Julv 13, 1899. 



AMEPICAiN BEE JOUKNAL 



439 



ever there is a chance for it. However, if you go at it in 

 the right way, you may not find they need so much more 

 smoke than your father's. Perhap.s the reason yours are 

 so much worse to handle than his is because they are hand- 

 led less. If bees are where people are constantly passing- 

 they seem to get used to it. First blow a few pviffs in the 

 entrance, not more than two or three puffs of smoke. Then 

 you will probably lift off the super of sections. Pry it up a 

 little at one end, and blow in a little smoke there. Then 

 lift off the section-super and blow smoke over the brood- 

 chamber. Then pry up one end of the brood-chamber, and 

 blow a little smoke in the opening, if they seem to need it, 

 and some more over the supers that are under, after you 

 have lifted off the brood-chamber, when you can lift away 

 the supers from below. But don't be surprised if you find 

 little but brood in the supers that are below. 



2. You will smoke about in the same way when taking 

 off the super of sections. First a little smoke at the en- 

 trance, then raise the cover a little and smoke, then smoke 

 over the whole top of the super before removing it. Indeed, 

 you may give a good deal of smoke over the top of the su- 

 per before taking it off, so that a large number of bees will 

 run down out of the sections, but if you pour in too much 

 strong smoke the honey will taste of it. In subduing bees 

 with smoke, be guided by their actions. When they show 

 that they are ready to give up and get out of the way, then 

 let up on the smoke business. If they show fight, give them 

 a little more smoke. It's useless and cruel to smoke the 

 poor things when they don't need it. 



3. If there is only honey in the two 8-frame supers, it 

 matters little whether they are taken away now or in the 

 fall. If they contain brood — and very likely they do — then 

 you will do well to leave them till fall. 



4. Don't carry that entrance-guard business too far. It 

 will be all right so long as the old queen is there, and may 

 do for a time after, but you may count on the old queen be- 

 ing put out of the way in a week or 10 days after the issue 

 of the first swarm. Then you have virgin queens to deal 

 with, and when it comes time for the one in the hive to be 

 fertilized, she must be allowed to fly out or she never will 

 produce anything but drones. 



5. The price of a bee-escape by mail is 20 cents. 



6. Yes, it is generally supposed that more honey will be 

 obtained by keeping the forces together as much as possible 

 where the honey harvest is somewhat early and short, but 

 where the harvest is late and long-continued a colonj- and 

 its swarm may get more than the colony alone if it shoujd 

 not swarm. But bees don't always submit patiently to be 

 kept from swarming, and some think it best to allow one 

 swarm to each colony. Others say that by giving plenty of 

 room both in the brood and surplus apartments there is 

 little need of swarming. 



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Queen fioing Into the Supers. 



I have a colony of bees that hasn't swarmed this spring. 

 Early in the spring I put two supers on, and as they did not 

 swarm I investigated and found plenty of comb, but the 

 queen had deposited it full of eggs. I would like to know 

 the cause of her leaving the hive and going into the 

 supers? Nkbh. 



Answer. — Probably because of lack of room in the 

 brood-chamber. If the supers contained sections, it was a 

 little unusual, and might not happen again in a long time. 

 If the supers contained extracting-combs, it was not strange 

 for the queen to go up and lay. You can make sure against 

 such a thing by using a queen-excluder under the supers, 

 but such a thing is hardly needed under sections. 



Swarms that Returned. 



I have 20 colonies of Italian bees in Langstroth hives. 

 Last week I had IS swarms to issue, some settling and some 

 not, but all returned to their hives — I did not save one. Why 

 do they swarm and go back ? I've only saved three swarms 

 this season. Several colonies have swarmed as many as 

 three different times, and have gone back. Why do they 

 go back so much ? ViRGiNi.i. 



Answer. — You say you've had a large number of 

 swarms and have saved only three, the rest going back to 

 their hives. Most bee-keepers would probably say that the 

 swarms that went back to their hives were all saved, and 

 saved in the best kind of a way. 



Your bees have acted just as they would if the queens 



were all dipt. When a queen's wings are dipt she cannot 

 go with the swarm, so the swarm returns, sometimes not 

 clustering at all, sometimes clustering before returning. 

 The queen generally returns to the hive, if the hive is so 

 placed that she can get back, and then the swarm may issue 

 once or several times within the next week. After that 

 time, or rather about eight days later than the issue of the 

 first swarm, the young queen appears on the scene, and 

 then the swarm is not likely to return. 



If your queens were not dipt, it would seem that they 

 were by some means incapable of flying with the swarm, a 

 thing that would hardly seem likely to happen in such 

 wholesale manner by accident. By the time this reaches 

 you, you will probably have plenty of swarms that have not 

 returned, and it would be interesting to have you report 

 progress. 



Another thing that just possibly might be, but hardly 

 on so large a scale, is this : Your colonies might have in- 

 tended swarming, then conditions being very unfavorable 

 they may have given it up when the young queens were 

 sealed over, and these swarms may .hav£. issued to accom- 

 pany the young queens on their flight. 



Questions on Transferring Bees. 



1. How can I transfer bees from a box-hive to a dove- 

 tail hive ? 



2. When is the best time to do it ? 



3. How long will I have to leave the box-hive by the ' 

 other one ? 



4. How late in the season can I wait and then have time 

 for them to store honey enough to winter on ? Conn. 



Answers. — 1. There is nothing specially different in 

 transfeiTing into dovetailed hives from transferring into 

 any frame hive. The instruction.s given in your text-book 

 will be all right for dovetailed hives. 



2. Fruit-bloom is generally considered the best time, 

 altho it may be done at any time when honey is yielding. 



3. After the contents of the box-hive are transferred 

 there is no longer need to leave the old hive. 



4. That depends altogether on the season and the 



honey-flow. If there is a heavy flow from fall flowers, it 



might be safe to transfer in August and have the colony 



all right for winter. Sometimes it would not be safe after 



the white clover harvest. On the whole, perhaps your better 



plan would be to wait till next season, and very likely you 



will be better satisfied to wait until the bees swarm, hiving 



the swarm in the frame hive, then taking out the contents 



of the box-hive three weeks later, when all worker-brood 



would be hatcht out. Possibly, however, the bees may 



swarm yet this year, when you can hive the swarm in the 



new hive, setting the box-hive beside it, and 21 days later 



cutting out the contents of the box-hive, adding the bees. 



to the swarm. 



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Yield of Basswood in Wet and Dry Seasons- 

 Feeding Bees. 



1. Will basswood yield as much honey in wet seasons 

 as in dry ones ? The basswood here is full of buds, but we 

 have so very much rain all the spring. It is so wet every 

 morning. It doesn't rain much in the daytime, only at night. 



2. I have 42 colonies of bees, and have to feed them. 

 There is very little white clover here this year, but plenty 

 of young clover that came up this spring from the seed. 

 The ground is full, but I think this will not yield any honey 

 till next year, but the basswood is full of buds. I have fed 

 two barrels of sugar already. Will it pay to feed bees in 

 this way at such times ? Would you feed them ? Iow.\. 



Answers. — 1. Basswood may yield as much when very 

 wet, but the nectar being thinner it takes more time to 

 evaporate it, and consequently a less number of pounds in 

 the sections. 



2. It will probably pay to feed any time when bees are 



getting nothing and there is scarcity in the brood-chamber. 



It would be poor policy to let bees starve to death and give 



you no crop next year, when by an outlay of a dollar or so 



for each colony you might get back five times as much 



next year. 



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The Premiums offered on page 442 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



