1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



165 



for mating purposes, I select a strong 

 colony, having one or more section 

 supers, in which the bees have com- 

 menced to work. On top of these I 

 place a honey-board, on top of this 

 I place what I call a "mating bot- 

 tom," which is made in the following 

 manner : Make a frame to fit the 

 hive, dimensions of which are 

 ]%x 7 /& inch. On the bottom of this 

 frame I tack a sheet of tin, covering 

 three-fourths of the frame; bore two 

 or three half-inch holes in the back 

 end of the frame, and for the en- 

 trance tack a piece of tin bent at 

 right angles below these holes for 

 alighting board. Over this put your 

 brood-chamber with the brood frames 

 and virgin or ripe queen-cell, and in 

 due time you will find a laying queen. 



I have mated two queens in the 

 same brood-chamber in this way and 

 would also get the frames filled with 

 honey, which was extracted, or could 

 have made a new colony strong 

 enough to winter well. 



I would like to mention another 

 experiment which I have tried. The 

 idea is not original with me, but I 

 have never seen it in print that I 

 remember of. I have seen the time 

 when I wanted to graft some queen- 

 cells and had no royal jelly. I have 

 used a mixture of water and honey, 

 well mixed, used the same as royal 

 jelly and had 87 6-10 per cent of the 

 cells accepted and 85 per cent were 

 finished and were as well developed 

 queens as I ever saw. 



f have been in the bee business 



since 1918, but have done nothing but 



try experiments, and try to do what 



the other fellow has done, and more. 



L. A. Shawler, 



West Union, 111. 



Treatment for Foulbrood 



A western subscriber requests that 

 we specify briefly the latest treat- 

 ment advocated for American and 

 European foulbrood. Briefly stated, 

 for American foulbrood is to remove 

 the bees from the infected hives, de- 

 stroy all comb and remove all honey, 

 and placing them in an entirely new 

 and clean hive, as one would treat a 

 new swarm. The essential operation 

 in the treatment of this disease is 

 to remove the bees entirely from all 

 sources of the contagion. It is espe- 

 cially important that no honey from 

 the diseased colony is allowed to 

 reach the bees in healthy colonies. 

 The old hive and frames may be used 

 again if thoroughly cleaned before 

 coming in contact with the bees. 



With the European foulbrood it is 

 not necessary to destroy the comb. 

 The important thing, with the Eu- 

 ropean foulbrood, is to have the col- 

 ony strong and to check breeding 

 operations for a period of time until 

 the bees have had opportunity to re- 

 move the infected material. It is 

 usually advisable to re-queen the 

 colony with selected Italian stock 

 from some well-known disease-resist- 

 ant strain. To be successful in the 

 treatment of the European foulbrood 

 the colony must first be strong and 

 the brood-rearing must be checked 

 for a period sufficient to enable the 

 bees to clean up. 



Dr. Miller's J, Answers- 



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



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. II-. 



He does not answer bee-keeoing Questions by mall. 



Average Yield, Per Colony 



Would like to ask C. P. Dadant the follow 

 ing questions, to be answered through tht 

 American Bee Journal: 



1. What has been your average yield of ex 

 tracted honey per colony for the past 20 years 

 if these figure are available? If not the 20 

 year average, would like the 10-year average: 

 and, if not too exacting, list the last 10 years 

 by each year. My reason is to see by com 

 parison with the weather of Illinois Bulletin 

 issued by the Illinois Experiment Station jus' 

 what season proved the best regarding rain 

 fall. 



2. Will a wet August and September, fol 

 lowing a dry summer, with a liberal amount 

 of rain the following spring and summer, pro 

 duce a very good crop of white clover? 



3. What conditions do produce the best crop 

 of white clover? 



ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. We have been rather lax in 

 keeping accounts of our crops. We should 

 make statistics. But business and the hurry of 

 each day seem to prevent us from doing a 

 thousand things that ought not to be neglected. 

 The best I can do is to give a rough guess of 

 our crops one year with another, and this I 

 would place at about 40 pounds per colony. 



Drought is the worst enemy we have. The 

 coming summer is likely to prove unprofitable 

 to bees on account of last . ummer's drought 

 that killed nearly all the white clover about 

 us.— C. P. D. 



2. Very likely 



2. A winter that will not kill out the plants, 

 preferably one with a good blanket of snow, in 

 northern localities, the ground having been 

 well filled with moisture in the fall; then 

 enough rain and warm weather for luxuriant 

 growth up to the harvest; hot, sunshiny weather 

 during the flow, with a tendency toward 

 drought toward the middle of the flow. Other 

 factors, such as electrical conditions, no doubt 

 should be considered. 



