28 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



January 



per 24-section case. Beeswax: De- 

 mand moderate; market steady; av- 

 erage yellow, 38c to 40c per pound. 

 Extracted honey from Porto Rico : 

 dark amber, 15c per pound. 



Mr. Chas. Stewart and Mr. House. 

 Discussions and questions followed 

 each speaker. 



The following officers were elected; 



Mr. J. H. Sprout, Lockport, N. Y., 



President; Dr. G. J. Hearne, of Buf- 

 falo, N. Y., Vice President, and Mr. 

 Howard Myers, of Youngstown, N. 

 Y., Secretary-Treasurer. 



WILLIAM VOLLMER. 



There was an old man named Miller, 



(Dr. C. C. for a filler). 



He was filled with bee lore 



Till he couldn't hold more; 



He's a regular bee-lore distiller. 



Western New York Honey Produc- 

 ers' Association Meeting. — The fourth 

 annual meeting of the Western New 

 York Honey Producers' Association 

 was held at the Genesee Hotel, Buf- 

 falo, N. Y., Nov. 13 and 14. 1917. Af- 

 ter the various reports were read and 

 approved the following subjects were 

 ably handled by their respective sup- 

 porters. 



"Wax Rendering." by O. L. Her- 

 shiser, of Kenmore, N. Y. He pointed 

 out as the best way intermittent 

 pressure under boiling water. He 

 also advised using very small 

 amounts of sulphuric acid to help 

 cleanse the wax. 



J. L. Byer, of Markham, Canada, 

 spoke on beekeeping as a business 

 and showed that beekeeping was not 

 a get-rich business, but rather one of 

 modest inclinations. A man to be a 

 good beekeeper must be a nature 

 lover, a keen observer, have pa- 

 tience, and, last but not least, must 

 like his work. 



Mr. S. D. House, of Camillus, N. Y., 

 spoke on "Producing Fancy Comb 

 Honey." He likes to have a queen of 

 the previous season's autumn rearing, 

 preparedness of both man and bees 

 to the best possible point, and pre- 

 fers a super of a lesser number of 

 sections than is ordinary, for his hive 

 only containing 21 sections. He pro- 

 duces some extracted honey at the 

 close of the season rather than a lot 

 of unfilled sections. 



Mr. Charles Stewart, of Johnstown, 

 N. Y., spoke on "Rearing Good 

 Queens." Beekeepers do not appre- 

 ciate the value of having a few 

 queens in the yard to draw on at any 

 time to use. He emphasized that 

 good breeders be used, some that are 

 good honey gatherers, gentle, resist- 

 ant to foulbrood, and always to se- 

 lect the best. 



Mr. H. H. Root, of Medina, Ohio, 

 spoke on "Shall Wc Keep Mori B 

 Better Bees, or Keep Bees Better?" 

 He laid stress on the point that we 

 should keep ;in many bees as possible 

 for profit and to produce as much 

 honey as possible, especially in these 

 times of National Conservation. He 

 thought there was a limit to the 

 amount of bees a man can keep 

 profitably. 



Mr. J. L. Byer spoke on "Preparing 

 for a Crop of Honey." Young queens, 

 young bees, hive solid with sir,: 

 go into winter quarters; these will 

 cause good wintering, which must 

 precede the crop Hi does not advise 

 uniting weak colonies in spring, but 

 rather build up medium ones with 

 them if possible, to gel as many as 

 possible strong for the honey flow. 



"Bee Diseases" were taken up by 



Dr. Millers ^Answers- 



Send Questions either to the office of the American Pee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo, II*.. 



He does not answer bee-keeoine Questions bv mail. 



It is inferred that all readers have access to the book "A Thousand Answers to Beekeeping 

 Questions." This will avoid duplication in answering, as the book contains answers to practically 

 all questions ordinarily asked on beekeeping. Subjects not specifically treated, or which are not 

 clear to the reader will be further explained in this department at the request of any subscriber. 



3. I don't know. In some places, in some 

 seasons, there is no plan by which you could 

 increase without loss, for there is not enough 

 harvest to supply the colony for winter, let 

 alone supplying any increase. I suppose youi 

 idea is to get the largest increase possible. You 

 might divide each colony into a number of 

 nuclei, but that's a risky business, for if the 

 season should be poor they would not get 

 enough to build up for winter. A safer plan 

 would be to make up colonies having as many 

 as" four frames of Drood at the start, drawing 

 the brood and bees not from ony one colony, 

 but from different colonies, in no case leaving 

 any colony with less than four brood. Then 

 if the flow should stop at any minute, you 

 would have no weaklings on hand. 



4. Not always. You are likely to have many 

 failures, and will probably succeed better with 

 young larva? than with eggs. 



