1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU. 



599 



other two depleted. But if you set the old colony close beside 

 the prime swarm, and then six or eiftht days later set the 

 mother colony in a new place, will you have any after-swarm- 

 ioR? 



Possibly you may like Doolittle's favorite plan. On the 

 eighth day after the prime swarm, just before bed-time, put 

 your ear to the hive and listen for piping of the queen. If 

 she doesn't pipe, listen every night till 16 days after swarm- 

 ing, and if there's no piping by that time there will be no more 

 swarming. If you hear piping any night (generally you'll 

 hear it, if at all, 8 or 10 days after the prime swarm), next 

 morning cut out every last queen-cell, shaking off all bees 

 from the combs in front of the hive, so you can more readily 

 see the queen-cells. Then you've got a sure thing of It, for 

 you know there's a live queen at liberty in the hive, and you 

 know there's no chance for any more. The only trouble is 

 that unless you're very careful you may miss a cell. 



Introducing Queens — Swarming. 



1. When is the best time to introduce queens, In the 

 spring, summer or fall ? And what is the best way to intro- 

 duce ? 



2. What causes bees to swarm in some years more than 

 others ? Tennessee. 



Answers. — 1. It Is probably a little easier to introduce 

 them in the height of the honey-flow. It Interferes with egg- 

 laying to introduce a queen In spring — a time when it is im- 

 portant to have breeding advance as rapidly as possible. In 

 the fall is perhaps the best time so far as concerns the Inter- 

 ruption of egg-laying. If you buy queens, you will receive 

 them In shipping-cages with Instructions for introducing by 

 means of these cages, which are introduclng-cages as well as 

 shipping-cages. If you have a queen of your own rearing in a 

 nucleus, a good plan is to take a frame of brood from the nu- 

 cleus, bees and all, with the queen on it, giving it to the 

 queenless colony. 



2. The difference In seasons makes the difference in 

 swarming. If a season Is so poor that the bees hardly get 

 enough to live on, there will be little or no swarming. If they 

 get enough for their own use and just a little more, the season 

 continuing this way a long time, there will be a great deal of 

 swarming. If the honey-harvest comes on with a rush, con- 

 tinuing heavy while it lasts, the bees will give their attention 

 less to swarming, and more to securing the harvest. 



Queen Failed or L.o§t in mating. 



I have a colony of bees that superseded Its queen about 

 the first of August. They had built but two queen-cells ; a 

 swarm came off when the first one that hatoht was 48 hours 

 old, but about one-half of the swarm returned to the old stand. 

 I hived those that clustered, as I wanted to save the queen — 

 she was a golden Italian. I put an empty super on the old 

 stand, and did not molest the hive again until to-day (Sept. 5) 

 when I thought I would see how the queen had mated. I 

 found the super and brood-combs solid full of honey, with the 

 exception of one center comb which contained a path of drone- 

 cells three inches in diameter ; they contained larvae, and some 

 just sealed up, and eggs in a few worker-cells adjoining. 

 What is the trouble, and what am I to do ? New York. 



Answer. — Either the queen failed in mating or was lost. 

 Probably the best thing you can do is to unite the two colo- 

 nies. The one with the queen Is not likely to be very strong, 

 as part of its bees went back, and the one without the queen 

 will rapidly shrink in numbers from this time, if It has not al- 

 ready done so. Unite the two, and you will probably have a 

 good, strong colony for winter. Some of the combs of honey 

 can be saved out, and you will probably find plenty of use for 

 them next spring, if no other colouy needs them now. 



Swarms Returning to Wrong Hive, Etc. 



I put Into winter quarters last winter eight colonies and 

 three 3-frame nuclei, and came through the winter, by feed- 

 ing, all right, only losing one nucleus. Four of the colonies 

 were in 8-frame and four in 10 frame hives. Swarming com- 

 menced June 6, but it was so windy that the bees had to watch 

 their chance to swarm out, none hanging out before it started. 

