1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



427 



the combs. In the same hive, on one frame, in a thick bunch 

 of bees, I saw a queen that looked to me to be old. She was 

 fighting with the bees. In the bottom of the hive, too, many 

 bees were dead or dying, and many others fighting. Do you 

 think that the queen of one swarm, issuing without my 

 knowledge, went into that hive? S. A. 



Answer. — It would be hard to say with certainty. The 

 appearance of the queen-cells would rather indicate that a 

 swarm had issued a week previously, and other things seem to 

 indicate that a swarm from some other colony had attempted 

 to enter, the bees of the hive killing the intruders. 



Drone Beared in a aueen-Cell. 



Dr. Miller : — I send you a cage containing a sample of 

 our Island-bred bees, and a drone that was reared in a queen- 

 cell. You will find the queen-cell in a compartment of the 

 cage. It was witnessed by some half-dozen interested per- 

 sons, cut out of the comb and placed in the cage. He is due to 

 hatch out Sunday afternoon or Monday. I hope he will arrive 

 safely, and should be a yellow drone. Seeing that you in- 

 terest yourself in such matters, you can make a note of this 

 and satisfy yourself that drones do hatch out of queen-cells. 



I hope you are having a good season. It is going to be a 

 failure here, sure — neither clover nor basswood — everything 

 killed with frost, and then a severe drouth. The only green 

 things now to be seen is sweet clover, catnip and motherwort. 



Toronto, Ont., June 15. John McArthur. 



P. S. — Before mailing I looked to see how the bees were 

 behaving, and find the drone hatched out, witnessed by 

 several. 



Answer. — The cage arrived with the handsome workers 

 all in good health, but the drone, a nice yellow one, had suc- 

 cumbed. I think heretofore there has been no record of a 

 drone issuing alive from a queen-cell, although it is not un- 

 common for bees to try to rear a queen from drone-brood 

 when they have no other, such drone dying in the cell. 



Queens Stopped Laying. 



I have a colony of bees very strong, have filled one super 

 with nice comb honey, and have six weeks yet to work. I 

 thought to-day I would examine them, to see if they were 

 making any preparation to swarm. I found very little sealed 

 brood, the largest piece, in center comb, about four inches 

 square. I found the queen all right — she is an Albino, pur- 

 chased last summer. Is this as it should be ? I expected to 

 find frames full of brood. I examined a colony of blacks 

 about the same strength, and they were in about the same 

 condition. The longer I keep bees the more convinced I am 

 that I know very little about them. F. T. B. 



Brookewood, Va., June 14. 



Answer. — I'd give a cooky to be in Virginia half an hour, 

 even if you should ask me a lot of questions about things I 

 don't know. Perhaps, though, I wouldn't know what ails your 

 bees if I should see them. My first thought was, " You better 

 pinch that queen's head off. She's no good." But when you 

 say another strong colony is in the same condition, it hardly 

 seems both would stop laying right in the middle of the har- 

 vest. Are there plenty of empty cells? or are the queens 



crowded out? 



^ I w 



Reversing Brood-Frames to Prevent Swarming. 



On page 451 of Gleanings, Mr. T. Bolton says that invert- 

 ing the brood-chamber will prevent swarming for nine days 

 when they are "swarmed." Will you please tell me why that 

 is the case ? I have had queen-cells built and capped over in 

 three days, and I understand bees are apt to swarm as soon 

 as a cellis capped over. Please answer in American Bee 

 Journal. L. D. H. 



Answer. — Some time ago there was much said in favor of 

 reversing brood-chambers, one chief advantage claimed being 

 that a queen-cell inverted would be destroyed, and thus 

 swarming would be prevented. Gradually, however, it seemed 

 to be granted by all who tried it that the claim could not be 

 upheld, and for some time nothing has been heard about it. 

 Mr. Bolton's article sounds like some of the earlier ones, and 

 it would not surprise me to hear later that he had given up 

 the practice. 



