MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

156 DR. miller'sage of considerable extent of each. In Europe, rape, which belongsto the same family as mustard, is a honey-plant of great importance.It is possible that mustard would be equally importantif it were cultivated to the same extent. As to quality, Root's "A,B, C and X, Y, Z of Bee Culture" says: "The honey from theseplants is said to be very light, equal to any in flavor, and to commandthe highest price in the market.''Nectar.—Q. The bee gathers nectar from the flowers, whichnectar, after undergoing a chemical process in the bee, becomeshoney. Is not nectar dumped into the comb, then evaporated andbecomes honey?A. Xo; if you were to gather nectar and put it in cells itwouldn't be honey, and if the bee were to dump the nectar intothe cells just the same as it gets it from the flowers it wouldn'tbe honey. It must undergo a change in the bee, although thatchange may continue afterward.Noise and Bees.—Q. Would the noise made by moving thebee-yard bother the bees any? Does noise of any kind botherbees?A. Xoises in general do not trouble bees, but jarring will irritatethem.Nucleus.—Q. Please explain the meaning of the word nucleus.A. A nucleus is a baby colony. Just when a nucleus becomeslarge enough to be called a colony is not easy to say. Perhaps Imight say it should be called a colony when it has more thanthree combs covered ^^•ith bees; this in summer-time, In thespring plenty of colonies have only two or three combs coveredwith bees.Q. \\'ould a Danzenbaker hive answer as well as a Langstrothfor a nucleus hive? I use a Danzenbaker altogether. I thoughtI would use three frames in each compartment and cut a holeone-half by two inches in the bottom part of the hive for the middle,as the frames are closed-end frames, and I cannot put theentrance anywhere else. The outer compartments will be thesame as described in "Fifty Years Among the Bees."nucleiA. Yes, if you are using the Danzenbaker hive, use it foralso.Q. Does "baby nucleus" mean simply an ordinary hive with afew frames, or a small hive full of frames?A. The term usually applies to a nucleus in a small hive,with one or two very small frames.Q. If you had some old nuclei you wished to strengthen by