THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



267 



Removing' Queen Cells.— In your re- 

 cent directions on queen rearing, fli- 

 vidinjj. etc., you say, •' in 10 or l^days 

 from the removal of the queen, the 

 queen cells iiiav be cut out and used."' 

 In '•Quinljy's' New Bee-Keepinu; " 

 directions are given to remove tiie 

 €ells iu the latter part of the ninth 

 day, or the early part of the tenth day, 

 from the lemov'al of the queen— that 

 if put off later a queen will likely 

 •emerge and destroy the otlier cells. 

 Now if such a tiling should occur, of 

 course our object would be defeated. 

 On the other hand, I understand we 

 run some risk of injuring tlie queen 

 if cut out too soon, besides, when we 

 divide, as you recommend, by supply- 

 ing a colony with a queen cell, or 

 cause tlie colony to wait unnecessa- 

 rily long for a laying queen. Please 

 answer: 1. Wiiere no special cow bs 

 are furnisliad beforehand, what is tlie 

 longest time we can safely wait after 

 the removal of tlie queen, before cut- 

 ting oiu tiie queen ci-llsV 2. What 

 Jige huvie (d.i'n-d from the laying of 

 the eggs) do the bees prefer to use to 

 rear qu ens y (;. M. Alves. 



Henderson, Ky. 



[1. Twelve days ; and tliis will be 

 governed by the progress made by the 

 bees in ripeuing the cell. To de- 

 termine this, an examination slioiild 

 be made previously. 



2. From thr^e to five or six days. 

 Usually about four. We prefer, al- 

 ways, to watch the development of 

 ,tbe cells closely, so as to let the young 

 <}ueens be as thoroughly developed 

 and vigorous as possible before re- 

 moving or handling the cells. The 

 best queens we have had were those 

 from cells removed but a few minutes 

 before hatching.— Ed.] 



Plenty of Bloom. — W^e have plenty 

 of bloiiin here, and bees are doing 

 well. I want to know how to get the 

 most honey, and hence I take the 

 Journal. John Eiiwin. 



Louisville, 111., April 19, 1SS2. 



Clover Uninjured.— Bees are well- 

 only one colony has perished ; but, 

 best of all, the clover is uninjured by 

 the open winter. The honey prospect 

 is tine for 1SS2, in Michigan. 



T. F. Bingham. 



Abronia, Mich., April 17, 1882. 



Bees at the CoHesre. — The College 

 Ijees are in spleiuUd condition. I 

 never knew bees to have so much 

 brood at this time of the year, yet 

 when I removed the bees from the 

 cellar on the 1st of April, they liad no 

 brood, as there was no pollen in the 

 hives. Bees here commenced to bring 

 in pollen on April 1. This is five days 

 earlier than any previous year. Pos- 

 sibly they would ha^e brought it in 

 earlier had they been able to fly. Our 

 meeting hist Thursday was very 

 largely attended and was a great suc- 

 cess. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., April 24, 1882. 



Harmless. — I inclose an insect, and 

 often see such around the hives. Do 

 they do any harm to the bees V 



A SUlJSCRIBEIt. 



Navarino, N. Y. 



[We have often seen them around 

 the liives, as well as on flowers,. at- 

 tracted no doubt by tlie smell of lioney. 

 After much observation, we cannot 

 accuse them of any h^rm, intentional 

 or otherwise. — Ed.] 



Cheerfnlness Prevails. — The out- 

 look for the California bee-keeper, up 

 to Eel). 1, was indeed very gloomy, 

 owing to the scarcity of rain. Since 

 that date it has rained copiously, and 

 the prospect for a good crop of honey, 

 perhaps, was never better at this sea- 

 son of the year. Consequently, the 

 faces of the bee-keepers have been 

 transformed from a woe-begone ex- 

 pression to that of smiles and cheer- 

 fulness. I'ou may prepare yourself 

 for a good report from California this 

 year, though let her crop of honey be 

 what it may, we shall depend almost 

 exclusively upon Europe for our mar- 

 ket. There are parties here now mak- 

 ing very liberal offers for the coming 

 crop. .J.E.Pleasants. 



