1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



395 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. J. P. H. BROllTV. AUGUSTA, GA. 



[Please send all questions rela^ng to bee-keeping In the South direct 

 to Dr. Brown, and ho will answer in this department. — Ed.1 



mixed Bees — Chestnut and Corn-Tassel Bloom — 

 Making Foundation and Hives. 



1. I have the Italian and black bees, and if I were to get 

 the Carniolan bees, and they were to mix with the other two 

 races, what would be the result ? 



2. Do you think chestnut bloom and corn-tassel yield any 

 honey ? I do not think I ever saw a bee still enough on either 

 bloom to gather nectar. 



3. Is there any cheaper machine to make foundation than 

 those mills from $15 to $40 ? Would it pay a man to get a 

 machine and make his own foundation when he keeps from 

 50 to 75 colonies, and can get beeswax for 18 cents per 

 pound? 



4. If I were to get a contract to make from 100 to 150 

 hives, could I get some machine to rip the boards and square 

 them without the handsaw and the square ? 



M. W. G., Bankston, Ala. 



Answeks. — 1. The result would be a mongrel variety of 

 bees. 



2. Not much honey — more pollen ; yet I have known corn- 

 tassel to yield honey in sufficient quantity for the bees to store 

 in the surplus department. 



3. I do not know of any. It would not pay you if you had 

 any other business to attend to. 



4. You can get a machine to do the work. The Barnes 

 or the Seneca Falls machines are good. See their advertise- 

 ments in this journal, and write to them for prices. 



A Swarming.Time Expcrienee. 



Dr. Brown: — I have a colony of black bees which cast a 

 swarm April 25. It was hived on the old stand, and the par- 

 ent colony, after a day or two, was moved to a new location. 

 About May 1 an after-swarm came out, which I caught in a 

 swarm-catcher, when they immediately returned to the hive. 

 The next day the same process was repeated. 



On May 11 they came out the third time, and were hived, 

 a frame of eggs being given them. In four days they had 

 sealed queen-cells, showing that they were queenless. The 

 parent colony, a few days after the swarm came out, was 

 found to have a laying worker, so the two were' united, and 

 now have a virgin queen, and seem to be all right. Why did 

 they swarm when there was no queen in the hive? What 

 should I have done to prevent this state of affairs ? 



Brinkleyville, N. C. R. B. H. 



Answer. — Such cases as Mr. H. describes do not often 

 occur. Sometimes when bees are determined on swarming 

 they become so excited, that, if the queen hesitates about 

 going out with them, they will proceed to ball and kill her. In 

 this way the queen was probably dispatched in the old hive. 

 The operations with the swarm-catcher may have added to 

 this state of affairs. It is generally supposed that a queenless 

 swarm will return to the parent hive. They will more cer- 

 tainly do this if they discover the loss of queen before they 

 settle; but if she is lost during the operation of hiving, they 

 will often remain in the new hive, and will proceed to make 

 queen-cells when brood is given them. Under the circum- 

 stances, I don't see how you could have done better. 



management of Transferring. 



Dr. Brown : — Having within about a year become quite 

 interested in bees, and although I am considerably on the 

 shady side of 50, I find that I can learn, and have learned, a 

 good deal about them in that time, and with the assistance of 

 my family (who with myself up to that time looked at bees 

 simply as things that stung and stored honey) have attained 

 to such acts as transferring from common box-hive to Sim- 

 plicity, and similar feats with considerable success, and from 

 two colonies have in various ways attained to 15, and in good 

 trim and working like beavers. Yet I often find " something 

 else " coming up to learn about, and would like to see the fol- 



lowing practice discussed in the Bee Journal, if not out of 

 place : 



In transferring from a very large box-hive full of comb, 

 bees, honey, brood, etc., I found I could not get over two- 

 thirds into a Simplicity hive. I was at a loss what to do, and 

 concluded to fill, or nearly fill, two, and put one on top of the 

 other. After a week or ten days I put a queen-excluder be- 

 tween the two, so as to ascertain which the queen was in, as 

 being black bees she was hard to find ; and after four days I 

 looked them over and put the one that had the queen in, as 

 shown by the eggs, on a new stand, with a board up in front 

 to mark the location for the bees ; and the part without the 

 queen I put on the old stand. In a couple of days I introduced 

 to it an Italian queen, and both colonies went right along in 

 good order. Was it a good practice ? In what was it deficient, 

 and what are the dangers, if any ? 



