AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



Tee Stieqek 



"Flavored" with Formic Acid. 



The following is not culled from Dr. 

 Miller's " Stray Straws," but was taken 

 from one of the daily papers : 



"Our Crazy Contributor is dying to 

 know if that singular-looking specimen 

 of vegetation, known as the monkey- 

 plant, is of the same variety as the 

 chim-pansy ; and if so, would not the 

 proper place for cultivating it be an 

 ape-iary ?" 



We do not propose to solve the conun- 

 drum, but would suggest, however, that 

 the "Crazy Contributor " do not monkey 

 about the " ape-iary " else he may find 

 things worse than if a bull had gotten 

 into a crockery shop. 



It is admitted that one swallow does 

 not make a summer, yet we think one 

 bee comes nearer making summer than 

 any other single thing we know of, for 

 does not a bee make things awfully 

 warm, sometimes? 



Little drops of honey, 



Little grains of gold, 

 Make the bee-men happy 



When their sweets are sold. 



A bird in the hand is worth two in the 

 bush ; but as much cannot be said of a 

 bee in the hand. Too often one in the 

 hand is too heavy to hold. 



Wasn't it that delightfully pleasing 

 and dyspeptic old poet, Alexander Pope, 

 that said something about children being 

 " tickled with a straw and pleased with 

 a rattle?" Perhaps Dr. Miller can in- 

 form us, for he seems to have gotten the 

 "straw" tickling business down to a 

 fine point. By One Stung. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of suflBcient special interest to 

 require replies from the 25 or more apiarists 

 who help to make "Queries and Replies" so 

 interesting on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Will Shade Prevent Swarming? 



I am a beginner in bee-keeping, hav- 

 ing 10 colonies, mostly blacks, all in 

 movable-frame hives, and all good, 

 strong colonies. I wish them to in- 



crease. This is June 12th, and they 

 have not swarmed yet. Everybody's 

 bees around me are swarming; some 

 swarmed on May 15th, and my bees do 

 not act as if they cared to swarm. Is 

 too much shade the cause ? I have 

 them under low apple trees, the hives 

 all being well shaded. 



Chas. C. Chamberlin. 

 Romeo, Mich. 



Ansvfer. — Shade cannot be relied on 

 to prevent swarming, but it has a ten- 

 dency in that direction, a colony in the 

 open sun being more likely to swarm 

 than one in a dense shade, and swarm- 

 ing sooner in the warm location. If you 

 continue bee-keeping long enough, you 

 may be very anxious for a shade deep 

 enough to prevent all swarming. 



Why Does a Swarm Return ? 



Why do bees swarm and settle, and 

 while you are hiving them they will re- 

 turn to the hive from where they came ? 

 C. W. Roberts. 



Brownville, Nebr. 



Answer. — If the wings of a queen are 

 clipped, or if for any reason she cannot 

 accompany the swarm, the bees will re- 

 turn to the hive, sometimes immediately 

 and sometimes after settling for half an 

 hour. Sometimes when a queen goes on 

 her wedding trip, the colony issues like 

 a swarm and then returns to the hive. 

 Sometimes a swarm will issue, and then 

 return, and no one under the sun can 

 tell why. 



What Ails the Bees ? 



1. What ails my bees? The strongest 

 colony I had has been carrying out dead 

 brood for 4 weeks. I looked at them 

 this morning (June 11), and found only 

 drone-brood, and that was all sizes from 

 fresh eggs up to full size. 



2. My 16 colonies I put into the cellar 

 on Nov. 1st; they came out all right 

 except one that was queenless, but they 

 robbed one colony since. I never have 

 lost one in the cellar, but am losing 

 from 2 to 3 every year from getting 

 queenless. I leave the tight covers on. 

 My cellar ranges from 42° to 45^. 



3. Why are the Italians so many 

 different colors ? I sent to Texas and 

 got an untested queen for my queenless 

 colony this spring, ond got one as yellow 

 as gold — the first Italian I ever saw — 

 and her bees are all the way from al- 



I most black to yellow, with a black tip. 



