ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 25 



ones, marking an equal number of each; then all weak colonies that 

 have a patch of brood in one comb about as large as your hand. Set 

 all such on top of a strong colony with a queen-excluder between, clos- 

 ing up entrances to the weak colony except through the excluder. Then 

 there are those that are very weak that have only a queen, and perhaps 

 not more than a handful of bees with no brood. Fix these last named 

 in this way: Go to the strong colony you wish to set them over, and 

 get a frame of brood with its adhering bees, being sure not to take 

 their queen; then put the queen of the weak colony on this comb with 

 the strange bees, and put it into the weak hive; leave them in this 

 way about half a day, then set them on top of a strong colony where 

 you got the brood with a queen-excluder between. Do all this with a 

 little smoke, and avoid exciting the strong colony in any way. If a 

 cool day, and the bees are not flying, I usually leave the strong colony 

 uncovered, except with the excluder, for a few hours before setting on 

 the weak colony. The whole thing should be done as quietly as pos- 

 sible, so that neither colony hardly realizes that it has been touched. 

 When the weak colony has been given some brood, and put on top in 

 this careful and still manner, hardly one queen In a hundred will be 

 lost, and in about thirty days each hive will be crowded with bees and 

 maturing brood. Then when you wish to separate them, set the strong- 

 est colony on a new stand and give it also some of the bees from the 

 hive that is left on the old stand, as a few of the working force will 

 return to the old location, especially if they are black bees or degen- 

 erate Italians. 



In every case that has come to my notice where this method has 

 been reported a failure it has been by one of two causes — either from 

 lack of brood in a weak colony to hold the queen and her few bees in 

 the upper hive, or by smoking the strong colony so that, as soon as 

 the weak one was set on top, the bees from below would rush up and 

 sting every thing above. Therefore avoid using smoke or doing any 

 thing that will excite the strong colony. 



If done in a careful manner the bees in the lower hive never seem 



to realize that any strangers have been put above them, and they will 



all work in harmony together. 



November, 1906. 



SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED 



In reply to several questions regarding our method of caring for 

 weak colonies shortly after taking them from their winter quarters, I 

 can only repeat what I have already written upon this subject; that is, 

 after the weak colonies have a little uncapped brood set them on top 

 of a strong colony with a queen-excluding honey-board between, and 

 close all entrances except what they have through the excluder. This 

 we do about five days after they are taken from the cellar, and thi^ 



