AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



333 



winter. My bees are the 5-banded vari- 

 ety. As this is my first trial with bees, 

 I am naturally discouraged. Please 

 answer through the Bee Journal, and 

 tell me also which variety of queens is 

 the best, and where I should purchase. 

 Hugh Ray Brown. 

 Holly Springs, Miss., Aug. 15, 1893. 



Answers. — Your bees are certainly 

 not doing a land-ofiBce business, and the 

 question is, where lies the fault ? What 

 are other bees doing in your vicinity? 

 If there is no harvest, and other bees 

 are doing nothing, then your bees are 

 not to blame. 



If the swarm was very small, then it 

 may be that they have done all that 

 ought to be expected of them. But if 

 you had a good-sized swarm, and there 

 has been a fair honey-yield, then there 

 is something very decidedly wrong in 

 iheir building only two combs in three 

 months from the middle of May. 



It is not the easiest thing to say what 

 is wrong without seeing the colony. It 

 is possible that they became queenless 

 and have laying workers. Is the sealed 

 brood worker-brood ? Do the cappings 

 show a level surface, or are the cappings 

 somewhat in appearance like a lot of 

 little marbles laid together ? If the lat- 

 ter, you may suspect a drone-laying 

 queen, or else laying workers. 



In any case, it is somewhat doubtful 

 if you will succeed as well by anything 

 you will do with them as you will to 

 make a new start with a colony that 

 you know to be all right. If, however, 

 you want to try a new queen, you will 

 find reliable dealers among the adver- 

 tisements in this journal. Other things 

 being equal, order from the one nearest 

 you. 



Wintering Bees in a Smoke-House. 



Will bees winter well in a stone 

 smoke-house, without getting the smell 

 of the smoke out? If not, how could 

 the smell be gotten out ? 



Irene, 111. W. L. Harrington. 



Answer. — Perhaps there is nothing 

 better to get out the smoke than to thor- 

 oughly air the smoke-house, although it 

 is not certain that a good deal would 

 not then be left. A heavy coat of white- 

 wash of quicklime would help to make it 

 sweeter. After keeping it open, if pos- 

 sible, all summer to thoroughly air it, 

 then wash the walls with hot water thor- 

 oughly, let it dry, and then whitewash. 



That's answering the question as you 

 put it, for you seem to take it for granted 



that aside from the smoke there will be 

 no trouble in wintering bees there. 

 That's a matter by no means certain. 

 Better not try more than a few. While 

 some report entire success in wintering 

 bees in houses built specially for the pur- 

 pose, allowing an exit for the bees so 

 they can fly whenever they want, there 

 are few if any reports of successful win- 

 tering in ordinary buildings above ground 



Two Layina Queens in One Hive. 



I had a colony of bees that kept two 

 laying queens for about five weeks, then 

 superseded one of them. What was the 

 cause of that? There were worker-bees 

 flying at the same colony from both 

 queens at once. There was no division- 

 board in the hive, and no upper story. 



T. J. MOFFITT. 



Kemp's Mills, N. C, Aug. 10, 1893. 



Answer. — Formerly it was thought 

 that only one laying queen would be 

 tolerated in a hive at one time. A good 

 many reports of two laying queens in 

 one hive, however, show that there are 

 many exceptions, and it is generally 

 supposed that when the old queen ap- 

 proaches the period of her decline, a 

 daughter is reared to take her place, the 

 mother often continuing to lay for some 

 time side by side with the daughter. 



CONDUCTED BY 



m.& ^m» 



Beeville. Texas. 



Getting Bees Ready for Winter. 



As questions are already beginning to 

 come in, asking how to prepare bees for 

 winter, I will say a few words early, so 

 the beginners will have plenty of time 

 in which to get their bees ready for 

 winter. The following directions are 

 for all the South below the line of north- 

 ern Arkansas or Tennessee, or latitude 

 350 : 



