384 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



•queen entered the hive, and became 

 the reigning queen. I can hardly ac- 

 count for so sudden and radical a 

 change, in any other way. 



Heditnn Hack. 



I see in the last number of the Bee 

 JouiiNAL. page 857, that Mr. \V. II. 

 Harmer likes the Heddon section 

 rack, and thinks the broad frames 

 ■will soon be a thing of the past. 

 Wliat kind of section rack does Mr. 

 Heddon use V Does he use the Langs- 

 troth hivey Is Mr. Heddon s rack 

 suitable for both one and two-pound 

 sections y Please answer in the Bee 



JOUUNAL. h. FATZINGEK. 



JanesviUe, Wis., July 2J, ls83. 



Answeu. — In answer to the above 

 question, I will refer Mr. F. to page 

 ■659 of the Bee Journal for 1882. 



The case represented is for one- 

 pound sections, and the same plan is 

 equally well adapted for sections of 

 other sizes. 



Transferring Bees from a Box. 



Will it be advisable to take a swarm 

 of bees out of a store box and put them 

 in a liive at this time V The bees 

 swarmed on June 9, and have built 

 the box half full. Please let me know 

 if I can do it and not disturb the bees. 

 Geo. U. Randenbush. 



Answer.— It is better for tlie inex- 

 perienced to do their transferring in 

 the latter part of May or fore part of 

 June. The harder and stiffer the 

 combs, the better. Stili, if properly 

 done, there is no chance of failure in 

 transferring your bees at liiis time of 

 the year, and new swarms at that, 

 upon the plan given in last week's 

 Bee Journal, page 367. 



Moving Bees. 



Living in a village, my bees annoy 

 the grocers, and also people in their 

 houses, when flowers fail. Is there 

 any remedy but to move them out of 

 town, if so what ? If moved, how far 

 must I take tliem, not to suffer loss 

 of bees, by removal? Will Mr. 

 Heddon please answer in the Weekly 

 Bee Journal. J. E. Fuller. 



Homer, N. Y., July 23, 1883. 



Answer. — I am not one of those 

 ■who believe so little in tlie rights of 

 apiarists and so much in the rights 

 of others as some bee-keepers do; but 

 leaving the opposing rights out of the 

 ■question, I believe it would well pay 

 you to move your bees out of town, 

 and that is the only practical remedy. 

 I can move my whole apiary at any 

 time of year from one rod to ten 

 miles or over, witliout any loss result- 

 ing. Twice I have moved my whole 

 stock about ten rods, once three- 

 quarters of a mile, ami all went well. 

 1 will, in the near future, in an article 

 in this paper, tell you how I proceed. 



Driving Bees. 



I have watched the bees for my 

 fatlier 27 years ago, sometimes as late 

 as August, for swarms. I have since 

 learned that the heat of ttie season 

 has more to do witli their clusterinii 

 on the outside of the hive than a 

 propensity of swarming, especially so 

 late in the season. Ab(Mit 15 years 

 ago I bought my tirst coli>ny of bees. 

 I was a reader of the American Bee 

 Journal for a few years, when 

 printed in Washington, I). C. When I 

 learned that it had become a weekly 

 journal, I subscribed for it again, and 

 1 expect to take it as long as I have 

 one colony of bees. With one or two 

 exception's, I never wrote a line for it 

 or any other bee paper. As a goodly 

 numljer of our pi'ofessed bee-keepers 

 give us their best ideas and new dis- 

 coveries, I thought I would write a 

 few lines and let the bee fraternity 

 discuss what I believe to be entirely 

 new, at least I never saw a line on the 

 subject. I would like to apply to a 

 practical use a discovery I made. It 

 is this: I succeeded in making a 

 number of swarms to come out of the 

 parent colonies like a natural swarm 

 does. 1 have done it as late in the 

 day as 4 o'clock. By applying my 

 process thev swarm and cluster as any 

 natural swarm does. I would like 

 Mr. Heddon to consider this, and give 

 the readers of the Bee Journal the 

 advantages that could be derived 

 from it. I now have 78 colonies — 

 spring count 25. Most of them in 

 the surplus boxes. I use side and 

 top surplus arrangement. I am not 

 experienced in extracting, but will 

 try it this week. I use a frame 11x12. 

