1898. 



THE AMEHICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



I don't know what makes comb black. I might say age, lut 

 that's only dodging the question. Whenever comb is used for rear- 

 ing brood it commences to grow dark, and every generation of 

 brood reared makes it darker until it is nearly black. It has been 

 said that the dirty feet of the bees are responsible. It has been said 

 that it is caused by the first discharge of the feces of the young 

 bees. It's all right for brood-combs, and bees prefer the blackest 

 combs, either tor brood or honey. But people don't. The whiter 

 the comb is the better it is liked for the table, and indeed it is not 

 merely a matter of looks, for old, black comb does'nt taste so well. 

 The darkness of the honey, however, was not caused by the comb, 

 hut by the flowers from which it was gathered. If the combs had 

 been snow-white, the honey would still have been dark. Pall 

 honey is generally dark. 



m I ■ 



Pcrliapi from Skunk-Cabbage. 



How can you account for two days after four degrees below 

 zero, the bees carrying in yellow pollen ; not many, but even a few ? 

 The whole bee is covered with yellow dust, like in the spring or 

 summer. Where can they get it \ New Jersey. 



Answer. — I should guess from skunk-cabbage, but will yield 

 the floor to any one who can tell without guessing. 



Getting a Tree-Colony — ^Bees in a Room. 



1. I have a bee-tree standing on another man's land that I 

 found last fall, and the man who owns the land would not allow 

 me to cut it, but told me if I could take the bees out in the spring I 

 could do so. Can they be taken out ? If so, how and when would 

 be the best time to do so ? 



2. Also. I have a colony of bees in the "gum" that I cut and 

 brought home last December, and not having any room anywhere 

 else. I put them in an unoccupied room where it was dark, but I 

 can't give them ventilation enough as the weather warms up out- 

 side. Will it do any hurt to set them up out-doors ? And would 

 they need anything covered over them ? Wisconsin. 



Answ-ers. — 1. Each case of this kind is a problem by itself; 

 the position of the colony in the tree and other difl'ering circum- 

 stances making one case quite different from another. II there is 

 a hole below the colony and another above, or if you can make 

 holes, you might succeed in smoking out the bees, and perhaps as 

 good a time to try it would be in fruit-bloom. But you'd have only 

 the bare bees, and if you can get a fair price for sawing cord-wood 

 perhaps you'd do as well to buy a colony. 



3. Probably you'd better set them out. It can do no harm to 

 cover them, but of course you must leave the entrance free. 



Transferring Bees — Getting Bee-Supplies - 

 and Fruit — Gluing Sections. 



-Bees 



1. When would be the best time to transfer to get as much 

 comb honey as possible ? 



2. About what time ought I to get my bee supplies ? 



3. I have a fruit-grower about 500 yards from my bees. Is it 

 any better for the bees, or not ? 



4. Is it better to glue the one-piece sections and the joints ? 



Virginia. 

 Answers — 1. Probably you'll do as well to wait till the colony 

 swarms, hive the swarm in the new hive, placing it on the old 

 stand and putting the old hive close beside it. Then in about a 

 week take the old hive away and set it in a new place perhaps a rod 

 away. That will throw all the flying force into the swarm, and it 

 will do good work in supers if the season allows. If the box-hive 

 has top boxes, take them off and shut up the holes so the bees can't 

 get up, for it may hinder them about swarming if they have 

 extra room. 



2. It depends somewhat on circumstances when is the best 

 time to get bee-supplies. It you want only a small amount, you 

 can wait till about the time you need to use them. Even then, 

 however, it is much better to order ahead. If you wait till about 

 the time you need the goods, it sometimes happens that dealers 

 and manufacturers are behind with orders, and you have to wait. 

 Sometimes there is delay in freight trains or goods are miscarried, 

 making a delay of two weeks or more. You can generally tell in 

 December what you will want for the next season, and may as w e'l 

 order then. But if you haven't ordered before March, better order 

 right away. 



3. A fruit-plantation near by is an advantage to your bees, 

 and perhaps the bees are a still greater advantage to the 

 fruit-grower. 



4. The one-piece sections don't need gluing at all. Generally 

 it isn't necessary to wet the .ioints, but if they have become at all 

 dry it is better. You can easily tell ; if the joints don't break, don't 

 wet them ; if they break, wet them. 



Wintering Bees in a House' in North Dakota. 



cern. You are doubtful of bees confined from Nov. 1 to April 1. 

 I built a frame house 8x10x8 feet, double-boarded and tar-papered 

 outside, and lined and papered inside; shingle-roof, doubledoored ; 

 the house is close, still it will stoop down to zero or lower. I set 

 hives side by side, packt them all around with wheat chaff, gave a 

 little top ventilation, set the hive on a tray two inches deep, with 

 a spout 3x3 inches, leading out one foot through the chaff. 



