106 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



and he reported on one of them, al- 

 though a poor season, that it gave him 

 280 sections. 



I claim that by the use of the non- 

 swarmer, with perfect control of the 

 bees, in which there is not the least 

 desire to swarm, we can get three 

 times as much honey as by the old 

 methods. 



The methods of wintering bees also 

 will be more perfectly understood in 

 the future. 



I have not made public my manu- 

 script on bee culture which I have been 

 compiling for the past 20 years, in 

 which the anatomy of the bee is more 

 correctly defined than at present. I 

 spent six months on the tongue of the 

 bee, and tired my eyes and head day 

 after day with that one little member 

 of the bee; the other members more 

 or less time was giv.en, occupying 

 weeks and months — although less time 

 for each different member than was 

 given the tongue of the bee. The 

 tongue of tfie bee being round, the 

 field of magnification with the micro- 

 scope varies so that it is difficult to 

 obtain an understanding of its work- 

 ings. 



The working out of practical bee 

 culture depends upon knowing the art 

 scientifically "from A to Z." 



The wintering of bees successfully 

 should enable a man to take 100 

 colonies, provided they have a reason- 

 able number of bees to go into winter 

 quarters and sufficient honey and go 

 through the winter without a single 

 loss, unless the queen may die; even 

 with young queens even, I have known 

 under some circumstances a young 

 one may die; the old ones are more 

 apt to. 



I am not as particular as I was in 

 reference to having young queens in 

 my colony at the start of the season 

 to control swarming. I think I can 

 control it with queens two an'd three 

 years old about as well, but the suc- 

 cessful wintering of bees should be 

 such that no colonies will be in danger, 

 although the mercury may run below 

 zero for eleven days in succession, as 

 it did I think a few years ago — in the 

 heart of winter we had, out of the 

 ninety days, 30 zero and below, and in 

 February we had eleven days in suc- 

 cession below zero. This is to be the 

 next thing in bee culture. The bee 

 can carry in its sack enough honey to 



tide over about a week. Take a swarm 

 and put it in the cellar where it can- 

 not fly, a dark place, that colony will 

 survive seven days before starving. 



The uncapping of the cells ^ is im- 

 possible under a low temperature; with 

 a rise in temperature the bees uncap 

 and draw upon it and spread it around 

 where they can get it easily; they also 

 contain a quantity in their saci,:s dur- 

 ing the winter, but let 11 days come in 

 which it is below zero and I v/iU guar- 

 antee that in my colony in box hives 

 none will succumb. The hive ir^ust be 

 so constructed as to get"rid of moisture. 



Let me say, the steel covers that have 

 been advocated are altogether wrong. 



I will state what I use above the 

 frames — I mentioned it to one or two 

 this morning: I use above the frames, 

 which should be clean — a piece of un- 

 bleached muslin, perfectly clean, so that 

 the moisture of the colony can pass 

 through between the bars, and over 

 that a with another piece of 



muslin which forms its bottom of 

 planer shavings. 



You have a slow upward current, in 

 which the moisture passes off. 



To prevent a strong upward current, 

 the entrance is made with a space 2x% 

 inches. Men have said to me — "You 

 will smother your bees." No, I can 

 get more air through a half inch open- 

 ing than the bees can use." And there 

 is no draft to speak of. 



Another thing: The cap must be so 

 as to get rid of moisture.' The caps are 

 made of boards 3 feet wide and 3-8 

 inch spages between them. Those are 

 covered with galvanized iron. Instead 

 of having a wet top and shavings 

 soaked, it is perfectly dry except a lit- 

 tle bit of steam in the center. I will 

 say that I have had colonies come out 

 and you would not see a particle of ex- 

 crement discharge on the hive at all. 



It is the best thing in the world; you 

 get all the old honey in supers, and 

 feed them back on sugar syrup. Feed 

 it late in October. I have not fed my 

 bees yet. Kind Providence has stepped 

 in at the eleventh hour with me for 

 three years; when a man gets old he 

 cannot, do things quite so fast and there 

 is more of it to do and he has to hustle. 



If this syrup is made thick and put 

 in the feeder they can get at it in freez- 

 ing weather. 



In addition to non -swarming and the 

 winter problem and queen mating, must 



