82 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Apr] 



WANTS INFORMATION. 



Shelbyville, Ky., Feb. 27, 1905.- 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



After keepiug bees for twelve years 

 I have just found out tbat I am but 

 a novice. Last fall I put 11 colonies 

 into the cellar and on February 22d 

 four of them were dead. Two colonies 

 were last year's swarms and two were 

 old colonies. I have wintered without 

 loss out of door8 for the past six years, 

 but have lost upon my first trial of cel- 

 lar Avintering. All had plenty of honey 

 to run them until the beginning of the 

 honey flow. The old colonies had the 

 brood chamber full of honey, except- 

 ing a little place in the centre. I 

 should like to a«k a few questions: 



1 — What killed my bees? 



2 — Such a swarm should give as 

 honey in the super the same year if 

 there is a good honey flow? 



3 — Will it pay to kill the queen and 

 allow a swarm to return to the old 

 hive if one hasn't a hive to put them 

 in? 



4 — What is the best hive for. comb 

 honey, the eight- or ten-frame size? 



5 — What is the best to use in the 

 •smoker? Is tobacco too strong? 



A large per cent, of the bees that 

 died had crawled into empty cells. 



J. K. REESE. 



1 — It is not improbable that they 

 were "killed" by too much honey. 

 That is, they suffered from a condi- 

 tion known as "honey-bound." If the 

 brood chamber is allowed to become 

 clogged with honey in the fall months, 

 the queen has no opportunity to lay 

 eggs to the extent necessary to supply 

 enough j'oung bees to winter. The old 

 working force soon die off and thus 

 leave the colony depopulated. The 

 queen must have room to breed. 



2 — Such a farm should give as 

 much surplus honey as any colony in 

 the yard. 



3 — No; it will pay to provide hivos 

 in advance for the reception of 

 swarm.s. Bee culture never pays un- 

 der -such circumstances. 



4 — This is a debatable question that 

 has occupied about as much space as 

 any other subject that has been dis- 

 cussed in the bee journals. We prefer 

 eight frames, if the Langstroth is in 

 use. 



5 — Tobacco is not good for smoker 

 fuel. Rotten wood, cotton rags, old 



fertilizer or grain sacks, the bark ( 

 hardwood trees, or almost anj' ver 

 dry vegetable material will answer.- 

 Editor. 



BY THE ASSOCIATE EDITOR 



In the American Bee-Keeper f( 

 March in the Bee-Keeping World, tt 

 translator expresses lack of convi 

 tion from the experiments of Dr.Bni: 

 nich as to the virility of drones fro; 

 virgin queens. 



Prof. Leuckret found that bol 

 drones from vu'gin queens and fro: 

 fertile workers were equally as viri 

 as those from fertilized queens. 



Apropos of the discussion as to tl 

 value of doiuble-walled and chaff hive 

 versus single-walled and paper-protec 

 ed hives, the following from the pe 

 of Mr. P. H. Ehvood, in the America 

 Bee .lournal for February 23, is of i 

 terest: Writing of the late Cap 

 Hetherington, he says: "He was 

 close observer and quick to adopt ii 

 provements. Befoi'e he had been 

 the business a half-dozen years he hi: 

 perfected a double- walled hive with 

 chamber of confined air between ai' 

 had applied for a patent on the sam 

 On thorough trial he discovered th;; 

 while warmer for awhile this doubi 

 wall prevented the sun from dryli 

 out the moisture, and the hive scK- 

 became damp and consequently col 

 He made 600 of these and mechar 

 cally they were probably as perfect i 

 hives can be made." In connectio 

 with this Mr. Parkers' article in tl 

 March American Bee-Keeper can I 

 read with profit. 



'HONEY MARKET UNUSUALli 

 DULL." 



From a contemporary: — 



"The comb-honey lies that cropp6 

 out so frequently last summer and fal 

 and the talk about adulterated hone 

 in the magazines and health journal 

 have done their deadly work, for tH 

 honey market seems to be in very ba 

 way throughout the country just nofV 

 We expect, however, that condition 

 will improve as soon as new honey i 

 out." 



The public's knowledge of the be« 

 keepers feeding of tons of sugar t 