1. Will the bees not stand it five months ? 



3. Would I better take them out, if living, in March, and run 

 the chances of being chilled in the hive ? 



3. Would it do to take them out for a flight in March, and take 

 them back in again ? 



4. Will there be any danger of some frames of honey I kept 

 over, candying, so I cannot give them in the spring to the bees ? 

 Parts are not sealed. I keep them in the bee-house, at zero heat. 



N. Dak. 



Answers. — 1. If I understand you correctly, a spout leads di- 

 rectly to the outer air from the entrance of each hive, so that there 

 is nothing to hinder the bees flying if a day comes warm enough. 

 That makes a big difference, for I think the cases we were talking 

 about where it was considered doubtful about five month's confine- 

 ment, was where there was no outlet so the bees could fly. The 

 chief question is, if a day comes warm enough for the bees to fly, 

 wiU they feel the heat enough through their thick packing to start 

 them to flying ; If they get a flight, they'll probably stand it 

 all right. 



3. If there comes a warm day, and they don't seem inclined to 

 wake up at all, it will certainly be better to take them out for a 

 flight than to let them stay where they are and not fly at all. If 

 you can get at the hives inside to pound on them so as to stir up 

 the bees on a warm day, it might be a good thing to do so. 

 I'm not sure but it might do some good to blow air into the en- 

 trance with a strong bellows. That might be done after the cut- 

 side air gets warmed up. 



3. It you can't get them.to fly without taking them out, per- 

 haps you may as well leave them out, seeing it ought soon to be 

 warm weather. 



4. Very likely the honey will be more or less granulated or 

 candied, for unsealed honey would hardly go through the winter 

 without candying, unless kept in a warm place. When you give 

 the combs to the bees, if you have some receptacle beneath so the 

 granules can be caught that they throw out, you can melt these up 

 and then feed. ^ 



Remedy for Motli-Worms. 



I came to North Dakota in 187S, but the severity of the clima'e 

 kept me from trying bee-keeping. Last spring I got one colony 

 and increast to four, putting them in winter quarters in fair con 

 dition Nov. 1. 



Some of your answers to questions begin to give me some con- 



During the year 1897 I had 13 colonies, and out of that number 

 the moths have left me 5. My bees were wild, and seem to be a 

 cross with the Italians and blacks. All who have bees in this 

 country lost a great many from the ravages of the moth during 

 the last summer and fall. For a while the honey-flow was very 

 strong. Besides the wild flowers we have the mesquite which 

 yields very fine honey. Can you give us a remedy for the moth- 

 worms \ It would be of inestimable value to this country. 



Texas. 



Answer.— Let me first tell you how to encourage the produc- 

 tion of moths. Allow plenty of pieces of comb to lie around for 

 breeding places, where the moth can lay her eggs. If a colony dies 

 in winter, be sure to let the empty hive with its combs stand out 

 where the moths can get at it. They will be delighted with this 

 arrangement. Be sure to increase rapidly, so as to have a lot of 

 little colonies so weak they can't fight their way against the moths 

 and worms. If they can also be queenless, that will help greatly, 

 and it will be still better if they have no Italian blood. 



If you don't care to have your combs eaten up with worms, 

 then you can just do the opposite. Keep strong colonies. Don't 

 allow queenless colonies. Break 'em up, or unite with something 

 else if they're not strong enough to re-queen. Get as much Italian 

 blood into your bees as you can. If you have some empty combs 

 in which the worms have started, give them a treat of brimstone 

 smoke. But you'll never be greatly troubled with moths if you'll 

 follow just one rule— keep all colonies strong. 



Rearing Queens— Italianizing. 



What is the best way to rear queens ? I have Italian bees at 

 home and black bees at one of my son's, and wish to rear queens to 

 Italianize them. In 1S% I paid $1.,50 a colony to have them Italian- 

 ized, and they failed to change. He claims the bees superseded the 

 queen be put in. and reared a queen of their own. Is such a thing 

 possible, when there are no bees nearer than two miles, and the 

 nearest being bees that he had Italianized ? Illinois. 



Answer.— If yon want to do very much at rearing queens, it 

 may pay you to get Doolittle's excellent book ou queen-rearing; 

 at any rate, a good text-book, if you haven't one. If you look 

 through the answers in this department for the past three or four 

 weeks, you will find an answer to your question which hardly need 

 be repeated here, those answers having been publisht since your 

 question was written. [We mail Doolittle's book for -i^l.UU, or club 

 it with the Bee Journal for one year, both together for -$1.7.5. 

 — EniTOR.] 



It certainly was a very unusual thing for all the queens to be 

 superseded, if there was any considerable number, and doesn't 

 speak the most for the character of the queens. Even it the queens 

 were superseded, if all were Italianized, the resulting stock ought 

 to be pretty good Italians. 



