506 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 8. 



CONDUCTED BY 



UR. C. C. Ain^T^ER, MAHnXGO. ILJL, 



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



When to Introduce ftueens — Changing ftueens. 



1. What month of the year is best to introduce queens ? 



2. Is it good policy to change queens annually ? « 



M. R. G. 



Answers. — 1. Almost any time when bees are flying, and 

 perhaps no better time than this time of year. 



2. I don't believe it pays to change as often as once a 

 year. Some seem to think it pays to change as often as once 

 in two years, and some think it is better to leave the changing 

 entirely to the bees. 



Keeping Drones Out of the Sections. 



How can I prevent drones from going into my sections ? 



My bees are doing finely. They have not swarmed yet. 

 There was a great loss of bees in this section of the country 

 last spring. G. E. L. 



Avon, N. Y. 



Answer. — Why do you want to keep them out of the sec- 

 tions ? I never do anything to keep drones out of my sections. 

 But if you don't want yours in sectons, all you need do is to 

 put a queen or drone excluder under your super. 



Getting Bees to Work in the. Super. 



I have one colony that won't work in the super. They 

 have filled the brood-frames, and bracing them together. 

 What is best to do with them ? P. R. H. 



Answer. — You might e.\tract from the best filled frames. 

 If you want the honey put above, put in the super some comb 

 or brood. Just how you will do that depends on what is in 

 the super. If sections, put a piece of comb or brood in one of 

 the sections. Perhaps it may help to uncap at the same time 

 some of the brood-frames that are filled with honey. 



Questions on Comb Foundation Itlaking. 



1. I have been getting foundation from the A. I. Root Co. 

 Freight and duty on this side add considerably to their in- 

 voiced prices. I can buy wa.x here at one shilling per pound. 

 Should I not preferably make my own foundation? 



2. But is not much skill and practice required to enable 

 one to turn out a fairly good article of foundation ? 



3. What sort of mill or machine would you recommend ? 

 The Given or the old cylindrical style ? 



4. What is the cost of the Given ? 



5. Should I require two machines, i. e., one for brood and 

 one for surplus ? 



6. Through whom could 1 get a good second-hand mill ? 

 There are many who have bought mills, found them trouble- 

 some to work, and so discarded their use. 



This is a poor country for the bee-business. Frequent and 

 prolonged drouths make it a very precarious occupation here. 

 We have only one really choice-flavored white honey, and the 

 shrub which produces it blossoms only once every four years. 

 Some years, in a few favored spots, a coarse flavored brown 

 honey is produced, and sells at 3 pence per pound. Syrup, in 

 tins (quality glucose) makes even that almost unsalable. 



S. A. Deacon. 



Mossel Bay, South Africa, June 13. 



Answers. — 1. Not knowing what freight and duty 

 amounts to, I can only guess, and should say if freight and 

 duty double the cost of the foundation, it might be worth 

 while for you to make your own foundation. 



2. Skill and practice make much difference, but others 

 have gained skill by practice, and so can you. 



3 and 4. I think the Given is not now offered for sale. 

 The nearest that comes to it is the Rietsche, which is quite 

 popular in Germany, and it is claimed that it is very easily 

 operated. The A. I. Root Co. say they have tried it, and that 



it is unsatisfactory, but I have never seen any objections made 

 against it in the (Jerraan bee-journals. I don't know whether 

 any but the roller foundation mills are now made in this coun- 

 try, and I know nothing about the cost of the Given. 



5. The same machine by being differently geared will 

 make foundation of different weights. 



6. I hardly believe there are many second-hand mills for 

 sale. They have found their way into the hands of men who 

 are quietly making foundation for their own use, and perhaps 

 some for their neighbors. Occasionally I see a second-hand 

 mill offered by the A. I. Root Co., and that might be your best 

 chance. 



Kind wishes for your success in your far off African home. 



liinden in the South. 



I have received the following note : 



Dr. Miller:— The next time anybody asks you how far 

 South basswood or linden grows, tell him you don't know. I 

 will take oft' 1,500 pounds of section honey from the enclosed, 

 about June 20. I am near the line of the 30th degree north 

 latitude, 58 miles north of Houston. H. C. Loggins. 



Howth Station, Tex., June 12. 



Answer. — Accompanying the note was a sample of un- 

 mistakable linden leaves and flowers. So it seems clear that 

 linden flourishes as far south as latitude 30, and I don't know 

 how much farther. In the same envelope was also a sample 

 of something that looked like vermicelli, but it was probably 

 the same thing as Florida moss, so that I could see that bass- 

 wood grew where things of a hot climate grew. 



Wintering on Sugar Syrup — Queen Mating- 

 Playing. 



-Young Bees 



1. Will bees winter on sugar syrup alone without pollen ? 



2. At swarming time, after the old queen has gone with a 

 swarm, does the newly-hatched queen mate with the drone 

 before she comes out with a swarm, or afterwards ? 



3. What is meant by a lot of bees coming out at noon 

 every day, and then all going back at once? 



Subscriber. 



Answers. — 1. They'll get through the winter all right, 

 but when it comes to Hying and rearing brood in the spring 

 they must have pollen. They're pretty likely to have enough 

 pollen, even if they are so scarce of honey that they have to 

 be fed. 



2. If the colony casts a second swarm, the young queen is 

 not fertilized till the time of swarming, or later. 



3. That's the play-spell of the bees too young to be field- 

 workers. They're taking exercise. 



Getting Extra Combs Built— Introducing Queens — Old or 

 Young Bees Swarming — Wintering in a Dugout. 



Three years ago this month I bought 15 colonies of bees, 

 and commenced bee-keeping, and in order to avoid troubling 

 other folks by too much asking of questions, and still wishing 

 the benefit of their experience, I bought three or four bee- 

 books, and subscribed for two bee-papers ; but now I wish to 

 know something that I do not find in the bee-books, and do 

 not remember ever seeing in the papers. 



1. I have a No. 1 queen, and if I have the good luck to 

 get her through next winter, I wish to rear queens from her 

 to requeen all my colonies. I have arranged some brood- 

 frames for nuclei colonies, the same size as my other frames 

 (Langstroth size), which I wish drawn out and filled with 

 comb where they can bo left for the bees to winter on, and be 

 full of brood by the time I shall want them in the spring, as 

 my swarms are all off and hived. I hardly know how to get 

 it done. If I should take six frames from the center of the 

 brood-nest (leaving the two outside ones) and put them in an 

 upper story, being sure that the queen was left below, put the 

 new frames (filled with foundation) in their place, put on a 

 queen-excluder and the upper story above, would the bees 

 stay below with the queen, and fill up the new frames, or de- 

 sert her and go above with the brood and rear another queen ? 



2. Can I, three or four days after a colony has cast a 

 swarm, cut out all queen-cells and safely introduce a laying 

 queen ? 



3. Is it usually the old or the young bees that go with a 



