THr AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



101 



to do one thing as another. I once 

 discovered a colony in a starving con- 

 dition, and upon supplying tlieir 

 wants, giving tliem liquid food, so 

 many of the workers took wing that 

 the queen became excited and left the 

 hive to join the bees in the air. Tliat 

 was a ease of " swarming out." How- 

 ever. I have seen cases that 1 could 

 not discover the cause that induced 

 desertion.— G. W. Demauek. 



Dissatisfaction, always. I think 

 that it usually results from a diseased 

 coudition of the bees, caused by im- 

 perfect wintering, caused by too low 

 a temperature, or bad food, or both. — 

 James Heddon. 



Strengtlieiiiiig Wl Colonies, 



tltiery,No.201.— What is the best method 

 ol' streng-thening weak colonies in early 

 spring, when one has strong colonies to 

 draw from ?— C. E. 



Keep them well contracted, and 

 assist them with frames of brood. — 

 II. D. Cutting. 



By adding capped brood, but not so 

 rapidly as to result in the chilling and 

 loss of bees.— A. J. Cook. 



Give them hatching brood and 

 young bees— especially young bees 

 just hatching.— Dadant & Son. 



Change places with the strong and 

 the weak colonies ; do it when the 

 bees are not flying. — W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. 



By giving frames of capped brood as 

 soon as they are strong enough to 

 protect it. The mistake is often made 

 of giving a frame of brood that the 

 weak colony cannot cover. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



I use the wire-box plan as given by 

 myself for forming nuclei, in back 

 numbers of the Bee Journal. — G. 



M. DOOLITTLE. 



I would not do it until I could 

 safely transfer combs of hatching 

 brood (bees), and then I would do it 

 in that way. — James Heddon. 



Draw from the strong colonies and 

 give to the weak, being careful to 

 give only as much brood as the weak 

 colonies can care for. — J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Feed the strong colonies to stimu- 

 late brood-rearing, and draw from 

 them to strengthen the weak colonies, 

 either hrood or young bees, or both, 

 as circumstances may dictate. — H. E. 



BOARDMAN. 



Give them a frame of hatching 

 brood from a strong colony, and then 

 anotlier after they are strong enough 

 to take care of it. I rarely ever draw 

 on my strong colonies to help up the 

 weaker ones. One good, strong 

 colony, when the early honey harvest 

 begins, is worth more than two* weak 

 ones.— G. W. Demaree. 



I do not believe that it will pay to 

 draw from strong colonies in early 

 spring. Cuddle up the weak ones as 

 warm as you can, and if they die, the 

 strong ones can spare material for 

 new ones later, at less expense than 

 they could help the weak ones early. 

 Helping " dwindlers " is a discourag- 

 ing business. — C. C. Miller. 



Nuinlier of Colonies in One Place, 



(liierj'i ^o- 202.— Takinjr the average of 

 yeai'S, what numher of colonics, in your 

 location, kept in one apiary, do you think 

 would yield the largest total of surplus 

 honey V— S. J. M. 



I wish that I knew. Perhaps 125.— 

 C. C. Miller. 



I have never kept more than 100 

 colonies ; but I am satisfied that more 

 could be kept with profit.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



I have no opinion on tlie subject. 

 AVe need light on this very question.— 

 A. J. Cook. 



This cannot be answered— some 

 locations will take 200 colonies, others 

 50 or less. We do not like more than 

 100 in one place. ,Some seasons there 

 is no end to the honey ; in other sea- 

 sons the flowers are scarce.— Dadant 

 & Son. 



There are in my location— say a 

 diameter of 3 miles— about 2-50 colo- 

 nies. My bees do as well now as they 

 did when there was not 25 colonies in 

 the bounds. I have reasons to be- 

 lieve, however, that about 200 colonies 

 in a place is enough, taking all things 

 into consideration. — G. W. Demaree. 



About 100 colonies. But we have 

 some seasons that white clover is so 

 abundant that 1,000 colonies could not 

 overstock the location. — G.L. Tinker. 



It would depend so largely upon the 

 locality, that no one could be a guide 

 for another. Try and see for your- 

 self —J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Of course the answer to this would 

 be only guess-work. I have never 

 kept more than 200 to 300 colonies in 

 one apiary, and I have never felt 

 quite sure that this numberdiminished 

 the average yield of honey. This 

 subject of overstocking is a very in- 

 teresting one to me, and I would like 

 to know more about it. — 11. R. 

