BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
A If there was any law about the matter the great probability is that the law would insist on the carrying out of any contract made in the premises. So the whole thing depends upon the agreement that was made, and to make sure about it the agreement should have been in writing. If there was an agreement that you should receive back a certain number of colonies at a specified time, then the agreement should be carried out, even if the man to whom the bees were let should have to buy bees to make out the number. As to disposal of the increase, a common custom is to divide equally, but that custom is hardly law. You let the man have 28 colonies, and you say "he left me only 28 with half of the increase, and the increase was 8 swarms." If you mean by that that you got back the original number, 28, and half of the 8 swarms, or 32 in all, it would seem right. As to the condition of the bees in the fall with respect to stores, that depends upon agreement; you would get the bees back in the fall without any feeding, if the season was so poor that they needed feeding in the fall. But if they had plenty of stores for winter in the brood-chamber before turning over the bees to you, then I should say he was not trying to play fair. In a matter of this kind, if there is no written agreement, the fair thing to both parties is the fair thing to do. If you have bees and I take care of them, I furnish the time and perhaps the location, and you furnish the bees. If there is no honey, I have lost my time, and you will have to lose your bees unless you furnish me with honey to feed them, in which case I would feel compelled to do the work. But if there is a crop and I make some money, you are entitled to a part of the profit. The custom is for the man who furnishes the bees to furnish material, hives, sections, etc., and the crop and swarms are divided equally. This is a fair division between labor and capital.
**Requening.-Q**. Do you think I need to requeen the colonies this fall that I requenced last summer? If they are good this spring will they be good next spring?
A. No need to requeen if the queens are good.
\(Q\). If I introduce an Italian queen into a colony of black bees, will her offspring be pure?
**A** When a new fertilized queen is introduced, all the bees in the hive will be of the new stock just as soon as the offspring of the old queen have died off, and in the busy season that will be in about two months, or a little more. If the new queen is pure Italian and purely mated, then all the new workers will be Italians.
\(Q\). To requeen all or part of an apiary with ripe cells from a breeder, I thought of dequeening about August 1 and introducing ripe cells. The bees hatched from eggs laid by the old queen from August 1 to 14 (when the new queen would begin to lay) would not, I think, aid materially in the harvest, which is about July 10 or 15 to August 25 or September 1. How would this work? How are cells to requeen with?
A. It ought to work all right. Requeening with cells is all right, only, of course, there will be less break in the rearing if laying quecns are given.
Q. I have lately bought 16 colonies of black bees. They went into the cellar on December 12, strong in bees and plenty of good, sealed stores. They are in fine condition, but as the hives are of all sizes and shapes, good for nothing but kindling wood, I shall transfer to my dovetailed hives. Do you think it would pay me to requeen them with good Italian stock early in the season?
A. Requeening early in the season is sure to interfere, at least a little, with the building up of a colony, with the possibility of interfering a great deal in case there is some hitch in introducing. If you are requeening for the sake of having better stock to breed from, it may pay to do so early, even it it interferes greatly with the honey crop. But in your case you hardly want to interfere with the crop this season. So, perhaps you will do just as well to leave the old queens until after swarming, at least, if not until near the close of harvest, unless your queens are poor, when it would be best to requeen at once.
Q. In one of my colonies I have a very prolific queen which I desire to breed from and requeen five other colonies. Later I wish to divide into two or three-frame nuclei and rear queens from this stock. Please advise the best method for me to pursue.
