1898 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU, 



695 



CD top of the frames with the hollow side next the bees and 

 put the quilt over It. 



When using quilts, as I did years ago, the bees always 

 built bur-combs enough over the combs to allow free passage 

 without the Hill's device. Since using flat board covers, there 

 is no need of anything of the kind, for there is a bee-space be- 

 tween the frames and cover. 



5. If the bees occupy a certain number of combs, say six, 

 there Is no need of any more combs In the hive through the 

 winter, unless it be to hold honey. But if the hive Is large 

 enough to hold more than six combs. It Is better to have the 

 empty space filled with something, or else shut off by a divis- 

 ion-board. At one time it was recommended to take out some 

 of the combs for winter. At present I think nearly every one 

 leaves the same number of frames in winter as in summer, 

 that is, 8 frames In an 8-frame hive, 10 frames in a 10-frame 

 hive. 



A Beginner's Questions. 



I bought a colony of Italian bees In a 9-frame hive. They 

 have done very well so far. I took out 60 sections of honey 

 up to Aug. 8. So far I have found no queen-cells so I divided 

 the bees, putting three frames and the queen in a new hive 

 with four frames of foundation. They went to work at once. 



1. Did I do right in dividing them ? 



2. Had I better put the two other frames in the new hive 

 and feed them so that they can fill the frames? 



3. Is a warm barn a good place to put bees for winter? 

 They are In double-walled hives. 



4. Are SO sections, 15 pounds of extracted, and enough 

 to winter on, good work for one colony? 



5. Is It well to diminish the size of hive-entrances in 

 winter ? 



6. Once In a while I see a bumblebee enter the hive. 

 Sometimes the bees Interfere with It, and sometimes they al- 

 low it to enter. Will this be any harm to the bees ? If so, 

 how can I prevent It ? New York. 



Answers. — 1. That depends on circumstances, the season, 

 etc. If you were anxious for increase perhaps it was the best 

 thing. 



2. You should manage In some way to make sure they 

 have enough stores for winter, if they have not made full pro- 

 vision themselves. 



3. It is not generally considered a very good place. The 

 trouble Is that when a warm spell comes the bees don't get 

 warmed up enough to fly before the warm spell is over. 



4. Yes, indeed. Don't expect to average anything like 

 that amount when you get to 50 or 100 colonies, or you may 

 be sorely disappointed. 



5. That depends on the size in summer. If you have the 

 entrance as large as some do In summer, better bring it down 

 to % or >8 inch the whole width of the hive. 



6. Don't worry about the matter. The bumble-bee will 

 get the worst of it. 



Salt on Cellar Floor— Survival of Fittest. 



1. Would you advise putting salt on the floor of the bee- 

 cellar ? If so, how much? It has a purifying effect on the 

 air if sprinkled on a carpet In a room. 



2. W. A. Varlan says on page 564 that by uniting swarms 

 the best queen survives. Now, what I want to know Is this : 

 When a colony swarms, can I cut out queen-cells and hatch 

 them in a queen-nursery, n In Alley, and when they are hatcht 

 turn them all In together and give the survivor to the colony ? 

 If you read the article you will know better what I mean. 

 You see I am trying to go Varlan " one better." 



Wisconsin. 



Answers. — 1. I wouldn't advise salt on cellar floor. If It 

 is an earth floor, it will be muddy, and I don't know any good 

 to sprinkle it on a board floor. I would rather use lime. 



2. I'd rather not answer. Still, rather than to be sent to 

 my seat in disgrace, I'll try to make some kind of an answer. 

 Mr. Varlan is on the right track. He Is not entirely correct, 

 however, in one respect. He thinks when two virgins or two 

 laying queens get into the same hive by the uniting of the two 

 colonies, the stronger and more active will survive in all cases, 

 but If a virgin and a laying queen are thus thrown together, 

 the laying queen will survive. In both of the cases mentioned 

 he will probably find exceptions. If a strong colony should be 

 united with a weak one having a stronger queen, the stronger 

 queen might be killed, and there might be other exceptions 

 with no apparent reason. With a laying and a virgin queen 

 thrown together, the exceptions might be still more frequent. 



