46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



self, each independently of the other, 

 and of Mr. Pratt, have arrived at 

 virtually the same conclusion. Do 

 rot misunderstand me as saying no 

 allusion has ever been made to young 

 bees being of value in queen rearing. 

 AVhat I want to impiess is, that so 

 far as I can learn, and except as not- 

 ed, it has never been said that young 

 bees Avere the chief essential to queen 

 roaring, and tliat without them suc- 

 cess is impossible. Certainly writers 

 have said "have strong cell-building 

 colonies with plenty of young bees," 

 but has one of them known, or, know- 

 ing, said, that without the young bees, 

 failure was certain? That the pres- 

 ence of old bees was a detriment? Not 

 one! 



In the American Bee-Keeper some 

 months ago, I stated that a cupful of 

 bees under right conditions would 

 raise a perfect queen, whereas a bush- 

 el of bees without that condition 

 would fail to produce a queen good 

 for anything. The editor of the Amer- 



KEEP FRESH AIR FROM THE BEES. 



BY IRA BARBER. 



Don't be Alarmed Because the Bees Roar; They 

 Are only Moving Honey. 



lean Bee Journal, not knowing my 

 reasons, took me to task for my claim, 

 but I knew I was right, as is also Mr. 

 Pratt and Mr. Simpson; and any one 

 may prove it if ordinary care is used 

 in the experiments. 



Giving virgin queens to bees is a 

 part of queen rearing that is controll- 

 ed by the same law as governs their 

 earlier development. If the nuclei are 

 composed almost exclusively of young 

 bees, introducing a virgin queen to 

 them is easy. Size of nuclei is gov- 

 erned by climate, but the law of 

 young bees and young bees only, must 

 be observed or results are more than 

 uncertain. 



Now will the scoffer venture to say 

 science is a waste of time to the prac- 

 tical man? Think of the hours, aye 

 weeks, of time he would have saved 

 both in reading and experiments could 

 he have had scientific methods ap- 

 plied to this problem years ago. 



Providence, R. I., Jan. 29, 1908. 



That the time is near at hand when 

 bees in winter quarters l)ecome un- 

 easy unless properly protected from 

 all currents of fresh air from the out- 

 side, is my excuse for again calling 

 attention to this subject. 



AIRING THE CEI.I.AR KILI^S THE MOST 

 ACTIVE BEES. 



For many years, in my early experi- 

 ence in bee-keeping, I practiced airing 

 bees in winter quarters whenever T 

 beard them roaring, or found them 



uneasy. It took me many years to 

 learn why they roared; for I supposed 

 they were suffering for something. By 

 cooling them down with cold air, so 

 they could not get up a buzz, all was 

 quiet luitil a few more became warm 

 enough to feel as though there was 

 something for them to do, wlien there 

 would be another carousal, and doors 

 would have to be thrown opeu again 

 to cool them off. It took me nearly 

 20 years to learn that when I cooled 

 and quiet my bees by opening doors, 



