BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
If I were in Texas I'd gladly go in for bulk-comb honey.
Q. Are starters or full sheets of foundation put into frames every time the full combs are cut out when running for chunk honey?
A. Some use full sheets, some use starters, and some use neither, when the comb is cut out leaving enough of the comb under the top-bar to serve as a starter.
Figure 7: Bulk-comb Honey. The comb is cut and placed in the can or jar, the interstices being filled with extracted honey.
\(Q\). How would it work for bulk-comb honey to put on an extra body of Hoffman brood-frames with brood foundation, or would it be better to use section foundation?
A. The thinner foundation would be better for table honey, and yet some have reported that the heavier foundation was thinned down by the bees. It would not be a bad plan to try each, and then you would know better what to do in future.
**Bumblebees.-Q**. Do bees and bumblebees ever sting each other to death?
A. I think it is not very uncommon for a bumblebee to attempt to enter a hive and to be seized by the bees. I have seen such cases, and oftener I have seen the dead body of a bumblebee at or near the hive entrance, the hairs stripped from its body. I have an impression that the honeybees are never stung by the bumblebees, although the honeybees often sting the bumblebees.
**Burr-Combs.-Q**. Should burr-combs be cut out from between frames when they appear?
Would bees tear them down as they do queen-cells?
A. It is better to cut them out every year or two, as they are in the way, and make it difficult to crowd the frames together without killing bees.
No, the bees never clean out burr-combs, and the presence of any of them between frames seems to be an invitation to the bees to build more. On the whole, it may pay to clean them out every spring.
Q. How can I prevent burr-combs?
A. You cannot prevent burr-combs entirely, but you will get along with a minimum if you will avoid too large spaces wherever burr-combs are likely to be built-don't have spaces more than one-quarter inch.
**Buying Bees.-Q**. When would you advise to buy bees?
**A. Rather late in the spring, say about the beginning of fruit-bloom, is a very good time. The troubles resulting from wintering are likely to be over then, with nothing to hinder a prosperons career.
Q. I want to start an apiary and don't know where to obtain some Italian bees. Will you please give me the desired information?
A. I have no means of knowing any better than you. Your first effort should be to get the bees as near by as possible, since expressive is very expensive, and the railroads will not accept bees by freight. A little ad in your local paper might discover someone close by having Italian bees, of whom you had no knowledge. Possibly you may find in the advertisements of the bee journals what you want, and if not, then an ad in a bee paper, costing very little, would probably bring a number of offers.
Lately pound packages are largely used, though hardly advisable for beginners.
**Cage for Introducing--Q**. What cages are the best for introducing queens? What kind of candy is used in them?
A. Merely for introducing without shipping, the Miller cage, with Scholz or Good candy.
**Campanula--Campanilla.--Q**. What is the Campanula, where does it grow, and is the honey from it of good grade?
A. Campanula, or belieflower, has not any reputation as a honey plant. But the Campanilla blanca of Cuba (ipomae sidag-folia) also called "Aguinaldo de Pascua," is one of the principal honey plants of Cuba. There are several varieties. The honey is light, about like white clover, and is said to have a very fine flavor.
**Candy for Bees.--Q**. As I have some colonies of bees light in stores, how can I make candy out of granulated sugar to carry them through the winter?
A. You can make Scholz or Good candy, but the probability is you have not the extracted honey, so all you need to do is to make just plain sugar candy. Into a vessel of boiling water on the stove,
Figure 8: The Campanilla in full bloom.
the candying of honey in the hive is deplored? Why not feed candided honey over the cluster when needed?
A. Your question is hardly a fair one, for it sounds like saying that there is no objection to feeding candy, while there is objection to letting the bees have candided honey. The fact is that there are good authorities who deplore the feeding of sugar candy more than the candying of honey. There is, however, not so much said against the feeding of sugar candy, because it is often a choice between that and starvation, in which case the feeding of candy is not a thing to be deplored. In the case of honey candying, it is to be deplored, because if is not so good as liquid honey. It remains, however, to say that it is quite possible that it is better to feed candided honey than to feed sugar candy, and that so good authorities as the Dadants have practiced feeding candied honey. Perhaps ye Editor will tell us about it in a bracket.
