THOUSAND ANSWERS 165 



the meal down level, change the stone to the other side. They 

 will dig out all the fine parts, and the coarser parts that are left 

 can be fed to the four-legged stock. But just as soon as they can 

 get the natural pollen they will desert the meal-boxes. 



Q. Why is it that in your telling of the use of rye-flour and 

 pea rneal for artificial pollen, you never mention wheat flour? 

 Why is wheat flour never mentioned or recommended? 



A. It is probably a case of blindly following tradition. My 

 guess would be that wheat is as good as rye; but I never tried 

 either. I know that ground corn and oats do well. Flour is 

 good also. 



Q. Will you kindly advise me what to do with extracting- 

 combs that are filled with pollen? Many of mine are so clogged 

 with pollen that I will be compelled to melt them unless there 

 is some way of getting it out. 



A. I'm just a bit suspicious that the trouble is not so bad as 

 you suppose, and that if you leave the pollen where it is it will 

 be used up by the bees next year, always supposing it is kept in 

 good condition over winter. It often happens that such pollen is 

 worth more than its weight in honey early in the season. If, how- 

 ever, you want to get the pollen out of the comb some, other way 

 than to have the bees eat it out, I'm not sure that I know of any 

 good way. I have known pollen to dry up in the combs so it 

 would shake out. 



Q. Will the bees remove pollen from the center combs in the 

 brood-chamber so the queen can have a compact circle to lay in, 

 the combs being filled by queenless bees, caused by the queen 

 being lost in mating? The pollen is fresh, and the cells about 

 half full. 



A. Yes, give them time enough and you will find the pollen all 

 out of the middle of the brood-nest, if the queen is prolific. 



Q. What can I do to prevent bees from storing pollen in the 

 sections? 



A. I know of three things that will encourage pollen and 

 brood in sections. One is to have the brood-chamber too small 

 and crowded. A second is to have very little or no drone-comb 

 in the brood-chamber and small starters in the sections. In that 

 case the bees will build more or less drone-comb in the sections, 

 the queen will go up for the sake of laying in drone-cells, and 

 pollen will follow the brood. A third is to have shallow combs 

 in the brood-chamber. In that case there is danger of pollen in 

 sections even without any brood in them. Evidently, to avoid 



