298 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 9, 



I think in most Southern locations top-storing is prefer- 

 able to side. Place only one crato of sections on the colony at 

 first, and when they eet this about half filled, raise it up and 

 place another crate beneath. Uy this arrangement, judici- 

 ously worked, you can get as mucli comb honey from a colony 

 as it is possible in one season in our climate. Do not wait for 

 all the sections to be capped before removing, for, if you do, 

 some of the cappings will get discolored from the pollen- 

 stained feet of the bees crawling over them. 



Health. — Money — Bees. 



A few moments ago I received a letter from Mrs. ex-Gov. 

 W. .1. Northen, of Georgia, wherein she says : " When we 

 lived on our farm there was nothing that gave me more pleas- 

 ure than my bees ; and it is work that a woman can manage 

 without taking up the valuable time of the men. So many 

 women write rae for help to devise some way by which they 

 can support themselves, but when I suggest bees, they are 

 incredulous. They need an object lesson." 



, Four and five cent cotton ought to be argument suffi- 

 ciently powerful enough to turn the dullest heads to the im- 

 portance of the smaller industries — prominent among them is : 

 Bees — honey — money. 



There is also health in bees. The pleasure and interest 

 taken in them, accompanied with the out-door exercise re- 

 quired, have enabled many an invalid woman to regain her 

 health, and have imparted a rose-tint to many a blanched 

 cheek. 



Tlie Busy Bee in Winter. 



"The notion that the colder the winter is the less honey 

 the bees use is a fable. Bees do not hibernate. It is true that 

 bees in winter become apparently dormant, and remain inac- 

 tive, but at the same time they must have a certain degree of 

 animal heat, and must use honey as fuel to produce it." — W. 

 Ballantine. 



The above I find in the Nebraska Queen, and while, in 

 substance, it is strictly true, as far as it is confined to the 

 latitude of its author, when applied to the South the para- 

 graph will need some modification. 



The writer of the above is correct when he says bees must 

 use honey to keep up animal heat; and I will further add 

 that, when bees are in motion there is an expenditure of nerve 

 and muscular power, and that this power can only be main- 

 tained at the expense of honey. For this reason it takes fully 

 as much honey to winter a colony of bees in the South, with 

 our mild winters, as it does North with your cold winters. 

 Here the bees can fly every few days during the winter, and 

 consequently use up their stores very fast. 



The past winter with us has been unusually cold, and 

 bees had fewer flights and consumed much less honey than 

 usual. It takes, on an average, from 20 to 30 pounds of 

 honey to carry a strong colony over the winter until the first 

 of April. The buUc of this honey is consumed in rearing 

 brood before they can gather much from natural sources. 



CONDUCTED BY 



xjR. c. c. aiili.br, aiaren^go, ill, 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



A Question on Transferring. 



I have some bees and would like to transfer them from 

 the old hives to new ones. Do you think it would set them 

 back any this year, to transfer them next month. May ? I 

 want them to swarm this summer. H. H. W. 



Independence, Oreg. 



Answer. — I don't think it will put them back very much, 

 but it must interfere somewhat with their household arrange- 

 ments, and I believe I'd rather put it ofiE till later, especially 

 as you want them to swarm once. About three weeks after 

 swarming there will be no brood in the combs, so there will be 

 no loss of brood by transferring, and you may be a little surer 

 of their swarming if you don't transfer first. 



Material for Filling in Bee-Cellar Wall. 



I wish to build a cellar for wintering bees — an outside 

 cellar. Now suppose I ceil up the outside and inside to 2x4 

 scantling, then nail cleats up and down on the inside, one inch 

 thick, then lath to them in the ordinary way, and plaster — 

 what would be the best material to fill in the space between 

 the ceiling ? or would the cellar be warmer with the dead air 

 space, without filling in anything? W. C. 



Luce, Mich. 



Answer. — I really don't know whether it would be best to 

 put in any filling or not. Perhaps it is better without any. 

 As to material for filling, sawdust might suit the case. But 

 before you build the walls of wood, it might be well to notice 

 what P. D. Wallace says on page 2-48. I don't mean where 

 he talks about using T tins upside down, but where he talks 

 about the advantage of a stone wall. My ideal would be a 

 stone wall, then cleats or scantling lathed and plastered. 



Some Other Insects in the Hive. 



I have one colony, and looking over them this spring, I 

 found the frames and walls of the hive full of small, cigar- 

 shaped insects, having two horns, no wings, and their color is 

 dark blue. They can jump and move very quickly about the 

 hive. Are they destructive to the bees and honey ? How can 

 I get rid of them ? C. E. H. 



Canton, Ohio, April 26. 



Ansvper. — I don't know what they are, but I feel confident 

 you needn't trouble yourself about them, for they will do no 

 harm, and as soon as bees get fairly to work they will dis- 

 appear. 



■ — ■ — ^^— 



Green Paint on Queen-Cages. 



If green paint is allowed to remain on the wire screen 

 cloth that queen-cages are made of, will the bees be liable to 

 get poisoned from it ? "Out West." 



Answer. — I've had queens in such cages hundreds of 

 times, and I never knew any harm to come of it. Still, if I 

 could just as well do without the green paint I should prefer 



to do so. 



^ I ^ 



Nuclei or Bees by the Pound, Etc. 



I wish to begin (in a small way) keeping bees this spring. 



1. Would ybu advise me to buy nuclei, or bees by the 

 pound ? 



2. If I were to buy a colony of native bees, and another 

 of Italians, would they be likely to quarrel or rob each other? 

 Our natives are quite gentle. W. D. M. 



Peris, Oreg. 



Answers. — 1. If you're getting a queen with them, a 

 nucleus is a nice thing, but if you want the bees alone, it will 

 be cheaper to get them by the pound. 



2. Blacks and Italians get along together just as well as 

 if all of the same kind. I've had lots of them mixed in the 

 same hive, and never knew any trouble. Of course bees of 

 two different colonies are not always on the most friendly 

 terms, but it makes no difference as to the kind. 



Italianizing an Apiary. 



How can I Italianize an apiary of 30 colonies by buying 

 one Italian queen and also keeping all the colonies with 

 queens ? J. R. 



BIyth, Ont. 



Answer. — I don't know of any way you can do it and be 

 sure that every colony has a pure Italian queen, for that not 

 only means one that is reared from a pure mother, but she 

 must also be purely mated herself. For the young queens 

 that you rear stand a rather poor chance of being purely 

 mated, with black drones all about them. However, you 

 probably do not expect to have all purely mated at the start, 

 and your question then amounts to asking how you can fur- 

 nish to each of the 30 colonies a queen reared from your pure 

 Italian queen, and yet have no colony at any time without a 

 laying queen. 



I'm not sure whether I could do it every time without fail, 

 but I'll tell you how I have accomplished it in some cases that 