(Sugar may be **crystalized** in lumps like rock candy, in which case it is of no use to the bees. But soft candy makes good bee food. The same may be said of granulated honey. If the honey has granulated in a way that there are hard, crusty lumps in it, some of it may be lost by the bees, especially if they attempt to consume it in dry weather. When the atmosphere is loaded with moisture, much of this softens so the bees can use it. But well ripened honey which has a soft granulation will be consumed to the last mite. We have often fed candided honey in the way suggested by our correspondent.)
**Candying (See Granulation.)**
**Cappings.-Q.** I have been told that yellow flowers tend to nakecappings yellow, too, or, in brief, that the bees will cap honey from yellow flowers with a yellow capping. If this is true, please explain.
A. Yes, it is true, at least of some flowers, dandelion, for example. I suppose the bees get the yellow coloring from the pollen.
Q. What methods, if any, besides the knife, have been used since the invention of the extractor to get rid of the cappings of the combs?
A. Turn to page 306 of the American Bee Journal for October, 1908, and you will find description and illustrations of the Bayless uncapping machine. Several other machines for uncapping have been invented, but none absolutely perfect.
Q. To melt up cappings and wax scraps, what would be the simplest way to do?A. Use a solar wax-extractor, or hold your refuse till you have a sufficient quantity to send to a dealer who makes a business of wax rendering. You may also render the cappings in an ordinary wash boiler, with water.
Q. (a) How can I dispose of water which is a little sweet so as not to have the bees bother?
(b) Is there any chemical or other article which can be mixed with the washings of wax and cappings to be thrown out that will not attract the bees?
A. (a) I have never paid any attention to it, for if it is thrown into a drain or upon the ground it is so diluted that it disappears before the bees pay any attention' to it. If you find the bees trouble in that way, you could add more water to it before throwing it away, so as to make the sweetness very slight, and then if each time you throw it on a new place on the ground, I think you will have no trouble. The reason for extreme caution in the matter is the fear that there might be foulbrood in the honey. You might make a sure thing of it by having a pit dug, into which you would throw the washings, and have the pit covered well. But why not save your sweet water for vinegar making?
(b) Carbolic acid would, no doubt, be effective.
Q. When the cappings of brood-cells are sunk, is it always an indication of disease, or are the cappings of healthy brood sometimes sunk?
A. I don't know that the cappings of healthy brood are ever sunk, but dead brood might have sunken cappings without any disease being present; and, of course, dead brood could hardly be called healthy brood.
**Cappings Melter, Q.** Is there any melter that will do fast work and not injure the flavor of the honey that goes through it?
A. Maybe; but as the Scotchman says, "I hae ma doots." To do fast work there must be considerable heat, so that at least a little of the fine flavor would be hurt.
**Carbon Disulfide, Q.** What quantity of carbon disulfide should be used for a stack of eight 8-frame supers of combs, and how often should the application be made to-ensure against waxworms?
A. Four tablespoonfuls ought to suffice. One application is sufficient, unless fresh eggs are laid in them again by the beemoth.
**Carload of Bees,-Q.** How many colonies can be shipped in a car? Please give instructions as to how to prepare bees for ship ping, and how to load them in a car. Can the hives be placed on top of each other in the car?
**A. Perhaps 500. The hives must, of course, be fastened beeight, but with plenty of ventilation. The hives must be placed so the frames will run parallel with the track, so the bumping will strike the combs lengthwise and not sidewise. If there are no more than will stand on the bottom of the car--say 90 to 100 hives --the only fastening needed will be strips nailed to the floor, so the hives cannot move in any direction the strips being one or two inches thick. If the hives are piled on top of one another, then they must be strongly fastened by braces running from side to side, or else from top to bottom, perhaps both.**
Carniolans.Q. Describe the color of the Carniolan bee. Some say that this kind of bee has yellow bands, and others say there are none of yellow color, but that they are all gray.
