Oct. 26, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



679 



that it was because the fuel was so dry ; and it never oc- 

 curred to me that a clean nozzle might be worse than a foul 

 one. I am much indebted to the brethren for straightening 



'^ C. C. Miller. 

 -«-•-# 



Ownership of Wild Bees-Best Hive. 



me out. 



1. If I find wild bees in a tree on somebody else's land, 

 can the owner of the land claim the bees ? 



2. What is the best kind of bee-hives ? Minn. 



Answers.— 1. That depends upon your laws, which you 

 can find out about from some lawyer or justice of the peace. 

 Very likely you will find that the one that finds the bees 

 may have some claim on them, but if he cuts down the tree 

 he is liable for damage. 



2. That depends upon circumstances. If vou follow the 

 old plan of taking up bees in the fall without ever taking 

 any surplus from the tops of the hives, then there is proba- 

 bly nothing better than the straw skep made in the shape 

 of a sugar loaf. If you have surplus boxes on top, but 

 never want to open the brood-chamber, then a common box- 

 hive is the thing. Next to the straw-hive it suits the com- 

 fort of the bees. But if you want to investigate the brood- 

 chamber at proper times, (and if you are intending to do 

 very much at bee-keeping you will want to do so), then the 

 movable-frame hive is best. Of these there are manv kinds, 

 and there is a difference of opinion as to which "is best. 

 What may be best for one may not always be best for an- 

 other. Probably the most popular hive just now is the 

 dovetailed, with frames 17Ssx9"s, outside measure. Those 

 who give close attention to their bees may do with the 8- 

 frame hive : for others, a larger hive is better. 



Combs Bent and Broken in Extracting. 



I bought an extractor from Ontario, and put into it 

 some beautiful, straight combs in the Hoifman frame, and 

 almost all those combs were bent and some broken when 

 taken out of the honey-extractor. The honey taken from 

 them was all right, but the combs were in a bad shape. Is 

 this a common fault with extractors, or is it due to the 

 weakness of the combs, or what ? New Brunswick. 



Answer. — One cannot say positivelv without seeing, 

 but the probability is that the combs were new and tender, 

 and heavily filled. In such case they may break in any ex- 

 tractor unless great care is used. First turn the extractor 

 slowly, and empty one side partly. Then empty the second 

 side, after which complete the first side. 



Bees Carrying Water in the Fall. 



Do bees store water in the cells in the fall of the year 

 for winter use ? I see my bees are carrying water from' the 

 hens' drinking-dishes. Massachusetts. 



Answer.— Bees carry much water into the hive, espe- 

 cially in the early part of the season when they are breed- 

 ing heavily, but I have never seen any testimony to the ef- 

 fect that they store it in the cells, it is probably used to 

 dilute the honey for consumption. 



Inside Hive Arrangement for Winter. 



I have a precious colony of bees that I got from Toronto 

 last June, and tho I lost about half of them in bringing 

 them up here, they built up fast, and have kept strong ever 

 since. They have filled their hive with nice honey for win- 

 ter stores, but the end of September brought cold, wet 

 weather, and they have taken to fighting the drones that are 

 big, strong ones, often throwing them oft' with an angry 

 buzz, and then they bounce back into the hive again. 'l 

 often feel like helping the workers, but fear I might kill 

 the queen, and I do not like to kill even a drone. It does 

 seem strange that one cannot go far into the study of 

 Nature till he finds the strong oppressing the weak. 

 However, I do not think the workers use their stings in 

 fighting their stingless brothers, but meet them honorably 

 on their own ground, which is another thing to be won- 

 dered at. 



But what I wanted to write about was the construction 

 of the hive inside for winter. As this is my third attempt 

 with bees up here, I would like very much to succeed. Our 



winters are long — six or seven months — and the tempera- 

 ture drops as low as 40 degrees below zero during some cold 

 snaps. I want to put a two-inch dummy filled with chaff 

 in each side of the second story, and a one-inch dummy in 

 each side of the first story. That will leave four frames 

 in the top story and six frames in the bottom. Should 

 there not be fewer frames, and more room for clustering ia 

 winter ? 



