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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Replies by Prominent Apiarists. 



[It is useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less 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 Journal. It you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



QneeE-Traps to Preyent Sw armini, 



Query, No. 347.— Having plenty of bees, 

 and not desiring any increase, but to obtain 

 the most honey, what would be the result if 

 queen-traps were used to prevent swarming, 

 during the swarming -season ? — '* Butler.'* 



Queen-traps will not prevent swarm- 

 ing, and as a rule would result in loss 

 in the hands of the inexperienced. It 

 would be better to let theno swarm 

 and double them up the next spring 

 to liold the numbers back.— G. M. 



DOOLITTLE. 



I do not think that it would be 

 profitable to prevent increase in this 

 manner. The bees are apt to become 

 " sulky " when their desires are in- 

 terfered with in this manner. It is 

 better to control or prevent the de- 

 sire.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Some colonies might be deterred 

 from swarming, but you would find 

 many queens superseded, and swarms 

 would issue with unfertilized queens 

 in spite of your traps.— J, 1'. H. 

 Bkown. 



I should like to know, and have 

 been studying somewhat upon it. I 

 think tliatthe Alley queen-trap might, 

 by a little modification, be made a 

 success, but I have as yet made no 

 experiments.- C. C. Miller. 



They will not prevent the swarm- 

 ing-fever which so demoralizes bees 

 that they work but little. Unless I 

 could keep the swarming-impulse 

 back, I should prefer a swarm, or else 

 such management as would quell the 

 fever.— A. J. Cook. 



Queen-traps will not prevent 

 swarming. They will prevent the old 

 queens from going with tlie first or 

 prime swarms, but after awhile the 

 young queens will begin to hatch, and 

 some of the slender " misses " will 

 slip out through the perforations, and 

 vou will have plenty of the meanest 

 kind of swarming. The old queens 

 are sure to perish before the excite- 

 ment is over. — G. W. Demaeee, 



This can be proved only by testing. 

 The remark that " bees do nothing 

 invariably," applies as closely to this 

 question as to any one thing in bee- 

 management. The use of queen- 

 traps for this purpose has not been a 

 success with myself. — J. E. Fond, Jr. 



Sometimes the old queen is killed 

 after a few efforts at swarming, and 

 again the young queens will be killed. 

 In the former case there would be 

 more ineffectual swarming, the colony 

 finally having a drone-laying queen. 

 I do not think that the most honey 

 could be obtained by such manage- 

 ment.— G. L. Tinker. 



That would depend upon what sort 

 of a trap you used, and how you used 

 it. It would require pages to tell all 

 that would result from the use of a 

 trap that confines the queen and 

 drones to the hive or trap.— James 

 Heddon. 



Getting Bees from a Bee-Tree. 



Query, No. 348.— In case a bee-tree may 

 not be cut, can I in any way secure the bees? 

 I think that I could winter them without 

 any honey from the tree.— S. B. L., Nebr. 



It is often possible to cut out the 

 part containing the bees. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



Climb the tree, cut out the combs, 

 take out the bees, and transfer them 

 to a hive.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Possibly they might be smoked out 

 if smoke could be blown into one hole, 

 leaving another for the bees to come 

 out.— C. C. Miller. 



If they are within easy reach you 

 can drive them out, or smoke them 

 out. Otherwise we would advise you 

 to leave them alone.— Dadant& Son. 



Oh, yes, in many ways, but they 

 are not worth the trouble and expense. 

 You can buy bees cheaper. — James 

 Heddon. 



By making a hole at the top of the 

 brood-nest and another at the bottom, 

 you can smoke them out if the day is 

 warm. Put the nozzle of the smoker 

 in the lower hole.— J. P. H. Brown. 



They might be driven up and out 

 by smoking them, but I doubt if it 

 would be a paying job. Try and see 

 what you can do, and report. — J. E. 

 Pond, Jr. 



Yes. Such colonies will generally 

 cluster about the portion of the tree 

 from which their honey is taken, 

 when they can be hived. — G. M. Doo- 

 little. 



If you can cut a hole in the tree at 

 the brood-nest you can take out the 

 bees and honey, but if you are not 

 allowed to cut into the tree, you had 

 better let the bees alone.— H. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



The only way would be to climb the 

 tree and cut out the bees. But I 

 should think a whole neck would be 

 worth more to you than the bees. In 

 other words, the bees would not be 

 worth the adventure. — G. W. Dem- 



AKEE. 



I have known men to climb trees 

 and by means of ropes and an ax get 

 out the bees and hive them ; but they 

 labored hard enough to earn 2 or 3 

 colonies in frame hives, besides run- 

 ning a great risk of their lives. There 

 is surely a better way for S. B. L. to 

 get bees.— G. L. Tinker. 



Colonies witli Mixed Bees. 



Query, No. 349.— I received 2 Italian 

 queens and introduced them into two hives 

 on Aug. 4, and I now find Italian bees in two 

 other hives besides the two that I gave the 

 queens. How do you account for that ?— J, 

 G. C. 



Perhaps they are stragglers.— W. Z, 

 Hutchinson. 



Bees often get mixed up by getting 

 into the wrong hive.— H. D. Cutting, 



Bees frequently go into other hive» 

 than their own. This is no new thing. 

 —A. J. Cook. 



Bees frequently get into wrong 

 hives, particularly when returning 

 from the fields late in the evening. — 

 J. P. H. Brown. 



Y'oung bees often get into the 

 wrong hive. That explains your case. 

 — Dadant & Son. 



It doubtless occurred by the young^ 

 bees from the Italian colonies enter- 

 ing the wrong hive. — G. M. Doolit- 



TLE. 



One way in which it might occur, 

 is that young queens were reared 

 which met Italian drones at some 

 distance, and then part of the young^ 

 bees would look like pure Italians. — 

 C. C. Miller. 



Where the hives stand close to- 

 gether it is not uncommon for the 

 young bees of one hive to enter 

 another, and so become mixed. 

 Otherwise the two other hives have 

 hybrid queens, if all were black bees 

 at the beginning.— G. L. Tinker. 



You do not explain matters suffi- 

 ciently to more than make an answer 

 a mere guess. If you mean that you 

 can detect a few Italian bees in two 

 other hives near by the Italianized 

 colonies, it would be plain to me that 

 they got there by mistake. Young 

 bees enter the wrong hives when they 

 have been on the wing, much more 

 frequently than most people are 

 aware of.— G. W. Demaree. 



There is nothing strange at all in 

 this state of things. Bees are con- 

 stantly interchanging to a greater or 

 less extent, so much so that if I had 

 one-half black and one-half yellow 

 bees originally, I should expect in two 

 or three months to find each hive con- 

 taining some of both the yellow and 

 the black ones.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



They came from your Italian col- 

 onies, and by mistake returned to the- 

 colonies where you now see them, and 

 where they were kindly received 

 (being so young and innocent), and 

 where they will remain. — James Hed- 

 don. 



Do you Want a Farm Account Book f 

 We have a few left, and make you a very 

 tempting offer. It contains 166 pages, is 

 printed on writing paper, ruled and bound, 

 and the price is $3. We will club it and the 

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 you both for $2. If you want it sent t>y 

 mail, add 20 cents for postage. 



