148 



I'HE AMEKICAJN BEE JOURNAL. 



WITH 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



Getting Reaily for tlie Honey-Flow. 



Query, No. 210.— In my locality, bees 

 begin to work with the advent of tag-alder 

 and skunk-cabbage, and we have almost 

 every species of honey-producing plants, 

 shrubs and trees indigenous to the temper- 

 ate zone, especially black and red raspber- 

 ries, white clover, basswood, willow-herb, 

 buckwheat, goldenrod, and a profusion of 

 fall honey bloom. Our climate is cold and 

 changeable lor the latitude, and more or less 

 of the above fail each year to secrete 

 honey. 1 want to know when we should 

 have our bees ready to receive the honey- 

 flow, and what particular management in- 

 cluding brood-space of the hive will produce 

 the best results, taking the season through. 

 What would likely be the best shape to take 

 the surplus honey in, for profit, comb or 

 extracted ?— A. G.. Pa. 



I think that the safest guide is for 

 every bee-keeper to be tlie judge of his 

 own locality.— H. R. Boardman. 



1. The w'ay you describe it yours is 

 a paradise for bees, so far as a pro- 

 fusion of flowers is concerned. Get 

 the bees strong as soon as possible, 

 and give the queens all the room for 

 breeding that they can utilize. 2. It 

 will depend on your market. Pro- 

 duce both kinds, but be sure and push 

 extracted honey on your home market. 

 It will pay you best by-and-by.— G. 

 W. Demareb. 



In order to be fully successful, one 

 must know the flora of his locality ; 

 when it begins to yield honey, and 

 the duration of yield— then have the 

 bees ready at all times to take care 

 of it. This is the only rule that can 

 be given, as the time will vary in 

 different localities, and sometimes in 

 different seasons in the same locality. 

 " Eternal vigilance is the price of a 

 big crop of honey."— J. E.Pond, Jr. 



From the description I should judge 

 there is no time when there may not 

 be a honey-flow, consequently the 

 bees can hardly be ready any too 

 soon. If there is a continuous yield, 

 the bees will probably get themselves 

 ready ; but if there should be any 

 considerable interim, it may be well 

 to feed. The other questions would 

 take a large space to answer, and 

 have been gone overpretty thoroughly 

 in bee-books and papers. — C. C. 

 Miller. 



I have arranged surplusage for both 

 comb and extracted honey, on each 

 and all of my hives, for I find it most 

 profitable to take my light honey in 

 combs, and darker (autumn) grades 

 in liquid form. It pays me to go to 

 this extra expense. After you deter- 

 mine the probable time when fleld- 

 workers are needed, give plenty of 

 room to breed up a large number of 

 bees to be ready to work at that time ; 

 after that, when breeding would not 

 result in bees that would be just the 

 right age at the right time, contract 

 the brood apartment, stopping exces- 

 sive breeding, and crowd the bees 

 into the surplus department in large 

 numbers.— James Heddon. 



SnppressinE Second Swarms, 



Query, No. 21 1. — Having made a swarm 

 from a colony, what is the best method to 

 suppress a second swarm from issuing 

 naturally ? — Arthur. 



Leave but one queen-cell and give 

 room as needed.— H. D. Cutting. 



Heddon's method of prevention of 

 after-swarms, if carried on carefully 

 and not overdone, is the best. — Da 

 DANT & Son. 



By occasionally removing a frame 

 of brood and inserting in its place a 

 frame of empty comb or foundation. 

 The remedy is also assisted by using 

 the extractor.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Extract the honey, ventilate the 

 hive well and keep it shaded. Ex- 

 tracting is almost sure. Adding space 

 by giving crates of sections is also an 

 aid,especially if we reverse the combs. 

 The honey is then removed from the 

 frames, which gives the queen room, 

 and swarming is deferred. — A.J.Cook. 



If a colony is divided, as soon as it is 

 strong enough, it will probably 

 "swarm." One division does not 

 prevent the bees having their " turn." 

 1 should prefer to let the bees swarm 

 once, then prevent after swarming by 

 the Ileddon method.— W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. 



Mnence of Pollen on Honey, 



Query, No. 212.— We have cells of honey 

 uncapped for extracting— does the pollen 

 floating in that honey influence its taste or 

 color in anv way ? — T. 



