1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



491 



and I guess the bees lost by it don't count for such a great 

 deal. 



2. You can judge of a man's belief by his acts. I work 

 for comb honey, and I try to keep as near as I can easily to 

 pure Italian stock. But hybrid blood works in, in spite of 

 constant effort. 



3. One will tell you that there is nothing hardier than 

 sweet clover; that it will grow and flourish in any soil so poor 

 and hard that no kind of grain would live therein. And he's 

 right. Another will tell you that sweet clover is tenderer 

 than oats, wheat or any of the grains. And he's right, too. 

 Drop seed on the hardest soil you like, let it be trodden down 

 by horses, cattle or man, and it will flourish and grow away 

 up big. But it can't stand too much prosperity. I sowed 

 sweet clover with oats one spring, having the ground beauti- 

 fully prepared. It came up thick, but the next winter it 

 heaved out of the soft ground, and the following spring not a 

 single plant was left. Let your seed be tramped in, in hard 

 ground, and then see if you don't think sweet clover is hardy. 



Questions by a Beginner. 



1. I hived one swarm, and not knowing any better I 

 poured them in at the top of the hive — the second story. They 

 won't go below. They have been in the hive seven days, and 

 have not come out yet. I feared they'd starve, so I fed them 

 every night. What must I do with them ? 



2. I had a large swarm last Monday; this is Saturday, 

 and the colony has swarmed again. The old colony was hived 

 on May 23. They have never worked in the top story. The 

 bottom part of the hive is only 10x10x10 inches. I did not 

 have any new hives at that time, and used that small box. 

 I thought to transfer them next spring. This seems odd to 

 me, only a beginner. T. E. R. 



Florence, Oreg. 



Answers. — 1. It's a little hard to say without knowing 

 what your hive is like. If the two stories are just alike, all 

 you need to do is to swap one for the other. If the upper 

 story is small, and communication between the two stories 

 very free, you can leave them just as they are, and when the 

 bees become crowded in the upper story, they will work their 

 way down into the lower. As they fill up next year the brood 

 will in time all be found in the lower story, and the upper 

 story can be removed after it is filled with honey. 



2. One thousand cubic inches is all the room they had, 

 whereas they should have double that or more. The queen 

 hadn't room to lay, so they swarmed. Even if there was 

 empty room above, it wasn't to the taste of the queen to oc- 

 cupy it. 



m ^ 



Questions on Management. 



I started last spring to keep bees. I have seven colonies, 

 five of them doing well, but two have not stored any surplus 

 honey, and I got only one small swarm. One has ten extract- 

 ing-frames filled, and almost 2i one-pound sections filled 

 already. 



1. Those two that have done no work in the sections, I 

 took two full frames of the full hive (extracting-frames) and 

 put one in each of those hives. Did I do right '? 



2. The colony that has stored so much, makes a great 

 noise at night ; it does not seem to me to be a contented hum ; 

 in fact, they make more noise then all the rest together. I 

 think that one or two swarms left those two hives early in 

 June, but I don't know for certain. Some of the hives have 

 a large amount of bees on the outside of the hive, and still do 

 not swarm. My bees are very cross ; my garden is just along- 

 side of the fence where the bees are kept, and it is almost im- 

 possible to work a horse in it. I did have to get up in the 

 morning before the bees were out. 



3. I would like to Italianize the whole lot, but I do not 

 know how or when to do so. 



4. I have a neighbor that has one colony, and the bees 

 have been out all over the hive for the last month. He asked 

 me to go and see if I could tell him what was the matter. 

 When I tried to take off the top of the hive, I found that there 

 were no frames or boxes on top, but the top was full of honey. 

 What can he do with them ? Had he better leave them until 

 next year, or take the honey out of the top and put on frames 

 or sections ? W. J. H. 



St. Joseph, Pa., July 15. 



Answers. — 1. It was probably a good thing to take the 

 two frames from the hive likely to be crowded, but it is doubt- 

 ful if you did any good by giving it to the other colonies so long 

 as they were in no danger of starving. 