**A. I think you would not recognize any yellow in Carniolans. They have very distinct rings on the abdomen, but these rings are not yellow, but whitish. They look much more like blacks than Italians, but have the credit of being a little larger than blacks.**
**Q. Is the quality of honey of the Carniolans better than of other races of bees? I have been told so, and that they don't gather honeydew as much as the other bees. Is there any truth in the statement?**
**A. The quality of honey gathered from the same source will no doubt be the same, no matter what bees gather it. I don't know whether Carniolans are less inclined than others to gather honeydew. I didn't know it was claimed for them.**
**Q. I have some Carniolan bees in 8-frame hives. If I had them in a larger hive would they swarm less? Can I get surplus honey in bigger hives, that is, if I have bigger brood-chamber? I like the Carniolan bees; they stand the severest winter and breed up faster in the spring. They gave me a nice surplus of honey early in the season, two supers to each colony. I sold the honey and got a good price for it. I have some colonies that will give four supers, and this is not the best honey year for Illinois, either.**
**A. Yes; a large hive will reduce the probability of swarming, since a crowded condition of the brood-nest is one of the chief factors in producing the swarming fever. Neither will a larger hive take away your chances for getting surplus. Formerly I used 10-frame hives, and changed to 8-frame hives chiefly because it was the fashion. If I were to start in afresh I would study some time before I would decide to adopt the smaller hive. Withthe larger hive I got fine crops of beautiful sections, and you can do the same.
Carniolan bees swarm very readily.
**Catelaw.-Q.** From what section is catclaw honey obtained? Is its honey of good flavor?
A. The catclaw, though found in most southern states, is a honey producer especially in Texas. The blossoms come out in late spring, the tree being low, bushy and spiny. The honey is only fair in flavor as compared to the whiter honeys like alfalfa.
**Catinp.-Q.** Is catnip honey fit for table use? It seems to taste very strong. (Iowa.)
A. Catnip honey has the reputation of being fine for table use. Unless you have catnip in great abundance, and little or nothing else yielding at the same time, you can hardly be sure that you have pure catnip honey; and it is possible that the very strong taste comes from some other honey being mixed with the catnip.
Q. Will catnip sown now, or in the spring, afford bee-pasture next season?
A. Catnip is a perennial, continuing permanently when once started. I think you cannot count on bloom the first season, but it will increase in size and strength after the second year. It seems to have a partiality for hedge-rows, but that may be because of the protection, for it grows well in the full blaze of the sun.
**Caucasians.-Q.** What color is the Caucasian bee, if the stock is pure?
A. About the same color as the common black bee.
Q. What are the physical features that distinguish the Caucasian bees from the Carniolans?
A. The main difference in appearance is that the whitish ring is not so distinct in Caucasians as in Carniolans. Carniolans look enough like blacks to make it hard to distinguish them, and Caucasians look still more like blacks. The rings on the abdomen of Carniolans are whitish; on Caucasians grayish.
Q. Are the Caucasian bees as gentle and as good honeygatherers as the Italians?
A. The Caucasians were heralded as the most gentle of bees. No doubt some of them are, but others are reported as being no gentler than Italians. Not as much has been said about their gathering ability as their gentleness, and it is hard to say just yet what their status will be in that particular. They are still more or less on trial.
Q. I have 20 colonies of bees that I want to breed up to Italians or Caucasians. Which would you advise me to breed them up to?
A. Opinions differ; but Italians are so generally preferred that you will be safe in adopting them.
**Cedar.--Q.** My bees gathered pollen today (March 4), from red cedar,and as I have failed to find cedars referred to as a source of honey or pollen, it struck me as something rather unusual. Is that a common occurrence?
A. It is quite likely that it is nothing unusual, even though no mention may have been made of it. It is only the plants from which unusual quantities of either honey or pollen are obtained that are generally mentioned as honey-plants.
**Cellars for Bees.--Q.** I wish to build a bee-cellar to hold 200 colonies. I intend to build it in a side hill and have it entirely under-ground, and cover it with a roof, then 3 feet of earth, then a roof over this to keep the earth dry. How large would you build it?
A. Ten cubic feet for each colony is not far out of the way.
Q. Would you make any special arrangements for ventilation? If so, how would you arrange the ventilators? The sides and ends will be built of stone and mortar.