 which, I think, is 1 or 2 inches too 

 deep. I believe a frame 9 inches deep 

 by 12 long about the right size. I 

 wintered on the summer stands last 

 winter, and lost 60 colonies. I blame 

 myself (as I believe all who lose 

 heavily ought to) for losing so many, 

 because I did not give them the proper 

 winter protection. Allow me, in this 

 connection, to ask whether there is 

 among your many readers a person 

 who has ever driven a swarm of bees 

 as mentioned in this item. 



J. II. ROEUUCK. 



Burton City, Ohio, July 14, 1883. 



Answer. — Any cheap and practi- 

 cal method by which a colony can be 

 made to cast a swarm at will, would 

 be of great value to the frateriuty. 



In answer to your last question, I 

 will say that several bee-keepers have 

 reported causing their bees to swarm 

 by inserting a queen-cell in the hive. 

 This result, however, is only a possi- 

 ble one, and cannot be relied upon 

 with any degree of certainty, and, 

 un<loubtedly,is entirely impracticable. 

 As far as the size of your frame is 

 concerned, I agree with you that it is 

 too deep, and will say that could I 

 now inaugurate an universal frame. I 

 would, for one or two quite important 

 reasons, make it not over seven inches 

 deep, which is two inches shallower. 



and I would have it a little longer 

 than the Langstroth frame. But ex- 

 perience in thousands of cases, and 

 in hundreds of apiaries, has demon- 

 strated beyond all doubt, that there is 

 less importance regarding the size of 

 frame as adapted to breeding, win- 

 tering and surplus honey-storing than 

 that we have one and the same size 

 frame, in general use. I am always 

 ready and anxious to put to the test 

 all new methods which bid fair to 

 prove valuable adjuncts to the science 

 of apiculture. I would like to know 

 of your method. 





Keeping the Colonies Strong, 



The basswood has never yielded 

 more honey in one season than this. 

 My hives are 12x22 inches, and 13 

 inches deep, inside measure. About 

 12 frames 11 inches square lill a hive. 

 On top of this I put a hive made for 

 wide fr.unes, holding 8 one-pound sec- 

 tions. I keep my colonies very strong, 

 so that they will fill sections rapidly, 

 l^erhaps you would like to know how 

 I keep them so strong. Some time 

 before the basswood bloomed, the bees 

 were gaining in stores from white 

 clover ; I examined some of the strong- 

 est, and foi:nd about 6 or 7 queen cells 

 started. I destroyed all I could find 

 in each hive, thinking this would pre- 

 vent them from swarming for awhile; 

 but they built other cells immediately. 

 Then the basswood commenced to 

 bloom and they wanted to swarm ; I 

 let about a gallon of bees go out with 

 the queen. I then shut the hive up 

 until the swarming fever was over; 1 

 kept destroying all the queen cells in 

 tlie old hive, except one, until the 

 brood was too old to produce queens. 

 The amount of bees which went with 

 the queen was hardly missed from the 

 old colony. The swarm which was 

 hived I strengthen witli hatching 

 brood, when the rush of honey-gather- 

 ing is over. A part of my hives have 

 just one story, or at least without the 

 sections to extract from, and, after 

 doing so, I keep some of the whitest 

 comb which has no brood it it, take 

 out full sections and lill empty ones 

 with this comb, and put in the place 

 of the full ones. 



WiCKLIFFE Fl.SnER. 



Ilamler. O., July 26. 1883. 



Sever Saw the Like Before. 



My 27 colonies in the spring have 

 given 2.700 lbs. of extracted and some 

 eond) honey, besides increasing toi 65 

 colonies and some nuclei. Basswood 

 is now in full bloom. I never saw the 

 like in the 18 years I have been in 

 Minnesota. 



H. II. ROSEDROCK. 



Owatonna, Minn., July 25, 1883. 



