2H4 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



flint 



su. li ath ■ ■ But if 3 



j,'<it at the spirit of your question, I'll l>e glad 

 again. 

 1 donM ind il eci do anj uncap- 



ping, the bees without it having all the brood 

 they can cover. I don'l sup] osi it would make 

 much difference where you pu1 those 1 frames 

 of honey, so long as you did not separate 

 ..: brood bj them, for after bees are 

 living freely they will find honej in any part 

 of the hive. 



what happens afterward. Ii. on the nnc hand. 

 ;, in mating and 

 laying, and the old hive stands close by so 

 that all its force unites with the new hive 

 when the old hive is taken away; and on the 

 other hand, if the bees are left entirely alone 

 to swarm all they like', then it maj be that 

 you will gain rather than lose by the pro- 

 plan 



Granulation of Honey 



Why, in candying, is some honey coarser 

 than others? I should like to know what 



honeys granulate with a fine grain and what 

 with a coarse grain. ONTARIO. 



ANSWER. — I really know very little about it. 

 but it may be that exposure of my ignorance 

 may bring out the information from someone 

 ... ii,, ,],,, - i. now. I suspect thai thi re is a dif 

 fere nee in the honey itself, the honey from one 

 plant having a finer grain than that from an- 

 other. But it is likely a still greater differ 

 ence is due to the conditions under which the 

 honey candies. The temperature, the ripeness 

 of the honey, and other items, may play a part. 

 One thing I know is that if honey be stirred 

 occasionally when candying it will have a 

 finer grain than if allowed to stand perfectly 

 -mi, Also, the stirring will hasten granula- 

 tion. 



Mating Queens 



.If I find queen-cells in a hive when there 

 are drones flying, and I move the hive away 

 and put in its place another hive, with honey 

 and one ripe queen-cell, and after the queen is 

 mated on the old stand give them back the 

 brood and young bees from the old hive, will 

 I lose any honey? IOWA. 



Answer. — I don't know. Much depends on 



Demaree Plan 



What is the Demaree plan to prevenl warm 

 ing? 



Answer.- It is a plan devised years ago by 

 G. W. Demaree, of Christ iansbu i k r . Ky. Put 

 all frames of brood in an upper story over an 

 excluder, leaving the queen below with frames 

 of drawn comb or frames filled with founda- 

 tion. At the time of doing this, kill all cells 

 found in the upper story, and do the same a 

 week or ten days later. A- the brood emerges 

 from the cells in the upper story the cells will 

 he filled wiili honey, and the combs will be- 

 ■ ctracting combs, while the bees and 

 queen in the lower story will be in the con- 

 dition oi a natural swarm, and will proceed 

 accordingly. 



The usual time for this performance is any 

 time after queen-cells are started, and before 

 have swarmed. It may. however, take 

 place at any time near swarming time, even if 

 no cells are found; and it may take place after 

 a swarm has issued and returned. 



I n some cases the bees have swarmed out 

 'vhen left without brood in the lower story, so 

 now il is the custom to leave one brood below, 

 preferably one with the least brood. 



Instead of putting the brood in the second 

 story, many prefer to put ojie or two stories 

 of extracting-combs over the excluder, and the 

 story of brood still higher. 



1 



Bee-Keeping <3& For Women 



Conducted by Miss Emma M. Wilson. Marengo. 111. 



Captured Swarm 



\ i' w days ago we found a large 

 swarm of bees on a tree in the 

 woods. We undertook to catch them, 

 and sawed the tree down. They set- 

 tled again on one of the limbs. We 

 waited until dark, then sawed off the 

 limb and shook them into a box. We 

 bad no hive. 



The bees do not work at all. I 

 i ;n d into tin box this morning and 

 they are just piled up in a corner, 

 fully a quart of them. 



1. Do you suppose the queen was 



killed? 



_' I low can I tell if there is no 

 queen? 



3. A neighbor said to shut them in 

 and they would make a queen. Will 

 they? 



■1. Could I take a queen from an- 

 other colony and put with them? If 

 so, how would I go about getting 

 her? FLORIDA. 



