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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



W^lcli Replies ttaereto. 



[It is quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries In this Department in less time 

 taan 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 

 space for them in the Journal. If you are 

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

 them to be inserted here.— Kd.] 



A SDring-Hoiise for Wintering Bees, 



Query 468.— I have a spring-house 12x16 

 feet inside, with stone walls 2 feet thiclc. The 

 spring runs a stream 1 foot wide by 1 inch deep. 

 It comes out about 6 feet above the house. The 

 north wall is in the bank to the top ; the south one 

 3 feet ; the wall is h feet high, with a honey-house 

 on top, I6x:2u feet, well protected from winds. 

 How would it do to winter bees in ? "Would it be 

 too damp ? -T. M., Ills. 



I should think that it would answer. 

 —J. P. H. Beown. 



It would be too damp in this cli- 

 mate.— G. W. Dbmaeee. 



If the temperature ranges from 41° 

 to 45°, the spring-house will winter 

 bees all right.— G. L. Tinker. 



Bees will winter well, if you can 

 maintain the right temperature— 44° 

 to 46°.— Dadant & Son, 



I should say pretty well, if a tem- 

 perature of 45° can be maintained. It 

 would not be too damp,— G. M. Doo- 



LITTLB. 



I should not have any fears about 

 dampness, and so far as I understand 

 it, I would consider it a good place to 

 winter bees in.— James Heddon. 



I should consider it a most excel- 

 lent place for wintering bees. The 

 air will not be damp as the result of 

 the flowing water, unless the water is 

 warmer than the air.— W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, 



It would be excellent, if it does not 

 get too cold. The temperature should 

 never fall below 38°, Fahr., and it 

 would be better if never below 40°, F. 

 You need have no fear of the damp- 

 ness. — A. J. CtiOK. 



I would not want to depend upon 

 the 2-foot wall three feet above the 

 ground. If you would put 2x4 inch 

 scantling inside, and lath and plaster 

 on them, you could make a good re- 

 pository. With good bottom ventila- 

 tion, I do not think it would be too 

 damp.— H. D. Cutting. 



It will be hard to settle the question 

 positively, without trying it. I do not 

 believe it would be too damp, as some 

 winter bees very successfully with 

 water constantly running through the 

 cellar.- C. C. Miller. 



I do not think that dampness afiects 

 bees injuriously, unless it is cold 

 enough to congeal the humidity, and 

 the water would have the tendency to 

 increase rather than lower the tem- 

 perature. I think it would do well 

 for a winter lodging-place. I prefer 

 summer stands, to any other place for 

 bees.— J. E. Pond. 



If the temperature is all right, the 

 running water will not be objection- 

 able.— The Editor. 



ReiersinE Hives to Preyent Swarming, 



Query 469.— 1. Will reversing or invert- 

 IDE the bi'ood-chamber of a hive before the queen- 

 cells are capped, prevent swarming, if the colony 

 is in a normal condition ? 2. If so, how mauy days 

 should intervene between each inverting of the 

 brood-chamber ?— Le Claire, Iowa. 



No.— G. L. Tinker, 



I do not think it will in all cases.— 

 H, D. Cutting. 



I have never tried it, but reports 

 say that it will not at all times. — G. 

 M. Doolittle. 



Inverting cannot be depended upon 

 to prevent swarming,— W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. . 



Not with any degree of certainty ; 

 not in any degree practical. — James 

 Heddon. 



The whole thing is impracticable. 

 No well-informed, practical apiarist 

 would advise reversing the brood- 

 chamber for any purpose. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



If the colony is in a normal condi- 

 tion, strong and vigorous, it will not 

 prevent swarming.— J. P. H. Brown. 



I think hardly any one now claims 

 that swarming can be prevented by 

 inverting.— C. C. Miller, 



It has appeared to do so with me, 

 though some with more experience 

 say it will not. I inverted once a 

 week, got no swarms, and a nice lot 

 of honey in the sections. — A. J. Cook. 



