274 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



sufficient. The articles of the Encyclo- 

 pedia Britannica will do the readers 

 who will merely want to know how it 

 is. without going- into a thorough study 

 of the subject. 



On Doolittle's assertion concerning 

 the influence of drones, see Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Review, Jan. 1902, page 20. 



On second mating of queens, and 

 laying in queen cells, see American 

 Bee Journal, March 17, 1904, page 199; 

 and Gleanings, April 15, 1904, pg. 144. 



Concerning the queen larvae fed 

 worker food when transferred in 

 worker cells, see American Bee 

 Journal, Jan. 28, 1904, page 54. 



As to the mason bees putting feed 

 and eggs in a nest without bottom, see 

 Lubbock's Senses and Instincts of 

 Insects, chapter 12. The whole book 

 is very interesting and should be read 

 by every bee-keeper. 



Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 10, 1905. 



?p IFe^^er Bees amd Oive Tliesm 

 Better Careo 



H. A. SMITH. 



ra'UCCESS in any pursuit almost in- 

 ^ variably follows close attention to 

 details In ro business does this bet- 

 ter apply than in that of bee-keeping. 

 We are often surprised when reading 

 articles from large honey producers, 

 to see how great a stress they lay upon 

 attention to work in the u^piary v/hich 

 would seem, to the novice, to be of 

 minor importance. The fact of the 

 matter is, however, the man who is 

 particular in small things accomplishes 

 great things. 



For an example, some springs we 

 find a great many queenless colonies, 

 and nine times ou.t of ten, the queens 

 of those colonies were over two years 

 old. Some winters seem harder on 

 aged queens than do other winters, 

 and, as the loss of a single queen 

 means the loss of a whole colony, 

 surely it does not pay to take any risk; 

 but let us attend to the detail of re- 

 newing old queens. Perhaps very few 

 of us realize what we really do lose 

 when we lose a colony of bees. Let us 

 keep track of the income of a certain 

 colony, and its increase, for five years, 

 and we will then realize the impor- 



tance of attending to details, and, if 

 possible, saving every individual 

 colony. 



There are other small details, 

 which, if neglected, or attended to, 

 mean the losing or saving of dollars. 

 A few blades of grass do not am.)unt to 

 much, but when growing in front of an 

 entrance are a great hindrance and 

 loss of time to the little workers. 

 Just watch the bees for a few minutes, 

 scrambling through the grass, with 

 their heavy loads, and if you have any 

 heart you will attend to the detail of 

 pulling a few blades of grass. You 

 will have to have your eye open for de- 

 tails, however, or you won't notice the 

 grass. 



A few square inches of drone comb 

 in each frame do not seem to be doing 

 much harm, but if we could find out 

 how much honey it requires to bring 

 those few thousand drones to maturity, 

 besides what they eat afterwards, we 

 would likely attend to the detail of 

 substituting worker for drone comb. 



The addition or lack of js of an inch 

 in the size of a frame or hive may not 

 sound ver}' big, but you will likely say 