A. It might be a good plan for you to have a ventilator, because it is easy to provide one when building, and not so easy afterward, and if you find you are better off without it you need not use it. T. F. Bingham had a repository not so entirely underground, and he believed in a ventilator 16 inches square. A plain board pipe from near the ground up will answer.
(). My cellar floor is concrete and is always damp. I am thinking of covering it with four inches of dry sawdust. What do you think about it? I wintered 106 colonies in this cellar without a loss in 1914, but the covers and bottoms were very damp in the spring. I gave the bees all the ventilation possible, according to the weather, and the temperature stood at about 43 degrees on top and 42 degrees below.
A. I'm afraid the sawdust will not do a great deal of good. Possibly it might if you should sweep it up and dry it out as fast as it got wet. Lime might do more good.
Q. My cellar (28x30 feet) has a hot water boiler in it. The temperature varies from 48 to 32 degrees. Do you think I can winter a dozen colonies of bees in it successfully?* [41] A. It ought to be a capital place. Without letting light into the cellar you should keep it open enough to have the air always fresh, not cooling it below 45 degrees. Q. Will a cellar containing vegetables, potatoes, etc., be a good place to winter bees? Would the odor from the vegetables hurt the bees? A. That depends. If, like too many cellars, with a lot of decayed vegetables and the air foul and moldy, the bees will not do well. If the cellar is kept as clean as it should be for civilized beings to live over, the bees will not object to the odor of the vegetables. Q. Is there any way to keep a cellar dry enough for bees when the thermometer is only 38 degrees, Fahr.? I lost all my bees the last three winters. I think it must be because of the dampness and the cold. What can I do to keep it warm and dry? We have had bees for the last twenty years, and have been successful until the spring of 1908, when we lost all. A. Putting lime in the cellar will help to keep it dry. But at 38 degrees, the cold may be more to blame than the dampness. For years, before there was a furnace in my cellar. I kept a small
Figure 10: A bec-cellar conveniently located to the apiary. The upper part is used as a honey and super storage room.
stove in it, and kept a low fire in it whenever necessary to keep the temperature up to 45 degrees. It seems a little strange, that after 17 years of success you should have a failure three years in succession. Like enough the tide will now turn, and you will again have good success. In my earlier years of bekeeping, I had experience as bad as yours, but by sticking to it I've made quite a lot of money from the bees since. Q. If bees are put into a cellar under the kitchen, would the noises incident to the kitchen-work-running a washer, bringing in wood, constant walking, etc.-be a detriment to the bees, provided the hives were not jarred by any of these various operations? A. I cannot speak with entire positiveness; but I have never noted any bad results from noises overhead (although I never had anything very bad in that line), and never heard of it from others, so I don't believe you need take into account the matter of noise, but put your bees in the place that gives you the best temperature and ventilation, providing there is any difference. Q. Suppose a cellar is full of bees. Is it good or bad for the health of those who live in the rooms above the bees? A. That depends on the beekeeper. If hc's a poor bekeeper he will likely have a cellar with foul air and dead bees,and his cellar will be bad to live over. If the beekeeper is all right, the cellar will be kept clean, with pure air. The air in my cellar is as good as, or better than, the air in the living-rooms, for the cellar door is more or less open nearly all the time.
**Collaring Bees,-Q.** Will you give me some light on how to carry bces into the cellar without the bees flying out and stinging? For years it has been a mystery to me how to carry bees in, and sometimes out, without closing the entrances. Is there a difference in bees, handling, location, or what? I am curious to know. A. I will tell you just as nearly as I can just how my bees were carried into the cellar last year. They were carried in, November 25, in the morning. The cellar had been wide open the night before. Although that does not make much difference at carrying in as it does at carrying out, still it is better to have the cellar cell, so the bees will settle down quietly when brought in. The average distance of the hives from the cellar door was about ten and one-half rods. Then they were carried a rod or so further to their place in the inner room. Two able-bodied men took about two hours to carry in the 93 colonies. One of them was ex perienced at the business; I think the other had never carried bees before. Each man picked up his hive, carried it in his arms into the cellar and set it in its place. You may judge of the quietness of the bees when I tell you that no sort of protection was used in the way of gloves, veils or smoke, and the entrances were left wide open. There was one exception; I had failed to staple on the bottom-board of one hive, and when the bottom dropped off I had to use smoke to fasten it on. But I must hasten to add that last year was exceptional. I think they were never carried before without veil or gloves, for at least a few colonies would pivore troublesome. I don't know what made the difference. Perhaps the bees were in an unusually dormant condition.
