684 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one or two horses to ride upon. So 

 when he was away, one day, his wife 

 being left in cliarge of a favorite 

 horse of his, slie tied it to the fence 

 wliich separates liis lot from mine, 

 and rather close to my colony of bees. 

 It was not long tied until it began to 

 snort and paw the ground, which it 

 continued, the people thinking that 

 the flies were annoying it ; but the 

 snorting turned into a groan, and at- 

 tracted the attention of my family, so 

 they sent over to tell them to come 

 and see what was the matter with 

 the horse, for it was then lounging, 

 rolling and groaning most pitifully. 

 The bees having mastered the horse, 

 they thought that they could serve 

 the people in the same way, so they 

 made after them, and it was a sight 

 to see the people '■ make time.'" I not 

 Ijeing on hand, they sent for all the 

 neighbors; one came with a hay-fork 

 and a broom, but he was soon seen 

 flying, broom and all, in " double 

 qiiick " time. In fact all was left 

 hors de combat, until ]Mr. Graver, a 

 bee-man, came prepared with gloves, 

 veil, etc., but even then he got the 

 javelins sent into him. They suc- 

 ceeded in getting the horse away, 

 for the poor thing had been left to 

 take its chances when all but it was 

 gone, except the bees. The horse did 

 not need to be tied up again, for in 

 about two days after it died, thus 

 ending its misery. I have not seen a 

 horse around since, for I had told 

 them not to tie too near the bees, or 

 they might feel sorry for it. So, if 

 thebees have not done much in the 

 honey business, they have done some- 

 thing to create a stir. 

 Tooele City. Utah. 



^Sllxat iiml goxtr. 



ANSWERS BY 



Jajnes Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Rules Tor this Department. 



1. Give your name and post-offlce address. 



2. Be brief, and to the point. 



3. Send no simple questions, such as are 

 answered in the tiee-books. 



4. Asli only such questions as are of 

 general interest. 



h. This department is not intended for 

 advertisingr any one's wares — therefore 

 questions concerning the manufacture of 

 goods for sale are not appropriate. 



6. Direct all questions to the editor— 



THOS. G. IVEW^I.iN, 



925 West Madison St., CHICAGO. ILL. 



That strange Noise. 



When Mr. Smoot made an inquiry 

 about the noise, he gave me the im- 

 pression that he referred to a louder 

 and different noise than that made by 

 drones. I well remember the drone 

 noise, which we do not often hear 

 now, as only a few of our choicest 

 colonies rear many drones; full sheets 

 of foundation being the cause. 



Bees in Good Condition for Winter. 



^Vill ilr. Ileddon please answer the 

 following questions : 



1. Are queens which accompany 

 after-swarms fertilized before or after 

 leaving the parent colony ? 



2. Is buckwheat honey considered 

 good for winter stores ? 



o. In extracting honey, do you 

 "shake" the queen indiscriminately 

 with the other bees at the entrance, 

 when taking the combs from the hive? 

 or would it be likely to prove injurious 

 to her V 



Bees have done finely in this section 

 since .luly 20, and as hardly any 

 swarming has occurred, they will go 

 into winter quarters strong in num- 

 bers, and with stores to spare. I am 

 using these stores to provision some 

 fine colonies (belonging to some of my 

 neighbors) which were doomed to the 

 " brimstone pit," but I interposed, to 

 the satisfaction of all concerned, giv- 

 ing them their honey and taking the 

 bees which are doing well. Imme- 

 diately after transferring, the queens 

 almost invariably begin to lay. 



E. K. Deas.cx 



Amenia Union, N. Y., Oct. 4, 1884. 



Answers.— 1. Afterward. 



2. Not by all bee-keepers, but it is 

 considered so by me. 



3. We never have any fears in so 

 shaking the queen down with the rest 

 of the bees. We use and prefer the 

 two-story system, and we smoke down 

 most of the bees before taking out the 

 combs for extraction. We seldom 

 extract from the brood-chamber. 



What to do with Boxes in Winter. 



