1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



699 



enough, say from 450 to 50°, and especially if the cellar be 

 well ventilated, the moisture from the cement would do no 

 harm. If 40° and lower, they will do much better in a dry 

 atmosphere. Speaking of temperature, I might say that if 

 ventilation and temperature are all right, I think bees will 

 winter all right, cement or no cement, but I think the cement 

 does no good. 



3. I'd rather see your bottom-boards before answering. My 

 hives have bottom-boards in the cellar, but the bottom-boards 

 are reversible, and one side is for winter and one for sum- 

 mer. When reversed for winter, there is a space of \}4 inches 

 deep under the bottom-bars, and a deeper space would do no 

 harm. The entrance is the full width of the hive, and 13i 

 inches deep. With close tottom-boards, as they usually are, 

 I'd rather have them entirely removed in the cellar. Indeed, 

 I'd rather have entire vacancy under my hives than the deep 

 bottom-boards, if it were not for two things. One is, that 

 with the deep bottom-boards I can shut out the mice. The 

 entrance, 12xl}2 inches, has put into it apiece of heavy wire- 

 cloth with meshes three to the inch. This effectually excludes 

 the mice, while allowing free passage for the bees, for bees 

 should never be fastened in the hive in winter. The other 

 thing is, that with the deep bottom-boards fastened to the 

 hives, they are always in good shape to be closed up ready for 

 carrying or hauling. 



4. I don't know enough to answer this question, but I 

 think I would not consider these late-hatched bees very much, 

 their number being comparatively so small that it is better to 

 consider the welfare of the larger number. In either case it 

 is well to wait for what you can feel reasonably sure will be 

 their last flight in November. Of course, there's a great dif- 

 ference in seasons, some winters being a month later than 

 others. 



An Experience with a Bobbed Colony. 



1. I was looking over my bees a few days ago, and I no- 

 ticed one colony that the bees seemed to be passing in and out 

 pretty lively, and when I examined them I found that the bees 

 that were passing in and out of the hive were robber-bees. 

 They came from another hive about 10 rods away, and they 

 passed right into the hive, just the same as they would their 

 own, and it was a strong colony of bees, too. Why did these 

 bees allow the robber-bees to carry out the honey without 

 offering any resistance? 



2. I examined the colony and I found what I thought was 

 a virgin queen, but could not see any brood or eggs in the 

 cells, so I contracted the entrance and left them alone until 

 to-day. I looked at them again, and gave them a comb with 

 some brood and eggs in it. When I went to put the comb in 

 the hive, I noticed a bunch of bees on the bottom of the hive, 

 about as large as a man's fist. I moved the ball a little, and 

 I saw that they were around a queen. I smoked them a little, 

 and they released the queen, and I took her out of the hive 

 and kept her out until sundown this evening, and then I let 

 her in at the entrance. Did I do right with her? 



3. What made the bees ball the queen ? 



4. Do you think it was an old, worn-out queen, or do bees 

 ever ball virgin queens? I could not tell by the looks of the 

 queen whether it was a young queen or an old one that had 

 quit laying. C. S. 



Saltillo, Nebr., Oct. 2. 



Answers. — 1. Perhaps because they didn't have a good 

 laying queen. For some reason it makes a big difference 

 whether bees have a good queen when it comes to the matter 

 of resisting robbers. Possibly the scent of the queen is the 

 important factor in the case. At any rate it's always con- 

 sidered good practice when a colony is troubled with robbers 

 to see that it has a queen. Sometimes when robbers com- 

 mence on a queenless colony, if a good queen be given to them 

 in the evening, they will give the robbers so warm a reception 

 the next morning that the latter will give it up for a bad job. 



2. I have some doubt whether taking the queen out and 

 putting her back in the evening did any good, and very likely 

 it did no harm. 