I am unable to say why your bees should act so differently. Some bees are more irritable than others; but I doubt if your bees are worse than mine in that respect. Perhaps one secret is in having the bees undisturbed for a long time before they are carried, and then being set down so quickly that they do not have time to get fully waked up. When they are in the most quiet condition it takes two or three minutes to get them thoroughly aroused, and in that time they are in place in the cellar. If they are stirred up ever so little, they are easily stirred up a few minutes later.
**Cellar Wintering (See Wintering.)**
**Cells, Kinds of.-Q.** Describe and tell how to know a queen or drone-cell from a worker-cell.
A. Lay a rule on the cells. If they measure five to the inch, they are worker-cells; if four to the inch, they are drone-cells; if larger and shaped like an acorn cup, they are queen-cells.
**Cell-Protectors.-Q.** How are those little cone-shaped wire queen-cell protectors used? I have a number of them, but did not use them because I could not make them cover the cell as I thought they ought.
A. The protector must be large enough to cover the whole of the cell after all superfluous wax has been trimmed from the cell. The point of the cell is put in the hole of the protector, and the four points of the wire-cloth twisted together. A slender wire has one end fastened to the protector and the other end of the wire is fastened to the middle of a nail. Two frames are pulled apart, the cell is let down between them, so that the cell will be at the middle of the frames, and the nail across the
### 4Dr. Miller's
t-p-bars prevents the cell from falling down. Generally, however, there is no need of the nail, for the frames come near enough together to hold the cell; the wire serving to hold the cell in place till the frames are shoved together.
**Cement for Hives.--Q**. Do you think it would be all right to make supers out of cement? Would it agree with the bees? I can make them much cheaper than with lumber. (Arizona.)
A. My guess would be that cement supers would be quite objectionable on account of their weight. It is also possible that with 115 degrees in the shade they might be too hot.
Q. How about concrete for hive-bottoms? I am setting some of my bees on blocks I make for them right on the cool ground. Can they be used for winter?
A. They will probably work all right for either summer or winter. Of course, it would seem as if concrete would give the bees "cold feet" in winter; but then, they don't need to put their feet on the concrete.
**Chaff Hives.--Q**. I wish to work up to about 20 or 25 colonies of bees and have no bee-cellar to winter them in. I think of using nothing but chaff hives. Would you advise me to depend entirely on such hives?
**A. I hardly dare advise. Chaff hives will make you less trouble preparing for winter, but they are cumbersome and unwieldy, and if they should perchance at any time pass into the possession of someone having a cellar or wanting to take them to an out-apiary, they would be objectionable. So it would not be a bad plan for you to experiment a little trying both kinds, only be sure to have only one size of frames. In northern latitudes the chaff hive is counted valuable.**
**Chestnut.--Q**. How would chestnut lumber do for beehives?
**A. From my recollection of it in boyhood, I should call it bad.**
**Chickens Eating Bees.--Q**. Is it a common thing for chickens to eat bees? We had one that would stand in front of a beehive and eat bees until it was full. I thought it would die, but it kept it up for two weeks, and was doing well.
**A. Testimony is somewhat mixed on this subject. For the most part it is claimed that chickens do not eat bees, or if they do, it is only the drones. Some, however, say that chickens eat workers, especially some chickens that have learned the trick.**
**Chunk Honey (See Bulk-Comb Honey.)**
**Cleome.--Q**. What about artificial pasturage for bees? Is
* 40 DR. MILLER'S out of the ground; but oftener it is sown about the last plowing of corn, and not expected to bloom till the next year.
Q. Which is the better for bees, crimson or alsike clover?