And if the 10 frames are filled with honey, the four 

 •dummies with chaff, a quilt on top, and close fitting cover, 

 with no ventilation on top, do you think that would do for 

 the inside ? 



I will pack in a case all around the outside with nice, 

 dry leaves, and there is always lots of snow. Last year 

 the frost never got into the ground at all, the snow was so 

 deep. I very much fear brood-rearing will have stopt, but 

 we expect good weather yet. Thom.a,s Henry. 



Muskoka, Ont.. Sept. 29. 



Answer. — It is now in general considered best to leave 

 in a given space the same number of frames in winter as in 

 summer. Those frames filled with honey are better than 

 empty space, and your arrangement is probably all right, 

 only with no top ventilation you must be sure to have 

 plenty below, leaving the full summer entrance. 



Moving Bees After Dark— Whiskey for Bees. 



1. Is it possible to bring a few bees from a neighbor's 

 apiar)' after dark, so that they fly the next morning to in- 

 duce robbing from j-our own colonies ? 



2. Is whiskey good for bees, if j-ou know how to mis it 

 with honey ? Inquirer. 



Answers. — 1. If you should bring a few bees from your 

 neighbor's apiary after dark, letting them fly at will in the 

 morning, you would hardly induce robbing thereby. A few 

 strange bees allowed to enter a hive after dark would stand 

 a good chance of being killed. If not killed, they might 

 unite peaceably with the colony, but they would not be 

 more likely to rob than if they flew to your hives in the 

 daytime. 



2. Whiskey is not good for bees, neither niixt with 

 honej' nor straight. [" Touch not, taste not, handle not," 

 is the best way to treat whiskey. — Editor.] 



Packing Material for Winter— Late-Reared Queens. 



1. Where chaff' is not obtainable for chaff division- 

 boards and chaff cushions, what is the best substitute ? 

 How would dry leaves answer the purpose, wheat bran, dry 

 sawdust, and oats ? If all of these substitutes are practica- 

 ble, which is most suitable? 



2. How would this style of packing work for cellar-win- 

 tering ? Draw down smoothly over the tops of the frames, 

 and down the outside frame on each side of the brood-nest, 

 say half way down, three or four thicknesses of newspaper, 

 first cutting thru each comb four or five fs-inch holes about 

 four inches below the tops of the frames, leaving' off or 

 using Hill's device, as may be best. 



3. If queens hatcht in autumn should not become ferti- 

 lized before spring, would it be best to destroy these young 

 queens in the spring and replace with laying queens, or 

 await their fertilization ? Metropolis. 



Answers. — 1. Any of the things you mention might be 

 used for packing- except probably oats. Dry leaves are ex- 

 cellent. Perhaps, all things considered, dry planer-shav- 

 ings are as good as any, especially as they are in most cases 

 so easily obtainable. 



2. I think bees would do well with such packing-, and if 

 your cellar is all right they will do without any packing and 

 without any holes in the combs. In a few days my bees 

 will go into the cellar just as they were on the summer 

 stands, only there is an entrance two inches deep the width 

 of the hive, and a space of two inches under the frames. 

 The papers might be troublesome to the bees, for the3- would 

 be likely to gnaw them. 



3. Some say that a virgin queen may stay in the hive 

 thru the winter and be fertilized in the spring. Mr. Sim- 

 mins, the editor of Bee-Chat, says in the most positive 

 manner that such a thing never takes place ; that in the 

 supposed cases the young queens were fertilized in the fall 

 but did not begin laying till spring. If you have a j'oung 

 queen that does not lay in the fall, it mig-ht be worth while 

 to wait in spring till you see the raised cappings of drone- 

 brood in worker-cells before you decide to kill her. 



