534 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



August '45, 



winter on granulated sugar — say 25 pounds of sugar to each 

 and water according to rule — and do the feeding about Sept. 

 1, for Inside wintering? 



5. How Is buckwheat honey for inside wintering of bees ? 

 White honey granulates in the comb quicker than buckwheat. 



6. There Is a bee-keeper a short distance from me that 

 says It is foolish to have bees go into winter quarters with so 

 many bees In a hive. He says he wants only 2,000 bees and 

 a queen In the hive when winter comes, as they consume less 

 honey. I dumpt five colonies into one hive and saved the best 

 queen last fall, and they did not consume any more honey 

 than the rest of my other colonies, and they did the business 

 this season, you may be sure. What do you think about a few 

 bees In a hive, and the queen, to go Into winter quarters ? 



Nevp York. 

 Answers. — 1. The only knowledge I have of pickled 

 brood is what I have read. On page 419 of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1897, E S. Lovesy says he has treated the dis- 

 ease by sprinkling a good handful of salt on the bees. — [See 

 page 530. — Editor]. 



2. Probably It doesn't make any great difference whether 

 the ventilator works from the top or bottom of the cellar, only 

 so the air of the cellar is changed. If convenient, let the ven- 

 tilating-tube start from the bottom of the cellar. It should go 

 into a chimney or be In some way arranged that there will be 

 a draft. In perhaps all cases there Is enough Inlet for fresh 

 air through the cracks and crevices of the wall without 

 making any special provision for entrance of air. If only there 

 is draft enough to take It out. The worst time to get up ven- 

 tilation is on warm days and nights In spring, when the tem- 

 perature of the cellar is the same as that of the outer air. At 

 such times the only thing — or perhaps the best thing — is to 

 open doors and windows wide at night, closing them up next 

 day as soon as the bees show signs of flying out. 



3. Opinions are divided. If you kill all your queens when 

 two years old, replacing them with queens equally good, your 

 bees will probably do well. And perhaps they will do just as 

 well if you leave the matter In their own hands. The latter 

 plan Is certainly the least trouble. 



4 and 5. Buckwheat honey Is very good for wintering 

 and so Is granulated sugar, and It's doubtful if you would get 

 any pay for your labor if you empty out the buckwheat and 

 feed sugar. 



6. Some years ago there was something of a sensation 

 made by a Mr. Hosmer about killing off all but a small num- 

 ber of bees in a colony, but the matter died out, and little has 

 been said about It lately. I thiak the theory was that the 

 older bees died before spring any way, and there was no use 

 putting them into winter quarters. You can easily try the ex- 

 periment. About the first of September on a warm day move 

 a colony to an entirely new location. The old bees that fly out 

 will not return to the hive, and thus you will have only the 

 younger bees. It's a good plan to unite several weak colo- 

 nies. In the fall, but you may overdo it, for no matter how 

 strong the resulting colony, when the harvest comes you will 

 have only the progeny of the one q ueen. If you unite three 

 weak ones, making one strong one, that one strong one may 

 do more than the three weak ones would have done. If, how- 

 ever, you unite six, making twice as strong a colony In the 

 fall, you will have no stronger colony for the next harvest 

 than you would from uniting the three. 



Bees Playing— Comb or Extracted. 



1. My bees come out and fly around in front of the hive, 

 go back In and make lots of noise as If something was wrong. 

 Oftentimes when one colony quits another one begins. What 

 is the cause? 



2. Which Is the most profitable, super for comb honey ? 

 or two and three-story hives for extracted honey ? 



3. Which will the bees work In the best, two-story frame 

 hives or pound boxes ? My wife wants pound boxes, and I 

 want twostory hives. Idaho. 



Answers. — 1. If the weather is fair enough, you will 

 probably find that each colony has a dally play-spell, when the 

 young bees that fly for the first time and the house-keeping 

 bees take a fly for exercise. They will be flying very busily at 

 one hive, the bees flying much of the time with their heads 

 toward the hive, taking little circles close to the hive and 

 gradually getting farther away ; then after a time they will 

 quiet down and other colonies will be at It. 



2. For some places and for some bee-keepers comb honey 

 is best. For others extracted. If that were not so, you would 

 hardly find one man working entirely for comb honey and 

 another for extracted, as is the case at present. 



