1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



601 



what this clover will do for them, they will scatter the seed on 

 all vacant ground. 



Ten and twelve quarts are usually sown on an acre. 

 The ground should be prepared by plowing or cultivating 

 shallow ; pulverize the surface, and cover the seed very 

 lightly. Crimson clover is very hardy, and will succeed any- 

 where where red clover and wheat does. I think where fail- 

 ures are made with this plant, it is caused by sowing imported 

 seed. Always, if possible, obtain American grown seed, ac- 

 climated to this country, and a hay and seed crop is assured. 

 No other clover remains green all through the winter. No 

 other plant furnishes winter pasture like crimson clover. 



I would like to have every reader of the American Bee 

 Journal give this plant a trial, and will renew my offer made 

 on page 561, to send a sample packet by mail for a couple of 

 stamps for postage. Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept G. 



CONDUCTED BY 



VR. C C. MILLER, AIA.REXGO, ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.! 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



I have read the answers to my questions on page 55-i. 

 Now about the ord question : You say the packing might do 

 some good. Of course, that leaves them a free entrance. It 

 may be I do not understand this fully the way you mean. Do 

 you mean the entrance is too large? I can pack them all 

 around. I remember reading about a good-sized entrance for 

 winter, or even all the year around. If too large, I can easily 

 plug it up a little. Also, with the ones out in the yard, how 

 would a rim do under each hive ? E. B. K. 



Answer. — A rim under a hive in winter to leave a space 

 of two or three inches under the combs is a good thing, no 

 matter where the bees are wintered. 



The entrance to the hive should be much the same in the 

 shed and in the old house, mentioned on page 554. All that's 

 needed is a channel or passage from the hive to the open air, 

 free from any danger of clogging. Perhaps three inches wide 

 and an inch high would be good. Let it be attached firmly to 

 the hive, so that there is no danger of its being displaced by 

 the packing. One way is to make the box for the passage- 

 way, open at each end, then where it joins on to the hive nail 

 on the top of your little box a piece one-half inch or so square, 

 and nail this piece to the hive. 



Queen Terms Explained. 



What is the meaning of "tested," "extra choice tested," 

 " breeder," and " extra choice breeder," when referring to 

 queens ? I notice queen advertisers use such terms. 



M. S. L. 



Answers. — A tested queen is one which has been kept 

 until her worker progeny has hatched out in sufficient number 

 to show that her workers will all have the characteristic 

 markings of the pure race. "Breeder" (perhaps a useless 

 term) means, 1 suppose, when applied to queens, one which is 

 a little better than common, so as to be a good one to breed 

 from. The other terms have their usual signification. 



Will a ftueenless Colony Steal Egg's to Kear a ftueen ? 



Last spring, after my bees had been out of the cellar 

 about a week, I examined them to see if any were queenless, 

 and found one without brood or eggs, and with new queen- 

 cells started. As it was a large colony, I sent oft to get a 

 queen to save them. Owing to some delay, two weeks elapsed 

 before the queen arrived, and on opening the hive I found 

 laying workers had been there, as there was scattering brood 

 with rounded cells. I introduced the queen with a good deal 

 of doubt about her being accepted. About a week after, I ex- 

 amined and found she was gone, but there was still plenty of 

 laying-worker brood. 1 closed the hive, and as bees were get- 

 ting little or no honey at that time, I was indifferent about 

 uniting them with another colony. 



Perhaps six or eight weeks afterward I opened the hive to 

 see if the moths were doing much damage to the combs, when 



I was surprised to find on the first comb I lifted out, a large, 

 well-developed queen-cell, open at the bottom, and a patch of 

 nice worker-brood on this comb, and on two others besides. 

 My first thought was, that the Italian queen had perhaps de- 

 posited some eggs before being destroyed, with which they 

 reared the queen, but since the brood has hatched 1 find they 

 are all black bees like the rest in my yard. D. H. 



