I8h8 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



11 



tops sealed tight, and gave a large entrance below. Either 

 way is right. A few general principles must, however, be 

 kept in mind. The air in the cellar must be kept good, for 

 good air cannot be gotten into the hives if there's none in the 

 cellar. There must be provision in some way for change of 

 air in the hive. There should not be a strong draft through 

 the hive. If the top is sealed tight there must be very free 

 access for the air below, or the bees will suffer. It's an easy 

 thing to have a hive closed up so tight that the bees will suf- 

 fer for want of good air. If the air of the cellar is pure, of 

 the right temperature, and there is no draft, it would be a 

 hard thing to have a hive too open. Under such conditions a 

 colony would probably winter well without any hive around 

 it at all. As your hives are arranged, if dead bees are not 

 allowed to clog any part, they ought to be not far out of the 

 way, but a little more open wouldn't hurt. 



You say you aim to keep the cellar at about 40°. Are 

 you sure it wouldn't be better to have it a little warmer ? The 

 bees will try to keep the outside of the cluster somewhere in 

 the neighborhood of SU^. If the cellar Is 10^ below that the 

 bees must consume honey to raise the temperature, and if it's 

 only 5' below they'll not need to eat so much. Generally it 

 is considered that 45- is not far out of the way. But the best 

 thing for you to do is to see at what point with your thermom- 

 eter (there's a great difference in thermometers) the bees will 

 be the most quiet. If they're more quiet at 4U-' than at 45 , 

 then keep them at 403. 



A Question on Manageniciil. 



On page 795 of the American Bee Journal for 1897, do I 

 understand you to say that when you place the supers on the 

 two-story hives, you would take the lower story away ? Then 

 what I want to know is, what would you do with the brood in 

 the co-nbs of that story ? Indiana. 



Answer. — Sometimes there will be 10 or 12 frames of 

 brood in the two stories. If there's brood in only one story, 

 there will very likely be only six frames, possibly five. When 

 the one story is taken away from a colony that has more than 

 eight frames of brood, it is left with eight frames of brood, 

 and any colony that has less than eight frames containing 

 brood has its deficiency supplied, so as to make every colony 

 in the apiary have that number. If there are any frames of 

 brood left, and they are not wanted Immediately for any par- 

 ticular purpose, they are piled up on one of the weakest colo- 

 nies, making it three or four stories high, and if one pfle will 

 not take them all, then more piles are made. These piles are 

 convenient to draw from when brood is needed, to make new 

 colonies or for any other purpose. 



Partnership Bec-Keeping. 



What would be a proper division of income of 100 colo- 

 nies of bees, where one person furnishes the bees and all nec- 

 essary supplies, and the other person does all the work con- 

 nected with or necessary in caring for 100 colonies, and a 

 third party acts as superintendent or instructor? What we 

 want to know is, what should each person receive as his part 

 of the gross income from the honey crop, the party owning 

 the bees getting the increase from swarming ? 



New Mexico. 



Answer. — I don't know. Especially dense is my ignor- 

 ance regarding the compensation or share the man should 

 have who acts as instructor. If he should only give a passing 

 word of advice now and then to a man who knew about as 

 much as himself, he would not expect to get anything. If the 

 man who took care of the bees knew so little about the busi- 

 ness that the instructor had to be on hand all the time during 

 the working season, he might hardly be satisfied with half the 

 proceeds. 



Tne other part Is not so difficult, and yet circumstances 

 vary so much that each case should be considered by itself. 

 Perhaps in general, agreements are made to have an equal 

 division between the owner and the apiarist, dividing both 

 swarms and honey. If the apiarist gets no swarms, he ought 

 to have more honey. 



But the partnership business in bees is likely to lead to 

 trouble unless there is a very clear and explicit understanding 

 and agreement. And you can readily see that it may make a 

 good deal of difference as to the skill of the apiarist. Suppose 

 a man takes care of the bees who knows so little about the 

 business that the bees do little but swarm, the honey crop not 

 amounting to $100. Then suppose another man who is thor- 

 oughly skilled in the business, and under his management the 



proceeds amount to $1,000. You can readily see that it 

 would not be fair to give one man the same as the other. 

