1898 



THE AMEHICAN BEE JOURNA*. 



295 



Well, for awhile bees appeared all right, by having the cellar 

 door open through the day time, but finally it failed to quiet them. 

 then I. Bowser-like, was ready to relieve them with a fresh idea I 

 had hit upon. You see, I had my word out with the women that 

 the bees were not to roam about the cellar. So I got a screen and 

 screened in a portico from the alighting-board to the hive; I tore 

 off the screen from the entrance, and let them out in the new 

 portico, just for an airing! Well, of course you know what they 

 did— died as fast as tbey rolled out — and I soon became convinced 

 that at that rate they would soon be all dead— that something else 

 must be done, and that immediately. So 1 plugged the holes, then 

 wisht I had been raised with the aid of a father, and one that knew 

 something about bees. 



Well, the kids were all around me in the cellar— watching 

 " Paw " fix the bees. Then they askt, when I shut the holes, what 

 I was going to do ; if the bees wouldn't die if kept in the hive, and 

 all such questions. 



Well, I called for a piece of screen, took the nails out of the 

 top board, and removed the same very carefully, and slipt the screen 

 over in its stead. My, Mr. Man. what a commotion there was in 

 that "gum !" Then they got quiet and staid so to their end. 



The "gum" was about two-thirds full of comb. Every time 

 old Bowser (that's me) went in the cellar, he had to take a peek in 

 to see how the little ones were. The top of the hive was usually 

 slipt to one side, and a match or two lit to give light to see them. 

 All appeared O. K. until shortly after the time I sent in for advice 

 about getting bees out for the early flow of sap from maple trees, 

 as you remember. Well, from then I noticed they did not gather 

 as high up in the hive as usual, and I thought maybe they went 

 below for warmth. Then 1 closed the top a little more, but they 

 kept sinking. 



Finally one sunshiny day the idea struck me they needed some 

 sunshine. So I slipt them over by the door where the suu shone in 

 about noon, and took ofl: the top of the bive (now laugh. Doctor,) 

 and gave them a sun bath for half an hour. But all for "nix;" 

 they kept going until I soon became aware that Blunkey had 

 monkeyed the bees, and that soon we would have what honey there 

 was. So we did. There was 20 or 2.5 pounds in the hive, and I 

 know they didn't die for the want of something to eat. My ignor- 

 ance killed them. But I am considerably wiser. 



I will buy three or four colonies in good, respectable hives in 

 the spring, or as soon as they can be had when they are brought 

 out for spring from the cellar. 



I am going to try my best to learn something about bees, for I 

 have a lot of husky big boys, and I am not needed in the fields, 

 except occasionally to look after them. The bees will afford me 

 lots of pleasure, as I believe it's a fine study, and only regret that 

 I lived 47 years before taking a notion to them. 



You can well understand why I was experimenting with top 

 ventilation. Doctor. I couldn't get around It, as the bottom had 

 about a dozen 10-penny nails in it. 



Now. as I said in the beginning, if you can tell me which move 

 was the fatal one, I'll treat. 



I think the Bee Journal is a fine bee-paper, especially for those 

 who know something about bees. 



Now, I'll pound around, and eventually may get to know some- 

 thing about bees. Doesn't it beat all how ignorant some people 

 are, and I one of the worst of the whole crowd I You may tell 

 the readers of the Bee Journal that " Iowa " has .satisfied himself 

 that the bottom is the better place to ventilate, and that he will 

 never— no, never — try the top again. 



I would be pleased to know why it's best to have bees in dark- 

 ness when in the cellar. I notice in my second communication, as 

 to diarrhea, you advise the room to be dark when taking bees into 

 the house. 



My neighbor, who was seeking advice through me, says his 

 bees are all right no%v. But say. Doctor, how can he tell ? 



Well, you must surely have plenty of patience to be doling out 

 advice to such ones as I, and I will say I surely don't envy you 

 your job, no matter what your pay may be. 



We are having an unusually early spring. Our wheat was 

 sowed 12 days ago. We will start the seeder on oats in the morn- 

 ing. There is ample moisture to start the crop, but the ground is 

 dry below. 



Many thanks for your kind advice. I hope you will lead us for 

 years to come — at least long enough to see BlunkeyJoe get his eyes 

 open on bees. Iowa. March 21. 



P. S. — If you want to fan me about my ventilation, you are at 

 liberty to do so. 



Answek. — Your question as to which was the fatal mistake is 

 too hard for me. I don't know. There were so many of them that 

 you might as well draw cuts to find the fatal one. More likely it 

 was a composite afi^air, the bees finally laughing themselves to 

 death at the many different changes. 



For your guidance in the future, it may be well to note some 

 o£ the points that would help to bring about the final outcome. 

 Nov. 1 might do some years to cellar bees, but hardly last winter. 

 There was a good chance for them to fly three weeks later, and 

 they had three weeks unnecessary confinement, and long enough 

 confinement without anything else is sure death. All the worse if 

 the weather is warm after they are put in. Supposing they would 

 have barely come through all right by being cellared three weeks 

 later (as mine were.) that extra three weeks' confinement would 

 be enough to kill them. 



