1898 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



91 



feed in at this time of the year? The hives all stand on the 

 east side of the house, with loose boards to cover them, but 

 the bees seem to be all right. 



There is one more hive which is only a box 12x18x12, 

 with two sticljs across. This I can't look into at all, altho it 

 seems to be quite heavy. They seem to be all right, but they 

 may not have enough to last all winter. I did not rob them 

 during the summer. 



What do you think is the best hive ? ^ J "1 Kansas. 



Answer. — The probability is that your colonies don't need 

 any feeding. The box-hives are very large, and as you took 

 nothing from them they had abundance of room to store 

 enough for winter and to spare if the season was at all favor- 

 able. If they are heavy, as you say they arje, they likely have 

 30 pounds or more of honey, and may be safely left. It I 

 understand you correctly, they put honey in the boxes, then 

 emptied it out, strong evidence that they have a good store 

 below. The 8-frame hives are all right if hives and all weigh 

 45 or 50 pounds. Of course they are not so heavy now as at 

 the beginning of winter. If you think they are not heavy 

 enough, it will do no harm to take off the cover and put on a 

 box with some comb honey in it, covering it up warm. 



It's doubtful if anything is better than the dovetail hive. 



MoTins Bees — Putting on Scction§. 



1. I have bought 10 colonies of bees, which I wish to 

 move two miles. . They are on the summer stands with supers 

 on. When would be the best time to move them ? 



2. When is the best time to put on sections in the spring? 

 Would the queen lay in them if put on too soou ? lowA. 



Answers. — 1. At the distance of two miles you can move 

 them at any time, but it will be belter to wait till spring, so it 

 will be warm enough for them to fly every day. It will stir 

 them up to move them now, so that diarrhea might be in- 

 duced, unless a warm day should come right after moving 

 them. 



2. The queen is not likely to lay in them if put on too 

 soon, but they will keep nicer and fresher off the hive. Put 

 them on about a week after you see the first clover blossom, 

 or as soou as you see bits of white wax along the upper parts 

 of the brood-combs. But don't rely too much on the white 

 wax business, and it is better to get them on too soon rather 

 than too late. 



■■ ■ ^ 



Honey Grannlation— Movinji; Bees— Cultine and 

 Putting; Foundation in Sections. 



1. What are the causes and conditions that make honey 

 granulate? Is there any preventive? 



2. Is now a good time to move bees a short distance ? 

 They have not been flying for about eight weeks. 



3. Is it all right to put foundation in sections now for 

 next season ? If so, how do you keep them ? 



4. In putting full sheets of foundation in 4}4x4'4 sec- 

 tions, what size are they'cut, and how many sides of the foun- 

 dation are fastened to the sections ? Nevp York. 



Answers. — 1. There is a very great difference in honey 

 as to granulating, some kinds almost never granulating, and 

 some kinds granulating before it leaves the hives. I don't 

 know any reason for this any more than the fiifference in 

 honey coming from different flowers. Honey that is very ripe 

 and thick is slow to granulate. Cold, especially freezing cold, 

 hastens granulation. Stirring, or agitation of any kind, 

 hastens granulation. It has been supposed that one reason 

 why extracted honey granulates so soon is because of the 

 thorough agitation it gets during the process of extracting. 



From this you may learn that you will retard and In some 

 cases prevent granulation if you leave it on the hives till the 

 close of the harvest, when it is sealed and well ripened, and 

 keep it in a place where it may be as warm as possible. Some 

 recommend heating it up to 160^ and then sealing it up, as in 

 canning fruit. 



2. Yes. 



3. A few bee-keepers say they don't want foundation in 

 sections till about the time they are to be put on the hives. I 

 have not discovered any material harm from having them 

 ready several months or a year in advance. As fast as foun- 

 dation Is filled in my sections the sections are put in the supers 

 and piled up in the shop. 



4. Generally they are cut 3%x3%, and fastened only at 

 the top. 



Drone-Brood and Waterinsr Bees in Winter. 



1. Here I am again. Well, I carried the five box-hives 

 into the cellar the evening of Nov. 30, and all is flue. I have 

 watcht them very closely and find them very quiet at 45^ or 

 50°, which I can regulate easily. I often take a lamp and 

 peep in where the hives of bees are. One time between 

 Christmas and New Year I noticed young white drone-brood 

 on the alighting-board. This hive cast an after-swarm in 

 September, and while removing sections from this hive I hap- 

 pened to find the young queen on top of the brood-combs, and 

 in between my thumb and finger her wings were caught and 

 dipt. I have seen worker-brood late in October. Why do 

 they rear drone-brood as early as this in the cellar? Also, 

 they don't allow me to come in their parlor department with 

 a lamp, for when I stay in for a moment there will be one 

 rousing buzz, and the best is to stay out. The dead 'bees are 

 dragged out, but few so far. I have eight colonies in this 

 curtained-off department. 



2. The three colonies 20 miles away are not packt,. 

 and all these at home are. I find more dead bees with those 

 20 miles away. They or we have had no zero weather so far. 

 They all have plenty of stores. Do you think the packt ones 

 will winter out best? Bees had several good, brisk flights. 



V 3. Would you supply these cellar-bees with water toward 

 spring, by dipping a sponge in water, and lay the sponge on. 

 ttie alighting-board ? or would you leave them alone ? 



Pennsylvania. 



Answeks.— 1. I don't know why there should be drone- 

 brood in a hive between Christmas and New Year, unless the 

 hive is without a proper queen, and even in that case one 

 would hardly expect to find brood present. As the hive was 

 cellared Nov. 30, it is barely possible that the brood is from 

 eggs laid just before being taken in the cellar, for it may hav& 

 been lying at the entrance a few days when you found it. 

 Better keep a sharp lookout for that colony in spring. 



2. It is quite likely the packt colonies will come out best. 



3. At one time I tried to give my bees water in the cellar, 

 but never succeeded in getting them to take any. In this 

 country I don't know that any one practices watering his bees 

 in the winter, but the Germans have a good deal to say about 

 the winter thirst of bees (durstnoth). Whether bees are likely 

 to be more thirsty in the German language I don't know. At 

 any rate you better not fool with watering more than one col- 

 ony till you see that the bees will take the drink. 



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 bolow, 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 as Food " - 



Wood Binder lor the Bee Jouraal 



50 copies of leaflet on " Why Eitt Honey ?" 



50 " " on •' How to Keep Honey ' 



50 •' " on " AlBiko Clover" 



I copy each " Preparation of Honey for the Market "(10c.) 



and DooUttle'B " Hive I Ubb " (5c.) 



1 copy each Dadants' "Handling Bees" (8c.)and "Bee- 

 Pasturaste a Necessity " (lOo.) 



Dr. Howard's book on "Foul Brood " 



Kohnke'8 " Foul BrO"d " booR ■,•;,•■•, v;\--A 



Cheshire's " Foul Brood " book ilOc.) and Dadants " Hand- 

 ling Bees" [80] 



Ur. Foote's Hand-Bookof Health 



Rural Life Book 



Our Poultry Doctor, by Fanny Felld 



Poultry for Market and Prollt, by Fanny Field 



Capons and Caponizing — »■■ ■ 



Turkeys for Market and Proflt 



Green's Four Books on Frult-(J rowing 



Kopp Commercial Calculator No. 1 



Silo and Silage, by Prof. Cook 



Bienen-Kultur LGerman] 



Kendall's Horse-Book [English or German] 



1 Pound White Clover Seed 



] " Sweet " " 



.V4 ■' Alsike " " 



m '• Alfalfa " " 



H4 " Crimson *' " 



The Horse— How to Break and Handle 



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