1898. 



THE AMEHICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



is produced; certainly a very valuable aquisition, and so tbe 

 means for curing so-called colds are acquired. Now, If such is 

 the case, it should follow that it Is also a preventive to catch- 

 ing colds, and [ hold a very strong opinion that it does do the 

 latter, and to this latter I can ascribe the power of the virtues 

 of honey. I have ample experience with it. I call honey a 

 prophylactic, to that extent. 



Also, I have read that it is a fat-forming element. If this 

 is true, it cannot be correct as to the lactic-acid theory. This 

 would be a very interesting question for the scientific doctors 

 to elucidate. 



It is also said that cane-sugar entering the animal system 

 has to undergo a digestion process, the conversion into glucose, 

 chemically the equal to honey in its nature. It Is claimed 

 quite commonly that cane-sugar produces fat in the animal 

 system. If this is so, then the honey forming a fat cannot be 

 a paradox. I am inclined to the theory that neither cane- 

 sugar nor honey are fat-producing elements. Ontario. 



Answer. — Yes, honey contains carbon, and like all car- 

 bonaceous foods, it is heat-producing. It Is also true that it is 

 a fattener, which does not conflict with the fact that lactic 

 acid may be produced from it. Honey is much used, singly or 

 combined, in the treatment of coughs, but I wouldn't like to 

 place too much dependence upon It as a prophylactic. If you 

 take the necessary steps to catch cold, such as sitting In a cold 

 draft, getting the feet wut, etc., a previous feed of honey will 

 hardly excuse you from the penalty. 



Plan to Build Up and Prevent Swarming. 



I have two colonies that are pretty strong, and Ave that 

 are weak. I propose to take most of the sealed brood from tbe 

 two weakest and distribute among the other three weak ones, 

 and continue that until near the harvest-time. In the mean- 

 time give to the two strong and three that I am building up, 

 a case of half-depth or extracting-combs, on top, to give the 

 bees a chance to deposit any surplus they may get, so they 

 may have every chance to fill up the brood-chamber, which is 

 an 8-frame dovetail. 



At about the commencement of the harvest I will put a 

 super of sections on top of a queen-excluding honey-board 

 under the extracting-combs, and take the extracting-combs off 

 when the bees get to work in the sectious. At the same time 

 of putting on supers, I will also put a half-story of extracting- 

 combs with full foundation sheets under the brood-chamber, 

 to try to prevent swarming, after Simmins' plan. 



1. What do you think of my plan ? 



2. Do you think I will need to use the queen-excluder? 



3. If the plan does not please you, will you give your plan 

 under tbe circumstances ? Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. Not bad. 



2. I don't believe you will. 



3. Taking from the two weakest to give to the other three 

 weak ones Is good, unless indeed the best two have room for 

 more brood. At any rate take from the weakest and give to 

 the strongest till the strongest are full of brood, then these 

 strongest and the weakest can both be drawn from to make 

 the next strongest full. In this way you'll not need to put on 

 extracting-supers before harvest, and may have a larger num- 

 ber strong. But don't take brood from a strong colony till It 

 is crowded, or at least full. I've some doubt whether you'll 

 like the frames of foundation under in harvest. Try only part 

 that way. 



Using Hives Where Bees Died — Painting Hives. 



Last winter three of my colonies of bees died, and when I 

 examined the hives I could find no queens or queen-cells in any 

 of them. 



1. What Is best to be done with the honey that was left ? 

 Can I put new swarms into the hives just as they are ? (I took 

 out all the dead bees that were In the combs.) 



2. Does it make any difference to have a hive with seven 

 frames or more ? 



3. What color Is best to paint a hive? Is there any ob- 

 jection to red paint ? Illinois. 



Answers. — 1. Put swarms in them just as they are, honey 

 and all. But look out that worms don't spoil the combs before 

 swarmlng-tlme. If you keep them in a cool cellar the worms 

 will not make much headway. If they are In frame hives, 

 perhaps it may be more profitable to give at least part of the 

 honey to bees In the other hives, for at this time of year they 

 use a big lot of honey in rearing young bees, and may need 



more than they have. If it's needed In that way that will be 

 better than to keep it for swarms. 