Anaheim, Ci'L, April 13, 1882. 



Flowers on Every Side.— Bees are 



doing well here now, with some 

 swarming going on. Poplar (tulip) 

 is beginning to bloom, and raspber- 

 ries will be due in a few days. I wish 

 you could see our country now. All 

 nature is green and fresh, with flowers 

 on every side. W.J. Willaud. 



Jonesboro, 111., April 17, 1882. 



Cyprian Bees.— Having heard so 

 mucti about Cyprian bees and their 

 good qualities, 1 i)urcliased a queen 

 last season. I found them more gen- 

 tle than the blacks, and better work- 

 ers, but, when once disturbed, they 

 are very liard to ([uiet down. All my 

 black bees cannot rob them. On the 

 1st of April I madeanartilicial swarm 

 by placing in an empty hive three 

 frames of brood from the old one, 

 then moving the old hive a good dis- 

 tance off and setting the new one in 

 its place. By the 16tli I took from it 

 1.5 queens and it swarmed once. I 

 liave left them 1-5 capped queen cells, 

 hoping that they will swarm again. I 

 think that they "keep out moths better 

 than the blacks. 1 expect to try the 

 Italians next. D. R. Keyes. 



Wewahitchka, Fla. 



Bee-Pastnragc.— Your pamphlet on 

 this subject, Mr. Editor, is something 

 which every bee-keeper needs. I have 

 long been looking for such a work. I 

 liave planted different kinds of honey 

 plants this season, and shall plant 

 more in due time. We are having an 

 early spring in Kansas. The fruit 

 trees are in bloom, but the weather 

 has been windy and cool, and we have 

 bad but few days when the bees could 

 fly. The past winter was mild. 



E. Zakel. 



Williamsburg, Kas., April 12, 1882. 



Gnawing Off Combs.— I want to ask 

 a question, and, of course, want aii 

 answer : I have one colony of bees, 

 and know nothing of their habits. 1. 

 I iind that they are carrying out the 

 comb ; some frames are being nearly 

 eaten off at the top. What makes 

 them do so; and, 2. Is pure maple 

 sugar good food for bees in spring ? 

 Bees have been gathering pollen for 

 ab(nit ten davs. Subsckiber. 



Fairehild, Wis., April 20, 1882. 



[1. The combs are objectionable; 

 we have known the bees frequently 

 to gnaw off the cells of tlie combs 

 when honey was candied very solid in 

 them. 



2. Yes, almost anything will do to 

 feed in spring, when constantly fly- 

 ing, but, of course, good honey and 

 sugar syrup are best. — Ed. 



Prospect of Honey Harvest. — My 



bees are stronger than I have ever 

 had them at this season, before. I 

 have had but one swarm yet and that 

 was yesterday. I have been holding 

 back my swarming for the ratan honey 

 harvest. Several of my i neighbors' 

 bees have swarmed, which has proved 

 very disastrous, as a genuine 

 "Norther" blew up on the 11th inst., 

 and the weather continued wet and 

 cold four or five days, chilling the 

 brood in the i)aient hive, and severely 

 damaging recent swarms. It is 

 warmer now and the prospect is for a 

 heavy honey yield the coming season. 

 Wm. R. Howard. 

 Kingston, Texas, April 17, 1882. 



Bee Stings.— The remedy for the 

 third class of bee-keepers, mentioned 

 by J. Anderson, whom the stings af- 

 fect so seriously, is bromide of potas- 

 sium. With nie, the pain is cured 

 instantly by rubbing honey over a 

 large surface about the sting, but all 

 the symptoms that he mentions fol- 

 low, unless I have this remedy at 

 hand ; then I am ready for work 

 again in 10 minutes. M. Simons. 



Brockton, N. Y. 



Wintered in Cellar.— I wintered my 

 bees in a well ventilated cellar and 

 lost 11 out of 58 colonies. Ten of them 

 starved. J. F. Powell. 



Tracy, Minn., April 18, 1882. 



Building Up.— My bees wintered 

 without loss and are building up 

 rapidly. W. H. 'Miller. 



Berrien Springs, Mich., April 14. 



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