138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 3. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Z»K. O. O. MILLEie. MA.RE2Sao, II^L. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direc l.l 



A Case of lenorance. 



O. O. Poppleton says (page 92) that I was wrong in thinking 

 that one gla»s in a wax extractor would make as hot work as two. 

 That shows be can tell a good deal better by trying a thing than I 

 can by guessin? at it. 



Edwin Bevins is troubled to understand (page 83) why I should 

 misunderstand "Iowa" (page 39). and thinks there was an open 

 space between the brood-frames and the cushions. The guess Mr. 

 Bevins makes as to what misled me is partly correct, but not the 

 whole of it. The •■ empty supers " mentioned had something to do 

 with it, and also the fear that the bees might starve. It didn't 

 occur to me that any one would think of bees starving right on top 

 of sealed combs. 



I'm much obliged to these good friends for correcting me, and 

 glad to know such sharp eyes are upon me. for many is the time 

 when answering so many questions that a fear comes over me lest 

 I may mislead in my answers. I'm not sure, however, that some 

 of the rest of you wouldn't make mistakes both in understanding 

 and answering if you were in my place. Questions of so many dif- 

 ferent kinds, sometimes needing answer when I've hardly time to 

 study over them ; sometimes spelt in such way that it is a serious 

 problem to make anything out of them (for example, •• woushe '' 

 In a letter this week meant "wish'') ; sometimes spelling all correct 

 but writing so illegible that I can't tell what the spelling is; some- 

 times having an overstock of ignorance on the subject inquired 

 about— say. friends, if you'd spell me a spell you'd wonder I don't 

 get more things twisted, C. C. Miller. 



Leaving Bees Paokt lill Pniiins on fiicetions— 



Workers Going \villi ilic Queen 



'wlien Maliiig. 



1. Will it be right to leave my bees all packt as in winter, on 

 the summer stands, leaving all the packing till time to put on sec- 

 tions ? The hives are S to U) inches apart. Most of them are as 

 they were in the fall. 



3. Do any worker-bees accompany the queen when she goes on 

 her wedding-tour? They are never quiet till she comes home to 

 the hive. [owa. 



Answers— 1. Yes, providing they are well supplied with stores. 



2. I don't know, Perhaps they do. 



Telling from Wliicli Hive a Swarm Issued. 



Suppose I have 30 colonies of bees, and I go out some day and 

 find a swarm clustered on a tree. How am I to tell from which 

 colonies it issued ? Nova Scotia, 



Answer— The nicest way is to have the wings of the queen 

 dipt, then watch what hive the swarm returns to. If your queen is 

 not dipt, hive the swarm or get it in some kind of a box and take 

 it away from where it is clustered (it will make it a little surer if 

 you put it in a cellar for the time being), then take a handful of 

 bees from the swarm, dust them well with flour, and watch what 

 hive has the powdered ■• ladies" return to it. 



Gelling inerease and Oilier <lucstions. 



1, I started last spring with four two-frame nuclei, which de- 

 velopt into four apparently strong colonies. They are in .s-frame 

 dovetailed hives, in winter-cases, packt with chaff. If they come 

 through the winter in good condition, I want to increase as much 

 as I can consistently, regardless of honey. What method shall 1 

 pursue ? I have eight acres of orclyird for them to commence on. 



2, As the days here during the summer are quite warm, and 

 the nights cool, I kept the hives in the winter-cases during the 

 summer. Would bees kept thus be liable to need further 

 ventilation ? 



3, Will it be advisable during the heat of the day, in the early 

 spring, to remove the cover of the winter case for an hour or so, 

 to warm up the hive, previous to removing the packing ? 



■I, If so, about what should the temperature in the sun be ? 

 5. Are there any external indications when they are getting 

 short of feed ; Eastern Wahuington. 



Answers— 1. The first thing to do is to thoroughly inform 

 yourself on the general principles of bee-keeping, if you have not 

 already done so, by thoroughly studying a good text-book. For 

 there are so many changing conditions to meet, that it is not easy 

 to put down any cast-iron rule of procedure. Moreover, the text- 



books will give you plans for increasing, which you can use sepa- 

 rately, or more or less in combination, according to the exigencies 

 of the case. Possibly for the largest safe increase without caring 

 for a crop of honey, nothing is better than the nucleus plan. By 

 that means you can always keep your colonies strong without run- 

 ning the risk of having the season close with a lot of weaklings 

 on hand. 



