ENTOMOLOGY. 997 



either as regards amount or quality. Stimulative spring feeding iu 

 the latitude of Vermont was positively injurious, bringing about spring 

 dwiiulling, ete. Bees \yill use bits and scraps of wax in comb construc- 

 tion during the honey flow. The Langdou nonswarmer proved a ftiil- 

 ure as far as preventing any desire to swarm. Bees will apparently 

 swarm without drones in the hive, although a large number of drones 

 in a hive may hasten swarming. A trial of 3 samples of comb founda- 

 tion—made by different mills and i)resses— was made, witli the result 

 that samples of the honey made on them could not be distinguished in 

 any way by the committee testing the matter at the Vermont Bee- 

 keepers' Association at its January meeting, 18UG. The results of an 

 ex[)eriment with 2 hives after a new model were not conclusive, although 

 the model has been thus far satisfactory. According to this model 

 hives are made with compartments in front of the brood chamber, 

 each containing 2 wide frames holding 8 lib. boxes. They have a 

 super covering the entire nest, holding 3 1-lb. boxes. They also con- 

 tain 8 Langstrotli frames and 1 division board. A partition between 

 the brood nest and front chamber was made of half-inch lumber with 

 strips of perforated metal to allow the bees to pass through. 



Report of the apiculturist, R. F. Holtermann (Ontario Afjl. Col- 

 lege andExptl. Farm Tipt. 1S95, iip.2Srj-09o^jifjs.4).—The author describes 

 in detail a number of experiments relating to Avintering, feeding, comb 

 foundation, and o-banded Italian bees. 



Relative to wintering, it is said it has been his custom to winter in 

 a cellar, and that the loss sustained from this mode of wintering has 

 averaged between 3 and 4 per cent. From his experiments he con- 

 cludes that it will jiot pay to extract honey from hives with a view to 

 making a profit, and then supply the bees with sirup for wintering. 



Relative to comb foundation, it was found that bees prefer the heavier 

 kinds, and that when supplied with a flat-bottom sort it is changed to 

 natural foundation. 



Notes on tobacco -worms from observations made in 1896, 

 H. Garman {Kentucky ^Sta. Bui. (Ui, pp. d-So, J'ujs. /). — The author 

 discusses experiments performed to determine the relative value of 

 Paris-green solutions ranging from 1 lb. in 40 gal. to 1 lb. in l.")0 gal. 

 of water, with reference to the age of tobacco worms. The experiments 

 were divided into 3 series, and in each 3 small and 3 large worms were 

 employed for each strength of solution used, or 18 worms (not im-lud- 

 iug an equal number of "check" worms) in all, for every strength of 

 the poison. The whole number of worms, including checks, used in the 

 experiments was 252. 



The experiments resulted in confirming a conclusion previously 

 reached, namely, that small worms are killed more readdy than large 

 ones. In the case of the weak solutions the average lengfh of life of 

 the worms after treatment was 4.43 days for tlie snudl worms and 

 12.33 days for the large ones. The time recjuired to kill tiu' worms 

 increased inversely as the strength of the solution. Making a practical 

 659— No. 11 5 