2. That loud noise at night is all right. The bees are 

 ventilating, and evaporating the nectar they have gathered. 



3. You ought to have a good text-book on bees to instruct 

 you about Italianizing and many other things. (See the one 

 offered on page 496.) You can Italianize almost any time 

 when bees are at work. The sum and substance of it is to re- 

 move or destroy the old queen and introduce the Italian one. 



4. If there is enough room filled with stores below, he 

 may as well take away what there is above, for if everything 

 is entirely full there may be no room for the queen to lay. 



Time for Rearing a Queen. 



Following your instructions for getting increase of colo- 

 nies, as given on page 410, I would say that everything is 

 apparently working all right. 



On July 4 I made the first division, taking the old queen 

 from hive No. 1. On July 14 (10 days after), when I opened 

 hive No. 1 for the second division, I found a large queen in 

 the hive and several cells sealed over. The colony had sup- 

 plied itself with a queen in 10 days. I, however, went ahead 

 and made the division as originally contemplated. Sly ques- 

 tion is, will this queen produced in 10 days be all right ? An 

 old bee-keeper of my acquaintance says not. He says it will 

 be a very poor queen. 



My understanding was that the bees did not take an egg 

 over three days old to produce a queen from, under such cir- 

 cumstances as I have detailed above. But in this case, if it 

 takes 16 days to produce a queen from the egg, the bees must 

 have taken a larva to begin operations with that was three 

 days old, or six days from the time the egg was deposited. 

 What do you think about this ? H. P. J. 



Ben Avon, Pa. 



Answer. — If the queen is a nice, large one you needn't 

 worry. I believe it is generally agreed that a larva not more 

 than three days old is all right, the food of all being for the 

 first three days practically the same as that of a queen. After 

 being fed thus for three or four days, the young worker is put 

 upon a less concentrated diet, while the queen goes right on 

 living on the fat of the land. Even if this were not so, are 

 you sure and certain that there might not have been a queen- 

 cell bsfore your intermeddling ? , 



A Swarming Experience. 



This of all years has added to my experience with 

 bees. Perplexities confront me on most of the avenues in api- 

 culture, therefore this random letter. We have had one of 

 the most rainy seasons I have ever seen in Colorado at this 

 time of year. The last month has been one continual rain, 

 and yet the bees are swarming to death — only 2 colonies out 

 of 50 but what have swarmed from 2 to 4 times. Of these 

 2 colonies I have placed four 28-section supers on one, and 

 three 24-section supers on the other, which are full of honey. 



I have had a number of swarms after having balled the 

 queen, leave the hive. This is a new experience to me. One- 

 fourth of the new swarms have balled and killed the queens. 

 Can you recommend any remedy? 



What would you advise to give the new queenless colonies 

 — a frame of brood, new eggs, or give them a queen ? 



Denver, Colo., July 13. D. L. T. 



Answer. — It seem, to me you are having a very unusual 

 experience, and I hardly know what to advise. I believe I 

 should try returning some of the swarms, at least, to the hives 

 from which they issued. If they're dissatisfied with their old 

 queen, possibly they might be better satisfied with a new one, 

 although, as a rule, a laying queen will be preferred to one 

 not yet laying. If you don't care to have Increase, it might 

 be a good plan to cut out all but one cell on returning. If 

 you don't cut out the cells you may expect them to swarm 

 with the oldest of the young queens. 



I think it probable that you gave a frame of brood to each 

 swarm, otherwise I should expect the bees to return to the 

 old hive when the queen was killed, and I'm wondering just a 

 a little whether the presence of brood might have anything 

 to do with the killing of queens. If they have brood, they 

 have probably started queen-cells, and will take care of them- 

 selves In that respect, but you may expedite matters by giving 

 them a young queen just hatched, or a mature queen-cell. It 

 might be the best thing, especially if you desire increase, to 

 put with the queenless swarm one of the weakest colonies that 

 has swarmed. That would furnish a queen, and also supply 

 emerging brood. 



