Speeding Up A colony of bees that is Slow Colonies. apparently normal but .lacking in activity when others are forging ahead is out of balance somewhere. If a failing queen is found to be the cause of the inactivity she should be replaced at once by a young one. Queens are generally readily accepted by such colonies during the honey flow.

constitutes a saving of perhaps a half minute per hive body over doing it by hand. Some persons may not have happened to think of it in this connection. It is also easier. Kenneth Gallant. Ithaca, N. Y.

Conveniences for Sometimes it is a fussy Lighting Smoker. job to light a smoker. To remedy this, procure a tin cylinder some 3 inches long and a trifle smaller than the firebox of the smoker (an old fruit-can with the bottom cut off will answer), also procure an old tin box 5 or 6 inches deep. Roll up the fuel and shove it into the cylinder, crumple a piece of paper and drop it in a corner of box, holding the fuel over the flame until it is well started, then push it out of the cylinder into the firebox of the smoker, when the smoker is ready for business. The metal cylinder prevents the flame from running back on the fuzz and ravelings of fuel. Smoker fuel to burn well should be rolled up rather loosely. When done using the smoker, lay it in the tin box placing the nozzle against the side of box, and it will soon go out. It would be quite a convenience if manufacturers would furnish a cylinder with the smoker. Wm. Findlay. Basco, Ill.

Making In talking to B. F. Kindig last summer he told me of his way Wider. to make the Hoffman frames wider spaced, so that 9 instead of 10 frames fit in the supers. He does this by nailing a short section of the spacing tin, as used on metal-spaced frames on the flat side of each end-bar of the frame. I did this on all the frames of honey for the food chamber. I like Mr. Kindig's idea; I think it quite novel. It gives the bees a little more room to cluster in and be that much more comfortable, I imagine. My frames were placed 10 in a super last summer, so they are not quite as thick as they would have been had the extra spacing tin been nailed on before filling. The coming season I will have the super frames all so spaced (9 to a super) as given to the bees. I feel sure, as Mr. Kindig said, that such combs will be easier to uncap. Chicago, Ill. G. J. Griesenauer.

Swarming Propensity of Apis Indica

The native bee of Ceylon is apis indica, whose habits and temperament are quite different from those of the European varieties of bees in many respects. These little bees of Ceylon are excessive swarmers and appear to be very keen on the matter. They take no heed whatever of the modern methods adopted to control swarming, and even dequeening seems to have no effect on them. Here the swarms generally issue in the end of February at the very outset of the main honey flow.

This season I allowed the first swarm to issue naturally and hived it on the old stand with full sheets of foundation. As the wings of all queens were clipped I put on an entrance guard to each of these new hives, so that they might not be lost in case the bees absconded. A week after hiving these swarms I looked into the hives and, to my great disappointment, I found most of them were queenless. I then took off the entrance guards and there I found the thoraces and heads of the lost queens, the other parts of the queens having been evidently removed by the bees through the perforations of the entrance guards. These bees are a

Disposing of In making manipulations, Cross Bees. a little accident may start several bees "'on the prod" in the most gentle colony. I find it good practice to settle with them at once. They are bound to sting; and when a bee gets that way, she means it; she doesn't mean maybee. The method described in the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture is good. Get a little slat, about two inches wide and a foot long. Make it fan before your face, after withdrawing far enough to give the fighters a chance to quit if they want to quit. If they don't, they will fly right into the fanning stick and then there will be a grateful silence about your ears. I have noticed that a few bees that "get that way" in a certain hive keep it up, day after day. At least from that hive a few angry buzzers will proceed, ready for death or damage, while all others will be gentle. If let go, they will attract others by their angry whining. Get those few and all becomes quiet again. But don't fight them right in the path of the other bees in coming

and going or you may have a lively battle on hand, as others hear the war song. Go aside and settle it there.

Port Dickinson, N. Y. G. Gilbert.

Beekeeping in Western Canada.

