372 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



'Wltb Replies tbereto. 



[It is quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries in this Department in less time 

 than one month. They have to wait their 

 turn, be put in type, and sent in about a 

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 them ; get them returned, and then find 

 ■pace for them in the JO0RNA1,. If you are 

 in a "hurry" for replies, do not ask for 

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Filling Sections i itli Store Gonitis. 



Query 430.— When a strong colony of 

 bees, successfully at work in surplus cases, has 

 swarmed, and the swarm has been hived on 8 

 frames with half-inch starters of foundation in 

 them, capped with the surplus cases from the 

 parent hive, and when the brood-nest is say half 

 full of worker-comb and brood, and when the 

 remaining half of the brood-nest has been filled 

 with store combs, will it prove profitable to the 

 honey-producer to prune olf these store combs, 

 extract what honey may be in them, and use them 

 to fill the sections with ? A 24-pound case may be 

 filled in this way. Will it pay ?— M, S„ Iowa, 



I do not believe it would pay.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



Those combs will do, if no brood 

 has been reared in them.— Dadant 



&SON. 



With my system of work it would 

 not pay me. I could use the combs 

 to better advantage.— H. D. Cutting. 



Why not make the bees build the 

 comb in the sections in the first 

 place? I get just as much comb in 

 sections as in frames in the brood- 

 nest.— C. W. Dayton. 



It will hardly pay. Use 5 frames, 

 and get them tilled with worker comb, 

 using foundation in the sections. — G. 



M. DOOLITTLE. 



I have never tried this, but those 

 who have say it is profitable. See 

 page 40 of " The Production of Comb 

 Honey."— W. Z. Hutchustson. 



Yes,if the comb is clean and bright, 

 and you can induce the bees to re- 

 build with worker comb.— James 

 Heddon. 



I have often used bright store- 

 comb in this way to great advantage. 

 It induces the bees to go into the 

 sections quickly. I think it will pay. 

 —A. J . Cook. 



It would not with myself. Want of 

 knowledge as to location and floral 

 surroundings prevents me from giv- 

 ing any further answer. — J. E. Pond. 



It would not be profitable to me to 

 manage my bees in that way. But if 

 I had the clean, white drone or store 

 combs I would use them in the sec- 

 tions. I know it will pay, for I have 

 tried it.— G. W. Demaree. 



I have never tried it, but on a large 

 scale I do not think it would pay. It 

 would be better to hive all swarms 

 into brood-cases not larger than will 

 contain 800 square inches of comb, 

 and you will not have enough drone 

 comb built from starters in the brood- 

 frames to be objectionable. But the 

 contraction system requires the use 

 of a queen-excluding honey-board. 

 My brood-case for swarms contains 



750 square inches of comb-surface, 

 and appears to be about right in 

 working for comb honey.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



The querist here, no doubt, has 

 " store comb " mixed with drone 

 comb. If he means the latter, it will 

 pay to cut it out and place it in the 

 sections. " Store comb " (cells with 

 no mathematical precision as to size) 

 is usually constructed at the top or 

 the frame, and not below.— J. P. H. 

 Brown. 



Many who have pursued this plan 

 still advocate it, and emphatically 

 state that it pays.— The Editor. 



Italianizing Colonies, 



Query 431.— 1. At what time of the year 

 is it beat to Italianize an apiary ? 2, What method 

 would you advise a beginner to adopt ?— G., Iowa, 



1. When you can do it best. 2. 

 Post up by reading the bee-books. — 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The bee-books will advise as to this. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



Italianize in May and June. Buy a 

 first-class queen or two, and breed 

 from such.— Dadant & Son. 



This question involves too long an 

 answer for this department. — James 

 Heddon. 



Toward the close of the honey 

 harvest. Circumstances would dic- 

 tate the method.— C. W. Dayton. 



I prefer the fall, and would advise 

 a beginner to buy queens and intro- 

 duce them.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



1. All through the season. 2. The 

 one described in all the books. Rear 

 good Italian queens and supersede 

 old queens by them.— A. J. Cook. 