Screening them in, either with or without the portico, might 

 make all the difference between success and failure. If a bee wants 

 to leave the hive, screening it in will only make it stir up a lot of 

 others, and it would be better to let the one out to die than to have 



it die in the hive and a lot more with it. Bees that are all right 

 will stay quietly in the hive without any screening. 



In some cases it may do to have light streaming into the cellar, 

 when they are all right otherwise and the temperature right, but 

 generally the admission of light will make them come out of the 

 hive and die. Your cellar had its door open a number of days, and 

 that was probably pretty hard on them. If it's necessary to have 

 the cellar door open, let it be at night. 



The frequent disturbance from opening the hive helpt no doubt 

 to shorten life. 



Top ventilation may be just as good as any. Given a cellar at 

 proper temperature, about 4.5^\ or at whatever temperature the 

 bees keep perfectly quiet, with air perfectly pure, and it doesn't 

 matter a pin whether the ventilation is bottom, top or side, so 

 there's enough of it. 



After all, you didn't come out so badly. You got 62 worth of 

 honey, making the cost of the bees only $2, and if you didn't have 

 .$2 worth of fun you don't price fun high enough by the pound. 



Que»>tions on Qiicen-Rearing. 



1. Suppose at the height of the season you took away all brood 

 except one frame with the queen, inserting in its place empty 

 combs. Then 48 hours after, take away the remaining frame of 

 brood, queen and all. What kind of queens would you get ? 



3. Or. suppose you inserted in the middle of. say, six different 

 hives, one empty frame of comb each, and at the end of 48 hours 

 placed them in a j^opulous colony that had been deprived of its 

 queen and brood. Nebraska. 



Answers.— 1. After scratching my head over that question, 

 I'm rather inclined to reply that you'd get just about the same 

 kind of queens you'd get if you took away the queen in the first 

 place, leaving all the brood and bees. One disadvantage would be 

 that it would take three or four days longer. Probably your 

 thought is that you'd be sure of having queens reared from the 

 egg— and so you would. But I don't believe it would be any better, 

 if quite as good, to start with an egg laid to-day, as compared with 

 a larva hatcht out of the egg to-day, and I don't know that a larva 

 just hatcht has any advantage over one three days old, for the best 

 authorities tell us that the food given to the worker-larva during 

 the first three days is just the same as that fed to queen-larva. 

 When a queen is taken away from a colony in the height of the 

 season, there are eggs and larvae of all ages present. Now, doesn't 

 it look rather reasonable to you that the bees will select what will 

 make the best queens if you leave it entirely to them ? 



2. In this case you'd have six different kinds of stock to breed 

 from, and it would be a little better to breed from the best stock. 

 Otherwise there would probably be no advantage over the plan 

 first proposed. But there's no law against your trying it. 



Traiisrcrrins Bees — Tlie Albinos. 



1. I have a few colonies of bees in nearly as many different 

 varieties of hives, all movable frames except one, which is a box- 

 hive. I wish to transfer them into uniform hives. What I wish to 

 know is, when is the best time to transfer so as to interfere least 

 with brood-rearing and honey-collecting '. 



2. I intend to transfer by the " Heddon method." Does this 

 method work equally well with movable-frame hives as it does 

 with box-hives ? 



3. Kindly give a brief account of "Albino" bees and their 

 relative value. Amateur. 



Answers.— 1. The favorite time for transferring early is when 

 fruit-trees are in bloom. But many prefer, especially when the 

 bees are in box-hives, to wait until the bees swarm, then transfer 

 three weeks later. 



2. Just as well. But when bees are to be transferred from one 

 frame hive to another, it ought not to ba a hard matter— certainly 

 not a hard matter in some cases— just to cut the combs out of one 

 frame and put them into another' It is much easier than trans- 

 ferring from box-hives. In fruit-bloom is a good time for it. If 

 the new frame is larger than the old one. it's easy to fill in a little 

 by cutting up one of the combs for that purpose. If the new frame 

 is smaller, it's easy to cut the comb down to the right size. If the 

 old frame is smaller than the new one, it may work well to leave a 

 top, bottom or end bar of the old frame attacht to the comb so as 

 to make it the right size. 



3. An albino bee, like an albino man, is one in which there is 

 a deficiency of coloring- matter, making them lighter colored. The 

 general rule is that an albino of any kind is, to say the least, no 

 stronger tor the change. Of late there has been little said about 

 albino bees, and perhaps not a great many think them an 

 improvement. 



Lang^strotb on the Honey-Bee, revised by 

 The Dadants, is a standard, reliable and thoroughly complete 

 work on bee-culture. It contains 520 pages, and is bound 

 elegantly. Every reader of the American Bee Journal should 

 have a copy of this book, as It answers hundreds of questions 

 that arise about bees. We mail it for $1.25, or club it with 

 the Bee Journal for a year— both together for only §2.00. 



Its'" See "Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 300 