Answers. — 1. The queen may or 

 may not have been .killed. Bees arc 

 freaky creatures and sometimes sulk 

 even when the queen is with them. 



2. You can tell the queen is i 



by finding eggs in worker-cells 

 That's difficult in your case. If you 

 find the bees building worker-comb. 



you may know they have a queen. 



.1 Your neighbor is mistaken. If 

 there is no queen and no eggs or 

 young brood there is no hope for 

 them to raise a queen. 



4. Yes, if you are satisfied they 

 have no queen you can buy one from 

 any of those who advertise in this 

 journal to sell queens, and directions 

 tor introducing will accompany the 

 queen. 



Helps for a Beginner 



1. I am a new beginner at the work 

 and would like to study it up so as to 

 make a success of it some day. Can 

 \ou till me some good book or maga- 

 zine to get ? 



2. I live in town, so do not have a 



large place, but one part of the 

 lot has trees and berry .bushes, and I 

 wondered whether there .was any- 

 thing that would grow there that 

 would ],r better for honey than clo- 

 ver. We haw used it for a chicken 

 is nothing there now. 



3. What are some of the best flow 

 ers tor honey? 



4. Last spring I had two swarms 

 and each one swarmed twice, but I 

 only got three of the swarms, and 

 one of them left after I had it in the 



line, mi 1 have only four swarms 

 now; but they look pretty good these 

 bright days. When a swarm comes 

 out how do you get them to alight 

 without going away ? 



5. Why, do you suppose, did the 

 one swarm leave after I had it in the 

 hive? 



6. What is a good kind of hive to 

 use. and what is a good compain to 

 gel In-e supplies from? 



7. Do you put the top boxes on 

 right away in the spring? 



8. Do you feed the bees ,or how 

 could they get enough to average 265 

 pounds to each hive? 



ILLINOIS. 



Answers. — 1. You cannot go amiss 

 to get the American Bee Journal, a 

 copy of which is sent you. and in the 

 list of bee-books you will no doubt 

 find the suitable book. Gleanings in 

 Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio, and the 

 Domestic Beekeeper, Xorthstar. 

 Mich., are also good journals. But 

 don't think of getting a bee journal 

 without a bee-book, and if you can- 

 not have both, be sure to have the 

 book. 



2 Your bees will go a mile or two 

 in all directions to forage, and it 

 would take many lots like yours to 

 support a single colony. So don't 

 bother about trying to plant anything 

 for them. 



3. White clover is likely the most 

 important honey-plant in your local- 

 ity. There may also be basswood, 

 raspberry, alsike and sweet clovers, 

 fruit blossoms, dandelion, heartsease, 

 and others. 



4. Don't do anything. Some people 

 make a racket hy pounding on tin 

 pans, but it doesn't do a particle of 

 good. The bees will settle of their 

 own accord, unless the wings of the 

 queen are clipped, in which case they 

 may settle, or they may return to the 

 hive without settling. 



5. Like enough the hive was close 

 and perhaps standing in the sun. and 

 the bees left because they didn't 

 want to live in so hot a place. 



6. The 10-frame dovetailed hive is 

 perhaps most common, but some 

 good beekeepers think it too small, 

 and prefer the Dadant or other large 

 hive. 



7. No, supers for surplus are not 

 put on in your locality till the first 

 white clover blooms. 



8. You are referring to Dr. Miller's 

 record crop of 266 sections per col- 

 ony, which would be only 244 pounds 

 per colony, in which case there was 

 no feeding; the bees got their sup- 

 ply from the surrounding fields. 



March Snow in New York 

 Yesterday, last night and today, up 

 to this time (noon), it has been 

 snowing, and the wind has been 

 blowing the worst I ever knew it to 

 be in March. As near as I can judge 

 about 8 inches of snow, but it is bare 

 ground or in heaps. 



My bees. 3 apiaries, have all been 

 carried out of cellars and had a good 

 cleansing flight. Only one colony 

 dead; don't know what effect these 

 two days of snow and wind (the 

 thermometer 16 above zero) will have 

 on them. N. D. WEST. 



New York. 



