486 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



August 4, 



OONDUCTBD BT 



DR. O. O. JMZLtEH, atAJCEKGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to tbe Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller dlrect.1 



Using Two-Slory Brood-Cliambers. 



You advise for comb honey two-story S-frame dovetailed 

 hives, or 16 frames, until the time to put on supers, then one 

 story is to be taken off, reducing them to one story or eight 

 frames. My experience is that in this locality the honey har- 

 vest opens and supers are to be put on somewhere near May 

 15 ; and up to that time the queen never occupies or fills more 

 than eight frames with brood. In that case I should think it 

 would not be necessary or practicable to put on the second 

 story. Am I correct, or not ? Indiana. 



Answek. — I don't know. If a single story gives all the 

 room the queen will occupy, and if no more room is needed, 

 then there can hardly be any advantage in giving a second 

 story. But you can hardly be very sure about this if you've 

 never tried it. Are you sure none of your queens, will occupy 

 more than eight frames if they have a chance? I think you'll 

 find it true that, as a rule, bees don't like to use either of the 

 two outside combs for brood, using them only for honey and 

 pollen. If you find brood in either of the outside combs (and 

 you may find it In both) you may feel pretty sure that they are 

 somewhat crowded for brood-room ; and if you find eight 

 combs occupied with brood in an 8-frame hive, the probability 

 is that more than eight combs would be used if the bees had 

 two stories. Keep a strong colony in one story of eight frames 

 and it will have brood in not more than eight frames, if in- 

 deed it has more than six, whereas the same colony iu two 

 stories may have 9 to 1-i frames with brood. Some colonies 

 don't need the second story ; some do. If you practice using 

 two stories, you'll find a good many more of your colonies 

 needing them than if you kept all of them constantly confined 

 to one story. That is, by giving always all the room needed, 

 you'll have stronger colonies. 



A Quintet of Que§lion§. 



1. Do the bees store as mnch honey in the sections where 

 only 21 are put on a hive as where there are 32 ? 



2. Dr. Gallup told in this Journal of a man who made lOS 

 colonies of bees out of one in two seasons. How did he get 

 enough queens ? aud how did he get the colonies strong enough 

 for winter ? 



3. How long should a good queen-cell be ? Are natural 

 queen-cells better than others? 



4. Can you give me the address of a few bee-keepers that 

 use the Quinby closed-end-frame hive, as shown in Benton's' 

 book on bee-keeping ? Are they better for wintering than the 

 loose-frame hives ? 



5. Do Doolittle and Gallup answer questions in the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal ? Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. That depends somewhat upon how the 

 matter is managed. If you put on one super at a time, and 

 wait till all the sections are sealed before giving a second 

 super, you'll probably get quite a little more honey by using 

 the larger supers. If you use better management, and give 

 room as fast as needed, never allowing the bees to be crowded 

 for super room, you'll probably find no difference. 



2. I don't know the particulars of the case, but he could 

 follow the nucleus plan, rearing a queen in the nucleus, and 

 then building up the nucleus. With a sufBeiently long and 

 good honey season, there would be no trouble in having the 

 colonies stored for winter, the latest formed receiving aid from 

 the earlier ones. Feeding might also be resorted to. 



o. Perhaps something like 1,V or IJ^ inches. But there 

 are so many exceptions to the rule that it makes the rule of 

 little account. Sometimes a cell two inches long will be a very 

 poor affair, and sometimes a good queen will come out of a ceil 

 that hardly shows above the surface of the comb. So far as 

 you can judge from appearances, the length of a cell is hardly 

 so important as its appearance otherwise. A cell that is 

 deeply pitted is more likely to be good than one that is smooth. 

 That is true in the case of cells reared for natural swarming. 

 If you take away the queen, aud a cell is reared right in the 

 middle of a comb with brood in every cell about It, the cell 



may be perfectly smooth and of so little prominence as not to 

 be noticed at a careless glance, and yet it may produce an ex- 

 cellent queen. 



