I'W 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
Sept. 
Please inform me, 1st: Are Queens reared in a two 
lrame nucleus as good as those reared in an eight 
n ame colony ? .My bees in nucleus tore Mown the cell 
i gave them and are building one for themselves, shall 
1 allow them to proceed? 
In I. In making a nucleus, I bv mistake, got the old 
Queen on one of the frames, which error was not dis- 
covered till two days after. In that case could I put 
her back In her own hive without endangering iter 
life? or would you tulvlse changing places of the nu- 
cleus and the old hive ? 
Geo. G. Scott, Dubuque, Iowa, July I5tli. 1874. 
1st, So far as vigor is concerned, we would 
let. them use the cell if we were sure it contain- 
ed tin abundance of royal jelly, which seldom 
.is the case unless the young colony have be- 
come fully organized and are bringing both 
honey and poilen industriously. Tis our opin- 
ion a pint of bees, in very warm weather, may 
do this as well as a larger number, but they 
would probably be unable to supply more than 
one or two cells, and a larger number of bees 
would generally be preferable. 
Jul. Try and see if they will receive their 
old Queen of course, before running any risk. 
If they are gathering honey there will seldom 
be any trouble, but you can easily remove a 
frame and place her on it in the midst of the 
bees, having some smoke handy, in case she 
should be in danger. We introduce Queens 
newly hatched in this way, with scarcely ever 
a failure, if the honey yield has stopped it 
may be necessary to cage your old Queen be- 
fore releasing her, after two days or more ab- 
sence, bn.. we should try her first on tile plan 
given. Queens not valued highly we often 
introduce in the manner given without caging, 
and even let them run in at the entrance with- 
out opening the hive; at certain seasons all 
will go well every time, but at others every 
Queen, seemingly, will be destroyed. They 
can be released on a single comb without dan- 
ger if you are prompt and fearless in rescuing 
them when attacked. 
FRIEND NOVICE I had an extractor made on 
your plan, and it works like a eliarm. 1 am a sort of 
a genius hut I have been trying to study out the prin- 
ciple ol tin extractor the last year or so* and could get 
no Idea of how to get it to work till I got lirst volume 
oi Gleam xos. 1 then went to my tln-smlth hut had 
much trouble to get him to understand it. How- 
ever we made it work. I think 1 can heat vou on 
prices; 1 had it made for frames 14x1 IX inch, with 
sloping bottom, molasses gate excepted, for $4.1.1. 
Bees are not doing very much here tills summer, es- 
pecially blacks. Tin* Italians arc still doing some- 
thing. I have two that swarmed and have extracted 
•41 ii»s. of honey from them, the blacks heslile them 
have neither -wanned nor made any honev more 
than they consumed. 
I am rearing a lew dollar Queens ibis summer. I 
can’t raise them last enough, lint i I in v life is spared 
till next spring 1 will breed on a larger scale. 1 should i 
like to have your advice a.- to how to proceed. Would 
it he best to have my nuclei formed of say 4 or :l stand- 
ard I rallies, or have little boxes with four frames. 11 
inches square? I am using the latter now. 
I intend to liny bees to rear Queens with. I can huv I 
them In box hives with drawers of from 14 to 1.7 n.s. of I 
box honev lor $7.(10. Now, if I use Hie standard frame. ! 
would It lie advisable to transfer them in September, 
extract the honey all from the body of the hive and 
give them all the comb, then feed sugar-syrup for ! 
winter? Comb honey sells here for 47 ets. per m, and 
extracted for 18 eta., so thev would not cost more limn 
S4.(m per hive or hardly that. Or would It lie a better j 
plan to let them remain until spring and pay $7.uii for ' 
them without the box honey, and be sure of not losing 
them this winter? though there has not been much 
trouble in wintering in this section of the country. 
Aaron T. Weionkr, Higler, Pa. ! 
Small hives, and small frames have been al- 
most universally abandoned. You will find, 
we think that using the same frames used in 
your hives is much safest in the long run, and 
if not less thau three combs of brood be used 
to start a nucleus, they will protect themselves- 
from robbers without shutting them in at all. 
We think we would use nothing smaller thau 
a hive capable of containing ten combs; these 
can then be built up to a good colony with lit- 
tle trouble after they get a laying Queen. 
If the honey can all be extracted in August 
or early in Sept., so as to feed the syrup ami 
get everything in good shape during warm 
weather, it might do ; but transferring in the 
fall, where the combs arc filled with honey, is 
risky business even for an expert. The safer 
way would be to wait until spring we think 
especially if bees winter well in your locality 
on natural stores. 
Wed. ;\ lr - Q'-Faninos. will you please tell us next 
month through the "wind-mill print" how Novice 
manages to separate his honey from the sugar-syrun 
that gets into his hives in various ways. We would 
like some, times to Iced a little syrup but don’t want ii 
with our honey. Some say to us when we offer ex- 
tracted honev, that it Is syrup. We tell them no, It Is 
the pure honey and tell the truth too. 
A. J. Hoover, Plymouth, Pa. 
Just exactly. In the spring we contrive to 
have all the sugar-syrup used up in rearing 
brood, before honey comes in, and if some 
heavy combs still remain we put them into 
nucleus hives to be used by bees not old enough 
to gather honey. If placed next to a brood 
comb it will be used up very fast. 
The present season we found it impossible 
to use it where the bees had died, without re- 
serving it until the honey yield had passed, 
and it is now being worked up to excellent 
advantage by upwards of 40 young colonies 
containing Queens just commencing to lay. 
Such combs filled heavy with sealed syrup, 
work in beautifully in this way. When we 
were extracting if by chance any comb was 
brought in containing sealed honey looking 
other than as if it had l>eon freshly* sealed, it- 
was tested by tasting and if any trace of sugar 
was perceptible, ’twas condemned and reserved 
for brood-rearing. Should fall honey come in 
while feeding, we really don’t know what is to 
be done unless empty combs be inserted tem- 
porarily to receive the new stores, extracting 
from them only, and leaving the brood combs 
untouched at this season. 
My hues have not nor can I make them do much, 
t here seems to he no honey In the clover, and we have 
no linn ; buck-wheat is just commencing to bloom. 
Have only taken out with extractor from over .70 colo- 
nies inn lbs., and think I had better have left that in 
as they don’t increase much. Very cool, no comb 
honey at alt. A. J. Hoover, Aug. 8th. 1871. 
R ally friend H., such a report is almost us 
disheartening as to hear ones colonies are al- 
most il l deail. Did we not know that you 
ready Uumr If nr to take cure of bees, we might 
think some of the fau f yours. 
What are the advantages of A 1 slke clover over 
White clover as a hoiiev*plant ? 
(’has. 11. Rue. Manalapan. N. J. 
riuit it is a larger plant, bears more and lar- 
ger blossoms, and consequently gives inure 
honey. On the other hand we really fear i' is 
not going to "hold" in the ground like the com- 
mon white , or even the red clover. Something 
has been said of seeding with what is culic'l 
Dutch White clover. Can any one tell us more 
about if? Seedsmen advertise it we think. 