What do you do with boxes that have 

 more or less comb in them V Would 

 it do to leave them on all winter V 



Waverly, Mo. A. M. Creel.-k: 



Answer. — I have no evidence that 

 the leaving on of your boxes will in- 

 jure your bees during the winter ; 

 but many experiments have proven 

 such conditions to be favorable to 

 wintering bees. It may, or may not 

 injure your boxes and combs. If the 

 bees remain healthy, it will not. 



Feeding Bees. 



Mr. Ileddon and Mr. D. A. .lones 

 both use tight-bottomed hives ; but 

 in feeding, Mr. Jones pours in the 

 feed at the back end of his hive, after 

 elevating the front a little ; while Mr. 

 11. always recommends using a feeder 

 to be placed on top of the frames. 

 Why does Mr. Ileddon prefer the lat- 

 ter method V The Jones' system is 

 the more convenient. E. 



Answer. — Have you ever used, or 

 seen used the top-feeder which I use V 

 If not, how can you reasonably decide 

 that the Jones' method is the most 

 convenient V The reason I prefer the 

 latter method, is because it has no 

 tendency to excite robbing, whether 

 the feed is all taken or not ; also, be- 

 cause I can feed 1.5 or 20 pounds at 

 one time, to each colony, and in less 

 time than any man can pourone ounce 

 in at the back end of any hive. 

 Further, because I do not have to use 



the smoker, nor come in contact with 

 the bees at all. I feel confident that 

 the future will verify my decision. 



How Far do Swarms Go? 



Several years ago, and again last 

 year, I lost a number of swarms of 

 bees by their going away before hiv- 

 ing. I should like to learn whether 

 there is any known way to recover 

 such swarms. Also, whatls the longest 

 distance swarms have been known to 

 go. I have read what most of the 

 standard bee-books have to say on the 

 subject, but can learn nothing definite 

 about it. C. H. Howard.© 



Raritan, X. J., Oct. 3, 1884. 



Answer.— I know of no way to 

 recover your runaway swarms. The 

 best way is to prevent such runaways 

 by a judicious use of the fountain 

 pump. I have good and satisfactory 

 evidence, that here, where we have 

 woods interspersed all through our 

 country, our swarms often go 2-5 to 50 

 miles "before selecting a home, A 

 swarm alighted on a ship's mast in the 

 middle of our Lake Michigan. 



Wintering Queens Alone. 



Why cannot queens be kept over 

 winter, each one by herself, i. e., with- 

 out any other bees being with her, and 

 in a small box in the house where they 

 will not freeze, yet being kept in a 

 cool room? Of course, give to each 

 their own honey to live on. I would 

 like to know why that cannot be done 

 with good resultsV Wji. Folke. d 



Peotone, 111. 



Answer.— Of course, you could not 

 keep them " in a cool room," because 

 the temperature in such a room would 

 be lower than that in a cluster of bees 

 in winter. But why cannot we keep 

 them in a proper temperature V A 

 single bee cannot live in a state of 

 isolation. It has been said, that it 

 dies of lonesomeness. My own opin- 

 ion is that it would die from a lack of 

 animal magnetism, if from no other 

 cause. 



Spring-House Wintering of Bees. 



I am an amateur in apiculture, and 

 I am in doubt as to how I shall winter 

 my bees. I have read the Monthly 

 Bee Journal for nearly a year, but 

 have never seen spring-house winter- 

 ing advocated. I happened to think 

 of it last fall, and put one colony in 

 the spring-house for an experiment, 

 and the bees come out in the spring 

 nice and strong. I had a chaff-cush- 

 ion on the top of the frames to absorb 

 the moisture, but it failed to absorb 

 all of it. After experimenting some 

 time. I found that the air inside of 

 the hive was, on an average, 16°Fahr. 

 warmer than the air at the entrance. 

 The temperature of the water was 50° 

 Fahr.. so in order to have the bees 46", 

 I had to leave the spring-house door 

 open a little ; the air at the entrance, 

 ."0^, plus 16^, animal heat, equals 46°, 

 at which temperature they kept very 

 quiet. Does any one know any thing 

 about spring-house wintering of bees? 

 If so. please give a few hints concern- 

 ing it. Is it a good and safe plan? 



