1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAl<. 



231 



queen in one of the clusters. I place! a box in the yard with gra- 

 ham flour (I had no rye flour), and before night they were carry- 

 ing away large quantities of the finest of it on their legs. Will 

 that answer in place of bee-bread or pollen '. 



Soft ruaple seems to be about two weeks later than last year. 

 If the bees bad been given rye-flour last fall, would they have 

 stored it, and used it this spring for brood-rearing ? Mebk. 



Answer. — I doubt whether the absence of pollen was the cause 

 of death? More likely diarrhea. Graham flour is a good substi- 

 tute for pollen. Probably any of the grains ground, will do well, 

 and it is all the better to have bran and all — gives a better foot- 

 hold for the bees. But nothing seems to suit them quite so well as 

 the natural pollen, and when they can get that you will find them 

 deserting any substitute you may have given them. They prob- 

 ably would have stored rye-flour last fall, and yet they were, per- 

 haps, as well off without it. They still had a little pollen, and some 

 have reported that rye-flour stored in the cells became hard aud 

 troublesome. 



m I » 



Gallicriiig Honey by mooiilislit. 



Is there any authority for the statement that bees have been 

 known to gather honey on moonlight nights ? New Yorker. 



Answer. — The testimony on this point is not clear. I have 

 some recollection of reading that when linden is in full play, bees 

 will sometimes remain out over night on the trees. This might, 

 and it might not, be accompanied by night work. Bees certaiuly 

 work nights in the hive, but it might be difficult to find proof that 

 on a moonlight night, a bee leaves the hive and gets back with a 

 load of plunder before the break of day. 



Conib§ Melted and Broken Down — Xcw Union. 



1. I had some combs to fall down from the heat last summer. 

 What would you do with such combs ? Would it be better for me 

 to cut them out and put in full sheets of foundation ? 



2. Is there any bee-association ? I want to become a member 

 if there is such a thing. Iowa. 



Answers. — 1. It's probably a toss-up whether you better use 

 them or cut them out. Where there is less than half the comb left, 

 as is probably generally the case, it may be more satisfactory to 

 start with a full sheet of foundation. If the frame is half full of 

 good comb it may be well to save it. If you don't want the bees to 

 build drone comb in the vacancy, you can cut comb out of one 

 frame and fill in the other. 



■2. Yes, there's an association that's just the thing for you — 

 the United States Bee-Keepers' Union. Send a dollar to the editor 

 of this paper — George W. York — and become a member to help put 

 down adulteration and to help bee-keepers' interests in general. 



Tran^rerrin;; — Queen-Candy. 



1. What would be the best way to transfer bees out of five old 

 hives? I have been advised to wait till the bees swarm, and hive 

 the swarm in a new hive. Three weeks later transfer the rest of 

 the bees into another hive. Could I not drive a swarm out of each 

 hive at the swarming season, and get nearly or quite as good re- 

 sults as by waiting till each colony swarms ? How do you make 

 queen-candy ? New Jersey. 



Answers. — 1. Of course you can do that way, but in the great 

 majority of cases it will probably not be as well. 



2. You probably mean Schulz or Good candy, such as is used 

 when queens are shipt. aud sometimes used in feeding bees. Take 

 the very best extracted honey you can get. warm it. but not to any 

 thing like scalding heat, mix with it fine powdered sugar until it 

 makes a stiff dough. Kneai in all the sugar you can, working it 

 thoroughly. Let it stand a day or more before using. 



A Beginner's Questions. 



1. Is there a patent ou all the hives that are advertised in the 

 Bee Journal ? If so. what is the price of a patent ? 



2. If there is a patent on the hives, would it be breaking any 

 law to make hives like them for my own use ? 



3. What is best to do with bees that have worm-nests on the 

 sides of the hives ? 



4. What is the best plan of handling three or four colonies of 

 bees ? Beginner. 



Answers.— 1. A great many hives have been patented, but not 

 many of the hives now in use have patents that are now alive. 

 All movable comb hives come under the Langstroth patent, but 

 that expired long ago. The price of a patent depends on the seller, 

 and he puts whatever price he pleases on it. 



2. If there is a patent on a hive, it would be an infringement 

 for you to make a hive coming under that patent, even for your 

 own use, 



3. If the colony is strong it will take care of itself. But it will 

 be a help to scrape off the nests of worms from the side of the hive 

 with a knife or something of the kind. 



4. As soon as you are a little accustomed to handling bees you 

 will find it much the best plan to handle them with the bare hands. 



