570 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 5, 



4. As we have rains here in the spring our best honey- 

 plant (cleome) grows only on the banks of irrigating ditches, 

 and in other wet places, would you advise that it be sown 

 where it could be irrigated '? It is good for nothing but bee- 

 pasture. 



5. My bees are frequently bothered with a large black 

 ant, which, if let alone, will destroy a colony in a very short 

 time. How can I most successfully fight them ? 



6. Will you kindly give .me a few pointers on dividing 

 bees? I believe I should prefer dividing to natural swarming? 



7. As there is considerable discussion over the S and 10 

 frame hive, what do you think of using the larger hive, and 

 if the queen is not prolific enough to utilize all the room, let 

 the workers fill the balance with winter stores? 



Aztec, New Mex. J. P. 



Answers. — 1. Transferring is usually done during fruit- 

 bloom. It is rather out of season to discuss the manner now, 

 and it is best to study up the subject in a good text-book. 

 Don't think of getting along at bee-keeping without a good 

 bee-book. 



2. Ventilation is very important, but an entrance large 

 enough will probably give all the ventilation that is needed. 

 An entrance of six square inches or more is none too large. 



3. In a sun extractor. 



4. I doubt if it will pay to occupy tillable ground with 

 any plant that has no value except as a honey-plant. 



5. I know nothing about them from experience, but I 

 have read of having the legs of stands or hives standing in 

 little dishes of water. Possibly there may be some drug that 

 will drive out the auts without driving out the bees. 



6. As you will hardly want to do any dividing before 

 another season, the very best pointer I can give you is to take 

 advantage of the opportunity of getting from the American 

 Bee Journal oiBce Root's " A B C of Bee-Culture," read up, 

 then ask me about any points that are not clear. [The "A 

 B C " is sent postpaid for $1.25 ; or with the Bee Journal a 

 year — both for only .§2.00. — Editor.] 



7. That's an open question, and I wouldn't like to be very 

 positive about it, but I'm inclined to think the plan may be 

 all right. 



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Buying Bees in the Fall. 



Would it be best for me to buy bees now at .$4.00 per 

 colony, or wait for spring and pay $7.00 or .$8.00, working 

 for increase and saving money ? I have a nice place to winter 

 them in. W. F. M. 



Lynn, Mass., Aug. 11. 



Answeb. — Better buy now, if you think you can bring 

 through the winter more than half your number. 



Amount of Winter Stores Per Colony. 



How much should an ordinary colony of bees, in 8 Hoff- 

 man frames, weigh to winter? They are flying almost every 

 week in winter here, but there is no honey from September to 

 May. A. P. G. 



Answeb.— Last fall I fed up mine until each weighed 50 

 pounds, just weighing the S-frame hive with cover, without 

 any bottom-board. Your bees have about as long a pull with- 

 out gathering, only yours have a weekly fight while mine 

 stay in the cellar for five months. So I suppose yours will 

 use more stores, possibly five or ten pounds more, but that's a 

 mere guess. 



^ — I ^ 



LarvsB TJsed in Rearing Queens. 



I noticed your reply to H. P. J., on page 491, and have 

 decided to give one of my experiments, to-wit: 



In preparing a batch of queen-cells, I selected larvai from 

 the smallest that can be transferred, up to the largest size 

 that is surrounded by an abundance of the milky food, all 

 from the same queen, and one that always duplicates herself 

 in queens without any black on the tip, if the larviD is the 

 right age, and had them hatched out in a queen-nursery. 

 Those that hatched out on the 11th and 12th days (counting 

 the day the cells were prepared and the one of hatching) ap- 

 peared to be all right, but those hatching on the 13th and 

 14th days, counting the first and last, had black tips extend- 

 ing up on a portion of the fifth band, and were smaller than 

 the others, which proves to my satisfaction that there is a 

 mit beyond which it will not do to go, in selecting larvaj, re- 

 ardless of the quantity of food surrounding them. I have 



noticed the same difference in the queens when queenless bees 

 were forced to select an old larva from which to rear a queen. 