A. It's a bit hard to know just how to advise, there are so many ways of doing and so much depends upon circumstances, previous experience, and perhaps other things. In spite of the fact that I don't like advertising, I will say that I think that you would get information enough on that one topic alone to make the purchase of "Fifty Years Among the Bees" a profitable investment. But I'll give you one way that ought to be successful, even if you have but little experience. Strengthen the colony with your choice queen by giving it brood with adhering bees from other colonies, so it will be the first to swarm. Call it A, and name the other colonies in the order of their strength, B, C, D, E, F. When A swarms, set the swarm on the stand of A, and A on the stand of B, and put B in a new place. A weck later you can cut out the queen-cells and give them to C, D, E and F, having dequeened these a day previous. If, however, you want to operate in an easier way, after you have put A in place of B, it will be strengthened by receiving all the field bees of B as they return from the field. Then it will be practically certain to swarm when the first virgin emerges, and you can leave the swarm on the same stand from which it issued, and set A in place of C. Repeat the same thing each time A swarms, setting it successively in place of D, E, and F.
Q. I am thinking of trying the following plan this season: I will find and destroy the old, inferior queen, and introduce a sealed cell (in a cell-protector) at the same time I remove the old queen. Can this be done safely? Or had I better wait about placing the cell until two or three days after removing the old queen?
A. Very likely your plan will succeed. Waiting two or three days would make the bees more willing to accept a cell, but in a West cell-protector the cell ought to be safe anyhow. The cell ought to be well advanced; then if it does not hatch out all right, it will pay to have on hand other cells so that you can destroy all "wild" cells (those that the bees start on their own brood), and give another cell of good stock.
**Rheumatism.-Q**. I have read that some people were cured of rheumatism by the stings of bees. I have a customer who is very fond of honey, and as she has the rheumatism badly, and is under the doctor's care, she is advised against eating honey. She was also at a Michigan bathing sanitarium and not allowed to eat honey there.
A. The fact that some people are cured of rheumatism by means of stings does not necessarily prove that eating honey is good for rheumatism. Honey and bee-poison are two very different things. Yet I have never understood that the use of honey was contra-indicated in rheumatic cases. It is possible that in the case in question some particular condition makes it advisable to deny the use of all sweets; but it is safe to say that if they are at all allowed it will be better to use honey than sugar. That able authority, Dr. Kellogg, at the head of one of the most noted sanitariums in the world, endorses the use of honey as being more readily assimilable than sugar.
**Rietsche Press.-Q**. Do you know anything about the Rietsche press for making foundation?
A. Thousands of Rietsche presses are in use in Europe, one reason being that so much of the foundation on the market there is adulterated. In this country there is no trouble about buying pure foundation, and although a few years ago a number had machines to make foundation, nearly all buy now.
Q. Would it pay to have a Rietsche press for 100 colonies (I use shallow extracting-frames and sections on each colony), or would it pay to sell the wax and buy foundation?
A I doubt that you could easily make foundation with a Rietsche press that would be satisfactory for section honey. For brood-frames you can make foundation with it that might be satisfactory. Whether it would be advisable to make or buy depends upon circumstances.
**Robbing.-Q.** What is a good sign of bees being robbed?
A. When you see unusual activity at the entrance, especially if the colony is weak, catch one of the bees that comes out with considerable bustle, kill it and see if it has honey in its sac. If it goes out with a full sac, you may count there's robbing. In a large number of the cases of robbing that occur in the spring, it is because the colonies are queenless and practically worthless, and the best thing in such case is to let the robbers carry out all the honey without disturbing them. About the worst thing is to take the hive away, for then the robbers will pitch into the adjoining hives. If you take the hive away, put in its place another hive just like it, with a comb or combs having just a little honey in them, letting the robbers clean out the little honey without disturbing the neighboring colonies.
Q. If bees begin robbing a hive, can it be stopped, and how?
A. If bees have a good start at robbing a weak colony, it is a hard matter to stop them. Perhaps the best thing is to take away the colony, putting it down cellar for two or three days, and put in place of the hive another hive like it, containing some comb and a little honey. (If you leave nothing for them to work at, they will attack one or more of the nearest colonies.) When they have cleaned out the little honey, and satisfied themselves there is no more to be had, they will quietly give it up. Then, after two or three days, return the colony to its place, closing the entrance to a very small space, perhaps allowing passage for only one or two bees at a time, and it may be that the robbers will not make another start, especially if a good queen is present. But if the colony is queenless, the case is hopeless. Sometimes robbing has commenced at a fairly strong colony with a good queen. The first thing is to limit the entrance. Perhaps painting carbonic acid about the entrance will answer. A pretty good way is to pile hay o? grass in front of the entrance and keep it well wet with water.
