1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



usually succeed In rearing good queens In fully three-fourths 

 of the cases. Yet we can say that we take particular pains 

 to Induce the rearing of early drones, which could be done by 

 a little stimulative feeding of the selected colonies. If queen- 

 rearing is contemplated to any extent during the year, it be- 

 comes almost Indispensable to resort to stimulative feeding, 

 for there are many seasons when the drones are killed by the 

 bees of nearly all the hives only because the crop does not 

 happen to come when expected by them. The present season 

 is one of this sort, and the drones were nearly all killed late 

 in May, In our apiaries. 



To get bees from the South Is certainly a very good 

 method, and our Southern brethren are very reasonable in 

 their prices, for they sell them at rates for which we do not 

 think we could rear them profitably. Yet, an apiarist will 

 often hesitate to spend three or four dollars to save several 

 queenless colonies. Then it sometimes takes longer to get the 

 queens, when ordering them early, than It will take to rear 

 them in your apiary. No one but a novice will send an order 

 for a queen In April with the expectation of receiving her by 

 return mail in every instance. 



If you feed up one or two strong colonies about April 1, 

 they will have drones by May 1 to 10. Then you may begin 

 your queen-rearing April 15 with but little fear of their being 

 unable to find drones during the first two weeks of their life. 

 Should a young queen get lost from having to take too many 

 flights, the colony which reared her is much better prepared 

 to rear another than a colony that would have been left all 

 this time queenless. The only thing that renders a colony 

 unfit to rear a queen is the presence of an old, barren queen, 

 or of one or more laying workers. In either case, the bees 

 seem to be satisfied that they have all they need, and it is a 

 hopeless task to try to save them unless a number of fresh 

 bees are added. 



There Is a method by which we can be sure of having 

 early drones. It is to rear young queens from good stock and 

 in full colonies late in October. Such queens do not become 

 impregnated, because the drones are no longer alive, and by 

 the end of winter they have become drone-layers. They are 

 prolific, being young, and rear a hive full of drones. The only 

 trouble is that they must be killed promptly and replaced or 

 the colony would soon die. We had an experience of this kind 

 very involuntarily one year — about 1870 or 1872 — on six or 

 seven colonies, the mother queens of which had been sold by 

 us very late in the season. These young queens were all 

 magnificent drone-layers the following spring, and gave us a 

 very good opportunity of rearing a lot of queens. This is a 

 method which it Is hardly advisable to follow, however, and 

 we would much prefer to trust to natural conditions for our 

 supply of early drones. Hancock Co., III. 



COirDUCTED BY 



DR. C O. MILI.ER, MARENGO. ILL, 



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



Alfalfa in Texas — Oilier Questions. 



1. While talking to Mr. Davenport, of this county, a few 

 days ago, I said that next year I Intended to sow about 12 

 acres of alfalfa, and cut three acres early in the spring, in a 

 short while three more, and so on, the last being cut when 

 ripe would do for hay, and by the time it was cut the first 

 three acres would be ready to bloom. Thus I would have con- 

 tinual bloom of alfalfa. But he (the barbarian) with ruthless 

 hand hurled his missile at my air-castle, and It disappeared. 

 He says that alfalfa yields very little honey in this climate. 

 How about that ? 



2. I have 15 colonies of bees, six of which I transferred 

 this spring, four are still in box-hives, and four, which I 

 bought, in home-made, movable-frame hives. One of the latter 

 which was very strong and active in early spring, is not doing 

 well. About three weeks ago I examined it, and finding it al- 

 most full, I gave them a super. I examined this from time to 

 time and never found a bee in It. A few days ago I took off 

 the super and lookt into the brood-chamber, and it seems to 

 me they are not as full as when I put the super on. While the 

 other bees are working thickly in and out, these lie about the 

 entrance and do nothing. I have never been able to find a 



queen in this or any other hive, so I don't know whether they 

 are queenless or not? Is It probable ? 



3. In the early mornings I notice from one to five or six 

 young bees, still white, dead In front of the hives. What is 

 the cause ? I notice no disagreeable smell as of foul brood. 



4. I notice a great deal said in the Bee Journal about 

 "preventing swarming." Now, not to show my ignorance but 

 to get information, I would like to know what would be the 

 effect on the bees If all queen-cells were kept pincht off at the 

 time when it is desired that they do not swarm ? 



5. How does Alsike clover do in this climate? Texas. 



Answers. — 1. If he has kept close watch of the matter 

 his word is worth more than mine. I know that not long ago 

 a report came — I think it was from west of here, perhaps Iowa 

 — that alfalfa yielded no honey, and the only field of alfalfa I 

 ever examined when in full bloom in my own county had not 

 a bee on it. 



2. It is very probable that they are queenless. If so, you 

 will find no unsealed brood present, unless they have been 

 queenless so long that laying workers have set up business. In 

 which case you will find sealed brood in worker-cells that has 

 not the usual flat sealing, but round, like little marbles close 

 together. 



3. It Isn't foul brood, for in that case the brood Is left in 

 the cell and it isn't white. It may be drone brood that is 

 thrown out because the bees don't want drones, or it may be 

 from some other cause, but it need cause no uneasiness unless 

 there is a good deal of it, in which case It may point to starva- 

 tion. But if there's honey in the hive it isn't starvation. 



4. It doesn't always work the same. Sometimes the bees 

 will give up swarming if you destroy the queen-cells, but gen- 

 erally they will start others, and in some cases may swarm 

 with only eggs in queen-cells, If indeed they have that much. 

 If you don't die till you find out how to prevent swarming 

 without in any way interfering with a good crop of comb 

 honey, you'll probably be gathered to your fathers at a very 

 ripe old age. 



5. It probably does well, as I don't remember seeing any 

 unfavorable reports from Texas. 



Building Irregular Combs. 



I wired all my brood-frames and used strips of foundation 

 about an inch wide on the top-bars. I now find the bees are 

 building comb about 2}4 inches thick on one frame, and about 

 one inch thick on the next, aud so on alternately across the 

 hive. Why is this, and is there any remedy for it ? 



Minnesota. 



Answek. — The only thing I can think of to account for 

 such irregular work is the irregular spacing of the frames. If 

 you have the foundation In the middle of each frame and have 

 the frames all spaced at equal distances, it is hardly possible 

 there will be any such trouble. 



Feeding Back Extracted Honey. 



1. We wish to buy some pure extracted honey, to feed 

 back in order to get comb honey in one-pound sections. Will 

 it pay us to do this ? 



2. What per cent, would the bees use in converting ex- 

 tracted honey into section comb honey? Or, how many 

 pounds of flnisht comb honey would the bees produce from 

 100 pounds of the fed extracted honey? Virginia. 



Answers. — Very, very doubtful. 



2. That depends. You might not get 10 pounds of comb 

 honey from 100 of extracted, and you might get a good deal 

 more. If you feed the 100 pounds of extracted to one colony 

 you'll get a good deal more comb honey than if you feed it to 

 five colonies. But whether you feed it to one or five, there 

 seems to be a shrinkage that can hardly be accounted for. At 

 a rough guess, from what I have read and from some little ex- 

 perimenting in that line, I should say that if you get 40 

 pounds of section honey by feeding 100 of extracted honey, 

 you'll do well. I know that some claim they can do It at a 

 profit, but J don't believe you or I could. 



Use of the Division-Board — Hanging Out. 



1. I have the dovetail hive and have put the division- 

 board lu the middle of the frames. Is that the right place for 

 it? If not, where does it belong? and of what use is the 

 division-board ? 



2. I caught a swarm about two weeks ago and put them 

 into an S-frame two-story Langstroth hive, and last Tuesday 