The average natural queen-cell is better than the average 

 cell reared when the bees had no previous thought of swarm- 

 ing or superseding. For in making up the average, you must 

 take into account a lot of very poor cells reared in weak and 

 dispirited nuclei. Rightly managed, however, and reared in a 

 strong colony — at least left in a strong colony till sealed — a 

 cell reared artificially may be as good as the very best. 



•4. I'm not entirely sure of the address of a single bee- 

 keeper who uses that frame, for altho many Quinby frames 

 are used, I don't know which are closed-end. If any of the 

 fraternity who use this particular kind of frame care to answer 

 any questions that may be askt about them, perhaps they will 

 make it known. As a rule, there is no other class of men 

 more willing to divide their knowledge. Closed-end frames 

 ought to be warmer for winter than others. 



5. All the answers that appear in this particular depart- 

 ment are written by the same person. When a question comes 

 in, it goes into the general hopper, and is answered in this de- 

 partment. But both of the gentlemen named have answered 

 many questions iu this paper, and probably would do so at any 

 time if so requested. 



Honey in mason Jars — Smotlicred Colony. 



1. I have some extracted honey in Mason fruit jars. 

 Would you advise one to put the covers on tight, the same as 

 when canning fruit? About >8 of it was unsealed when ex- 

 tracted. It is not for sale, but for my own use. 



2. I was obliged to move a colony that was queenless, but 

 had some sealed queen-cells. In the morning I stopt the en- 

 trance with wire-cloth before moving It, and at night on re- 

 moving the cloth I found most of the bees smothered, and the 

 two outside combs (heavy with honey) a little broken down, 

 and some melted. The bees had turned almost black, and 

 most of the brood was dead. What would you do with the 

 combs having the dead brood ? 



For information, I would say that I found enough live 

 bees to form a nucleus, and to sting (in fact, the sharpest and 

 worst-feeling sting I ever received). I gave them some eggs 

 from another colony in case the queen-cells did not hatch out, 

 all in the same hive, and smoked them in after cleaning it 

 out. I also extracted the two broken combs and have the 

 honey in a jar by itself to find out how it acts. Oregon. 



Answers. — 1. If you heat the honey as In putting up 

 fruit, then seal It up tight. It is said to keep well and not 

 granulate. But it's rather a dangerous thing to heat honey, 

 for if you run It above 160^ you are likely to darken it and 

 hurt the flavor. If you leave the covers loose or entirely off, 

 so as to give chance for evaporation, and then keep it in an 

 airy place, a place where salt will keep dry, you will find It 

 will keep well, altho it may granulate. 



2. I would give the combs of dead brood to other colonies 

 to clean up and take care of. It's only fair to say that some 

 good authorities say there is danger of foul brood from rotting 

 brood. I agree with those who think that if there is no foul 

 brood present in any other hive you can't start foul brood 

 without the seeds of foul brood, but knowing the two views 

 you can act on your own judgment. If you are afraid the de- 

 cayed brood will start foul brood, by all means burn it up. 

 But if it was In my own apiary, I would give it to a strong 

 colony, or to more than one colony. 



You will very likely find that the honey extracted is not 

 different from other honey. 



Bee-Range, Shading Hives, Etc. 



Being a new subscriber, I am not aware that the question 

 of bee-range has been discust before. Now that nectar is none 

 too plentiful, the question of how far bees will range In search 

 of food, might be taken up with profit. Also, the most i-a- 

 proved manner of shading hives, which may be termed a burn- 

 ing question. Illinois. 



Answer — At different times the question has been askt, 

 "If I can have only one, shall I get a bee-paper or a bee- 

 book ?" I'm not sure but I have said a paper first, or at least 

 have put them on equal footing. I wouldn't answer that way 

 now. I'm older, aud know more. By all means get the bee- 

 book first. There are certain points that every bee-keeper — 

 every beginner in bee-keeping — will need to know, aud that 

 he will be likely to want to ask about. These points are pretty 

 well known to every experienced bee-keeper, and the text- 



