1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAl., 



775 



way Is to set on the back of the stove a kettle or pan in which 

 you can set the vessel that contains the honey. Set the out- 

 side vessel on the back of the stove and put on the bottom of 

 It a bit of shinRle or thin board and set on this the vessel of 

 honey. Now fill up the outside vessel with hot water. The 

 bit of board prevents the bottom of the honey from burning, 

 and it will melt slowly. 



The latter part of your question is one that it would take 

 a great many pages to answer. Indeed, after an entire book 

 has been written to try to give the points that a beginner 

 ought to know, there are always enough questions to keep 

 this department well filled. Even in the matter of queen- 

 rearing alone a whole book has been written, and a most ex- 

 cellent one it is. If you are interested in queen-rearing by all 

 means get the book on queen-rearing by that prince of queen- 

 breeders, G. M. Doolittle. 



Laying Workers. 



I have two colonies of bees that I think have laying work- 

 ers. The sealed brood looks like loaded pistol cartridges. 

 What can I do with them ? I want to save them. S. C. 



Answer. — That's a hard question to answer, because you 

 will probably not be willing to accept the best answer that 

 can be given. The best thing is to destroy them. There isn't 

 a ghost of a chance that they'll be worth anything next 

 spring, and very little chance that any of the bees will be alive 

 then. The probability is that no worker-brood has been 

 present for a good while, and all the workers are aged. It 

 may suit you better to unite them with another colony, for 

 then you will seem to be saving their lives. But in either case. 

 If you allow them to live, they will only consume a lot of honey 

 and die after all. 



■ — ^ I m — ^ 



Wants Increase Next Springy. 



1. I have about 50 colonies and I want to Increase my 

 apiary in the spring about 30 colonies. Would it be better to 

 buy Italians in nuclei and have them shipt to me, or buy black 

 bees at home for $2.50 to .$3.00 per colony, and trausfer and 

 Italianize at my own expense ? The honey-flow commences 

 here from sweet clover about July 10, but there Is always 

 plenty of honey coming In to keep them building up, before 

 that time. 



2. Would a 2-f rame nucleus and queen be strong enough ? 



3. When would the best time be to purchase them so they 

 would be ready for the harvest ? Washington. 



Answers. — 1. Probably you'll do better to buy the blacks 

 and Italianize. You'll get ahead in Increase faster In that 

 way, and if you intend to keep Italian blood It will give you 

 just so much more experience in introducing queens, for you'll 

 find you will have considerable to do in that line if you try to 

 keep anywhere near pure blood. You might combine the two 

 plans, getting one or two nuclei, and the rest black bees. 



2. A 2-frame nucleus, having a fair start In the season, 

 will build up into a strong colony in a fair season, but you can 

 hardly count on any surplus from it unless the season is 

 extraordinary. 



3. The year before. 



Wintering — Queen's Laying — Uniting; 



1. Will bees get along better through the winter in a hive 

 that is perfectly air-tight all around (except the entrance) than 

 in a hive that is slightly open, either around the cover or bot- 

 tom-board ? 



2. How many months in a year should a good Italian 

 queen be laying ? and is it advantageous that she be laying 

 late In the fall ? 



3. What Is the advantage in uniting two fair colonies In 

 the fall ? Washington. 



Answers. — 1. In ordinary cases, with ordinary entrance, 

 they might be better off not to have all but the entrance per- 

 fectly air-tight. With a very large entrance, probably the 

 closer the rest of the hive the better. 



2. She may lay somewhere from 7 to 9 months. Under 

 ordinary circumstances, the question as to whether it Is ad- 

 vantageous to have a queen laying late In the fall should be 

 answered in the affirmative. It Is generally considered a de- 

 sirable thing to have a goodly number of bees not too old to 

 enter winter quarters, and late laying works toward this end. 

 But if there is no yield of honey In the fall, It may be as well 

 that she stop laying, as she generally does, earlier than If 

 honey was yielding. For the period at which bees finish their 



course does not depend so much upon the number of days they 

 have lived a? upon the number of days they have worlit. So 

 it may happen that a bee that emerged In August may be 

 younger than one in a second locality emerging in September, 

 providing the yield In the second locality continued 2 months' 

 later than that in the first. 



3. Probably none, generally speaking. If you have more 

 bees than you want, and must unite to keep down increase, it 

 may be better to unite in the fall than in the following spring, 

 for the united colony will consume less honey than the two 

 would if left separate. 



>VilI It Winter?— Stimulative Feeding. 



1. Will a colony winter that covers both sides of three 

 frames half way down, packt in leaves with plenty of honey ? 

 They are on frames of standard size, and had little brood 

 Oct. 4. 



2. If feeding stimulates brood-rearing In spring, how 

 early, and how much, would you feed ? Fruit blooms here 

 about May 20; clover blooms about June 10. Mass. 



Answers. — 1. Can't say for certain. Doubtful. It would 

 be safer in a good cellar. 



2. Try it only on part, and find out whether stimulative 

 feeding Is a good thing for you. Feed only when warm enough 

 for bees to fly. Don't feed when It Is so cold that the bees will 

 be chilled to death when the feeding starts them to flying out. 

 A half pound a day will be enough, unless they are somewhat 

 short of stores. 



Stimulative Feeding in the Spring. 



I have four colonies and wish to increase largely in the 

 spring, by stimulative feeding. When will It be best to com- 

 mence feeding? Also, how much honey and water would you 

 feed one colony per day? Do you dilute the honey with 

 water ? How do you feed It ? Subscriber. 



Answer.— Stimulative feeding In spring is a little like 

 handling edged tools. Some judgment and experience Is 

 needed, or you'll do a good deal more harm than good. In- 

 deed, there are many good bee-keepers who do not consider it 

 advisable to practice stimulative feeding. , Don't feed until 

 bees are flying freely, for when it Is too cold for safe flight, 

 feeding may cause the bees to fly out never to return. Possi- 

 bly it might be a good plan for you to try stimulative feeding 

 on part of your colonies and compare results. An equal quan- 

 tity of water may be added to the honey, and halt a pint to a 

 pint of the mixture given dally to a colony. Use any kind of 

 a feeder you have on hand. Look out, however, that you don't 

 start robbing. As soon as you find there are flowers for the 

 bees to work on, you may as well stop till there is again a 

 scarcity. Such scarcity occurs in many places between fruit- 

 bloom and white clover. 



Bee-Keeping' for Beginners 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 .^l.iO; 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. 



Lang-strotfa on tlie Honey-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 mail it for $1.25, or club It with 

 the Bee Journal for a year — both together for only $2.00. 



Xlie Names and Addresses of all your bee 

 friends, who are not now taking the Bee Journal, are wanted 

 at this office. Send them in, please, when sample copies will 

 be mailed to them. Then you can secure their subscriptions, 

 and earn some of the premiums we are offering. The 

 next few months will be just the time to easily get new sub- 

 scribers. Try It earnestly, at least. 



