1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



377 



CONDnCTED BY 



D'R. C. C. MILLER, JMAJiBNGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Ur. Miller direct. 1 



An Important Notice. 



If any of the friends send questions and don't find answers 

 to the same, the most probable reason is that I have not been 

 told where answers were desired. I like to be accommodat- 

 ing, but when you send a question and don't say whether you 

 want the answer in the American Bee Journal, Stockman or 

 where, how can I answer ? So when you don't get any an- 

 swer, if vou haven't given me the right information in the 

 first place, just send a card and tell me where you want the 

 answer. No use to send any stamp. 



To those who occasionally send a stamp and say they 

 don't want any answer in print but by letter, I must regret- 

 fully say that I am so hard driven for time that the only 

 course left for me is to leave such questions unanswered. 

 Occasionally some one thinks that when a stamp is enclosed, 

 that 2 cents entitles him to a dollar answer. A little reflec- 

 tion will show the unreasonableness of this. I always dread 

 opening a letter that has a stamp in it. 



Consult your own convenience as to whether you send 

 your questions to the editor or directly to me, only when you 

 have nothing else to write to the editor about, it may make a 

 little quicker work to send direct to me. C. C. Miller. 



Dysentery Killed Them. 



What killed my bees ? About the middle of November, 

 1S95, I put five colonies into the cellar, all seemingly in good 

 condition with plenty of stores. About the middle of Feb- 

 ruary I noticed they were spotting their hives badly. They 

 seemed to be dwindling away fast after that; by March 15 

 they were all dead, with plenty of honey left. On opening the 

 hives I found the bottom covered with dead bees and mold ; 

 also the combs and sides were moldy. There was nothing 

 over the frames but the cover. Could I have done anything 

 to have saved them ? G. H. P. 



Lake Villa, III. 



Answer. — The trouble was dysentery. Very likely you 

 might have done something for them by seeing to the tem- 

 perature and ventilation of the cellar. A thorough airing out 

 of the cellar is a good thing at any time, for you can't expect 

 bees to live in good health if the air is foul. If the cellar was 

 too cold, raising the temperature to -±0 or 50'-^, and keeping it 

 there would help. Possibly the hives themselves were too 

 close, for no matter how uure the air may be in the cellar, if 

 the hives are so close that the same air is too much confined in 

 them, the pure air of the cellar does little good. 



Questions About Patents and a Reward. 



In the last number of the American Apiculturist [page 

 35] I read : "The sum of .S50 will be paid to any one who 

 will make an improvement on the queen-trap as now con- 

 structed." 



Well, this day [May 22] I have made a great improve- 

 ment on the trap. Please let me know whether I can get the 

 improvement patented ; or, in other words, can I get a patent 

 on an improvement of another patent? Then let me know 

 how I am to go about it to get the above reward. 



J. C. K. 



Answer. — You can patent an invention of your own that 

 is an improvement on some other invention which is patented, 

 and the man that had the original patent must get permission 

 from you to use your patent. Equally, however, you must get 

 permission from him if you use his patent. In other words, 

 your patented improvement gives you no right to use the in- 

 vention you have improved upon ; so that there must be some 

 sort of an arrangement between you, if your invention is such 

 that it cannot be used independently. 



With regard to getting the .§50 reward — that's a private 

 matter between you and the one offering the reward ; or, in 

 other words, simply a matter of purchase and sale — you de- 

 liver the goods, and he pays the money. But in this case 

 there may be a question whether it was the intention to pay a 



reward for an improvement that should not go into the full 

 possession of the one paying for the improvement, and I 

 should hardly think you could patent the improvement and 

 have full control of it, and still get the $50. For in that 

 case, what would you give in exchange for the $50'? 



A Colorado Honey-Plant. 



I mail you a sample of plant in bloom. It is the earliest 

 bloom we have in wild flowers, and the bees work on it more 

 than any other flowers we have. It grows in stools like alfalfa, 

 from 25 to 400 or more stalks and flowers. It grows on 

 white, thin land, and has a large white taproot. It needs no 

 irrigation. The flowers last about 25 days. It comes in 

 early, and is just the thing we need to start the bees in the 

 spring. It is quite abundant along the highways and in pas- 

 tures. Please give the name of it in the Bee Journal. 



Bees are in fine condition in this locality, but no sale for 

 honey. D. R. 



Las Animas, Colo., April 30. 



Answer. — The box and flowers were smashed in the mail, 

 the latter being dried up, but I don't believe I could have told 

 anything about it even if I had seen it growing, for I suspect 

 it's some plant that belongs to that wonderful Bora of yours 

 that has never deigned to grow in this region. From your 

 description it must be of much importance, and perhaps would 

 flourish elsewhere. You ought to be able to find out about it 

 by writing to the botanist at your agricultural college. 



Spring Desertion — Secreting Beeswax. 



1. On April 19 I moved my bees out of the cellar, and on 

 the 20th three colonies deserted their hives, leaving plenty 

 of honey and small patches of brood ; also since, others have 

 gone out of their hives in the same way, at different times up 

 to the present date, May 2(3. Why do bees leave their hives ? 



2. On May 24 we found on the underside of the honey- 

 boards on two hives what appeared to be rendered beeswax. 

 I will send you a sample of it ? Do bees make pure wax ? or 

 what is it? H. B. 



Rossie, N. Y. 



Answers. — 1. I suppose the trouble might be called 

 "spring desertion," although that doesn't tell much about it. 

 If bees run short of stores they desert, and are then called 

 " hunger swarms." Sometimes it seems as if they desert be- 

 cause they have dwindled away in numbers, and haven't bees 

 enough to properly cover the brood, although there is plenty 

 of honey in the hive. Then, again, they desert when it seems 

 there is no good excuse at all. One thing, however, I think 

 you may always count on, and that is, that such desertion 

 never takes place with good, strong colonies. Sometimes they 

 desert, and then if forced to return they reform and live good 

 lives afterward. That suggests the plan of confining the 

 queen to the hive by means of a queen-excluder, for if the 

 queen cannot leave the hive the bees may return and behave 

 themselves. 



2. 'The sample received seems to be beeswax, very nice 

 and white. I have known my bees when fed continuously for 

 a time to deposit pure white wax on the feeder — what for I 

 don't know. It was put on just as propolis is daubed on. 

 Probably yours is a case somewat similar. If you could get 

 the bees to do that sort of thing regularly, and always pro- 

 duce as nice an article as the sample sent — a lump as big as a 

 large pea — you might make some profit raising wax. 



The Laying Queen Flew Away. 



My bees came out of the cellar in fine condition, but when 

 I opened one hive to see if they were all right, the queen flew 

 away and did not return. So I united the colony with 

 another, after a few days, as they destroyed their brood, and 

 had no chance to rear a new queen. Is it a common occur- 

 rence for a queen to do so ? Everything was in good condi- 

 tion in the hive, and there were eggs and larvae in two combs. 

 The rest of my bees are doing well, drones are flying, and 

 queen-cells are quite numerous. M. W. 



Nimrod, Minn., May 19. 



Answer. — It certainly is unusual for a laying queen to fly 

 away when the hive is opened, and unusual also for the bees 

 to destroy their brood, or fail to start queen-cells. There 

 seems something abnormal about the whole case. 