5. Yes, the queen would be likely to do the 

 best she could with what she had left. But 

 whether it would be "all right" would depend 

 on what you did with the bees you took away, 

 and I'm just a little afraid of what you might 



Shake Swarming — Natural Swarming 



1. Aside from the advantage of being able 

 to attend to the work at a more convenient 

 time, what advantage is there in shake-swarm- 

 ing as compared with natura 1 - swarming? In 

 other words, does the artificial method give 

 oetter results, and if so, will you please tell us 

 just why? 



2. In natural swarming is it a safe proceed- 

 ing and entirely practical to return to the pa- 

 rent hive both prime and afterswarms in order 

 to prevent increase of colonies? 



3. In natural swarming, when returning the 

 bees to the parent hive, should either queen- 

 eel 1 s or issuing queen be destroyed, and at 

 what stage of the proceeding? 



MICHIGAN. 

 Answers. — 1. Aside from having things un- 

 der your own control and avoiding the necessi- 

 ty i f watching foi swarms, I'm not sure there 

 is any advantage in shaking swarms. 



2. Yes, if you return the swarm as often 

 as it issues, there will finally be left in the 

 hive only one virgin, and there will be no more 

 swarming. This plan was formerly the ortho- 

 dox thing ;o do, but it may involve a good 

 many times returning, provided no cells are 

 killed. 



3. At the time of returning the swarm, 

 kill the old queen and all but one queen-cell. 

 A better way, although a little more trouble- 

 some, is this: Kill the old queen upon return- 

 ing the first swarm (if the queen is clipped you 

 will likely find her on the ground, and the 

 swarm will return itself). Then, beginning a 

 week later, put your ear to the hive each eve- 

 ning until ynu hear the young queen piping, 

 and the next morning kill alt the cells in the 

 hive. 



do. 



6. As you put it, it would be hard to say, 

 but in general it would De better to go for the 

 most clover. 



7. Yes, if she dies at a time when eggs or 

 young brood are present. 



S. No switching is needed. Just take away 

 the queen at about swarming time, and the 

 bees will do the rest. 



Queen Rearing, Etc. 



1. In Iowa how .ate will a swarm leave the 

 hive and fly away? 



2. If you take the queen and a small hunch 

 of bees out of the old hive, will the bees build 

 a queen-cell and rear a queen all right? 



3. I want to increase my colonies just so 

 they get enough honey for themselves ; what 

 would be your plan to increase them? 



4. Will any worker-egg put in a prepared 

 queen-cell hatch cut a queenbee? 



6. Would it be all right to put a queen-ex- 

 cluder on top of the hive and drum out .til 

 the bees but the queen and a small bunch, and 

 divide up the ones you drum out? Would the 

 queen stay and work in the old hive? 



'. Which would be the best honey location. 

 on rolling land with quite a little white clover 

 and dandelions, a few fruit trees and quite a 

 few willows, or down by the river with lots of 

 willows and basswood and very few fruit 

 trees and white clover 7 



7. Do colonics rear their own queens when 

 the old one dies? 



8. How do you switch the hives around to 

 make the bees build a queen-cell and rear their 

 own queen? IOWA. 



i Rs.— 1. As a rule a colony is not like- 

 arm in Towa after July, but there may 

 be an occasional swarm in August, and in 

 rare cases a fool swarm will issue even in 

 ' i or October. 

 2. Yes, at a time when eggs and brood arc 

 present. 



Natural Comb Brittle — Queen Laying 

 — Nurse Bees 



1. Why is natural comb more brittle than 

 manufactured comb-foundation, at the same 

 temperature? 



2. What is the relative conductivity of heat 

 of beeswax, water being taken at 1. as a 

 standard? 



3. Assuming that a strong colony be made 

 queenless and ripe queen-cell be given; 

 that the queen hatch and mate and prove nor- 

 mal in every way; and that there be emerging 

 brood sufficient to nurse the brood of a vig- 

 orous queen; how long from the time of her 

 hatching would it be before the queen would 

 lie at her full capacity at egg-laying? In other 

 words, when would she be at her full ma- 

 turity? 



1. Assuming that I give a pound of newly- 

 hatched bees and a strong, vigorous queen to. 

 a queenless coiony with a large force of field 

 bees, would the pound of nurse-bees be enough 

 to nurse all the brood she could produce, say 

 until thi in i of it Ik- sealed? If not, can you 

 give a fair estimate of the approximate num- 

 ber or -measure nurse-bees required, either 

 in number, pounds or any other way? 



WASIITXCTOX. 



Answers. L. I don't know. You know 

 iron i- annealed, making it soft and toughj 

 perhaps wax goes through some process when j 

 used for foundation, having the same effect. 



2. Beeswax is poor conductor of heal as 

 compared with water; but I don't know that I 

 ever saw exact figures given for it. 