If the laying queen should be pretty old, especially at the close 

 or near the close of the harvest, she would stand a fair chance 

 of being set aside for the younger one. Still the general rule 

 will hold. 



Yes, I'm Inclined to think your plan would work all right, 

 and you would have a more severe selection than by merely 

 throwing two queens together. But it would be a good deal 

 of trouble. Possibly you'd like to try the plan I follow, which 

 I think does fairly well, and is little trouble. Instead of giv- 

 ing a single cell to a nucleus or a colony, I give four, five or 

 more, if good cells are plenty (and my cells are always reared 

 in strong colonies.) If the first one of these that emerges Is 

 allowed to go around and destroy all the rest in their cells, 

 then there Is little choice In the matter ; but quite commonly 

 a plurality of queens is allowed to emerge, and the survival of 

 the fittest follows. Besides, If only a single cell is given, it 

 too often happens that It may contain a dead larva, or one in 

 some way defective. 



m I » 



Cellar- Wintering with Bottomless Hives. 



I have run against a problem too thick for me to extract. 

 My cellar Is overrun with mice ; they have holes running down 

 from the outside of the walls, and when snow comes the field- 

 mice flock to the premises and are a nuisance In spite of cats 

 and traps. I have been searching my "ABC" and fail to 

 find what I want. If I remove the bottom from the hive when 

 putting the bees into the cellar, would the mice bother them ? 

 I could leave the bottoms on, and leave a large entrance open, 

 but then the mice could get in if the bees allowed them to. 

 I'd like to cellar them with no hive-bottoms If It were safe. 



"Iowa Joe." 



Answer — I doubt if you can manage to leave the bottoms 

 all off with plenty of mice in the cellar. Of course you might 

 hang up the hives, but that would be much trouble. You 

 might put them on benches or boards, having these resting on 

 posts surmounted with reverst milk-pans, but that would also 

 be troublesome. Perhaps you might like the plan I follow: 

 The floors are on the hives, the entrance being 12x2 inches, 

 and the entrance is closed by wire-cloth with meshes three to 

 the inch. That allows plenty of room for bees to pass through, 

 but keeps oat mice. 



m I ■ 



Using tills Year's Seetions with Foundation Next 

 Year — Supers on Hives in Winter. 



1. I have five supers that are on the hives. The bees have 

 glued the sections together aud didn't work In them at all. 

 There Is foundation in them. Can I keep them as they come 

 off, and put them on next year? The honey-flow has stopt. 



2. When you use cushions or quilts, do you leave a super 

 on in winter ? Kansas. 



Answers. — 1. That depends on the condition of the foun- 

 dation. In some places, when foundation In sections is left in 

 the care of the bees till very late in the season, they will put 

 so much propolis on it that It is not fit to use again. If thus 

 varnlsht over with propolis, you better not use it again, but if 

 it looks nice and fresh, it will be all right to use It next season. 

 Some bee-keepers make the mistake of leaving sections on all 

 the season when bees are not storing anything. It may be all 

 right to put sections on in advanceof the white honey harvest, 

 for you may not know exactly when it will begin, and it Is 

 better for the bees to have it a little iu advance of their actual 

 needs, but when you tjud that you are to have no surplus from 

 the while honey harvest, don't leave the sections thinking 

 they will be all ready for a later flow that may come in a few 

 weeks, but take off all sections, and then if a later flow comes 

 that you want to catch In the sections, put them on again. 



2. Any way so there is room for the cushion. If the hive 

 has a cover deep enough to contain the cushion, that's all that 

 is necessary. If you use flat covers, then you must have a 

 super, hive-body, or something of the kind to contain the 

 cushion. But don't think of leaving on the hive over winter 

 a super containing sections, If you Intend using the sections 

 again. 



Langstrotli on the Hone>-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 mall it for $1.25, or club it with 

 the Bee Journal for a vear— bothtogether for only $2.00. 