Warsaw, N. Y. 



Answer. — I don't know the answer to your puzzle. Some 

 have claimed that bees sometimes steal eggs from other hives, 

 but even if that were sometimes done, it would be less likely 

 in your case, for the bees had plenty of eggs, and were so 

 well satisfied with those eggs that they didn't want a queen 

 that would lay better ones. The queen-cell may never have 

 contained anything but what came from laying workers, and 

 it is among the possibilities that a virgin queen flew into the 

 hive from some other hive. A young virgin queen will be re- 

 ceived where a laying queen would bo rejected, and during 

 the swarming season it is nothing remarkable for such young 

 queens to be driven out of their own hives, glad to find refuge 

 anywhere. But I don't know for sure whether that's the 



right answer. 



m I — ^ 



Three-Banded and Iieather-Colored Queens. 



1. What difference is there between a 3-banded and a 

 leather-colored Italian queen ? 



2. Are S-banded queens imported Italians, or American- 

 bred like the' 5-banded ? Are not the bands of the 3-banded 

 bees a richer and brighter yellow ? Are not the imported 

 darker, or gray-banded? J. R. 



Answers. — 1. "Three-banded," if applied to a queen at 

 all, I suppose means a queen that produces 3-banded workers, 

 a 3-banded worker being one having the first three rings of 

 its abdomen yellow. A leather-colored queen is one whose 

 color is a rich brownish yellow, much the color of leather. 

 The workers of leather-colored queens are 3-banded, so if the 

 term "3-banded" be applied to queens we may say that 

 leather-colored queens are 3-banded. 



2. Three-banded workers are the offspring of imported or 

 American-bred queens. Imported Italian queens vary from 

 yellow to nearly black, but their worker progeny show three 

 bright yellow bands, no matter how dark the queens may be. 

 Some American-bred queens are lighter than any of the im- 

 ported, and some of them produce workers with more than 

 three yellow bands. 



Doutiling Colonies — Dequeening. 



1. Authors of bee-books, as a rule, lay much stress upon 

 the advantages to be gained from " doubling." What is your 

 opinion ? Can one expect to get more surplus from tv/o fairly 

 strong colonies united, or " doubled," than if worked separ- 

 ately ? Does increase of the population of a hive seem to im- 

 part more energy — more " vim " — to every individual member 

 of the community ? 



2. Is "doubling " much practiced by " old hands ?" Or 

 is it an obsolete, old fad, like spreading brood and sundry 

 other doings once deemed so essential to successful honey- 

 producing ? 



3. I want to " dequeen " at the commencement of the 

 honey-flow. How would it be if I were to take all brood-comb 

 out of the brood-chamber of a strong colony — or two colonies 

 "doubled" — substituting frames having only starters — save 

 one frame, and that with honey, and on which I would cage 

 the queen, but allowing workers to have access to her, say by 

 making the cage of excluder-zinc ? What I really want to 

 know is, would the bees go to work on the starters, complet- 

 ing the combs in the brood-chamber (and, of course, deposit- 

 ing honey in them) in preference to starting work in the sec- 

 tions ? I don't want honey down below, but all in the sec- 

 tions. Now, if I start them with combs of brood down below, 

 as soon as said brood hatches out, in will go honey. Will 

 giving J-2-inch starters, as above suggested, avoid this, and 

 secure everything in the sections? We youngsters would like 

 to have some instructions afforded us on this matter of secur- 

 ing large crops by dequeening. Cannot Hon. R. L. Taylor be 

 asked to supply it (as the result of thorough experimentation), 

 and tell us whether or not the practice is to be recommended ? 



4. How would this work 7 Have no brood-chamber at all ! 

 Smoke the bees up into the sections, and take the brood-cham- 

 ber away altogether, having the queen caged in a section — 

 excluding-zinc on either side, honey-comb in the middle. I 

 fail to see the requirement of a brood-chamber when dequeen- 