Rubber gloves are made for beginners, but they are warm, sticky 

 and uncomfortable. Some use a cheap, white glove, perhaps made 

 of hogskin, which has a very rank smell. You ought to have a 

 good bee-book. The publishers of this paper will be glad to furnish 

 it if you will write them. 



Ventilator in a Bee-Cellar. 



I wish to build a bee-cellar to hold 1.50 colonies, with a stone 

 arch and a work-shop on top. What is the best way to put in a 

 ventilator? Wisconsin. 



Answer.— I have a sub-earth ventilator that runs for several 

 rods four feet or so under ground, so as to bring in air somewhat 

 warmed. It gotstopt up, and last winter didn't work at all. The 

 bees (nearly 300 colonies) wintered well without it. and I'm not 

 sure I'll have it opened up again, for I'm just a little bit suspicious 

 of the quality of the air after it has had a chance to take in possi- 

 ble underground gases. The bees wintered finely, and the only 

 chance for air to get in was through the walls, but there was plenty 

 of chance for it to get out through two chimneys that started from 

 the ground. Probably a chimney or a shaft of any kind to carry 

 up the air will be all you will need. 



A Cily Bee-Keeping Beginner. 



I want to begin with one colony. I live in the city, within 900 

 feet of Brooklyn's largest park, near by a large cemetery, and 

 within a half mile of the open country. My idea is to set the hive 

 on a ledge, shaded, and easily reacht from an upper window. 



1. How early can I start my colony ? 



2. What book or manual goes more into practical details of 

 bee-keeping than Prof. Cook's book ? 



3. Is my plan feasible ? 



4. Later on I shall feel perturbed it the bees swarm, which 

 they doubtless will do. My experiment is for study, observation, 

 and what the future may develop. I am an expert In poultry 

 farming or culture, and expect to make the apiary an adjunct to 

 the business I am planning to begin next year — provided I learn 

 enough about it this year. Long Island. 



Answers. — 1. Any time now will do, as there will be early 

 flowers for the bees to work on. 



2. I should say Prof. Cook's book goes into practical details, 

 but it's a good thing to have "line upon line," and you will like 

 Root's " A B C of Bee-Culture," also Dadant's " Langstroth on the 

 Honey-Bee." 



3. Decidedly yes, and you'll have lots of fun at it. 



4. If you don't want the bees to swarm you can get the start 

 of them by dividing. 



Tranisferring; — Putting on Sections. 



1. Last fall I bought at an auction several colonics of bees in 

 frame hives, which, being hived without the use of foundation, 

 the combs are built crosswise of the frames, making all fast to- 

 gether. The hives, I believe, are called the " Eclectic." The front 

 and back are 3 inches thick, and fast to the bottom-board; both 

 sides can be taken off, leaving two division-boards, one on each 

 side of the frames. I wish to transfer into the light chaff hive. 

 Can it be done ? If so. how ? 



2. Two of the colonies I wish to transfer are weak. Can they 

 be united at the same time they are transferred ? 



3. How soon can sections be put on after transferring ? 



New York. 



Anwers.— 1. They can be transferred much as your text-book 

 instructs to transfer from box-hives, but you may have the advan- 

 tage in this case that possibly one or more of the frames can be 

 first got out. and if no frame can be got out, then with a long- 

 bladed knife you cut away all attachments from the walls of the 

 hive, and then turning the hive upside down dump out the whole 

 of its contents. 



2. Yes, if you transfer at a time when honey is yielding there 

 will be little trouble about uniting. 



3. Put on sections when clover— it that's your first principal 

 crop — has commenced to yield, or when you see the bees put bits 

 of white wax along the top-bars and upper parts of the brood- 

 combs. 



Don't Ask Tor a Catalog. 



Please send your catalog of sections and bee-supplies. 



Bee-Keeper. 



Answer. — Perhaps this doesn't fairly come under the head of 

 "Questions and Answers," and yet as I get a communication like 

 it quite often, it may save some stationery and postage for me to 

 say here that I'm not in the supply business — have no catalog, no 

 hives to sell, no bees, no honey, uo nothing. I'm just an every-day 

 beekeeper that the editor has hired to stand up and have all sorts 

 of questions fired at him, and then I guess at the answers. The 

 only thing I ever have to sell is honey, and it isn't worth while to 

 ask me about that, for it's generally sold in a lump before it comes 

 off the hives. Ask me anything you like about bees or bee-keeping 

 to be answered iu this department, but don't ask me for catalog. 



C. C. Miller. 



