814 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Brin^in^ in the (ioldeii Nectar. 



I think I can say that I am " out of 

 the woods " for this season, and will 

 report, success. I put into winter 

 quarters 68 colonies, and never had 

 them do better, until 1 gave them a 

 flight late in February. I put them 

 on their summer stands, in the first 

 days of April, when I had lost 2 colo- 

 nies. There was ten times as many 

 dead bees on the cellar floor, on the 

 first day of April, as there was on the 

 first of March. I should like to have 

 a reason for this, as they were kept as 

 nearly as possible in the same condi- 

 tion througli March as though the 

 three preceding months. I have lost 

 3 colonies by dwindling, since the 

 first of April, leaving (53 colonies in 

 good condition ; some of them very 

 strong, hanging out, and giving 

 strong indications of swarming. Mr. 

 Layer, of Gilman, reports a fine 

 swarm on the 23d of May. White 

 clover is beginning to bloom, and for 

 the last two days, they are working 

 lively, bringing in the golden nectar, 

 and their busy hum, to me, is sweet 

 music. The more I am with the pets, 

 the better I understand their lan- 

 guage, for a language they have, most 

 certainly, and it is well to understand 

 and heed their words, or they may 

 use something sharper. 



Reuben Havens. 



Onarga, 111., June 4, 1883. 



at and ^axu. 



ANSWERS BY 



James Eeddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



^° Will my friends please send their 

 questions to the Editor of the Jour- 

 nal, and not to me ; they will be an- 

 swered just as promptly. I now have 

 a short-hand reporter who can take 

 down my answers as fast as I can 

 think them, which enables me to 

 "talk back" with great satifaction, 

 so send along your questions, but to 

 Mr. Newman and not to me, please. 



Queen Rearing. 



Will Mr. Heddon give us his opin- 

 ion of Mr. Alley's book, "New Method 

 of Queen Rearing ?" 1 have seen the 

 same method of obtaining queen-cells 

 practiced three years ago, in a large 

 apiary, in a neighboring county. 



C. W. Green. 



New Orleans, La., June 7, 1883. 



Answer. — I regret very much that 

 I am unable to give my opinion upon 

 Mr. Alley's " New Method of Queen- 

 Rearing." Mr. Alley kindly sent me 

 a copy, asking for my opinion, but I 

 have been too busy to read it. I must 

 fill my engagements and answer busi- 

 ness letters, and this takes all of my 

 time, and overtaxes me ut that. I 



did read Mr. House's chapter on 

 ■' Comb honey production," and also 

 Mr. Locke's on the " Races of bees," 

 therein contained. I disagree en- 

 tirely with the tenets of both these 

 chapters. 



Drum Box and After-Swarms. 



I would like to have Mr. Heddon 

 answer these questions : 



1. How does he prevent after- 

 swarming V 



2. Explain his drum box ; is it in 

 any wise dlfierent from a common 

 box made to fit the top of the box hive 

 he is transferring V 



3. I have had s swarms from 3 colo- 

 nies already. Bees have been storing 

 surplus since April 1. 



Geo. E. Lytle. 

 Flat Bayou. Ark., May 28, 1883. 



Answers.— 1 . We very rarely have 

 any attempt at after-swarming. If 

 such are cast, we hive the after- 

 swarm in a hive of comb foundation, 

 and put it by the side of the old box. 

 When the 21 days have passed, we then 

 drive the bees in the old box into the 

 hive with the after-swarm, and, at 

 the same time, all three can be put 

 together if you were driving on the 

 non-increasing plan. 



2. My drum box is simply a box of 

 about the size of the hive to be drum- 

 med, but I think it would be an im- 

 provement, one I thought of 7 or 8 

 years ago, but have never made, to 

 have a drum box contain numerous 

 thin light division-boards, to enable 

 the bees to readily ascend from all 

 parts of the old hive. 



Antiquated Management. 



Will Mr. Heddon kitidly answer the 

 following questions through the 

 American Bee Journal, for a 

 friend : 



1. If a man is doing all his own 

 work, can he manage more bees for 

 comb honey production, or for ex- 

 tracted honey ? 



2. Which way can he produce the 

 greatest number of pounds, by using 

 sections or extracting 'i 



3. Can comb lioney be shipped safely 

 to market in the Langstroth frame, 

 and would it find ready sale 'i 



4. Would there be any market for 

 comb honey in 10 or 20 pound boxes, 

 such as were used 20 or 25 years ago V 



5. I write this for the benefit of a \ 

 friend. The questions being fully ! 

 settled in my mind, and he being will- 

 ing to abide by your answer. 



G. C. Vaugiit. 

 Greenville, Miss. 



Answers.— 1. We must understand 

 that less colonies are required to 

 gather the honey of a given area, 

 when they are working for extracted 

 honey than when working for comb 

 honey. With proper fixUires in both 



cases, there is not much difference, if 

 any, in the amount of labor required. 



2. If he is getting extracted honey 

 for sauce, and takes out a ripe article, 

 he will get but little more extracted 

 then comb honey, provided he thor- 

 oughly understands the lavv* govern- 

 ing the production of comb honey. 



3. To this question I answer No. 

 The smaller the frame or sections 

 honey is put up in, the safer it will be 

 during transit. The full-sized Langs- 

 troth frame would be unsafe, besides 

 there are hundreds of other objections 

 against using it. It would not find 

 ready sale in packages of that size. 



4. Occasionally some odd genius 

 might demand it in that shape, but as 

 a rule there would be no market for 

 it. The honey would have to sell at 

 several cents per pound lower. 



.5. I hardly thought any reader of 

 the American Bee Journal would 

 be apt to ask such questions. The 

 small sections are not only more sal- 

 able at the present time, but the 

 most transportable packages, and the 

 most economical, labor and prices 

 both considered. 



Fertile Workers, etc. 



The season is from two to three 

 weeks late here, but we escaped the 

 snow storm of May 21, that was so 

 destructive through Ohio and further 

 South. We also have had but little 

 frost, and fruit propects are good for 

 apples and cherries, and all kinds of 

 small fruit ; clover has wintered well, 

 and has an enormous growth for this 

 date ; wheat promises to be above the 

 average through this section. 



1 . How soon, after a colony becomes 

 queenless, will fertile workers make 

 their appearance V 



2. Cannot queens be induced to lay 

 to their utmost capacity in a single 

 season, and thus become worthless 

 after, by removing and replacing 

 combs ; the queen being in a strong 

 colony y 



3. What objection would there be to 

 crossing the Holy Land bees with the 

 pure Italians ? Are they as irritable 

 as other hybrid bees V 



S. J. YOUNGMAN. 

 Cato, Mich., June 7, 1883. 



Answers.—]. There is no definite 

 time. I have known them to appear 

 in a few days after becoming queen- 

 less ; at other times, several weeks 

 after. 



2. I have found that queens can be 

 stimulated to lay such an amount of 

 eggs in one or two seasons that they 

 seem to have exhausted their fertility. 



3. The main objection to crossing 

 the Holy Land bees with Italians, is 

 that they have not the valuable quali- 

 ties possessed by the Italians, which 

 every comb honey producer so 