The success of the above led to the query in my mind. 

 Why not artificially " swarm " other colonies in the same way ? 

 Acting thereon, I have just manipulated a colony of Italians 

 with the exception that seeing the queen I did not use the ex- 

 clvider ; two or three frames had queen-cells on, one capped, 

 the others not; the hive was very full, and I looked for them 

 to swarm in a few days, and did this to prevent it. The queen 

 with 5 frames of brood, honey, etc., and 3 frames of founda- 

 tion I left on the old stand ; the balance (7 frames of honey, 

 brood, etc.) I put on the new stand, the frames having queen- 

 cells being among them. They had increased them from 8 to 

 12 frames while they remained one over the other. In a day 

 or two I propose to cut out queen-cells and introduce a laying 

 queen. Is this all right ? If not, what is wrong? 



I forgot to say the hive on the new stand has plenty of 

 bees, but as they come out and in very little, I suppose them 

 to be nearly all young bees. Do you think this will hinder 

 their swarming 1 C. E. M., Asheville, N. C, May 28. 



Answer. — I see nothing objectionable in your plan ; only 

 in the second case, had you placed the part containing the 

 queen on the new stand instead of the old, the force of work- 

 ing bees would have been better divided. After a bee emerges 

 from the cell it takes some days before it can go out for forage. 



Wants Extracted Honey — Several <tuestions. 



Dr. Brown : — One year ago I purchased two colonies of 

 black bees, and one of them swarmed the next day. I now 

 have 9 colonies, but some are weak, being only divisions of 

 colonies. Now for my question : How would you advise me 

 to manage my bees for extracted honey ? Our honey-resources 

 continue almost the entire year, but at no time is there a very 

 good flow, unless it be very early in the spring. I know of no 

 bees near me in frame hives, but bees in box-hives generally 

 gather more than they require to carry them through the 

 winter. 



I have 9 colonies now, and hope to increase to 20 next 

 year, and after that I do not care for any increase. My first 

 swarms this year were from April 8 to 10, containing 2K or 

 3 gallons of bees. 



Bees have been busy this year, first on fruit-bloom, and 

 then red-bud, willow, rattan, locust, mustard, poison-vine, 

 blackberry, and honey-dew. They are now working on sumac 

 and buckwheat. Bitterweed will soon be in bloom, which 

 yields somewhat until frost, but results in very bitter honey. 



I timed the bees as they came in filled with honey-dew 

 when they were working most, and the average of three min- 

 ute tests on three colonies was 142, 170 and 195 bees per 

 minute. Is this fast enough to depend on for honey, or 

 should I have more bees per colony ? 



My bees are in S-frame hives. Would you advise a dif- 

 ferent sized hive ? Also, would it be better to have Italian 

 than black bees ? C. H., Bonham, Tex., May 30. 



Answer. — For a location like yours, where there is a con- 

 tinuous but no great rapid flow of honey, I should prefer a 10 

 or 12 frame one-story hive, and extract from the outside 

 frames ; but as you have the 8-frame hive, I should place on 

 top a half-story with half frames. 



From your report, your bees would seem to be sufficiently 

 strong, and if they don't store any honey, it will be because 

 there is none to gather. 



Xliat I\e>v Song: — " Queenie Jeanette" — which is being 

 sung everywhere, we can send you for 40 cents, postpaid, or club 

 it with the American Bee Journal for one year — both for only 

 $1.10. Or, send us one new subscriber for a year (with .?1.00), and 

 we will mail you a copy o£ the song free. 