**Generally robbing** is owing to some carelessness on the part of the beekeeper, and prevention is better than cure.
Q. (a) Last summer I cut a bee-tree and secured a fine swarm of Italians, with a fine-looking queen. I put it in an 8-frame hive, and in a few weeks examined it, and it had six frames of capped brood, and the other two frames very nearly full. In a few days I noticed the bees dragging out their young, and every morning the ground would be covered with young bees not large enough to fly. I opened the hive and found they were tearing the combs to pieces and had nearly all the brood out of the combs. The queen was still in the hive and seemed to be in good condition. In a few weeks more I opened the hive again, and found only a handful of bees--queen and bees had disappeared. They were within a few feet of the kitchen door, and I do not think they could have left without some of us hearing them. Can you tell me what was the matter?
(b) Do you think it will be safe for me to use these frames of comb in another colony this spring?
A. (a) I don't know. The only way I can account for the combs being torn is that robbers did it. They might also drag out the young bees, leaving the queen, at least for a time. Yet it seems very strange that a colony strong enough to have six brood-combs should have been overcome by robbers. Perhaps they were starving.
(b) If my guess is right that the combs were torn up by robbers, then it will be safe to use them again.
Q. I have read in the bee journals about bees that seemed determined to rob, and if any of them are that way probably I have some of that stock. I would be glad if you can tell me where I can get a stock that is not inclined to rob.
A. It is possible that there may be a strain of bees naturally given to robbing; yet you will find that all bees are inclined that way when opportunity offers at a time when nothing is to be had in the field. Please understand that bees have no morals, and when they can't get honey from the fields it seems entirely honest to get it from some other hive if they can, and you will probably find that the better they are at gathering from the field the better they are at robbing if they turn in that direction. When robbing occurs, it is not generally because the bees are such bad robbers, but because the beekeeper has done some fool thing to expose a weak colony and start robbing. Keep colonies always strong and avoid the start. Bees that have once engaged in robbing are the more inclined to begin another time, but it is not true to say of them, "Once a robber always a robber."
Q. This last summer, after the honey-flow was over, I noticed a lot of robber bees prowling around, and every now and then one would manage to slip past the guards and steal a load of honey. Finally they overpowered one and came very near robbing it before I got them stopped, and I got them perfectly quiet at one time and contracted the entrances to all the colonies. In a few days there came a little rain, and after it cleared up they started to prowling around again, and kept it up until cold weather, but they were worse after a rain or damp spell than at any other time. Is that their natural way of doing, or should they keep quiet during a dearth of honey, and would it have resulted in a general case of robbing if I hadn't contracted the entrance?
A. It is a common thing for bees to prowl about and try all cervices of hives at any time when gathering has stopped, and after a rain, and it is quite possible that your narrowing the entrances may have prevented a bad case of robbing.
**Rocky Mountain Bee Plant.-Q.** Please give a description of cleome. If planted in the spring, will it flower during the summer? What soil is best for it? Is it an annual? What time in the year should it be planted?
A. Cleome integrifolia, or Rocky Mountain beoplant, grows wild in some parts of the West in large quantities, and is an excellent honey-plant. Some years ago it had quite a boom, and seed was planted largely. But it is doubtful that anyone who sowed seed ever got back the cost of the seed. A. I. Root found it inferior to its near relative, the spider plant, although neither was worth cultivating. It is doubtful that it is worth while for you to try it if it does not grow wild with you. It should be sown in spring; is an annual, so blooms the first year. I don't know what soil suits it bcst. I know it does well here in good garden soil; but the acres of it Is saw out West were growing wild on land that looked to me poor.