Wintering — Transferring — Flax 



1. I have the 10-frame hive of Hoffman 

 frame and I am thinking of putting a shallow 

 super filled with leaves on top of this and win- 

 ter them out of doors in a winter case. Do 

 you think this would be all right? 



2. I have one colony in an 8-frame hive in 

 which the combs are crooked, and I am going 

 to transfer them to a 10-frame hive. When 

 would you think it would be the best time to 

 transfer them, before swarming or after? 

 Would the bees go into the new hive all right? 



3. Is flax a honey-plant ? 



WISCONSIN. 

 Answers. — 1 Yes; but protection at sides 

 and bottom would still be needed. 



2. In fruit-bloom is a good time. There will 

 be no trouble about the bees going into the 

 new hive if it is set on the old stand. 



3. I think it is, but not a very important 

 one. 



Cellar for Bees 



1. I am planning on building a honey-house 

 with bee cellars underneath, size 16x26 feet. 

 Do you think that will winter 150 colonies? 



2. \Vill dig into side of bank and will have 

 cellar all below frost line; cement walls - nd 

 floor, and want to ask if you would have ceil- 

 ing made of cement or wood; some say wood 

 will rot. 



3. Would you put in ventilators, and if so, 

 what kind? 



Would appreciate any other information that 

 you can give me on this subject. 



Am planning on leaving an air space be- 

 tween ceiling of cellar and floor of honey- 

 house and packing with cut straw. 



NEW YORK. 



Answers.— 1. Yes, you will need to pile them 

 only four or five high to accommodate 150. 



2. Cement will last longer than wood, al- 

 though wood ought to last many years. 



3. It doesn't matter such a great deal as to 

 the kind of ventilator, whether of wood or 

 metal; but it is important that the one to let 

 in the air be low down, and that the one which 

 carries out the air should be fairly high at the 

 outside. If the ventilators be 6 inches in di- 

 ameter they will probably be larger than will 

 often be needed, but you can close up all you 

 want to, and if the diameter be too little there 

 is no way to enlarge it. If the earth is sandy 

 and you leave an earth floor, little ventilation 

 may oe needed. 



Frames — Queen Rearing 



1. Can an apiarist make frames for his own 

 use; for instance, the Hoffman frame? 



2. Would a young o.ueen likely be mated 

 from a drone of the same hive? 



3. Would it be a good time to raise a queen 

 in fruit blossom time? 



4. How many cells would a colony of strong 

 bees be able to handle? Could they finish 

 them, or should they be given to another col- 

 ony above an excluder, with queen below? 



5. Should honey be extracted as soon as 

 capped, or left a while to ripen? 



6. Which bee has been known to work on 

 red clover the most? 



7. How many d-ys will it take for a queen 

 to hatch from a very young larva. 



IOWA. 

 Answers.— 1. The frame is the one thing 

 about the hive that needs most exact work- 

 manship and special machinery, and without 

 this last the most expert mechanic would 

 hardly think of making his own frames. 



2. Small chance for it if other bees are 

 within a mile. 



3. Hardly, as a rule too much cool and 

 catchy weather. 



4. I suppose t isn't so much a question of 

 what they can do as what they will do. Some 

 colonies will mature 50 or 100 cells, others 10. 

 There would be no likelihoods of a greater 

 number being finisl ed by changing them to an 

 uppe- s* .y. 



5 Generally it is considered ready to extract 

 as soon as sealed, although leaving it longer on 

 the hive will make it a little richer. 



6. I don't know. Claims have been made 

 that this one or that one excels; but none too 

 much is known about it. Likely there's more 

 difference in clover than in bees. 



7. If you mean larva just out of the egg. 

 about 12 days. 



Marking Queens, Wintering, Etc. 



1. Have you had any experience with, and 

 what do you think of, the plan of painting the 

 back of the queen to facilitate finding her, as 

 described in the January number of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, page 21? 



2. Is the Demuth method of packing bees 

 for outdoor wintering a success? Will you 

 please tell u just how the frames are rigidly 

 held on end so as not to topple over? 



3. After a Demaree super has been given 

 in case of a prolific queen, would it not be a 

 good plan to again move the brood above after 

 the lapse of a few weeks, in order to give the 

 queen abundance of room? 



In wintering bee on the summer stands do 

 you think there is any advantage in placing 

 another hive-body between the bottom-board 

 and the brood-chamber? As I use the Dem- 

 aree plan, I have plenty of hive-bodies that I 

 could use in that way, either with or without 

 the frames of drawn comb. MICHIGAN. 



