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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURMAi 



Replies by Prominent Apiarists. 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in lees time 

 than one month. They have to wait their 

 turn, be put in type, and sent in about a 

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 them ; get them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Jouknai,. If you are 

 in a "hurry" for replies, do not ask for 

 them to be inserted here.— Ed-I 



Rearing Queens, 



Querj-, No. 321.— 1. If queen-eells are 

 inserted in colonies about Sept. 10 ; will the 

 young queens lay that year? If not, when 

 will they lay ? 2. Would it be better to 

 wait until the next spring: before inserting 

 queen-cells ?— E. & W. 



You had better wait until spring, 

 in our locality.— Dadant & Son. 



1. In all probability they will lay 

 in the fall. If they do not they will 

 probably be worthless. If the cells 

 are good ones I would put them in in 

 the fall.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



1. It depends mainly upon the 

 locality. If in this locality, no; if 

 farther south, probably they would. 

 2. I should prefer to do it in August, 

 about the Slh to the 10th.— G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



1. It will depend upon the length 

 of the season and the quantity of 

 flying drones; but" probably they 

 would not. 2. Yes, most certainly. 

 If the old queens are failing, the best 

 plan is to insert young fecundated 

 queens at once.— J. E. Pond, Ju. 



1. In my locality I would not do it. 

 If I should, some of them, perhaps 

 most of them, would lay that year, 

 but I should not count on them being 

 the best of queens. Of the balance a 

 few would lay the next spring ; the 

 majority, never. 2. You had better 

 wait until the honey harvest. — G. C. 

 Miller. 



!Mucli depends upon the season. If 

 they did not lay the same year, they 

 would next, if they became fecundated 

 the same year as hatched. I would 

 ■ strongly urge postponing the entire 

 work till 1S87.— James IIbddon. 



I should say it was too late here. 

 We usu.illy have frosts by Sept. 15, 

 after wliicti work with bees is not 

 desirable. I prefer to rear queens 

 when bees are active. Again, we 

 miglit not have any drones so late ; 

 very frequently we do not. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



You can insert your cells at the 

 above time if you have drones to 

 fertilize the young queens. If ferti- 

 lized, tliey will lay the same fall, if in 

 the South ; but if in the !Nortli, they 

 may not lay before the next season. — 

 J. i'. II. Bkown. 



Yes, but the plan suggested is not 

 a practical one, as more than half of 



the cells will be torn down and the 

 bees be left queenless. The proper 

 way is to take out the queens, and in 

 nine days cut out all the queen-cells. 

 Then introduce a small piece of comb 

 with just hatching brood from the 

 best queen, and there will be no fail- 

 ure and no great trouble. It is the 

 best way to change all inferior stock. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



If you have plenty of drones and 

 some honey is being gathered, you 

 will succeed very well in September. 

 I much prefer to have good queens in 

 the hives when spring opens. If the 

 young queens are mated in the fall, 

 "they will be all right whether they lay 

 in the fall or not. — G, W. Demareb. 



Not knowing your locality I cannot 

 say. but in my locality (Southern 

 Michigan) I should prefer to wait 

 until spring.— H. D. Cutting. 



Best Capacity of Brood-Cliarakrs, 



Query, No. 322.— How many frames of 

 the Langstroth size should the brood-cham- 

 ber contain to give the queen sufticient 

 room, get the most honey, and least in- 

 crease, or most honey and money ?— Ontario. 



Eight would be my choice. — G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



From ten to twelve.— Dadant & 

 Son. 



Through the honey harvest perhaps 

 not more than six.— C. C. Miller. 



This varies with queens. I think 

 eight frames enough. Ten are cer- 

 tainly sufficient.- A. J. Cook. 



In my locality ten frames gives the 

 best results as a general thing.— G. 

 W. Dejiaree. 



If you work for comb honey, eight 

 or nine frames are sufficient ; but if 

 for extracted honey, I would advise 

 ten to twenty.— J. P. H. Beown. 



With an invertible hive seven 

 frames will give the queen ample 

 room, and get the most honey and 

 money. It will depend upon the 

 management, however. — G.L. Tinker. 



It depends upon the queen. I would 

 have the brood-nest' of such size that 

 an ordinary queen could keep it full. 

 I prefer eight combs in the spring, 

 and five the rest of the year. With a 

 large brood-nest there is less swarm- 

 ing. I get the most surplus with a 

 small brood-nest.— W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son. 



When I knew no better way than 

 to keep the brood-chamber one size 

 all the year around, I used and pre- 

 ferred the capacity of eight Lang- 

 stroth frames; but with the new 

 system of horizontal contraction and 

 expansion, reduced to quick, practi- 

 cal manipulation, I use and prefer 

 the capacity equaling ten Langstroth 

 frames for abnut one-fourth of the 

 year, and half of that for the other 

 three-fourths; or there-abouts, ac- 

 cording to circumstances too numer- 

 ous to mention here. — James Hed- 



DON. 



Mr. Langstroth decided upon ten 

 frames, and my own experience 

 proves to myself that he is right. It 

 is, however, a question of locality and 

 method of management. — J. E. Pond, 

 Jr. 



This is one of the many undecided 

 questions of the day. Locality makes 

 a difference, and the manner of work- 

 ing and securing honey a great dif- 

 ference. Some want six, others seven 

 or eight, while others want only half 

 the capacity of eight.— H. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



Fall Honey for Winter Stores, etc, 



Query, No. 323 — 1. Is fall gathered 

 honey safe or not for winter stores ? If not, 

 why ? 2, In what way or manner does cold 

 add to the danger of wintering ? — A. 



1. I regard it perfectly safe. 2. In 

 the latitude of Augusta, Ga., the 

 coldest weather has no injurious ef- 

 fect upon bees if they have plenty of 

 stores.— J. P. H. Brown. 



1. It is usually. It is not safe in a 

 wet season, if it has not been thor- 

 oughly ripened. The floating pollen 

 may make it more unhealthy also. 2. 

 In my experience it is ; I have never 

 found it to injure my bees, and have 

 always used it ; the essential point is 

 to have the honey well ripened.— .J. 

 E. Pond, Jr. 



I. I consider it safe. 2. It causes 

 the bees to consume much honey as 

 fuel, and debars them from frequent 

 flights, as nature requires where 

 much honey is consumed.— G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



1. If it is not safe it is probably be- 

 cause it contains considerable nitro- 

 genous matter. 2. It confines the 

 bees to the hive, and increases the 

 cousimiption of honey. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



L Fall gathered honey is perfectly 

 safe for winter stores for my bees. 2. 

 Protracted cold is a condition un- 

 favorable to healthful exhalation 

 from the bodies of the bees, and is 

 likely to bring about a dropsical af- 

 fection dangerous to the lives of the 

 bees. The greatest danger from pro- 

 tracted cold iu this climate is, it 

 sometimes prevents the bees from 

 reaching their stores, and starvation 

 is the result.— G. W. Demaree. 



1. I consider fall honey as safe as 

 any, one year with another. 2. A 

 low temperature compels activity, and 

 this causes waste of tissue, and this 

 calls for nitrogen, which induces the 

 bees to consume bee-bread, and this 

 loads the intestines, and the bees, 

 unless able to fly and void, become 

 sick.— James Heddon. 



1 . All honey gathered from jioivers 

 is safe for winter stures. if it is well 

 ripened. If gathered late and left 

 thin it is not. 2. Cold tends to cause 

 bees in winter confinement to become 

 uneasy or restless. I think it would 

 affect bees about the same as it would a 

 thinly clad man on a cold winter 

 night. If he did not bestir himself he 

 would get into trouble, and so with 



