268 



AMERICAN BKK JOURNAL.. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of suflQcient special interest to 

 require replies from the '^5 or more apiarists 

 who help to malie "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. 



Troubled with Brace-Combs, Etc. 



1. My bees have not stored any honey 

 in the supers, but have filled the brood- 

 chamber with brood and honey. Why 

 do they not store in the sections also? 

 They are a prosperous colony of black 

 bees. 



2. At least one-third of every one of 

 my frames is honey capped over, the 

 honey being at the top of the frame 

 always. The bees are building brace- 

 combs at the top of the frames, and 

 filling them with honey. When I go to 

 look at my bees, the honey runs from 

 the brace-combs in great quantities. Is 

 it common for bees to do so ? What 

 must I do to prevent it ? 



Stevenson, Ala. C. D. Cargile. 



Answers. — 1. Probably they haven't 

 got to it yet. When they get the brood- 

 chamber filled, if they keep on storing, 

 they must put it In the supers. A partly- 

 drawn section or a bit of brood in the 

 super may hurry them. , 



2. Those brace-combs afe, alas, only 

 too common. Slat honey-boards have 

 been extensively used as preventives, 

 but now-a-days they are prevented by 

 having a space of }4 inch between the 

 top-bar and the sections, and by having 

 thick top-bars. Some succeed with top- 

 bars %-inch thick, and some insist that 

 they must be %-inch thick. 



More About Hive-Covers. 



You did not give me enough informa- 

 tion about the gable covers or flat, on 

 page 42. Some think it is necessary to 

 have the gable on account of top venti- 

 lation. Is it necessary to have top 

 ventilation, as the flat covers fit tight, 

 and are almost air-tight? or does it 

 make any difl'erence whether the bees 

 have air on top, or not ? 



Tacoma, Wash. G. D. Littooy. 



Answers. — There, now, that's just 

 what we like — to have you " talk back " 

 when our answer doesn't exactly fit the 

 question you intended to ask. 



That question as to ventilation seems 



to be a hard one to settle. At one time 

 upward ventilation seems to be in great- 

 est favor ; then, again, the tide seems to 

 set in favor of having everything on top 

 sealed as tight as a drum. The trouble 

 is, that there are cases of entire success, 

 and also of utter failure, with each, and 

 the difBculty is to tell how much of the 

 success or the failure is to be attributed to 

 the presence or absence of this or that 

 kind of ventilation, and how much to 

 things entirely independent of ventila- 

 tion. 



Perfect wintering is reported with the 

 most widely differing systems, as also 

 failures. The lamented Quinby, at least 

 before the advent of movable-comb hives, 

 advocated no cover whatever over bees 

 in cellars in winter. This was accom- 

 plished in box-hives by the very simple 

 expedient of turning the hive upside 

 down, thus leaving the most ample ven- 

 tilation above, with everything sealed 

 tight below. The exact opposite of this 

 has been of late successfully practiced, 

 air-tight {»bove, and everything entirely 

 open below, or at least a space of two 

 inches under the bottom-bars. 



Perhaps the truth is, that it doesn't 

 matter so much where the air gets to 

 the bees, so they get enough of it, and 

 provided there be no strong draft 

 through the cluster. So a gable eover 

 for ventilation does not seem to be con- 

 sidered necessary by a great number, 

 providing there be ample ventilation 

 below. There may be something, how- 

 ever, in the claimjthat something more 

 than merely one thickness of board 

 should be over the bees when wintered 

 out-doors. 



May be a New Disease. 



I have a colony of bees that has some 

 kind of a disease — it is unsealed brood, 

 the full size of the cell. When it dies, 

 the capped brood is all right, and the 

 unsealed brood that is dead all have 

 their head in the cells in place of out, 

 like brood that is ready to seal or hatch; 

 and there is about 10 out of every 

 hundred that " turn their toes up" in 

 this way. Otto Bauker. 



Golden Gate, Minn., Aug. 2, 1893. 



Answer. — Is this something new? or 

 can any of the friends help us out ? 



Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Q,ueen-Traps 



I wish to try an experiment with my 

 bees, and would like to get a little ad- 

 vice. I have bees in 10 box-hives, in 



