724 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 than one montb. 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 JouHNAi. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Alsike Clover and Dark Honey, 



Query, No. 335 Is Alsike clover the 



cause of my honey being dark colored ? Is 

 it not an injury instead of a benefit to sow 

 it ? It commenced to blossom on May 1, the 

 game time the white clover commenced. I 

 always had beautiful white honey every 

 spring before ray bees gathered honey from 

 Alsike clover. It is almost as dark as buck- 

 wheat honey this year.— Cheviot, N. Y. 



I think the bees gathered something 

 else besides the Alsike. — G. L. 



TrNKER. 



No. Is there nothing else to gather 

 honey from V Did you not have some 

 honey-dew V— Dabant & Son. 



I do not think that the Alsike made 

 the trouble. I wish my bees were 

 surrounded with it.— C. C. Miller. 



No. The Alsike honey is in every 

 way the equal of that from white 

 clover.— A. J. Cook. 



I think not. Alsike produces light 

 colored honey here. "Iloney-dew" 

 or something else may have colored 

 your honey.— G. W. Demareb. 



It is possible that the Alsike is the 

 cause of your trouble. Alsike clover 

 honey has a pinkish color, but not 

 nearly so dark as buckwheat. — W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



Honey from Alsike clover proves to 

 be darker color than from white 

 clover, but nothing near as dark as 

 buckwheat, in this locality. The 

 flavor of honey from Alsike is excel- 

 lent.— G. M. DOOHTTLE. 



I have had no experience with 

 Alsike clover. But I have seen honey 

 claimed to be from Alsike that was 

 the same in color as white clover.— 11. 

 D. Cutting. 



Alsike clover does not produce dark 

 honey in this locality. I think that 

 your dark honey came from some- 

 thing besides Alsike. Have you not 

 in your locality some tulip trees, 

 more commonly known as yellow pop- 

 lar or white wood V The large bell- 

 shaped flowers on these trees often 

 give a copious and continued yield of 

 deep wine-colored honey, though of 

 very good flavor.— James Heddon. 



The honey from Alsike clover is 

 not dark colored in my vicinity ; on 

 the contrary it is ^ery light. I con- 

 sider from small experience, together 



with the testimony of many, that 

 Alsike is a valuable honey-plant for 

 the reason that is one of the best of 

 foods for our stock, and as profitable 

 as any to both raise and feed ; there- 

 fore the honey gained is all profit, as 

 it is extra entirely.— J. E. Pond, .Jr. 



Putting Bees into tlie Cellar. 



Query, No. 336.— 1. Is it best to put bees 

 into the cellar before snowjcomes, or after ? 



2. Will it do to leave on the honey-board 

 aud raise the hive from the bottom-board ? 



3. Would one inch be too much for the bot- 

 tom tier of hives ?— Stittville, N. Y. 



1. Generally before. 2. Yes.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



1. Before the snow comes. 2. Yes. 

 3. No.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



It is always best to put bees into 

 winter quarters before freezing 

 weather sets in.— J. P. H. Brown. 



1. I put mine into the cellar about 

 Nov. 1.5, before hard freezing weather 

 comes. Snow makes little difference. 

 2. Yes ; but I prefer a quilt or saw- 

 dust cushions, to a honey-board. 3. 



No.— G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. I put them in at the beginning of 

 the very cold weather. 2. Leave ven- 

 tilation above and below ; but not too 

 much. 3. One inch space is not too 

 much for any tier of hives.— Dadant 

 & Son. 



I would put bees into the cellar 

 before it became severely cold. Snow 

 may come, but still it may not be too 

 cold to leave them out. Cold winds 

 are more to be dreaded than a few 

 very cold nights with the air still. 2. 

 Yes. 3. No.— G. L. Tinker. 



1. Yes, before snow comes. 2. Yes, 

 you can do so. 3. I would prefer to 

 raise the hive and put under a frame 

 about 1-inch deep, that would leave 

 you a space of 1% under the frames. 

 Leave a good entrance.— II. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



1. I desire to have them in the 

 cellar before very severe weather — 

 usually about Nov. 15, here. 2. Yes, 

 that will do nicely. 3. In a good cel- 

 lar a space of 1 inch below would be 

 excellent. I should like it ; but the 

 temperature of such a'cellar must not 

 go below 41°, Fahr.- A. J. Cook. 



I believe it is detrimental to leave 

 colonies out-doors until the tempera- 

 ture has gone low enough so that in 

 order to keep warm they have been 

 compelled to exercise. It is also dan- 

 gerous to house them immediately 

 after frequent and extended flights in 

 search of nectar ; for when bees are 

 exercising, i. e., laboring to the ex- 

 tent of wasting tissue, they will be at 

 the same time consuming bee-bread, 

 which consumption 1 believe to be 

 the cause of bee-diarrhea, if confine- 

 ment prevents frequent evacuation. 

 When our bees are regularly working 

 in the summer, if you carefully re- 

 move a colony to a cellar maintaining 

 a temperature from 45^ to 65°, or 60°^ 

 they will have bee-diarrhea in a few 

 days. I would rather house them too 



late than too early, however. " Honey- 

 boards " and '• bottom-boards " and 

 " spaces " have little to do with caus- 

 ing or preventing bee-diarrhea. — 

 Jajies Heddon. 



Keening Bees on Sliares. 



Query, No. 337.— Last June I took 6 

 colonies of bees of Mr. B. to work on shares, 

 for one-half of the increase and one-half of 

 the honey, each to furnish our own hives. 

 Our hives being of different construction, I 

 found it necesgary to divide the bees at the 

 time of swarming. There were 4 swarms ; 

 the first I put into B's hive, and the next 

 into mine, and so on alternately. Two of 

 B's colonies lost their queens, one of them 

 being one of his old colonies: then a new 

 one also, one of mine, lost a queen. I ad- 

 vised B. as soon as I had discovered that 

 the queens were gone, and requested him to 

 send me queens. He made no reply, so in 

 time I furnished the queens. This fall those 

 colonies are short of food for winter. Who 

 ought to furnish food ?— Ont. 



Mr. B.— J. P. H. Brown. 



The expense should be borne equally 

 by each, the one who has the bees on 

 shares to do the feeding. — VV. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



On the proposition stated, I should 

 say that each should f urni.«h his own 

 winter food. I judge that there was 

 no surplus to divide, but that is '• one 

 of the fortunes of war."— J. E. Fond. 

 Jr. 



Partnership in bees is a poor ship to 

 sail in, so many things will arise to 

 cause dissatisfaction. As you slate 

 the question, you have no business to 

 furnish queens or food for winter. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



My opinion would be that B. should 

 pay for the two queens if they were 

 purchased. If you reared them then 

 it was a part of your work. In either 

 event I should say each should furnish 

 one-halt of the food required to bring 

 the bees through the winter.— G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



I think that the bee-keeper should 

 have reared the queens and introduced 

 them to the queenless colonies, or at 

 least should have given them just 

 hatching brood from which they 

 could rear queens. The cost of food 

 for winter should be shared by each. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



We think you should furnish food 

 to those colonies unless otherwise 

 agreed. Queen-rearing is a part of 

 bee-keeping, and a bee man should be 

 expected to keep all his colonies sup- 

 plied with queens. Besides, if there 

 is any surplus honey it should be 

 used, above all things, to supply any 

 deflciency.— Dadant & Son. 



Although you found it necessary to 

 divide the bees at swarming time, 

 owing to the diilerence in the hives, 

 the division in fact should take place 

 at the close of the honey season, or at 

 such time as both of you were parties 

 to the division, unless the original 

 contract fixed the matter. If the 

 queens were lost before the mutual 