1. Sometimes yes, and sometimes 

 no, in my experience. 2. This inver- 

 sion business by wholesale cannot be 

 done by rule ; it is all guess-work, and 

 for that reason is fast going out of 

 date. Contraction is the real princi- 

 ple to work on, and can be better ac- 

 complished in other ways than by in- 

 version ; inversion being nothing but 

 a bungling method of contraction,— 

 J. E. Pond. 



No ; swarming cannot, with cer- 

 tainty, be prevented by inverting the 

 hive.— The Editor. 



Sectional Hiyes ys. One-Tier Hives. 



Query 470,— In starting an apiary.should 

 I adopt sectional brood-chamber hives, or the 

 common, one-tier hives ?— M. M., Iowa. 



/should prefer the sectional brood- 

 chamber hives.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I should commence with two-story 

 hives.— J. P. H. Brown. 



We prefer half-stories on top of the 

 brood-chamber.— Dadant & Son. 



I still use the one-tier hive, and all 

 experiments so far tried do not cause 

 me to desire the sectional brood- 

 chambers.— G. M. Doolittle. 



That depends upon which you will 

 like best, and you can only tell by try- 

 ing one or both. As yet, I prefer the 

 one-tier hive ; yet the other has ad- 

 vantages.— C. C. Miller. 



I am using sectional hives, and I 

 think well of them. They have many 

 advantages, and for queen-rearing 

 they certainly excel every other hive. 

 They require protection in spring, or 



the bees breed up slowly in them. 

 But after the colony is strong enough 

 so that the queen can enter the upper 

 brood-case, the progress is rapid. 

 Chaff protection will make the dif- 

 ference of success or failure with 

 these hives, and to a great extent the 

 same may be said of any hive.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



I have not bothered with sectional 

 brood-chambers enough to advise in 

 this case. The common hive with 

 loose bottom-board, that can be tiered 

 up when desired, is good enough for 

 me.— H. D. Cutting. 



Adopt a frame hive of some kind, 

 and do not attempt to run more than 

 one style of frame. I consider the 

 Langstroth frame the best style in use. 

 —J. E. Pond. 



I think it would be safest to adopt 

 8-frame Langstroth hives. The sec- 

 tional hives are yet in the experimen- 

 tal stage, and as yet so few are used, 

 that one would have more ready mar- 

 ket for colonies in Langstroth hives. 

 —A. J. Cook. 



That depends upon the style of con- 

 struction of the brood-chamber sec- 

 tions. I would no more think of go- 

 ing back from my divisible brood- 

 chambers, to the indivisible, as used 

 before my invention, than of return- 

 to the hollow-log bee-gum.— James 

 Heddon. 



If you have experience, adopt the 

 hive you like best. But if you are a 

 beginner in the business, I would ad- 

 vise you to begin with some good, 

 plain hive, as the Standard Langs- 

 troth, or some other well-tried hive. 

 The old advice so prominent in bee- 

 literature several years ago, viz : Be- 

 ware of " patent right men " — " pat- 

 ent bee-gums," should be heeded now 

 as well as then. I do not know what 

 you mean by a " one-tier hive." I use 

 a modernized Langstroth hive, and it 

 is " sectional." All good hives adap- 

 ted to the "tiering up" system are 

 necessarily " sectional." If you mean 

 by a " one-tier hive," a hive in which 

 the surplus is stored at the sides of 

 the brood, instead of over it — I would 

 not use such a hive at all.— G. W. 

 Demaree. 



An " experienced apiarist" who de- 

 sires to start a new apiary, should se- 

 lect the newest practical inventions 

 which he may deem the best suited 

 to his ideas and method of manage- 

 ment. A novice cannot err in adopt- 

 ing an ordinary Langstroth hive. — 

 The Editor. 



Don't do It !— Notwithstanding our many 

 cautions, some persons still persists in send- 

 ing silver in letters. In nine cases out of 

 ten it will break the envelope and be either 

 lost or stolen. Cases come to light nearly 

 every day, showing that silver sent In 

 letters stops somewhere on the way. It is 

 an invitation to the thief— a regular temp- 

 tatlon ! If you wish to safely send money, 

 get a Post-Office Money Order, Express 

 Order, or Bank Draft on Chicago or New 

 York. When money is sent in either of the 

 above-named ways, it is at our risk. In any 

 other manner. It is at the risk of the sender. 