**Roofing Paper.-1.** Please discuss the advantages and disadvantages of roofing paper, such as "Kuberoid," as a wrapping paper for the winter protection of bees.
A. I don't know enough about "Ruberoid" to discuss it fully, yet if you mean to use it to wrap about the hives in winter, I should think it altogether too heavy, if it is the same material that is used for roofing. It has the advantage of durability, and for covering over the top is no doubt excellent. But its heaviness, and especially its stiffness, would make it unfit to wrap about a hive to be tied on. The lighter tarred building paper is better for that, and less expensive. But I am not speaking from experience, as I winter bees in the cellar, where nothing of the kind is needed,
**Royal Jelly.-Q.** How long will royal jelly, taken from a queen-cell, keep and still be fit to use in grafting cells?
A. Much depends upon the thickness of the jelly and how open it is kept. If very thick, in a warm place, with air stirring so as to encourage evaporation, it might be unfit to use in less than an hour. Not very thick, in a'cool place, with little chance for evaporation, I guess it might keep two or three days.
**Sage.-Q.** Where does the sage honey come from?
A. California. It is one of the principal honey-plants of that state. Sage honey is of very fine flavor and finds ready sale in any market. There are several varieties of sage growing wild in California, all of them yielding more or less honey.
**Salt.-Q.** How is salt fed to bees?
A. It is not often that salt is fed to bees. Some have thought it desirable, because in the spring bees are found where salty moisture is to be obtained. Others think the bees care only for the moisture, and prefer a place not because the water is salty, but because it is warmer than in other places. The easiest way to give salt to bees is to give it in their drinking water
**Sap.-Q.** Is sap fron rock maple good feed for bees? If so, should it be boiled down or fed as it comes from the tree? If boiled down, how far should eight quarts be reduced to make the best feed?
A. Yes, the bees will take it without boiling down. But look out not to feed it on days too cool for bees to fly freely.
**Scent in Bees.-Q.** Do bees have a sense of scent? If so, where is it located?
A. Yes, bees have a sense of smell. Until lately this sense has been believed to be located in the antennae. Now Dr. James A. Nelson locates it in different parts of the body.
**Sealed Covers.-Q.** I am a young bekeeper. I had seven colonies last fall, and put all of them under cover on the south side of a shop. I thought they would be good and strong in the spring, but when I set them out I found only two alive. These were good and strong. I had sealed covers on them, but they looked as if they had been pretty damp. They all had plenty of stores except one. Do you think the dampness killed them? What plan would you suggest for me to take next winter?
A. Likely the dampness had much to do with it. With only a single thickness of board for a covering, it would get quite cold,and the moisture from the bees would condense on it and fall in drops on the bees. To avoid this, have a super or some kind of a rim over the hive, and have this filled with rags, crumpled newspapers, planer shavings, or something of the kind; this filling rcsting on burlap which is directly over the frames. Even with the covers just as you have them, you could pile a lot of packing on top of the covers, and this would help a great deal, for it would make the sides of the hive colder than the cover, and the moisture would settle on the sides instead of the top. It would be a good plan for you to find within ten or twenty miles experienced beekeepers who winter successfully, and find how they winter.
**Sections, Clean.-Q**. How would you keep the section-boxes white and clean? The sections 1 took out were all covered with propolisis, and were a sorry looking sight. How can this be helped?
A. In some supers the sections are protected so that the bees cannot get at much of the wood to soil it, but with the best that can be done they will be able to get at some of the wood, and the bees are sure to crowd glue into the cracks that must be made by covering up, for it is their nature to crowd glue into any crack not big enough for them to crawl through, while a planed surface fully exposed will get very little glue. 1 prefer T-supers which leave bottom and top of the sections entirely exposed, and then they are scraped with a steel cabinet scraper and sand-papered.
