502 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Auf,'. 10, 1899. 



me to pair them ? I lose a good many queens by trying to 

 enter the wrong hive. 



5. Would it be best for me to leave entrance open the 

 full width of hive during winter, or close some of it up ? I 

 use an 8- frame hive 12 inches wide. 



6. When there is a heavy snow on the ground, and the 

 sun shines out, it makes my bees fly out and the cold wind 

 strikes them down. They fall in the snow and chill. Would 

 you shut them in the hives to prevent their coming out at 

 such times ? Ai..\bama. 



Answers. — 1. 1 don't know. It isn't certain that any- 

 thing was wrong with the queen. Indeed, a queen that had 

 life enough to swarm out would be considered all that .vou 

 ought to expect of a dealer, and he did more than his full 

 duty in replacing her. 



2. Hard to tell without knowing more about it. Per- 

 haps the candy was too dry, and hard. 



3. The probability is that in your lifetime you'll never 

 again see such another winter in the state of Alabama, and 

 that your bees will winter just as well as in the past. Yet 

 it might be no harm to pack hay, straw or other material in 

 the shed. 



CZJ 4. It is a good plan to have the hives in pairs, making 

 less danger of losing young queens. Move the hives to- 

 gether every few days, a few inches at a time. 



5. Leave it open full width. 



6. Put up boards to shade the hives, so the sun cannot 

 shine in. But don't shut the entrance. 



Unsealed Brood. 



I have three swarms which were hived in June, each 

 having a good queen and abundance of honey, but about 

 one-half of the brood that ought to be sealed is unsealed. 

 I do not know if it ever was sealed and was opened, or if it 

 never was sealed. Nevertheless, this brood which ought to 

 be sealed is in the state of a fully-developt bee, or nearly 

 so; the head and feelers are from a white to a pink hue, and 

 eyes are light brown in color. The other brood that is 

 sealed looks healthy, and so does the unsealed larv;e of all 

 ages. Brood-rearing seems to go on as if all was in the 

 most healthy condition. WEST Virginia. 



Answer. — You probably have a case of what is some- 

 times called bareheaded bees. The brood matures and the 

 bees hatch out all right, but there is no capping. It is not 

 certain what is the cause of the trouble, but I have a sus- 

 picion that it is caused by the wax-worm. What makes me 

 think so is that it often happens that a row of these bare- 

 headed bees appear in a line very much in the same shape 

 as the gallery of a wax-worm. It only appears in small 

 patches, or streaks, and if you have a case in which all the 

 brood on the whole side of a comb remains unsealed, you 

 have something I never saw nor heard of. 



Queens from the South Apis Dorsata, Etc. 



1. Do you think that queens from Texas stand the win- 

 ter here as well as queens bred farther north ? I have lost 

 all the queens I have introduced from there. They die thru 

 the winter in chaff hives. 



2. Do you know who has any Apis dorsata queens 

 for sale ? 



3. From which can the bees gather the most honey in a 

 day, basswood or clover, each having the same chance ? 



4. Do the bees kill off the drones after swarming is 

 over ? New York. 



Answers. — 1. The general testimony seems to be that 

 there is no difference in the hardiness of queens reared 

 North and South. 



2. The only Apis dorsata bees that have yet been offered 

 for sale in this country are offered at 10 cents each by the 

 A. I. Root Co., but they are not queens but workers, and 

 they are preserved in alcohol. You may be pretty sure that 

 when Apis dorsata queens are offered for sale alive in this 

 country you will see prompt and prominent mention of it in 

 this and other bee-papers. But don't set your hopes too 

 high on stocking up with that kind of bees. If you had a 

 queen of that kind, I don't believe you could get her to work 

 in a colony of Italians or blacks. If you had a full colony 

 of Apis dorsata bees, it is not at all likely you could get 

 them to stay in a hive. No case has yet been reported in 

 which any one has been successful in getting them to stay 

 in a hive. Their nature is to have a single comb hung to 



the limb of a tree, and the probability is that bees that nat- 

 urally build a single very large comb in the open air will 

 never submit to be shut up in a hive with several little 

 combs. If you had a colony hanging to a tree as in their 

 native land, it is not at all likely that you could bj' any pos- 

 sibility get them thru the winter in New York State. 



3. According to reports given, the probability is that 

 basswood would lead a considerable distance. Possibly 

 two to one. 



4. Sometimes, and sometimes not. There is no very 

 sure rule as to the time drones are allowed to live, except 

 that when a scarcity of pasturage occurs they must get out 

 of the way, but all colonies are not alike as to that. Yet a 

 colony with a good laying queen is not likely to support a 

 lot of drones when no honey is coming in. 



Joining Associations and Attending Conventions. 



1. Which bee-keepers' association would it be best for 

 me to join ? 



2. Do the lady bee-keepers attend the bee-conventions ? 

 I would like to go to the one at Philadelphia, if I can go. 



3. I see the Central Texas Bee-Keepers' Association ex- 

 tends a cordial invitation to all bee-keepers, and says there 

 will be no hotel bills to pay. Will it be that way at Phila- 

 delphia ? New Jersey. 



Answers. — 1. The United States Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



2. Ladies attend and are heartily welcomed. If possi- 

 ble, you ought by all means to attend. 



3. No ; the members attending the convention at Phila- 

 delphia will each one pay his own bills, but reasonable 

 rates are alwavs secured. 



Pollen in Queen=Cells I had been taught to believe a 

 sure sign of hopeless queenlessness. I think I've seen a 

 number of exceptions. June 26 I met a plain case. In one 

 of my '■ barns " I found on one comb three enlarged cells 

 containing pollen, with the queen laying, and all going on 

 prosperously. — Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



"The Queen of the Honey -Plants! Do you know it ? 

 If such is the case, you know of sweet clover or melilot. If 

 you know of one better we shall be glad to hear of it." So 

 says the editor of Bee-Chat. He says sweet clover is the 

 only thing that will grow on salt marsh and reclaim it, so 

 on the 4'2 acres of sweet clover he has sown he has applied 

 a ton of salt, a ton of ground bones, and 150 loads of farm- 

 yard manure. He sows 14 pounds of seed to the acre. 



House=Apiaries, after some experience, are highly es- 

 teemed by A. H. Duff, as he relates in the Bulletin of Kan- 

 sas University. " Any old house " will answer him for a 

 house-apiary, but when specially constructed for the pur- 

 pose he favors a small building 1(1 feet long, 6 feet wide, 

 and 6 feet high, containing 11 colonies, 5 on each side and 

 one at the end. He thinks this better than longer build- 

 ings, for in such the colonies near the ends get more than 

 their propershare of bees at the expense of the central ones. 

 In these small buildings ordinary hives are used, standing 

 two inches from the wall. 



To Paint or Not to Paint Hives ? is a question discust 

 in the Progressive Bee-Keeper by Messrs. Doolittle and 

 Aikin. Mr. Doolittle has said that he would not allow any 

 one to paint his hives if the painter would give a dollar 

 each for the privilege of painting them. Mr. Aikin replies 

 that in the dry climate of Colorado un painted hives, or any 

 other thing made of wood, can scarcely be held together 

 unless well painted. Put the best of lumber in a hive-cover, 

 and let it be exposed to the sun for a year, and it will not 

 hold water. Needless to say keep the hive in shade, for 

 trees are too scarce in that country. But he says that bees 

 i/tay winter better in unpainted hives, for the lumber warps 