2. Probably they would. The opinion seems to be gaining 

 ground that it is decidedly advantageous to have very free 

 entrance below, for ventilation during the honey harvest. 



8-4. When the thermometer goes up to 50 degrees in the shade, 

 not cloudy, and the air still, if a colony fails to start flying, it may 

 be well to give it a hint to do so, either by doing as you suggest, or 

 by pounding on the hive, 



.5, Hardly any that you ought to wait for. The carrying out 

 of young brood, that is, the white skins or pieces of skins, is a good 

 sign that starvation is approaching, but you ought not to wait for 

 that, 



Laj-fng Worker-Bees. 



On page 3 Mrs, L. C. Axtell writes of "laying workers." I am 

 perplext to know what she meant by " laying workers." 



Conn. 



Answer— A laying worker is just what its name implies — a 

 worker-bee that lays eggs. When a colony is queenless and has no 

 means of rearing another queen, it is likely to happen that eggs 

 will still be laid. Formerly it was supposed that a single bee did 

 the laying, but closer investigation shows that a number of work- 

 ers, if not a majority in the colony, engage in the unusual occupa- 

 tion of laying eggs, which eggs produce living bees, but in no case 

 anything but drones. Get a good text-book and read up all about 

 them. 



Changing Brood-Frames — Self-Spacing Frames. 



1. My bees are on frames 12 inches deep by 19 long. Would 

 you change to the Standard Langstroth frame ? 



2. Is the 10-frame Langstroth hive better for wintering than 

 the S-frame ? 



3. Do you like self-spacing frames better than the common ? 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. That's a very difficult question to answer. It's 

 a very troublesome thing to have two kinds of frames, and if you 

 have had good success with the ones you have, and if you have 

 nearly as many hives as you think you will want, I should do a 

 good deal of thinking before making a change. If you have only 

 a few, and you think you can do about as well with the standard 

 frame, then you may be wise to change, if for no other reason 

 than that you can more readily and more cheaply get what's in 

 fashion. Moreover, if you want 1 1 buy or sell colonies of bees, it 

 will be better to have the regular frame. 



2. Yes and no. Left to themselves, a colony in a 10-frame 

 hive is safer for wintering in most cases than in the Sframer. The 

 two additional frames make it almost a sure thing that there will 

 be more honey in the hive, consequently less danger of starvation. 

 With sutticient care and proper management the 8-frame hive may 

 be as good or better. Given two colonies equal in every respect, 

 one in an S frame hive, the other in a 10 frame, each with the same 

 amount of stores, and I'd rather risk the smaller hive for winter- 

 ing, if for no other reason than that there is less room to keep 

 warm, 



3. After a tew years' trial with the self-spacers, I must say I 

 give them the preference decidedly. If there were no other reason, 

 the quickness and exactness of spacing would turn the scale in 

 their favor. 



ii^ — . — ^ 



Prevenling Afler-Swarms — Gelling Bees Out of 

 Supers, Ele. 



1. What is the best, quickest and surest way to prevent all 

 after-swarms ? 



2. If a person wishes to get as much honey as he can from his 

 bees, would it help to prevent after-swarming ; 



3. When you pile several supers of honey on top of each other 

 for the purpose of getting the bees out, what escapes do you use 

 above and below, how many supers do you put together, and how 

 long does it generally take to empty them ? 



4. I would like to know if you think my bees are all right. I 

 winter them in the cellar where vegetables and tobacco (not very 

 much of the latter) are kept. The thermometer is never under 3S 

 degrees, and hardly ever over 43 degrees. I open the window once 

 every week to let in fresh air. The bees are in the Heddon hives 

 with the cover and bottom-board tight, but the entrance is open 

 full width. I clean out the dead bees about twice a week with a 

 wire hook. As yet very few have died. When I go into the cellar 

 I cannot hear the bees, but when I put my ear close to the hive I 

 can hear them just faintly humming, but sometimes they hum 

 pretty loud when they are disturbed a little. I wintered four col- 

 onies in the same way last winter, successfully, except in one weak 

 colony the unoccupied combs were a little mouldy, Iowa. 



Answers — 1. When the colony swarms, set the swarm on the 

 old stand, putting the old hive close beside it. Six or seven days 

 later take the old hive away and set it on a new stand. The fleld- 

 bees will all go back to the swarm after returning from the field, 