**Sections, Granulated Honey in.-Q**. I had a large number of partly filled sections last season, and the honey granulated before I found time to extract it. Can I put these sections into the supers in that condition, or would you advise setting them out for the bees to clean out before using?
A. Don't think of putting them on again unless you can have the honey cleaned out of them thoroughly by the bees, and next time have that done in the fall.
**Sections, Kind to Use.-Q**. As the price of sections is very high, and section lumber very cheap in my neighborhood, do you think it would pay me to buy a machine to make sections?
A. No; there is probably not a man in the country who makes sections only for his own use. A complete outfit of section machinery would cost several thousand dollars, probably.
Q. Do you prefer beeway sections to plain, and why?
A. I prefer beeways because they are more easily handled without danger of thrusting the fingers in them. Although I might never jam my fingers into a plain section, the danger comes when the retail grocer handles them. But even while in the bekeeper's hands, they must be handled with more care, which means more time. A plain section tumbles over more easily than a beeway section. A plainer, cheaper separator goes with the beeway. On the other hand, it takes a smaller case for plain than for beeway sections, although it's easier to lift the beeways out of the case.
Q. In using beeway sections, do you put the beeway at the bottom, or at the side?
A. The beeways are to allow a way for the bees to go up, so they are at the top and bottom of the section.
Q. Is there any advantage in the sections open four sides, or open top and bottom only, or only on bottom? If there is any, what is it?
A. At one time it was claimed that with the four sides open the bees would have more free communication, and would fill out the capping to the wood better. The few that I tried did not seem to have this advantage. A section open top and bottom is absolutely necessary if you tier up. If you never use more than one super at a time the opening at the bottom would be enough.
Q. (a) What style of section would you advise? I had thought of the ideal, 3$x5x1$, plain.
(b) Are not many of the best plain sections ruined for shipping by the bees drawing them a little beyond the wood?
A. (a) After trying more or less the different kinds of sections, I settled down some time ago upon the 2-beeway sections, 4$x4$x1$. I think this is the preference of the great majority of comb-honey producers.
(b) I don't think there is so much objection on that score as there is because the plain require so much more care in handling lest the fingers be thrust into the comb when they are handled. More care must always be taken in setting down a plain section, lest it topple over. During cleaning, the plain section is more likely to be injured. In general it may be said that the projection or the wood in a beeway section is a protection, although it has more of a lean look than the plain.
Q. Which section is better for the 8-frame super, the 4$x4$x1$ or the 4x5x1$ section?
. A. There is little to choose, but most beekeepers would prefer 4$x4$x4$x1$ to either.
. What about two-round sections?
A. They had the field when sections were introduced years ago, but side by side brought 2 cents - round less than the 1-pounds; so that notwithstanding the less labor in their production, they were driven out of the market. It is somewhat doubtful whether they would do any better now.
**Section-Folding.-Q**. How should I manage the sections? Alust they be wet before bending, or bent dry: I see a hand-machine advertised for bending them. Would you advise the use of one, or bend by hand?
A. Sometimes sections can be put together all right without wetting; generally too many of them will break unless the joints are wet. If you have many sections to fold, you will find it better to have some kind of section-press.
**Sections, Short Weight.-Q**. It rather displaces me that my sections of honey (1912), while looking well, averaged in weight only 13 ounces, while about all the others I weighed in this neighborhood weighed at least 14 ounces, and sometimes more. Are there any reasons evident for such discrepancy? In 1912 I had five times more honey than in 1911.
A. You will probably find that in flush years, when honey comes in rapidly, combs will be filled out more plumply than in a slow flow, perhaps because in a slow flow the bees have more time to build wax and seal combs. You will also find that they will fill combs more plumply if crowded for room. Like enough you gave the bees more surplus room than your neighbors did. Taking one year with another, you are probably the gainer by it.
**Sections, Taking Off.-Q**. Do you take off sections as fast as finished, or do you leave all on until the flow is over?
A. Neither. I take off each super as soon as it is finished, or finished all but a little at the outside corners.