places, was concerned. It was a fail- 

 ure as to my success in shipping my bees. 

 My experience may be helpful to others, and 

 so I will give it to you. 



I wired the bees in with galvanized screen- 

 ing, nailing a wooden strip the length of the 

 front of the hive to the body, and one on the 

 alighting-board. I used hive staples to fasten 

 the bottom to the bodies, driving them in full 

 depth, and so set that the staples if con- 

 tinued would form the sides of a triangle. This 

 held the bottoms rigid and all right. I also 

 used staples to fasten supers and tops to the 

 bodies until my store was all used. 



Then I went to the tinner and bought some 

 light-gauge galvanized strips, one by 6 inches. 

 I nailed the remainder of the hives with these, 

 using one-inch brood-frame nails. 



I placed all of the hives in the car with the 

 frames running with the length of the car. 



excepting one hive, which was crosswise. This 

 one exception was in the best condition upon 

 my arrival here. Many of the hives were fairly 

 \yeU stored with honey and plenty of bees. 

 Some were well stocked with bees. 



Now the result: The hives having J^-inch en- 

 trance and the most honey fared worst. The 

 bees clogged the entrance and suffocated. The 

 heavy handling on the car broke down all of 

 the full combs, crushing and drowning a great 

 many bees. The hives having the least bees 

 and stores came through all right. Every 

 frame that was not wired had the combs 

 broken. All frames which had been wired 

 on the diagonal plan were also, and only one 

 frame that had been wired in the standard 

 method was broken. 



I estimate that I lost at least two-thirds 

 of my bees. Some hives which had been full 

 stapled were broken open. These hives, of 

 course, lost all of the bees by straying on the 

 road. 



Now, if I were going to make another long 

 move, I would use staples only on the bot- 

 toms, and galvanized strips for the supers 

 and covers. I would extract all of the honey, 

 and place candy in two full frames for the 

 bees to feed upon. I would have every frame 

 wired in the standard way (I shall not use 

 the diagonal wire plan again) , and I would 

 sell my bees before starting if I could get half 

 of their value. This I could not do. I could 

 have very easily given them away, or what is 

 next to it, by accepting about 14 their value. 

 This I would not do, hence this experience. 



I trust that this may help some brother who 

 feels that he must move. H. F. Hitch. 



Harrisburg, 111., April 16. 



Eastern New York Convention. 



The Eastern New York Bee-Keepers* Asso- 

 ciation will hold its second semi-annual con- 

 vention at the Court House, in Catskill, N. Y., 

 Saturday, May 15, 1909. Sessions at 10:30 

 a. m., and 1:30 p. m. Bee-keepers' headquar- 

 ters at Bell's Commercial Hotel. 



We desire the attendance of all who are 

 interested, as there will be special matters 

 for attention. We will also have discussion 

 on seasonable topics, question-box, etc. N. D. 

 West and other inspectors are expected to be 

 present. Come and get the benefits of co- 

 operation, some of which are reduced prices 

 on bee-supplies and periodicals. Ladies espec- 

 ially invited. 



D. A. Frazier, Sec. 



440 Second Ave., Albany, N, Y. 



Safe Introduction of Queens — Wiring 



Frames, Etc. 



In answer to Louis Macey (page 151) there 

 is a way to have a queen lay during her in- 

 troduction, and a very good way, too. 



Take a piece of wire screen about 5x5 

 inches, ravel out all around the edges for 

 about one inch, turn the ravelled ends down 

 at right angles to form a sort of box. Now 

 get a comb of hatching-brood, shake the bees 

 off and bring it in the house, and select a 

 spot where the cage will cover some hatching 

 brood and also some honey. You must have 

 enough honey to last the queen and hatching 

 bees several days. An old, tough comb is 

 best, as the bees do not gnaw around the 

 cage so readily. 



Drop the queen on just where you want her 

 and press the wire points into the comb till 

 the points come to the mid-rib of the comb, 

 and replace the comb in the hive. The hatch- 

 ing bees will never harm the queen, and if 

 your work is well done so that the outside 

 bees can not get in she will soon be laying. 

 In 4 or 5 days, if all is well, and bees are 

 not offering to molest her through the screen, 

 remove the screen, and after noting the be- 

 havior of the bees to her, close the hive up 

 and let alone a few days, as too much tinker- 

 ing often causes the bees to attack their 

 queen. 



Now a word to Wm. M. Whitney and "Bach- 

 elor Bee-Keeper," in regard to wiring: 



I would not think of saying that Mr. Whit- 

 ney's plan is "an absolute failure," for no 

 doubt he makes it work, but I failed utterly, 

 as the combs would be wavy. My plan is to 

 use 3 horizontal wires in the Hoffman frames, 

 and I get beautiful combs. I put the wire 

 in fairly tight and when I pick a wired frame 

 up to put in foundation, I put my left hand 

 against all the wires at once and press in 

 such a way that the upper wire is slightly 

 slacked, the middle one a little more out 

 and the bottom one still more ; this is to 

 allow for stretching of the foundation. As 

 I imbed the wires, I place them so they "sag 

 up" instead of down, and then the founda- 