2. Yes, but I'm not entirely certain what the question 

 means. If you mean to ask whether It will be just as well to 

 have only seven frames in a hive, that depends on the size of 

 the hive. In any case yon will put In the frames at regular 

 distance so they will be l^g or ly, inches from center to center. 

 If that isn't what you mean, please ask again. 



3. If the hive is to stand out in the sun, nothing is better 

 than white. In the shade It doesn't matter particularly what 

 color, and red is all right. But I'd rather not have the body 

 of a hive painted, only the cover. G. M. Doolittle says he 

 wouldn't let you paint his hives if you paid him a dollar apiece 

 for the privilege. 



The Kind or Hive. 



What kind of hives do you prefer? I am a beginner. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — It doesn't make very much difference to the 

 bees what kind of a hive you have, the old-fashioned straw 

 skep being as good as any, and there are different hives that 

 might suit you equally well, but in beginning it's just as well 

 and better to have something that's standard, and that is al- 

 ways kept in stock. That makes it an easy thing to get more 

 of the same kind at any time, also to get any parts you want, 

 and being made in large numbers they cost less. Perhaps 

 nothing comes so near a standard article in the way of hives 

 as the dovetailed with frames 17?<xVU^'. It doesn't matter so 

 much whether you have an 8-frame or a 10-frame hive; so 

 long as the frame Is standard size you can easily change from 

 one size of hive to another. 



Laying Two or ITIore Egg§ in a Cell. 



The latter part of February, when examining my hives, in one 

 I found no sign of a queen, but I linew I had seen one late last fall, 

 so I closed it up snug on five frames. About three weeks later I 

 found in tbe same hive a nice yellow queen, but no brood, so I closed 

 it up again. Yesterday I found a little brood (about two inches) 

 and a circle of eggs about three days old — a circle about three or 

 four inches in diameter— but the egg.s were doubled up, as it were, 

 from one to three in a cell. Having seen nothing in the text-books 

 to apply to such a case, except a laying worker, I ask if you think 

 it will be all right ? If so, what is the cause 1 Oregon. 



Answek.— The probability is that all is well. The queen is 

 likely a good one, and ready to do all the laying required of her 

 and a little more. The space kept warm enough for brood-rearing 

 is so small that she is obliged to repeat, laying in cells already 

 occupied. 



Bees Vary in Working. — The different reports as to this 

 or that flower as a honey-plant are sometimes confusing. One 

 man reports that bees work busily upon a certain flower; 

 another says it is worthless as a hooey-plant. Both are 

 honest. A difference in soil or growth may be the explana- 

 tion, but more likely it arises from the fact that in one case 

 the bees had something better to work on, and In the other 

 case not. An article In Australian Bee-Bulletin quoted from 

 Agricultural Gazette, gives the following striking illustration: 



"Some years ago, at Cooma, in a dry season, a bed of 

 turnips ran to flower. They were sown on a sandy, thirsty 

 soil. For three or four days they were besieged by bees. Al- 

 most suddenly the bees ceast to visit the turnip-blooms, 

 altho they were still expanding. The cause of their forsaking 

 the turnips became evident. About one-third of a mile away, 

 on the banks of a creek, a small paddock of lucerne had 

 flowered, and the bees were bestowing their attention on it, 

 because it was yielding a greater supply of food. Their 

 harvest from the lucerne lasted but a day or so. The scythe 

 stopped the honey-flow, and the boes returned to the turnips. 

 Was it the dark-blue flower of the lucerne that caused the bees 

 to forsake the creamy-yellow flower of the turnip, or the supe- 

 rior quantity of honey contained In the lucerne ? Undoubt- 

 edly the latter." 



Putting Bees Out in Spring.— A. Bridge, In Canadian 

 Bee Journal, objects to the plan of putting bees out of the 

 cellar part at a time. He says the first lot will take a cleans- 

 ing filght, mark their location, and then they are ready for 

 robbing those set out later. Since adopting the plan of put- 

 ting all out at once, he has no trouble with robbing. 



