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DR. MILLER S 



in the mouth. It is capped white. Could this have been sumac? 

 The bees worked on it steadily for a week. 



A. Sumac is a fine honey-plant in some places. It is very light 

 amber, usually. Your honey was probably sumac mixed with 

 other honeys. Sweet clover honey has a greenish tinge. 



Sunflower. — Q. Is there any honey in sunflowers, and, if so, 

 could the common black bees get it? 

 -\. Yes to both questions. 



Supers, Examining. — Q. How often should supers be looked 

 after, or rather, examined, as to how far they are filled? 



A. Every ten days is not far out of the way, generally, only 

 make sure that they are never crowded so as to lack storing- 

 room. 



Supers, Exchanging. — Q. If I take the supers from the parent 

 colony and put them on the new swarm, will the bees that are in 

 the field keep on working in the super? 



.-\. ^'es, there is danger of the queen going up if the supers are 

 put on immediately after the swarm is hived, unless a queen- 

 excluder is used. In the absence of an excluder, do not put the 

 supers on for about two days, and in that time the queen will have 

 made a start below and will not be likely to go into the super. 



Supers, Failure to Work in. — Q. I have five colonies of bees and 

 they are doing well, as far as I can see, but they are not at work 

 in the supers. What is the cause? What is the remedy, if any? 



A. There may be several reasons why bees do not work in su- 

 pers. There may not be a sufficient flow to supply more than their 

 daily needs. The colony may not be strong enough, and you must 

 wait until it builds up stronger. The brood-chamber may not yet 

 be filled, and the first care of the bees is to fill all vacant room 

 below before storing in the super. Sometimes, however, the bees 

 are slow about making a start in the supers, when they seem 

 strong enough, with a good flow, and the brood-chamber filled. 

 In that case you must put a bait in the super to bait the bees into 

 it. Just how you will do that depends upon the character of your 

 supers. If extracting-supers, then you can likely put into the 

 super a frame of brood for a few days, or until the bees begin 

 ^\■ork in the adjoining frames. If 30U have sections in supers, 

 then put in the center of the super a section that is partly built 

 out, either empty or containing some honey. If you can do no 

 better, you can cut out of one of the brood-combs a piece of brood 

 or honey and put it in a central section. If that will not start them 