 I managed my swarms after the Heddon method, with dipt 

 queens, and find it works perfectly. The last swarm that is- 

 sued, June 25, came back in about 10 minutes, but entered a 



wrong hive, that is about eight yards from the old stand, and 

 which had swarmed four days before. All the swarms (8) 

 were managed exactly alike, on frames with starters and on 

 frames with built combs. The 8-frame hives gave better re- 

 turns than the 10-frame. 



The honey -flow here Is mostly from white and Alsike 

 clover ; there are some wild weeds but they don't amount to 

 much. 



My experiment with sweet clover is a failure. It came up 

 all right and then dried out. 



1. Why did that swarm enter the wrong hive, as the dipt 

 queen was put back on the old stand 1 



2. To winter bees on the summer stands in a wet country 

 like this, is wheat chaff the best to be used to be put Into the 

 supers and beside the brood-chamber, so as not to have the 

 bees too damp ? 



3. What has the temperature to be outside, so the bees 

 can build combs In the supers In a single-walled hive? 



4. Is it necessary to have it air-tight between the super 

 and brood-chamber ? 



A good many colonies in this county died last winter for 

 the want of food. Washington. 



Answers.— With dipt queens you will frequently have 

 swarms return to the wrong hive. Especially if a swarm has 

 returned to a hive a short time before and there is excitement 

 at the entrance, a swarm will rather go there than go back to 

 Its own hive. And sometimes they will go to some other hive 

 than their own when you can see no reason for it. 



2. Timothy is perhaps preferred. Of late years much has 

 been said in favor of dry planer-shavings. 



3. A strong colony will build comb when It's down near 

 freezing, if there is sufficient need for building, that is, if they 

 are crowded for room to hold the honey. 



4. No, not absolutely air-tight, but the closer the better 

 when it's cool. When the weather is hot enough, they don't 

 seem to mind big cracks. 



Honey as Food is a neat little 24-page pamphlet 

 especially gotten up with a view to creating a demand tor 

 honey among should-be consumers. The forepart of the 

 pamphlet was written by Dr. C. C. Miller, and Is devoted to 

 general information concerning honey. The latter part con- 

 sists of recipes for use in cooking and as a medicine. It 

 will be found to be a very effective helper in working up a 

 home market for honey. We furnish them, postpaid, at these 

 prices: A sample for a stamp; 25 copies for 30 cents; 50 

 for 50 cents; 100 for 90 cents; 250 for $2.00; 500 for 

 $3.50. For 25 cents extra we will print your name and ad- 

 dress on the front page, when ordering 100 or more copies at 

 these prices. 



Bee-Keeping: for Begfinners is the title of a 

 110-page book just out, from the pen of that expert bee- 

 keeper of the South, Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Georgia. It 

 claims to be •' a practical and condenst treatise on the honey- 

 bee, giving the best modes of management in order to secure 

 the most profit." Price of the book, postpaid, 50 cents. Or, 

 we will club it with the Bee Journal for one year— both to- 

 gether for $1.40; or, we will mail it as a premium to any of 

 our present subscribers for sending us one new subscriber to 

 the Bee Journal for a year (at $1.00), and 10 cents extra. 



Xlie Alsike Clover Leaflet consists of 2 pages, 

 with lllustratious, showing the value of Alsike clover, and 

 telling how to grow it. This Leaflet is just the thing to hand 

 to every farmer in your neighborhood. Send to the Bee Jour- 

 nal office for a quantity of them, and see that they are dis- 

 tributed where they will do the most good. Prices, postpaid, 

 are as follows : 50 for 20 cents ; 100 for 35 cents ; or 200 

 for 60 cents. 



-^ • ¥ 



The "Wood Binder for holding a year's numbers of 

 American Bee Journal, we propose to mall, postpaid, to every 

 subscriber who sends to us 20 cents. It is a very simple 

 arrangement. Full printed directions accompany each Binder. 

 Every reader should get it, and preserve the copies of the Bee 

 Journal as fast as they are received. They are invaluable for 

 reference, and at the low price of the Binder you can afford to 

 get It yearly. 



Every Present Subscril>er of the Ber Journal 

 should be an agent for it, and get all other bee-keepers possi- 

 ble to subscribe for it. 