Your objection to the plan evidently lies in the fact that 



you think preparation and swarming can take place within 

 the given nine days. I will not dispute that such might be 

 the case, but it seems to me there must be a mistake some- 

 where when you say, " I have had queen-cells built and cap- 

 ped over in three days." In the presentcase that would mean 

 that the cells were sealed over in three days from the time the 

 egg was laid, for the matter in question has to do with cells 

 regularly built for swarming, a queen being in the hive. In 

 such case I think the young queen is started from the egg, 

 and in three days the larva would be barely hatched out of 

 the egg, needing at least five days of feeding. 



Probably the case you have in mind is one in which, in 

 the absence of a queen, cells were formed over larvse well ad- 

 vanced ; but Mr. Bolton's plan contemplates a queen in the 



hive. 



^ I ^ 



The Spraying of Fruit-Trees. 



I have many times read of spraying fruit-trees in the 

 spring, but without knowing for what reason it is done. Can 

 you tell me the reason, the manner, the time, and the effect 

 of spraying fruit ? J. M. E. 



Belgium. 



Answer. — The principal reason for spraying fruit-trees 

 is to destroy the larvM of the codlin moth. This moth lays an 

 egg in the blossom end of an apple very soon after the blos- 

 som has dropped off; the egg hatches, and the little larva 

 commences eating its way into the apple, becoming when ma- 

 ture very nearly in size and appearance like a wax-worm. 

 Every one is familiar with the worm of wormy apples. It is 

 plainly seen that any attempt at getting rid of the trouble be- 

 fore there is any trouble is useless, and it is also harmful to 

 bees without good to the trees. But as soon as the larva is 

 hatched from the egg, it is desirable to give it some poisonous 

 food. Paris green or London purple is used shortly after the 

 blossoms have fallen, using a pound of the poison to 200 gal- 

 lons of water. It is thrown upon the trees in a fine spray by 

 means of a spray pump. Ten days later a second application 

 may be made, using this time 40 gallons more of water to the 



pound. 



^m — • — ^ — 



Can Bees Hear Bells Bing at Swarming-Time ? 



I have been reading the American Bee Journal for nearly 

 16 months, and am well pleased. I have read most of it the 

 second time. Some claim bees don't hear. May 29 I had a 

 swarm of bees come out and start to leave. I rang a small 

 bell and finally settled them on a pear tree. I took them down 

 twice, and tried to put them into a hive, but failed both times. 

 Finally they started off again, and I settled them again, about 

 50 yards distant, and finally hived them. This has happened 

 frequently with me. What effect has the bell ? And if they 

 do not hear, why did they settle ? J. L. C. 



Answer. — I think that most believe nowadays that bees 

 hear. But perhaps most bee-keepers believe that the noise 

 that bees hear has little or nothing to do with their settling, 

 and that they would settle just the same if there was no noise. 

 And they have an argument in the fact that when no noise of 

 bells is made the bees often start and stop in the way you 

 mention. But S. T. Pettit has lately asserted that for 15 

 years he has prevented swarms from leaving by ringing not a 

 small bell, but by loudly ringing two good cow-bells. 



A IS C ot Bee-Ciiltiire. — We have some of these books 

 left, and in order to close them out quickly, we renew the low 

 oiler we made on them. This is the fine cyclopedia of bee-keeping 

 by A. I. Root, containing 400 pages and nearly 300 engravings. 

 The regular price is 5!l.25, but we will send the American Bee Jour- 

 nal one year and the "ABC" bound in cloth— both for only -SI. 80. 



Honey as Foort ami Me«liciiie.— A new and revised 

 edition of this 33-page pamphlet is now issued. It has 5 blank 

 pages on which to write or paste recipes taken from other sources. 

 It is just what its name indicates, and should be liberally dis- 

 tributed among the people everywhere to create a demand for 

 honey. It contains a number of recipes on the use of honey as 

 food and as medicine, besides much other interesting and valuable 

 information. Prices, postpaid, are : Single copy, 5 cts. ; 10 copies 

 35 cts. ; 50 for SI. 50 ; 100 for *2.50. Better give them a trial. Send 

 all orders to the Bee Journal' office. 



