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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



J^ovevibtT 17, 



is filled, then it overflows into the second receptacle, that into 

 the third, and so on. That gives a chance for Impurities to 

 settle, much as they do when a large body of wax is allowed 

 to cool very slowly, this latter being the plan used to cleanse 

 wax very largely. It appears that you have more heat from 

 the sun than is desirable. Can you not reduce the heat, and 

 thus save the honey from being darlsened ? A coating of some 

 kind of whitewash on the glass might help (what do saloon- 

 keepers use on their windows ?), or some cloth laid over. If 

 that does not work satisfactorily, you might allow the sun its 

 full force and reduce the heat In the receptacle by giving air 

 to it by means of one or more screened openings directly near 

 the receptacle. 



3. Perhaps the wax-press is one used across the water, 

 the exact construction of which I cannot give, but the princi- 

 ple is to have a press Inside another vessel, the latter or larger 

 vessel containing water and steam, thus keeping the press and 

 its contents constantly warm. 



Packing Bees for Winter. 



I keep my bees In the " Champion " chafi hive. Do you 

 think they will be too warm If I put them in a dry-goods box 

 and fill up the space with straw? Michigan. 



Answek. — No danger of their being too vKarm. The 

 danger of too much packing is hardly that it makes bees too 

 warm, but that they will be too cold when it comes a warm 

 day. When a warm day comes, it takes longer for the heat to 

 work through thick packing than through a thin wall. 



Wbat lo Do with Partly-Filled Sections. 



Those sections or one-pound boxes that are from }i to ;,; 

 filled, and capt, and the remainder uncapt — what should be 

 done with them to bring In the greatest returns ? 



SUBSCBIBER. 



Answer. — In most cases the best thing is to sell them for 

 table use at a reduced price. For home use, if you are care- 

 ful, you can melt them. Melt them very, very slowly (If It 

 takes several days to melt them all the better), then when all 

 melted and cold, lift off the cake of wax, and the honey will be 

 even better than when It was in the comb, for it will be a little 

 thicker. 



Preserving Fruit in Honey— Shiny Black Bees. 



1. How can I preserve fruit In honey, and still retain the 

 flavor of the honey ? 



2. What is the cause of the black on all strains of bees, 

 shining as if polisht (only since cool weather has started)? 

 My bees continue to gather pollen every day. 



South Alabama. 



Answers. — 1. I'm sorry to say I don't know very much 

 about it. I have read of keeping fruit simply by putting it 

 raw In honey, but have had no practical experience. You can- 

 not heat honey enough to cook the fruit without spoiling the 

 flavor of the honey, and I confess I'm just a little skeptical 

 about raw fruit keeping In honey. Possibly there might be 

 such a thing as cooking the fruit, putting it In cans, and then 

 filling up with honey. If any of the friends have had any 

 practical experience in preserving fruit in honey, successful 

 or unsuccessful, by all means let us have it. We know as yet 

 too few ways of using honey. 



2. It Is because the plumage of the bees has been re- 

 moved. A bee that has followed a long course of robbing Is 

 likely lo be thus black and shiny, and also bees affected with 

 paralysis. 



M ^ 



Wliat to Do with Conilis of Honey. 



I just commenced to keep bees the past summer, and have 

 about 30 pounds of honey in brood-combs, after leaving 25 

 pounds In each hive for winter. I have no extractor, and 

 would like to know if there is any way to get the honey out of 

 the combs without an extractor ? If not, what Is the best 

 thing to do with the combs ? Pennsy^-vania. 



Answer. — I don't know of any way to get out the honey 

 and leave the combs sound and whole without an extractor. 

 But don't you want to keep thoi^e combs with the 30 pounds 

 of honey to give the bees next spring ? Each colony that has 

 25 pounds for winter will probably be able to use to very great 

 advantage another 5 or 10 pounds next spring. An enormous 

 quantity of stores are consumed in rearing brood, and the 



likelihood Is that every bit of that 25 pounds will be all used 

 up before clover-bloom, and the bees will be going more or less 

 on short rations. A frame or two of honey will encourage 

 them to greater brood-rearing, and every ounce you give them 

 In that way will be returned with interest in the surplus crop. 

 By all means save those combs for the bees next spring. 



Drone-Comb Foundation. 



Is there such a thing manufactured as " drone founda- 

 tion ?" Mr. J. S. Hartzell speaks of it in his article on the 

 "Golden Method," on page 658. Indiana. 



Answer. — Yes, I believe It has been made to a limited ex- 

 tent, and also a compromise sort about half way between 

 drone and worker. 



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Feeding Bees in a Room. 



I have a few colonies of bees which I transferred about 

 one month ago, and have them In a small room. I gave them 

 plenty of honey In the brood-chamber, and put a box In front 

 made of screen-wire to keep them In ; I do not let them out on 

 account of other bees coming in to rob them. I feed them all 

 the extracted honey they will eat, and keep them warm, and 

 they work very nicely. The screen boxes In front are 0x6x12 

 inches. What will be the effect on the colony by spring? 

 (They are putting honey in the sections now, some of them). 

 Will it weaken or strengthen the colony? lowA. 



Answer. — I don't know, but should guess that a continu- 

 ance of the treatment might result In death by spring. Feed- 

 ing and confinement in a light place don't go very well to- 

 gether. Possibly they may pull through, but if they have 

 enough to take them through the winter It might be better to 

 stop feeding, and perhaps put them In the cellar. If they are 

 in danger from robbers. Instead of shutting them up entirely, 

 allow a passage for just one bee at a time, and they can pro- 

 tect themselves, especially if the entrance Is not directly Into 

 the cluster but through some kind of a front or side chamber. 



^ 



A Dozen Questions. 



1. I bought three Italian queens, introduced them to 

 three colonies of black bees July 2, and the bees killed them 

 all. I waited for them to rear their queens, and learned that 

 laying workers had set up business. The sealed brood is not 

 flat, it stands up round-like, like little marbles. I have no 

 wealv colonies to unite them with. What can I do with them ? 



2. Do you really think that It was laying workers? 



3. Will laying workers cause colonies to dwindle down to 

 nothing ? 



4. Are there ever a queen and a laying worker in the 

 same hive ? 



5. Which are the best bees, Carnlolans or Italians ? 



6. What clover do you think would be the best honey- 

 producer in this climate ? 



7. What is the best way for Introducing a queen ? 



8. How much comb honey should one colony of bees aver- 

 age per year ? 



9. What kind of a cellar should bees be wintered in ? 



10. What Is the best way to winter bees ? 



11. How far from the house should bees be ? 



12. Does a bee die when it loses its sting ? 



South Carolina. 

 Answers. — 1. If there continues to be nothing but drone- 

 brood up to this time, probably you can do nothing better than 

 to brimstone them. That will save the honey they would eat 

 before dying. They are all three or four months old, some of 

 them older, and would be of little value even if you had weak 

 colonies with which to unite them ? 



2. It is hard to say whether laying workers or drone-lay- 

 ing queens, as the appearance would be much the same in 

 either case, and one would be about as bad as the other. 



3. Sure. . 



4. Sometimes. But If a queen has begun to lay, you may 

 pretty safely count on the laying workers closing up business, 

 unless In rare oases where frames of brood are barred from 

 the queen by a queen-excluder, and in that case there will be 

 only a single egg or a few eggs in queen-cells. 



5. Probably the great majority would say Italians ? 



6. I'd rather take the word of some one living in your 

 part of South Carolina. If I could get no satisfactory inform- 

 ation In that way, I should give a good trial to sweet clover 

 and crimson clover. 



7. If you follow out to the letter any of the ways given In 