Either before the appearance of 

 black drones, or after the swarming 

 season is over, and all the impure 

 drones are destroyed. Give queen- 

 cells or laying queens. You can keep 

 Italian drones a long while in a queen- 

 less colony.— J. P. H. Brown. 



1. Just at the close of the honey 

 harvest. 2. It will take too much 

 space to give an answer that would 

 be of practical value.— J. E. Pond. 



I change my queens just at the 

 close of the early honey harvest. Per- 

 haps the simplest way is to rear some 

 queen-cells in advance, and at the 

 close of the honey harvest remove 

 the black queens and give each col- 

 ony a queen-cell two or three days 

 after the queens are removed.— G. W. 

 Demaree. 



It would depend upon circum- 

 stances very much. You do not say 

 how many colonies you have. This 

 space is too small to give any practi- 

 cal method. Get some good work on 

 the management of bees ; read it care- 

 fully, and use good common-sense, 

 and you will succeed.— H.D, Cutting. 



There is but one easy and sure 

 method every time to Italianize any 

 colony, and it may be done at any 

 time. Take out the queens of the 

 colonies to be superseded, and in nine 

 days cut out all the queen-cells. Then I 



the colony is ready to receive any 

 queen after caging, or the drones are 

 all killed, and there is a colony with 

 Italian drones. A piece of comb con- 

 taining just hatching-brood may be 

 introduced. The bees will then rear 

 their own queen. This is the best 

 way to supersede cross colonies, un- 

 less you know how to transfer the 

 larvae from the queen-cells.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



1. Italianize your bees either in the 

 spring or autumn, as it may best suit 

 your convenience. 2. Purchase of 

 some reliable breeder one or more 

 tested Italian queens, and introduce 

 them according to the method de- 

 scribed in your bee-book. In rearing 

 queens, be careful to destroy all the 

 drones from the native colonies, so 

 that the young queens may be purely 

 mated.— The Editor. 



Uniting Coloniesj tlie Spring. 



Query 432.- Is it profitable to double up 

 colonies in the spring ? If so, at what time and to 

 what extent should it be done ?— Krov, Ills. 



No, not in our opinion, unless the 

 colonies are queenless.— Dadant & 

 Son. 



I find it profitable about the middle 

 of June; J. e., weak colonies. There 

 is no object in doubling up strong 

 ones.— G. M. Doolittle. 



It does not pay me to do it. Were 

 I going to unite colonies in the spring, 

 I would unite them about two weeks 

 before the white clover harvest be- 

 gins.— G. W. Demaree. 



Not unless they are queenless. In 

 this case they should be united as 

 soon as we find out their condition. — 

 A. J. Cook. 



No, not as a rule. Never double up 

 colonies that are capable of building 

 up singly, if to do so takes all sum- 

 mer.— James Heddon. 



I do not think it will pay. If they 

 have a queen, crowd up to small 

 space, and confine all the heat pos- 

 sible. A small colony in the spring, 

 with proper care, will make a good 

 colony.— H. D. Cutting. 



It depends upon the situation of 

 the bee-keeper. I double up such 

 colonies in the spring ; but if the 

 queens are valuable, I do not do it 

 until 1 can make some disposition of 

 them. It always pays best to have no 

 weak colonies, if it can be avoided. — 

 J. P. H. Brown. 



Possibly it is, especially if comb 

 honey is to be produced. It should 

 be done just before the main honey 

 harvest, and to such an extent that 

 all the combs in the united colony 

 will be well filled with brood.— W. Z. 

 Hutchinson. 



I do not consider it profitable. I 

 prefer to build up weak colonies by 

 drawing frames from which the young 

 bees are emerging from strong colo- 

 nies.— J. E. Pond. 



No, it is not. But it often is profit- 

 able to strengthen weak colonies by 

 shaking down young bees, taken 

 from strong colonies, in front of the 



