Feb. 9, 1899. 



AMERICArN BEE JOUKNAL, 



87 



tion. I have not seen the equal of the Van Deusen flat-bot- 

 tom foundation yet for surplus foundation. 



Pres. Aikin— I have had no trouble with foundation 

 melting down, except when it is extremely hot. 



Mr. Pease— Do you use full sheets or starters ? 



Pres. Aikin — Both. I start with full sheets and finish 

 with starters. Quite a few ag-ree with me that drone-comb 

 looks just as well as worker-comb. 



[Continued next week.] 



LUNDUCTED BV 



DR. C. C. miLI^ER, MarenifO, III. 



jOuestions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.) 



Using Fence-Separators with Scallopt Sections. 



Can I use fence-separators with 7-to-the-foot scallopt 

 •sections in Simplicity-Langstroth supers ? I want to use 

 no-bee-way sections and fence-separators next season, but I 

 have a stock of 7-to-the-foot scallopt sections on hand which 

 I want to use first. If the fence is too thick or too thin the 

 sections would not stand as they should on the section- 

 holder bottoms. " MiNXESOT.\. 



Answer. — If you get fences proper to use with plaiii 

 <no-bee-way) sections, you can use them with your scallopt 

 sections this year, only it will make the comb in your sec- 

 tions thicker and heavier than with plain separators, at 

 least a quarter of an inch thicker. 



Styles of Hives Most in Use. 



1. Which are the principal styles of bee-hives most in 

 use in the United States and Canada ? and what are the di- 

 mensions of the respective frames ? 



2. Has the improved, double-wall American bee-hive 

 any merits ? K.\NS.4.S. 



Answers. — 1. Probabh- no frame is so generally used 

 as the one 17^ inches in length and 9's in depth, outside 

 measure. Of ^the styles of hive in which the frame is used, 

 none is perhaps more popular than the dovetailed. 



2. It would be hard to find a hive without merit in any 

 ■direction, but I have no acquaintance with the particular 

 hive vou mention. 



The Miller Feeder Mammoth Red Clover -Preserving 

 Extracting-Comljs from the Moth. 



1. Please describe as nearly as you can how the Miller 

 bee-feeder is made. 



2. Is the mammoth red clover a good honey-plant ? and 

 will it bIos.som late in the fall ? 



3. How is the best way to preserve extracting-combs 

 from bee-moths when not in use ? Minnes0T.\. 



Answers. — 1. You can make one of any dimensions, 

 only -so you get the principle right. I think if I had a new 

 lot to make, I should make them in this way : 



Make a box water-tight the same width as the hive, 

 about 1 '2 inches shorter, and about S inches deep. The 

 depth, however, is not important. Cut down one end at the 

 top, or rather make it in the first place so that it shall not 

 come up as high as the other three sides by about >s of an 

 inch. Now at this same end nail on the end at each corner 

 a block 5 inches long (if that's the depth of your feeder.) y's 

 wide and 's thick. Then nail on this another outside end. 

 If your feeder is for an 8-frame hive, this end will probably 

 be 13>^.ix5. Now you have two walls at that end of your 

 hive, and at the same end you need a third, inside, and js- 

 inch distant from the adjacent wall. Make that wall to 

 come to the top, but it must not be so tight at the bottom 

 that water will not leak through. Perhaps you'd better let it 

 come within 1-16 of an inch of the bottom. Less would do, 

 only there's a possibility it might swell enoug-h to be water- 

 tight. Make it, however, water-tight at the sides. Now 

 you have three apartments in your feeder ; the main apart- 

 ment that occupies nearly all the room, adjoining it an 



apartment J^-inch wide, and an apartment outside that is 

 >s wide, only this last apartment has no bottom, and through 

 this last apartment the bees can go up, and then down into 

 the other small apartment into which the feed has leakt, or 

 where it will leak after the feeder is filled. To confine the 

 bees in their proper place, a cover of ^4 -inch stuff is dropt 

 in to cover the two narrow apartments, stops being placed 

 so it will go down just enough to be flush with the upper 

 part of the feeder. 



Put your feeder on the hive with the end where the bee.s 

 go up a little lower than the other. Put into the feeder the 

 dry granulated sugar, dish out a little place in the center 

 and fill the disht place half full of water and let it stand 

 two or three minutes ; then pour in more water, so there 

 will be about as much water as sugar. If )-ou pour in the 

 water at first without any precaution, .some of it may run 

 right through into the other side and have so little .sweet in 

 it that the bees will not readily take it. If you have flat 

 covers, the hive-cover will be all right to cover your feeder. 

 Otherwise you must make a cover that will do. 



2. Excellent for bumble-bees, and I think some claim 

 that hive-bees can do more on it than on the other red clo- 

 ver. It blossoms at the same time as the other. 



3. At a time when moths are flying, the best place is in 

 care of the bees, putting a hive full of combs under a colony. 

 Indeed, a colony can take care of two or three hives full of 

 combs. Before freezing weather comes the hives of combs 

 can be taken away and piled up out-doors, covering up from 

 the rain and making mouse-tight. 



Transferring A Perennial Question. 



I have one swarm in a box-hive. How would be the best 

 wav to get them into a movable 10-frame hive ? 



Missouri. 



Answer. — That's qne of the .standard questions that 

 you'll find answered in any good text-book on bee-keeping, 

 i cannot too strongly urge those who have no text-book to 

 secure one as soon as possible, and then become thoroughly 

 familiar with it. Every now and then some one gets a book 

 and reads it so little "or so carelessly that when the need 

 comes suddenly upon him he asks a question that he would 

 find fully answered in his book if he had only been more 

 familiar with it. After you've studied all there is in the 

 books you'll still find plenty of things to ask about that will 

 more than fill this department. 



Daisy Fastener and T Tins. 



1. What are the dimensions of the daisj- foundation 

 fastener ? 



2. How long should T tins be for a 10-frame Langstroth 

 hive super ? 



3. Please explain how T tins are fastened in a super so 

 they can be removed and cleaned ? New York. 



Answers. — 1. Three feet long, 5 '4 inches wide. 



2. I don't know certainly, but probably 14V or 1^ 

 inches : 12 inches is the length of T tins used for 8-frame 

 hives. 



3. Thev are not fastened at all. They simply rest on 

 bent staples that support them. When the super is tui-ned 

 upside down, its entire contei'.ts can be pusht out, sections, 

 T tins and separators. 



^ ■ » 



Hives Without Shade Sowing for Bees. 



1. Can bees, kept in single-walled hives, painted white, 

 remain during tiie summer at a place without any shade- 

 trees ? What is your advice ? 



2. I have about an acre of ground which I would like to 

 sow for bee-pasture. What seed is the most advisable ? 



Illinois. 



Answers. — Yes, they may do very well. I should want 

 the shade more for the comfort of the bee-keeper than for 

 that of the bees. It makes a difference whether there is a 

 free circulation of air or not. One year I had combs melt 

 down in a hive under trees where the sun never shone. 

 Dense shrubbervon one side and standing corn on the other 

 effectuallv prevented free circulation of the air. They 

 would have been better off out in the glare of the .sun with 

 nothing to stop the breezes froin reaching them. 



2. If the chief object is honey, I should say sweet clover, 

 especially if your stock has learned to like it. 



