582 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Sept. 14, 1899. 



^ CONDUCTED BY 



UR. C. C. laiLLER, Marengo, III. 



[The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal office, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.] 



Getting Straight Section-Combs 

 Red Clover. 



Italians and 



1. How can I get nice, straight combs, of a uniform 

 size, built in the sections ? Some of my sections of honey 

 weigh 1' i pounds, while others onlj' weigh V of a pound. 



2. A neighbor told me he didn't like the Italian bees, 

 for they were poor honey-gatherers, but good breeders. Is 

 that a fact ? 



3. Is it a fact that there is a strain of Italians, or anj' 

 kind of honey-bee, that has a proboscis long enough to 

 gather honey from the large red or mammoth clover? 



4. When is the best time to sow Alsike clover seed ? I 

 have just seeded '2 an acre, and scattered lots of Alsike 

 seed around my sloughs. Did I do right ? Minn. 



Answers. — 1. Use the small boxes or sections in com- 

 mon use, and have separators between them. There will 

 be a little variation in weight, but no such variation as you 

 mention. 



2. I keep bees entirely for gathering honej'. and I try 

 to keep them as nearly pure Italians as possible. There 

 are many others like me. 



3. As a rule, hive-bees do not store from red clover, but 

 sometimes they are known to do so, either because at times 

 the flower-tubes are shorter than usual, or for some other 

 reason. There have also been reported strains of Italians 

 that workt much more on red clover than the average. 



.4. Sow Alsike at the same time red clover seed is sown 

 in your region. It was very likely a waste of a good part 

 of the seed to sow in August. If it does not come up till 

 next spring a good share will be lost. 



A Case Where Queens and Bees Died. 



About the last of July, 1898, there came a little boy into 

 the shop saying the bees were swarming. So I went out 

 and stood and lookt at them a few minutes, and the bees 

 began pouring out of another hive, and another, and so on, 

 till it went as high as seven. They clustered in regular 

 form all together. I tried to get them to go into two hives, 

 but did not make it work. They all wanted to stick to one 

 hive, altho it was more than full. They appeared to work 

 all right, as I watcht them for a day or two. I did not ex- 

 amine them till sometime the first of September, when I 

 saw that they were very heavy. In November, when I put 

 them up for winter, on examination I found the hive as full 

 as it could conveniently be of good white honey, no signs 

 of brood, and not a live bee in the hive, and only about a 

 handful of dead ones. The honey was all capt in g-ood 

 shape, perhaps IS or 20 cells being filled with pollen. I have 

 handled bees for 40 years, but never saw the like of this 

 before. Minnksot,\. 



Answer. — The queens were all killed, and the bees 

 stored honey until they died off from old age. No brood 

 being reared, the combs all remained white. That's about 

 the whole story. 



*-•-♦ 



Position of Winter Stores in the Hive. 



The wintering of bees is an unsettled question for me 

 yet. I lost over SO percent of my bees in chaff hives last 

 winter. 



Where is the place to have the winter stores? Would 

 it be best above, or on one side, or on both sides of the 

 cluster ? My bees had plentj' of stores last winter. The 

 brood-nest was in the center, the bees moved to one side for 

 food, ate it all up. and then starved, while on the other side 



were 3 to 4 frames full of sealed honey. I thought to fix: 

 the hives, or bees, like this : Winter stores on one side, and 

 bees on the other side, then the bees would go towards the 

 center of the hive, until about January, the coldest time, 

 they would always move towards their stores. Paoli. 



Answer. — Left to themselves, you will probably find 

 that bees will always do as yours did, and store the honey 

 at both sides, having the brood-nest in the center. One 

 would think that bees know their own business best, and 

 know just where to store their winter stores for safety. But 

 3'our experience appears to contradict this, and your expe- 

 rience is that of main' others. We must remember, how- 

 ever, that in a state of nature bees don't have their homes 

 in a hive shaped like yours. The old straw skep of our fore- 

 fathers comes nearer the mark. In that the stores are not 

 on both sides, nor all on one side, but above. That's the 

 best place for winter stores, and if we are building for the 

 bees alone we will have our brood-chambers shorter, nar- 

 rower, and deeper. But for our own convenience it is much 

 better to have them the shape thej' are. You have struck 

 the right idea in thinking that it is better to have the honey- 

 all at one side, since it cannot be all on top. Then there 

 will be no danger that the bees will be stranded on one side 

 with plenty of stores l3'ing idle on the other side. 



Comb Foundation in Section Honey. 



Is there any way of producing comb honey without the 

 thick mid-rib with the use of full sheets of foundation ? T 

 purchast, last spring, sufficient foundation, supposed to be- 

 " extra thin," and filled sections with the same. The re- 

 sults have been perfectly satisfactory with the exception 

 that a number of my customers complain of the amount of 

 wax in the honej', and so I seek information, to know if 

 you, in your experience, have any remedy to suggest. The 

 use of starters suggests itself, but the product is not as per- 

 fect nor as pleasing to the ej-e as the section with the full 

 sheet of foundation. 



Many small bee-keepers in this locality complain of the- 

 poor yield, and no doubt are justified in their complaints, 

 man)' having nothing to show in the way of surplus from 

 new swarms. Connecticut. 



Answer. — I know of nothing better than to use thin or 



extra thin foundation. Isn't it just possible that some of 



your custoiners are a little hasty or prejudiced in their" 



judgment? When extra thin foundation is used in a good 



flow of honey, it is somewhat doubtful whether any one 



could tell it from the natural product. Indeed, some of the 



foundatioti now made has a base that is thinner than the 



natural base. 



.*"»-*^ 



Questions on Brood-Frame Arrangement. 



1. Is there any objection to using the Langstroth-Sim- 

 plicity brood-frames if I make my hives so long as to place 

 the brood-frames just level with the top of the brood-cham- 

 ber, instead of placing them on top of the rabbets? Will 

 the wide space that will be left on each end of the frames, 

 between the end-bars and the end of the hive, do any harm ? 



2. How far apart shall I space the brood-frames so as to- 

 have just the right bee-space ? And will not the half of the 

 spacing that is between the center frames do between the 

 last frame, that is, the frame nest to the side of the hive?' 

 or should they all be spaced- alike ? 



3. How much honey will a Langstroth-Simplicity brood- 

 frame contain when well filled? 



4. Which brood-frames are most proof against propolis ?' 

 Are the self-spacing all right ? 



5. Can I use the Simplicity brood-frames without any- 

 spacer strip on the bottom-board ? I wish to notch down 

 the top-bar ;'s only, and let the frames hang loose, if this, 

 will work all right. MiNNESOT.4. 



Answers. — It isn't easy to understand clearly just what 

 all your questions mean, but it may be said in general that 

 very many changes and variations of the Langstroth hive 

 have been made and rejected, and the probability is that 

 unless you have had a long experience any change you may 

 make will do more harm than good. But answering your 

 questions as fully as possible : 



1. I don't know of anything you would gain by having: 

 the top-bars level with the sides and ends of the hive, and 

 whatever is placed over the hive would have to be specially 

 adapted to the change. If you have more than "4 or ^ of 

 an inch between the end-bars and the end of the hive, the 



