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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OXJEPIIES 



TV^tth Replies thereto. 



lit 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 Jodknai,. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Ed. 1 



Dark Sistance Storeft liy Bees. 



Qnery 445.— I am having: a very singular 

 and. to sav the least, a very discouraging experi- 

 ence with' my bees, and would like to ask the 

 apiarists ^if the Query Department for their opin- 

 ions and advice. 1 have '20 colonies of Italian 

 bees located on high ground among small trees of 

 chestnut, oak and maple, not thick enough but 

 that part of them are in the shade and part in the 

 sun. In the last part of last seasen they com- 

 menced to put in the surplus boxes a dark-colored 

 substance not disagreeable tasting, and yet it did 

 not taste much like honey. They began to gather 

 it the flr«t of this season— June 22. 1 took 50 one- 

 pound boxes from two hives, well-fllled and cap- 

 ped. Some of the caps were dark. I have not ex- 

 amined the rest of the hives, but I suppose they 

 are all in the same condition. What would be the 



grobability if the colonies were re-queened with 

 lack or native queens ?— J. H., Mass. 



The substance you mention is prob- 

 ably "honey -dew," and the queens 

 have nothing to do with the gathering 

 of it.— Dadant & Son. 



I do not think it would help the 

 matter any, but it might. You could 

 tell by trying a few,— G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



Most likely your dark honey is 

 " honey-dew " from some species of 

 aphidse. I31ack or native queens have 

 nothing to do with the color of the 

 honey.— J. P. H. BROVirN. 



I suspect that the substance gath- 

 ered was the so-called " honey-dew," 

 and I doubt if the black bees would 

 refrain from gathering the stuff ,—W. 



Z. HUTCHIKSON. 



I doubt if re-queening or anything 

 else you can do will make any differ- 

 ence, unless you can provide enough 

 honey-plants so that they will neglect 

 the objectionable source.— C. C. 



MlLLEK. 



You should not " suppose " but 

 know whether the balance of the sec- 

 tions are as those described. I fail to 

 see any benefit by changing queens. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



I would guess that you have been 

 the recipient of a flow of " honey- 

 dew." Re-queening will not aSect 

 the flow nor the gathering of it.— 

 James Heddon. 



The substance called " honey-dew " 

 is your trouble. You may not see it 

 another season, and you may. Chang- 

 ing the stock of your bees will do no 

 good. Honey-dew will be honey-dew, 

 no matter what race of bees collect 

 and store it. When you change your 

 Italians for black bees, if you do not 

 repent of the job you will do me a 

 favor by "letting me know. "—G. W. 

 Demakbe. 



The fault is not with the bees, but 

 with the source of supplies. Why not 

 look about and see where the bees 

 get such honey V The black bees i 

 would doubtless do the very samel 



thing. Surely they would unless this 

 suspected honey was from some 

 flower which was too deep for their 

 shorter tongues.— A. J. Cook. 



I have never had an experience of 

 this nature ; probably the bees find 

 this nectar (V) on the forest trees 

 surrounding them. The probability, 

 if the colonies were re-queened with 

 black queens, would be that in a few 

 months the workers would be black, 

 but I do not imagine that it would 

 make a particle of difference with the 

 present or future honey crop. You 

 would do better to change the loca- 

 tion of your apiary. — J. E. Pond. 



My experience and observation both 

 confirm the fact that black or native 

 bees and hybrids are the worst bees 

 we have to pile up dark, disagreeable 

 and unsalable honey. I have known 

 Syrian bees to store beautiful and 

 fine-flavored honey when colonies of 

 blacks and hybrids in the same yard 

 stored a dark, foul-odored stuff not fit 

 to eat. A change to black bees would 

 not be apt to help the matter.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Doubtless it is the so-called honey- 

 dew. Provide superior pasturage and 

 that trouble will be over. To change 

 queens will avail nothing.— The 

 Editor. 



Getting Bees out Of tlie Sections. 



Query 446. — As neither smoke nor shake 

 will clean out the bees from the filled surplus 

 boxes when 1 take them from the hive, how can 

 Iget them out of the section-boxes when they are 

 removed from the hive after being full ? This 

 part of the work should be the most pleasant, but 

 to me it is the most unpleasant work of the apiary. 