During the last ten years, a great progress has been made in the development of beekeeping in the three western provinces of Canada, and especially in Manitoba, which province alone produced during 1923 3,041,712 pounds of honey, and increased from 19,416 colonies spring count to 28,152. The average production in Manitoba per colony was 156 pounds. The importation of pound packages of bees from the United States into the Province of Manitoba during the season of 1923 was over 3000 packages. The importation of pound packages during the season of 1924 will be still greater. In western Canada one will find beekeepers of different nationalities. A great number of these beekeepers are Ukrainians who have established their homes in these prairie provinces. Some of them still manage their bees by the old way which they learned in Europe. Some of them are good practical beekeepers and have accepted the new methods. Some of them are using both methods. In the summer they use Lang stroth hives, and in the winter Ukrainian hives. In these Ukrainian double-walled hives the bees winter a great deal better than in single-walled hives. The merit of this hive is that it is dry and keeps a constant temperature during the winter. Winnipeg, Man. Nicholas Pankiw.

Hiving a Swarm with an Already Established

Colony.

Question. Is it possible to hive a new swarm having a queen in a hive containing a colony which was recently transferred and divided? David H. Schmoyer.

Pennsylvania.

Answer.-Under some conditions a swarm can be hived in with an already established colony without the bees fighting, but it is not always safe to depend upon this, for under other conditions the bees kill each other in great numbers. A safer way to unite a swarm with another colony is to hive the swarm in the usual way in an empty hive placed close beside the colony with which it is to be united. Later the two colonies can be united without fighting by the newspaper plan. Simply take the cover off from one hive and spread over the tops of the frames a sheet of newspaper having a few pin holes punched in it, then set the other hive (without bottom) on top so that the two colonies will unite after gnawing away the paper.

Introducing Queens at the Entrance. Question. I have been introducing queens by taking out the perforated tin and inserting a stick, then pushing the cage into the entrance with the wire side up. Is this method new? If not, does it meet with the approval of larger beekeepers? C. L. Justi.

Question.-Are Italian queens ever dark in color or are these dark queens hybrids? Wyoming. W. F. Hamilton.

Answer. The color of Italian queens may vary considerably. The yellowest queens are those which are reared during warm weather and under the most favorable conditions, while queens reared during cold weather or under unfavorable conditions may be much darker, even though from the same mother.

When Young Queens Begin to Lay. Question. How long is it best to wait for a virgin queen to commence laying? I had one this spring that remained in the hive a month and did not lay, so I finally killed her.

but during a spell of bad weather mating may be delayed so that the young queens do not begin to lay for three weeks or more after birth. As a rule queens that do not lay at the age of 20 days should be destroyed, provided the weather conditions have been right for mating and drones are plentiful. However, queens reared very late in the fall may not begin to lay to any extent until the next spring.

Several Virgin Queens in Hive at One Time.

Question. I found several virgin queens in one of my hives. Why should these virgin queens live peacefully together in the same brood nest when their appearance and activity indicated that they were several hours old? Connecticut. A. H. Barber.

Answer. Virgin queens do not attack and kill each other immediately upon emerging, but will sometimes remain without fighting for several hours after emerging. Usually after the first of the young queens has emerged the bees apparently hold the others prisoners within their cells or in some way prevent them from emerging, unless further swarming has been given up. It is possible that all but one of these seven virgin queens had been held prisoners in their cells until the hive was opened which disturbance caused the bees to cease their guard, thus permitting the other young queens to emerge which they will do immediately under these circumstances. These queens that have been waiting for an opportunity to emerge have the appearance of being several hours old when they crawl out of the cells.

Disinfecting Extracting Equipment. Question. What is the best way to disinfect the extractor, uncapping-can, wax-press and honey-tank that have been used in extracting honey contaminated with American foul brood? W. C. Phelps. Wyoming.