 Boardman. 



About 175 colonies will secure the 

 product of my fleld so as to give the 

 most profit to the apiarist. If those 

 about me keep 100, 1 can keep but 75, 

 unless we all suffer loss.— G. M. Doo- 

 little. 



That is a most important question 

 to us who have several hundred colo- 

 nies, and I should like to be able to 

 give an answer that I could consider 

 somewhere near correct. — James 

 Heddon. 



Distance lietween Apiaries, 



ttuery. No. 203.— If you had a brother 

 about to establish an apiary, and you 

 wanted him located as near you as possible 

 without materially interfering with your 

 honey crop, how far would you want his 

 apiary from yours ? — S. J. M. 



Ten miles.— G. M. Doolittle. 



Not nearer than 4 miles. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



Four miles in a bee-line. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



It would depend upon the location. 

 If the location was a good one, one's 

 interest would not suffer if his brother 



were to locate within a mile of him. — 

 G. W. Demarke. 



Tliat would depend upon the size of 

 the brotlier's proposed apiary. If a 

 hundred colonies or more, I should 

 say about 2 miles.— G. L. Tinker. 



It depends much upon the size of 

 the two apiaries proposed. If large, 

 4 or 5 miles; if small, very near. — H. 

 R. Boardman. 



I should say about 5 miles. This is 

 simply opinion, and may be worth 

 very little.— A. J. Cook. 



Perhaps 5 or G miles.— C.C.Milier. 



If the ground is level and quite 

 open, not less than miles. In some 

 locations where broad forests and 

 bills intervene, a less distance would 

 thus be warrantable. I speak from 

 careful observations taken about my 

 own locations.— James Heddon. 



So much would depend upon the 

 size of my own apiary, the size of my 

 brother's, and the yield of honey in 

 the locality, that it is impossible to 

 give an answer of any value. I do 

 not consider the question one of any 

 practical value, in any case ; to answer 

 fully would open up the whole matter 

 of how many colonies will overstock 

 a given locality. A few would do 

 this in a poor season ; how many 

 would in a good season, no one can 

 tell.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



OUR CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the American Bee Joiirual 



one year, and any of the following publica- 

 tions, at the prices quoted in the last column 

 of figures. The first column gives the regu- 

 lar price of both. All postage prepaid. 



Price of both. Clxti) 

 The American Bee Journal 1 00 . . 



and Gleanings in Bee-Culture 2 CO.. 1 75 



Bee-Keepers'Magazine 2 00. , 1 7.5 



Bec-Ki>f|H'is' Guide 150.. 140 



The Aiiiruhurist 2 00.. 1 75 



Canadian Bee Journal 2 00.. 1 75 



Texas Bee Journal 2 00.. 1 75 



The 7 above-named papers 6 50 . . 5 50 



and City and Country 3 CO.. 1 .50 



New York Independent 400.. 3 30 



American Agriculturist 550.. 2 25 



American Poultr.v Journal . . .2 25. . 1 75 

 Journal of Carp Culture 150.. 1 40 



and Cook's Manual 2 25.. 2 00 



Bees and Honey (Newman). ..2 00.. 175 

 Binder for Am. Bee Journal..! 75.. 1 60 

 Apiary Register— 100 colonies 2 25.. 2 00 

 Dzierzon's Bee-Book (cloth). . .3 00. . 2 00 

 Dzierzon's Bee-Book (paper). .2 50. . 2 00 

 Quinby's New Bee-Keeping ..2 50.. 2 25 

 Langstroth's Standard Work .3 00.. 2 75 

 Root's A B C of Bee-Culture. .2 25.. 2 10 



Alley's Queen-Rearing 2 .50. . 2 '35 



Farmer's Account Book 4 00.. 3 00 



Guide and Hand-Book 1.50.. 1 30 



Heddon's book, "Success,".. 150.. 140 



A Brief History of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Society, with a digest of its 

 15 Annual Conventions, and a full Report 

 of the Proceedings of the 16th Annual Con- 

 vention held at Detroit, Mich , on Dec. 8 to 

 10, 1885. This is the title of a new pamphlet 

 of 64 pages just Issued at this office. Price, 

 25 cents. 



This pamphlet also contains engravings of 

 the principal h<mey-plants, and portraits of 

 the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, of Ohio, and 

 Moses Quinby, of New York ; two of the 

 pioneers who helped to revolutionize Ameri- 

 can apiculture, and usher in a new ei-a. 