 — Oahkosh. Wis. 



Remove them to a dark room with 

 a small opening emitting a little light. 

 The bees will make for the light and 

 pass out.— J. P. H. Brown. 



Put them in a bee-tent or dry-goods 

 box, as often recommended in the 

 bee-books and bee-papers.— A. J.Cook. 



If you do not wish to take the boxes 

 apart, you should pile them in a large 

 box or in a dark place covered with 

 a cloth, when the bees will all con- 

 centrate together in one of the crates, 

 or sometimes on the outside of them. 

 —Dadant & Son. 



You can do it by pouring a deluge 

 of smoke between each tier of sections 

 and waiting just long enough for the 

 bees to run down, and not long 

 enough for a reaction to take place. 

 I have no trouble in taking oS honey 

 nearly free from bees.— G. M. Doo- 

 little. 



If but few bees remain in the case, 

 remove it to some room with a win- 

 dow ; the bees will leave it and go to 

 the window, when you can open it 

 and let them fly. Close the window 

 at once so that no bees can return. If 

 many bees remain, take out the sec- 

 tions there and then brush off the 

 bees and carry the sections to some 

 safe place.— H. D. Cutting. 



Smoke them " like sixty " before 

 you take off the sections, then take 

 them off quickly before the bees have 

 time to go back into them, and carry 

 the sections to some place where the 

 remaining bees can take their own 



time to get out, but are not able to 

 get in again.— C. C. Miller. 



The " shake out" process amounts 

 to nothing in practical work. There 

 are but two ways to get bees out of 

 surplus cases when filled with honey. 

 The first is to take out the sections, 

 one at a time, and brush the bees off 

 of them ; or, second, my way is to 

 smoke and brush out as many bees as 

 I can without too much loss of time, 

 and then put the cases in a dark 

 closet that is provided with a bee- 

 escape in the door. The bees will 

 leave the cases in a few hours, pass- 

 ing out at the " bee-escape," which is 

 so arranged that no bees can enter 

 the closet from the outside. I would 

 not be without this contrivance for 

 any reasonable sum of money. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



I have very little trouble in this 

 direction, as I can usually drive out 

 all but 2 or 3 to a section at once. If 

 they cannot be gotten out by brush- 

 ing, put the sections into a large box 

 in the shade and cover with a sheet. 

 The bees will crawl up to the sheet, 

 when they can be shaken off. Pro- 

 ceed in this way until all have left. 

 The shaking so disturbs the bees that 

 they do not return as they would if 

 the box was not covered. — J. E. Pond. 



With properly constructed supers, 

 smoke and shake will rid them of 

 nearly all the bees, and then the few 

 remaining ones I get rid of by placing 

 the supers on end (so that light and 

 air can readily pass through the 

 combs) in my screen-house or a dark- 

 ened room with one light-hole out. — 

 James Heddon. 



There must be something peculiar 

 about your bees, fixtures or manage- 

 ment." "Smoke and shake" will 

 nearly clear a case of honey of bees, 

 when the case may be carried into a 

 house and placed upon end. The few 

 remaining stragglers will seek the 

 windows,which should be so arranged 

 as to allow the bees to escape. See 

 page 23, "Production of Comb 

 Honey."— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



A perfect surplus arrangement 

 should enable the bee-keeper to take 

 the sections free from bees quickly 

 and agreeably. This cannot be done 

 with the T-super cases or others con- 

 structed on a similar plan, and hence 

 they are tome quite objectionable. In 

 my opinion we shall not get a more 

 perfect thing than the " wide-frame " 

 case with movable separators. With 

 it I can easily take 60 pounds of comb 

 honey in one-pound sections, free 

 from bees, inside of ten minutes. I 

 know of no other arrangement by 

 which it can be done. Only part of 

 the bees can be smoked or shaken 

 from a separatored case without tak- 

 ing it apart, until the bees fill them- 

 selves with honey and get a good 

 ready ■ and then serious damage is 

 often done to the combs before leav- 

 ing.— G. L. Tinker. 



With open-top sections " smoke " 

 will drive the bees out in all ordinary 

 cases. If it does not in your case, put 

 the supers in a dark room, with a 

 small aperture. The bees will leave 

 by the latter.— The Editor. 



