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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Sept. 19, 



leaders in this robbiriK were the exlra-yellow hces, and there 

 are only three or four colonies of them now in the whole 

 apiary of 300 colonies and nuclei. Our Mr. Spaflford, who 

 has charge of the homo yard, says he wants no more of them, 

 and I am sure I don't ; and, as a matter of fact, we have been 

 getting rid of them as rapidly as possible. — Gleanings. 



E.xtra-yelIow bees are probably of all sorts. Mine are 

 very gentle, and so far as I know, good in other respects. But 

 I think we can count on greater uniformity among the 

 leather-colored three-banders. J. W. Rouse has this to say 

 about five-banded bees, in the Progressive Bee-Keeper : 



"The way the five-banders work in my own apiary, and 

 from the letters I get frrfm time to time of liow they are doing 

 for others, and of how pleased many of my customers are to 

 get these golden beauties, encourages me to go on with them, 

 let others do as they like." 



NUMBERS FOB HIVES. 



There has been some discussion in Gleanings with regard 

 to numbering hives. Movable tags made of tin, or manilla, 

 well protected with linseed oil, are proposed to be kept among 

 regular bee-supplies. Manilla being very much cheaper will 

 probably win the day. The tags are fastened on by means of 

 small, wire nails which can be pushed in without jarring the 

 hives, or by means of screw-eyes. 



CRIM.SON CLOVER AS MANURE. 



I sowed one-third acre of crimson clover on good onion 

 ground Aug. 20, 1894, and it made a fine growth, and kept 

 green until February, although the cold had been to 20-' be- 

 low zero. In February the top died down, but began to grow 

 nicely in March, and was three weeks ahead of red clover on 

 the same kind of ground. May 1st I had it plowed under, 

 when it was 20 inches high, and therR was such a heavy 

 growth they had to use a chain to turn it under. I planted 

 the ground to muskmelons, and the ground kept moist except 

 about two inches on top, through the long drouth of six weeks 

 in May and June. I think it was worth more than 30 loads 

 of manure. — J. C. Gilliland, of Indiana, in Gleanings. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DR. J. JP. II. BROWN. AUGUSTA.. GA. 



[Please send all questions relating to bee-keeping In the South direct 

 to Dr. Brown, and he will answer in this department.— Bd.1 



Bees Doing Notliiiig^ — Rearing Queens. 



This is my second year in the bee-business. I live 4 miles 

 from timber; my bees are doing no good. I moved them to a 

 friend of mine who lives on the Brazos river, some 12 miles 

 away. I kept three weak colonies with good queens, thinking 

 to rear queens from them to supply my other colonies that did 

 not have good queens. Now there are no drones in my home 

 colonies. How will I manage to get my queens fertilized? 



L. C. B., Texas. 



Answer. — You are in a bad 6x to rear queens so late in 

 the season. You should have started to rear drones in July 

 or August for your late queens. This could have been done 

 by feeding up the colonies you intend for drones — get them 

 strong. Place a frame of clean drone-comb in the center of 

 the brood-nest, and alternate a few more frames of it among 

 the brood-frames. Of course, you can only do this by remov- 

 ing some of the frames of the hive. As soon as drone-eggs 

 are deposited, remove the combs to a queenless colony for 

 nursing, care, and preservation. 



Trouble in Managing tiie Frames. 



two outside combs are a sight to drive one to despair. They 

 build the outside cells an inch and a half, or even more deep, 

 at the top of the frame, and all sorts of irregularities towards 

 the bottom, and usually they start a layer of cells against the 

 sides of the hive. Then when we try to lift out a frame there 

 is no room, and of course the poor things get crushed, the 

 irregular pieces of comb break, and honey drips. Of course 

 the bees blame us, and half the colony charges with such un- 

 quenchable zeal we can only cram back the frame, killing a 

 lot of bees, and run for the house. 



Every colony has these irregular outside frames, though 

 they build beautiful comb, as a rule, inside. We cannot look 

 into the brood-chambers at all, they get hurt so, even with the 

 gentlest handling on our part. 



Will you kindly tell us how to arrange the frames to avoid 

 this irregularity ? 



We have another grievance. The queens want all crea- 

 tion to lay eggs in. Almost every frame in the upper story is 

 filled with brood just as I suppose the brood-chambers are. 

 We are considering the 10-frame hives. Perhaps that would 

 remedy it. Queens and bees seem to be alarmed at the idea 

 of wasting a quarter inch of space, though we never let them 

 get overcrowded. 



This is our first season, and the elements have been 

 against us all through the year. Nevertheless, our colonies 

 are in good condition now, though we shall gej. very little, if 

 any, honey. 



New Mexico usually furnishes a long, steady, but rather 

 slow, honey-yield. This year heavy rains have increased the 

 flow greatly, or we probably wouldn't have any bees by this 

 time, for the rains that increased the flowers drowned out the 

 bees. But we have had a year's experience that we wouldn't 

 exchange for a small fortune. A. P. W. 



Dona Ana, New Mex., Aug. 20. 



Answer. — If your hives have the closed-end frames it is 

 necessary that a division-board be used in order to make room 

 for the easy removal of the frames. This board should always 

 be pressed up close against the frames. Then if the frames 

 preserve a distance of 1 7/16 inches from canter to center, 

 the bees will usually construct their combs straight within the 

 frame, particularly if they have starters of foundation. With 

 the old-style Langstroth frame it is more diificult to get them 

 to keep all equal distance apart than with the Hoft'man frame 

 or with the closed-end top-bar frame. Weak colonies are 

 more apt to make crooked combs than strong ones. Every 

 frame should have a triangular comb-bar, and, then, if foun- 

 dation is not used, rub a piece of beeswax along the sharp 

 edge of this, and the bees will in almost every case follow it as 

 ' a gnirle. Better still, use full sheets of foundation. 



From the tenor of your letter, I infer that the 10-frame 

 hive would suit yuu best. The 8-frame is too small for the 

 majority of locations. The queen is kept crowded, and is 

 more prone to go into the supers. 



When bees are building combs, the hive should every now 

 and then be examined, and all comb built outside of the frame 

 should be pressed inside with a broad knife or spatula. 



Dr. Brown: — We have 11 colonies of Italian bees in 2- 

 story self-spacing 8-frame hives. If the eight frames are not 

 pushed ciose together, those stupid bees invariably build be- 

 tween, from comb to comb, and also build irregular excres- 

 cences all over and under and around the frames. If we push 

 the frames close together they build beautifully inside, but the 



Bees Will Xot Work. 



I have several colonies of bees that do not appear to be 

 working at all. Can I put two or three colonies together by 

 destroying all except one queen ? Or how can I get them to 

 work, especially in the supers? 



W. B. L., Columbia, S. C. 



Answer. — Y'ou can unite your colonies by the plan you 

 propose, but under the circumstances I do not think it advis- 

 able to do so. You say they won't work. I suppose the rea- 

 son they do not, is because they can find no work to do. There 

 is very little forage now — no honey to gather, and will not be 

 before the nuddle of September. When there is a full honey- 

 flow from the fall flowers, they often go into the supers, but 

 more reluctantly than in spring. If your bees can store up 

 enough surplus for winter, be satisfied. If there should be a 

 good spring flow of honey, and, at the same time, your colo- 

 nies are strong, they no doubt will readily go to work in the 

 supers. It is a good idea to fill some of the sections with nice, 

 new worker-comb as an inducement. A few sections filled 

 with worker-brood is recommended by some bee-keepers as a 

 bait to draw the bees to the supers. 



No'W is the Time to work for new subscribers. 

 Why not take advantage of the liberal offers made on page 

 611? 