The best queens will hatch out on the 12th, from cells 

 prepared on the first day of the month. 



My conclusions are, that you will get a fair queen from a 

 larva of any age if she hatches out in 16 days from the time 

 the egg is laid ; but if not retarded by cold in development, 

 and it takes longer, she partakes somewhat of the nature of 

 a worker. Do you think I am right? W. H. P. 



Answer. — I believe it is understood that for the first three 

 days a worker-larva is fed the same as a queen, and during 

 the remaining two or three days the food is different. Now if 

 a larva is selected after the change in food has been made, I 

 should not expect so good a queen. A larva that does not 

 turn out a queen under 14 days, must be at least 17 days 

 from the laying of the egg, and that delay doesn't promise 

 well for the quality of the queen. And I suppose it is reason- 

 able to believe that after the change of food has been made, 

 the older the larva the longer it will be before it emerges from 

 the cell. 



The Length of Bees' Memory. 



I removed surplus from two hives and stored it in an up- 

 per room of my dwelling, about 150 feet from the apiary. 

 The bees soon found it, and began carrying it back to the 

 hives. The next day I smoked them out and closed the win- 

 dows ; but they did not cease to fly to the spot for three 

 weeks. Is this the limit of a bee's memory ? W. G. 



Answer. — Hardly. Sometimes they remember the old 

 stand on which they formerly stood, after being in the cellar 

 a number of weeks. Their stopping their visits at the end of 

 three weeks doesn't show they forget the place, but that they 

 had too much sense to fool away any more time there. Just 

 give them the same chance a week after their visits ceased, 

 and see if they don't remember. 



Fears Danger to Bees from a Cider-IIill. 



A cider-mill has just located a little more than % mile 

 from me, and I wish to know whether the danger to my bees 

 is really alarming. An old bee-keeper near says it will be 

 almost sure death to them. The drouth has been so severe 

 there are no fall flowers. What would you do under the cir- 

 cumstances ? My crop of honey is so light that I cannot af- 

 ford to lose any bees if it can be avoided. H. M. S. 



Answer. — Several times a cider-mill has been run equally 

 near me, and I suppose a good many bees have been killed 

 thereby, still the colonies have remained of pretty good 

 strength. I am inclined to the opinion that the law should 

 oblige those who run cider-mills to enclose them against the 

 entrance of bees, but there is no such law, and the owners of 

 the mills would no doubt think it the business of the bee- 

 keeper to keep his bees away. Possibly by furnishing mate- 

 rial for enclosure, in the shape of netting of some kind, you 

 might have the bees kept out. 



a I ^ 



Spacing of Brood-Frames. 



Have you ever experimented with brood-frames spaced 

 less than \% inches from center to center ? If you have, I 

 would be glad to hear with what success. 



I have seen the inside of a number of box-hives, and have 

 been struck with the close spacing of the center combs (the 

 average does not seem to be over 1 3/16 inches), and it 

 seems to me that this greatly favors early spreading of the 

 brood, and consequently accounts, at least in part, for the 

 large and early swarms usually cast by colonies in these hives. 

 Surely, a given number of bees would cover more brood if 

 crowded into a 5/16-inch or ,14-inch space than they would if 

 they had to fill 7/16 inch spaces, as they must in hives 

 where the frames are spaced \% inches apart. 



I suppose this ground has been gone over before, but I 

 can find no mention of it in any of the books that I have. 



E. R. H. 



Answer. — I have never experimented in this line except 

 incidentally, or accidentally. I am inclined to think that a 

 more extended and careful observation will decide you that in 

 box-hives the average spacing is more than 1 3/16. The 

 observations of others give it a good deal more. I think it 

 quite possible that during the hot season brood would be 

 reared all right if frames were spaced \% or less from center 