Answer. The most important thing in cleaning these utensils is to wash them thoroughly to be sure that every particle of honey has been removed. This can best be done by using hot water. It is not necessary to use chemical disinfectants or to sterilize these utensils by heating; for if they are washed absolutely clean of honey and the water used in washing them is disposed of where the bees can not get at it, the utensils should be rendered safe for further use. Where an extractor has been used in extracting brood combs containing American foul brood preparatory to disinfecting them with the Hutzelman solution, the extractor will be disinfected when the so

lution is extracted from the combs after they have been in the solution 48 hours, but, of course, should be thoroughly washed afterwards.

Effect of Age of Queen Upon Swarming. Question. Is a queen more liable to swarm in her second year than in the first year of her life? A. K. Reed.

Missouri.

Answer. As a rule, colonies having queens in their second year are more liable to swarm than those having queens in their first year. However, the condition of the colony has more to do with bringing on swarming than does the age of the queen. A young queen reared in this hive this season after beginning to lay almost never swarms during the first season, but a young queen introduced into a colony after the old queen has been killed may swarm within a few weeks after being introduced. The difference in these cases is explained by the difference in the condition of the colony. If the old queen is killed, the colony left queenless for ten days, all queen-cells destroyed before any can mature and a young queen introduced after an interval of ten days or more of queenlessness, the colony so treated almost never attempts again to swarm during the same season. The interval of queenlessness brings about a condition under which the bees are satisfied to go through the season without swarming. In the case of old queens that are beginning to fail, colonies may build queen-cells to supersede the old queen, then take a notion to swarm if this supersedure takes place during the swarming season. This explains some of the greater tendency to swarm with colonies having old queens. Again, it has been conclusively demonstrated that it is often more difficult to prevent swarming in colonies of medium strength than in booming strong colonies. It follows, therefore, that colonies having young and vigorous queens which become abundantly strong early in the season are easier to carry through the season without swarming than colonies having less vigorous queens which reach only medium strength during the building-up period in the spring. Such colonies often crowd the brood-chamber with honey, thus bringing about a congestion within the brood-nest which brings on swarming.

Making Increase at Close of Honey Flow. Question. Our honey flow is over the latter part of June or the first of July. Could I make increase profitably at that time! Tennessee.

John W. Taylor.

Answer.-Yes. If you have no fall honey flow and desire to make increase, at the close of the honey flow is a good time to do it. Colonies are usually abundantly strong at this time and the workers that are present in July are

neither useful as honey-gatherers nor for winter bees. This particular generation of bees is therefore of no use to the beekeeper except to tide the colony over mid-summer and rear young bees for the winter cluster. There are enough bees in any strong colony at this time to make two or three good colonies. It must be remembered, however, that in locations where there is no fall honey flow, a large amount of honey must be left with each division. It is not possible to make increase entirely without cost even when made of bees that are not necessary to the existence of the colony, for the winter and spring stores for two colonies must Where be provided instead of for one. there is a fall honey flow each division may secure enough honey for winter and spring use, but unless a fall honey flow be depended upon, each division should be left with from 40 to 50 pounds of honey.

can

Long-tongued Bees for Red Clover.

Question. Are there not what are called long-tongued Italian bees especially bred for working on red clover? We have a lot of red clover growing here. F. Conzelman. Illinois.

Answer.-There is a difference in the length of the tongue of different strains of Italian bees and no doubt the longer. tongued strain are able to secure more nectar from red clover than those having shorter tongues. Some seasons almost any good strain of Italian bees gather considerable from red clover, possibly because of shorter tubes in the clover blossoms or because of more abundant nectar secretion making the nectar stand higher in the tubes which would permit the bees to reach a portion of it.

Queen Crowded by Honey.

Question. I notice that my bees fill up the brood-chamber very soon in the season with honey and the queen does not have enough Later, say in August, I notice that the colonies are not as strog as they should be. Is this condition the fault of the queen? South Dakota. W. S. Chapman.

room.