I think it would.— C. C. Miller. 



It never does anything of the kind 

 here. There is not enough pollen in 

 10 pounds of white clover honey to 

 load ten bees, or one bee to the pound. 

 Honey gathered from large, open 

 flowers, such as pumpkins, melons, 

 etc., may contain pollen more or 

 less, sufficient to give a distinctive 

 flavor, but there is little of such honey 

 gathered here.— G. W. Demaree. 



Floating pollen in honey frequently 

 affects its taste. Apple-bloom honey 

 nearly always contains pollen in large 

 quantities, not only injuring the 

 flavor, but it also acts like yeast, 

 fermenting and souring the honey.— 

 H. R. Boardman. 



Yes. I have said considerable about 

 diarrhea being caused by the bees 

 necessarily consuming pollen that 

 was floating in their honey. It may 

 be that the principal way it gets into 

 the honey is by soaking up and mix- 

 ing with it in cells where both are 

 stored together.— James Heddon. 



It will depend wholly upon the 

 quantity. Pollen is found to a greater 

 or less extent in nearly all honej;. As 

 a rule, not enough is found to injure 

 tlie flavor, and when so found it 

 should be saved for early stimulative 

 feeding, as the pollen contained there- 

 in will urge on brood-rearing at a 

 time when little if any is found in the 

 field. A very small amount of float- 

 ing pollen might injure the color, 

 when it could not be detected by 

 taste.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Stimnlative Feedins, 



Query, No. 213.— My bees are in the 

 cellar ; the temperature is 48° Fahr. When 

 and how shall I teed them to stimulate 

 breeding ?— Lucas Co., O. 



I do not care to have them " breed " 

 until taken from the cellar. — G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



When it is warm enough for them 

 to fly every day. You can feed them 

 in the open air if there are no bees 

 near you. —W. Z. Hutchlnson. 



If you 7nust stimulate them, slightly 

 break the capped honey nearest the 

 cluster. If in deep frames, break the 

 cells on top. If stores are short, feed 

 liquid food. — H. D. Cutting. 



1 have found that they do better 

 when they do not breed, and so I 

 would not stimidate them. I think 

 that a warm cellar and plenty of 

 pollen would be the best stimulants, if 

 one wished for breeding. — A. J. Cook. 



We would advise you to leave them 

 alone till you take them out. They 

 will breed a little anyhow, but the 

 stimulation of breeding in confine- 

 ment will lead to disaster. Feed them 

 after removal from the cellar, and only 

 in mild weather. — Dadant & Son. 



Introicing Virp Qneens, 



Query, No. 214.— Please give the best 

 method of introducing virgin queens to full 

 colonies of bees. Why are they more diffi- 

 cult to introduce than fertile queens? — loa. 



If the virgin queens are "just 

 hatched," they can be introduced by 

 just letting them toddle in among the 

 bees. After they are a few hours old, 

 I cage them in a provisioned cage, 

 and introduce them in the same way 

 that I do fertile queens, watching 

 them until the bees are willing to 

 accept them. Bees have a well 

 grounded prejudice, instinctively of 

 course, against virgin queens of 2 or 

 3 days old, because they .seem to be 

 aware of the fact that a laying queen 

 has a very slim chance for her life 

 when engaged in mortal combat with 

 the keen, active virgin queen. For 

 this reason they keep a jealous eye on 

 her till such time as they despair of 

 relief from queenlessuess from any 

 other source.— G. W. Demaree. 



1. The colony should have been 

 queenless about 24 hours. Run the 

 virgin queen in at the entrance, or 

 any other part of the hive, following 

 her with a light whiff of smoke. Do 

 this as soon as she is hatched. 2. 

 They are not, unless too old ; and 

 when the bees would recognize either 

 as a stranger, they seem to favor the 

 best finished job.— James Heddon. j 



Any answer to the above, especially \ 

 the second part.will be largely theoret- 

 ical. I never introduce virgin queens 

 except as a matter of experiment. I 

 prefer to use ripe cells. In a large 

 apiary this might not be quite con- 

 venient, but answers my purpose well. 

 A hopelessly queenless colony will 

 usually accept any queen, if the 

 queen conducts herself as she ought, 

 i.e., calmly and coolly.— J. E.Pond.Jr. 