3. There may have been several reasons why the bees 

 balled the queen. There may have been some imperfection 

 about her that made the bees dissatisfied with her, in which 

 case you will probably find her removed before long. It is 

 also possible that the queen was all right, and your interfer- 

 ference made the bees ball her. Sometimes they seem to ball 

 their own queen as a matter of safety, to protect her. It is 

 nothing so very unusual for bees to ball their own queen when 

 she's all right. If left entirely alone they may free her in a 

 short time, and it's probably the safest thing to let them alone. 

 In many cases I've found a queen balled, when I promptly 



closed the hive and went about my business, and a few days 

 later found the queen laying all right. 



4. I don't know, but I think it more likely, from the cir- 

 cumstances you mention, that it was a virgin queen. Gen- 

 erally you can tell by her looks whether a queen is a virgin or 

 not, and you can always be sure of it if you clip every queen 

 as soon as she lays. 



CONDUCTED BY 



Rev. Emerson X. Ji.t>bott, St. tjosepli, ilXo. 



A Time and Place for Everything.— -" Bee- 

 hive manufacturers seem to be rather averse to letting the 

 public know of their existence." — Country Gentleman, June 20, 

 1895. 



This will, no doubt, prove an amusing piece of informa- 

 tion to the people who read the various bee-periodicals, as well 

 as to the readers of many agricultural papers. The funny 

 thing about it is that the special article from which the above 

 is taken was sent out all over the country to dealers as an 

 inducement to advertise in the Country Gentleman, and this 

 in the month of June. One of the first lessons for a man in 

 business to learn is that there are times and seasons for all 

 things. In this special case, if the publisher had known any- 

 thing about the bee-business, it would seem that he would not 

 have expected any manufacturer or dealer to begin an adver- 

 tisement in his paper in June, neither would he expect people 

 who live a thousand miles away from him, and do largely a 

 local business, to advertise in his locality at all. But these 

 are not the only people who fail to make note of the time and 

 place. There is not a season passes but what I find some bee- 

 keepers who wake up to the fact that their bees need atten- 

 tion after it is too late. When the honey-flow is all over they 

 rush off to some dealer and buy a lot of sections, generally 

 saying, "My bees have everything full below, they must need 

 more room." No doubt of it ! but they needed the room a 

 month before, and increased room will be of no benefit to them 

 now, so far as surplus honey is concerned. 



Then, there is the man who had a few pounds of surplus 

 honey to sell. He does not think of time or place. He neg- 

 lects to develop his home market, and rushes his honey off to 

 the nearest large city, while the weather is hot, and the mar- 

 ket is filled to overflow with all kinds of fruit. What is the 

 result? He gets but little for it. Why? First, it was not 

 time to sell honey ; second, if it were, he went to the wrong 

 market. 'A man who sends his honey away as long as there is 

 anyone in his own community who will buy, if properly ap- 

 proached, makes a mistake, in my opinion. 



Fertilization of the Peach.— The Oregon Ex- 

 periment Station has issued a bulletin from which the Station 

 Record, published by the United States, quotes the following 

 condensation of facts bearing on the fertilization of this im- 

 portant fruit : 



" Experiments were made with peach-trees in a forcing- 

 house to determine their power of self-fertilization. Fertiliza- 

 tion was done liy hand, a brush being used, by spraying with 

 water when the trees were in full bloom, and by placing a 

 hive of bees in the house. All the fruit was matured on the 

 tree to which the bees had access, while more or less dropped 

 at the stoning period in the case of the trees fertilized by arti- 

 ficial means. A tree protected from the bees and not other- 

 wise fertilized set no fruit whatever." 



It seems strange, in the face of all these facts, coming 

 from various quarters of the globe, that there should be any 

 well-educated men, who have had opportunity to know the 

 facts, who would deny the importance of the bee to the fruit- 

 grower, yet there are such. However, the world moves 

 slowly, and prejudice is sometimes more potent than demon- 

 strated facts. The best bee-ketpers can do is to go on holding 

 up these testimonies to the world wherever and whenever op- 

 portunity offers. The day is sure to come when the value of 

 our busy little workers will be recognized. 



See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 703. 