3. It is easier to get bees to work in extracting supers than 



in sections or pound boxes. It is generally believed that you 

 can get considerably more extracted honey than comb, but 

 comb generally brings a better price. It Is considered a mat- 

 ter that requires more skill and experience to get comb than 

 extracted. If you are not certain which Is best for you. It may 

 not be a bad plan for you to try both. Indeed, some of the 

 best bee-keepers think It's a good plan to combine and work 

 for both. Moreover, It is not to be wondered at that a good 

 house-keeper should want some nice section-honey to grace 

 her table, considering the difference in looks between that and 

 extracted. 



^ 



Unfavorable Experience witli the Bee-Escape. 



I got a Porter bee-escape and fixt the escape-board accord- 

 ing to directions. Somehow the bees uncap the honey before 

 they pass through the escape. As I tried the escape-board on 

 two hives, with the same result, I put it under a super In the 

 evening, and took the super off the next morning. The bees 

 were all out of the super, but the capping was gnawed off. 

 Please let me know what's the reason, and If such honey is fit 

 for sale. Illinois. 



Answer. — It is possible that your bees have a large pro- 

 portion of black blood in them, for when black bees are fright- 

 ened they seem to attack the first spot they come to on the 

 combs to fill themselves with honey, tearing holes in many 

 places of the capping, while the Italians are more deliberate, 

 and hunt around for unsealed cells from which to load up. 

 Even with black bees there ought to be no uncapping unless 

 the bees get too much frightened. The remedy, of course, is 

 to put on the escape without exciting the bees, and, as soon as 

 you can, get Italian blood. 



It Is not often that bees, on leaving the super, gnaw holes 

 enough In the capping to materially hurt the sale. Of course 

 It is mainly a matter of looks, and the more nearly perfect a 

 section is the better it will sell. 



Bees Affected with Some Disease. 



I bought 10 colonies last spring In a good, healthy condi- 

 tion, apparently, as they were handled by an experienced bee- 

 man last season, and I got a man of some experience to take 

 them and care for them. They did splendidly during the fore- 

 part of the season, putting out some good, strong swarms. 

 After they had ceast to work on basswood, he took two frames 

 of old comb out, and put in two frames of foundation, think- 

 ing to get them all on foundation. He then placed the combs 

 In the top of the hive, to feed back to them, and he thought 

 they had begun robbing, and thought he had traced it to one 

 swarm : so he closed the entrance to the hive with wire screen 

 (a chaff hive) during the day, and at night they had all 

 smothered, and the combs all melted down. We moved the 

 hive some distance away, and let the bees have free access to 

 it. Now he thinks two colonies have foul brood, as there 

 seems to be dead brood in the combs. 



What is It? and what was likely the cause ? Also, how 

 should we treat it ? Could they have contracted any disease 

 from the dead brood of the smothered colony ? Or, if It Is 

 foul brood, could they contract the disease from bees In the 

 vicinity ? Michigan. 



Answer. — Foul brood is such a terrible disease, and the 

 risk of danger from it so great that it will well pay every bee- 

 keeper to be thoroughly informed upon it. Get Dr. Howard's 

 book and fully post up. The expense Is trifling, and may save 

 much. What can be given in the small space here allowed 

 must be very unsatisfactory compared with the Information 

 given in a book wholly devoted to it. Foul brood might easily 

 be contracted from affected colonies in the neighborhood, in- 

 deed. Just as far distant as bees would fly to rob. It is hardly 

 likely the bees contracted any disease from robbing, unless It 

 was foul brood. [We mail Dr. Howard's booklet on foul brood 

 for 25 cents. — Editor ] 



Bees Have Foul Brood. 



I have about 20 colonies of bees, and almost all. If not 

 all, have foul brood. I have had bees 21 years, and never saw 

 any foul brood before. What would you recommend for a 

 cure ? Wind.sor. 



Answer. — You probably can do no better than to use the 

 McEvoy treatment as recommended and described In Dr. How- 

 ard's book on foul brood. If you have not the book, by all 

 means get It at once. In a matter of so much consequence it 

 pays to be as fully informed as possible. 



