EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 139 



REPORT OF THE APIARIST. 



Prof. C. D. Smith, Director: 



Sir — The following is the report of the work done in the Apiary for 

 the year from November 1, 1897, to November 1, 1898. 



The bees were put into winter quarters November 27, 1897 — twenty- 

 five swarms in all. They were wintered in the cellar, and by constant 

 attention the temperature was kept between 44° and 48° F. The cellar 

 was not the best, and the bees were uneasy part of the time. 



One swarm was killed by the rats, but the most of the remaining 

 twenty-four came through in good condition. A few cases of dysentery 

 were carefully fed, and, although weak, survived. 



The bees were all taken out of the cellar April 11, 1898, and placed on 

 the summer stands with a chaff cushion over the frames for protection. 



One colony, supposed to be innoculated with bee-paralysis from a 

 southern apiary, was carefully watched all the season, and has shown 

 no traces of the disease. (See Board Report for 1897.) It is now as 

 healthy as any colony, and will be put into winter quarters with the 

 rest of the bees. The experiment will be discontinued, as we seem to be 

 unable to produce the disease here at Lansing. It should be experi- 

 mented on in the southern states, where it is at home. 



A course in bee-keeping was given to the Agricultural freshmen in 

 the spring term, and 70 of them took the two weeks course. This cover- 

 ed a few of the principal points in the management of bees. Four 

 colonies in box hives were bought and transferred by the students for 

 the purpose of giving them some practical work along this line. The 

 other work consisted of queen rearing, introducing queens, hiving 

 swarms, etc., as well as handling the different kinds of apparatus con- 

 nected with an apiary including nailing-up different kinds of hives. 



An experiment was made with some of the different kinds of foun- 

 dations. Plain sections were used in this experiment, and thirty sec- 

 tions were filled with each kind of foundation. It was put in 

 the sections in double starters. The sections were arranged through 

 the supers in different ways. Some were alternately arranged and some 

 were in rows. One super was put on a good, strong colony when the 

 honey flow was at its best and in three days it was removed and the 

 results noted. The other supers were left on the hives until the close 

 of the harvest, but owing to the very limited, flow these results were not 

 entirely satisfactory. A foundation that was torn down under this 

 experiment might be the most readily accepted by the bees in a good 

 year. The kinds of foundation were No. 1, Root's XXX or 18 feet to 

 the pound; No. 2, Root's Extra Thin Surplus; No. 3, Dadant's Extra 

 Thin Surplus; No. 4, the "No Wall," made by Dadant. 