 True, the unskillful man would get small pay at best, but in 

 the hands of the skillful man the crop would be to a certain 

 extent the result of that skill alone, and if he understands the 

 matter rightly he will hardly be willing to allow the owner 

 of the bees much more than a fair pay for the capital and risk 

 Involved. So It's hard to make a single rule to fit all cases. 



Several Questions from Washington, 



1. I have a colony that has been carrying out young 

 brood. I think it is caused by the wax-worm. Would you 

 leave it until spring, or hunt It out now? The hive has a 

 fast bottom. 



2. In filling my chaff ticks I got a mouse in the straw, 

 and I have set a trap in the super, baited with cheese, but it 

 doesn't tempt it. How can I get it? It is In a fast-bottom 

 hive, with crooked combs. 



3. We had an abundance of white clover bloom and no 

 honey this year. There are hundreds of acres of ground 

 "slashf'and lying idle. Would it pay to scatter seeds of 

 wild flowers over this ground ? If so, where could such seeds 

 be had? 



4. Is foxglove poisonous ? 



5. Do bees visit flowers that hang down from the stems 

 as readily as those that stand upright ? The frequent showers 

 In spring wash the honey from those that stand upright. 



Washington. 



Answers. — 1. Better let it alone till spring. The worm 

 in the hive is bad enough. ' You'd be worse than the worm. 



2. Change the temptation. Try meat of different kinds. 

 Perhaps if the cheese is toasted It may suit his mouseship bet- 

 ter. Possibly he might be more tempted if the trap was at 

 the entrance. Traps cost so little that you might have one in 

 the super and another at the entrance. If you get him to eat 

 anything that is not in the trap, then you might give him an- 

 other feast of the same with poison in it. 



8. If there's no objection to scattering the seeds, it might 

 be a good plan to sow sweet clover seed. Any seedsman can 

 get the seed for you. Any other of the plants that you see 

 put down as honey-plants In your bee-book might do, such as 

 catnip, pleurisy root, Simpson honey-plant, etc. 



4. No and yes. There's no likelihood that you will ever 

 be poisoned by coming in contact with foxglove, nor that your 

 bees will be hurt by its flowers, and yet a poisonous article- 

 digitalis— is obtained from the leaves of foxglove. 



5. Bees will readily visit a plant with flowers hanging 

 down if only it furnishes a good supply of nectar. 



50c worth of Books for 1 new Name. 



Send us $1.00 with a new name for the Bee Journal for 

 1898, and we will mail you your choice of the list below, to 

 the value of 50 cents. 



We make this offer only to those who are now sub- 

 scribers ; In other words, no one sending in his own name 

 as a new subscriber can also claim a choice of this list : 



.50 copies •■ Honey ms Feod " jjOo- 



Wood Binder for the Bee Journal 20o. 



50 ooplesot leifleton •■ Why Eat Honey ?" "^Oc. 



50 •• " on ■' How to Keep Honey ' 30c. 



50 " •• on ■■ Al6lke Clover" 20c. 



I copy each "Preparstlon of Honev for the Market "(10c.) 



and Uoollttle's " Hive I Use " (oc i 15,;. 



1 copy each Dartants' ■■Handling Bees" i8c.) and "Uee- 

 Pasturatre a Nece-slty " (lOc.) 18n. 



Dr. Howard's book ou " F)ul Brood " 2.3C. 



Kohnke's '■ Foul Bro d" hooK '^'oc. 



Cheshire's •• Foul Brood " book (lOv.-.) and Dadants' - Hand- 

 ling Bees" [8c] loo. 



Hr. Foote's HandBookof Health ^oc. 



Rural Life Book 2oc. 



Our Poultry Doctor, by Fanny Felld 3oc. 



Poultry for Market and Profit, by Fanny Field 3.5c. 



t^apons and CaponizlDsr 2.50. 



Turkeys lor Market and Profit 2nc. 



Green 8 Four Books on Frult-G rowing ?5c. 



Kopp CommerclHl Calculator No. I ''Oc. 



SUoana StlaRe. by Prof. Cook 2oc. 



BicnenKultur LGerman] 40o. 



Kendail'K Horse-Book [Enirlii-h or German] 2.-)0. 



1 Pound White Clover Seed 2oc. 



1 " Sweet " •• 2oo. 



IH •• Al-ike " " 2oc. 



\V, •■ Alfalfa ■' ■■ "v?". 



m '• Crimson " " "■''«■ 



The Horse— How to Break and Handle 20e. 



