196 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



A New Home is what the Review will 

 probably have before the summer is gone. 

 I owned four lots, but the house was an 

 old one greatly in need of repairs. The 

 establishing of so many factories here of 

 late has caused a boom in real estate, and 

 I decided that I better put the extra lots 

 and the old house into a new house with 

 less land, but nearer the center of the 

 city; so I have sold the old home (but 

 not without many pangs of regret ) , have 

 bought a lot further down town, and am 

 building a new home. I have been com- 

 pelled to give up a trip that I expected to 

 make to Canada this siimmer, because 

 there is scarcely a day that I am not 

 needed to decide some question regarding 

 the work that is going on at the new 

 house. 



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WORKERS LAVING EGGS AT WILL. 



There has been much discussion as to 

 whether worker bees could lay eggs at 

 will, or whether they were enabled to 

 perform this act from the kind or quantity 

 of food furnished them while in the larval 

 state. To aid in the solution of this 

 problem. Mr. Arthur C. Miller of Rhode 

 Island, made the following experiment: 

 He formed a nucleus of bees sufficient to 

 cover four L, combs. Three of these 

 combs were dry, empty combs, while the 

 fourth contained honey and pollen alone. 

 This was done on the 5th of May. On 

 the 1 2th the first eggs appeared; on the 

 15th they were abundant; three days 

 later they had all of the symptoms of a 

 colony badly afflicted with laying-work- 

 ers. Unless some of the bees from which 

 the nucleus was stocked had been reared 

 in a colony where queens were being 

 reared, it would seem that this experi- 

 ment proved that workers would lay 

 eggs at will. 



MOVING BEES IN WINTER. 



There is a general belief that it is det- 

 rimental to move bees in winter — or to 

 disturb them in any way. Perhaps it is 

 in some instances — much depending upon 



the character of the food. On this point 

 I wish to quote a little from a private let- 

 ter recently received from my friend 

 Herbert Clute of Wisconsin. He writes: 

 "We bought 75 colonies and moved them 

 70 miles on a sleigh right in the dead of 

 winter. We were snowed in two days 

 and had to shovel like good fellows; and 

 then put on four horses to haul the load 

 of bees. We passed through drifts five or 

 six feet deep. We put the bees in the 

 cellar with the others, and, in March, we 

 began feeding honey and sugar mixed— 

 one-fourth honey and three-fourths sugar. 

 In April the bees were set out, and there 

 were lots of brood and plenty of young 

 bees. We did not lose a single colony. 

 Boxes are on and bees began swarming 

 two weeks ago (May 20)." 



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ADVANTAGES OF A SYSTEM. 



Of the many good articles that I have 

 laid before the readers of the Review, I 

 believe there has been none in which I 

 have felt more pride and satisfaction, 

 none that I have felt was more practical 

 and really helpful, than the opening 

 article for this month. Its author, Mr. 

 N. E. France, is, withal, a modest man, 

 but he is a good business man. Not only 

 this, but he is thoroughly honest and re- 

 liable. One instinctively feels that he is 

 a man who can be depended upon — one 

 whose word is as good as his bond. He 

 has looked upon bee-keeping as a busi- 

 ness, and has gone to work and system - 

 ized it. His implements and methods 

 may not be the best for everyone. He 

 admits that himself. His quadruple hive 

 is expensive, but it enables him, by hav- 

 ing populous colonies and plenty of 

 stores, to successfully winter his bees 

 with very little loss. There is no pack- 

 ing of the colonies in the fall, no unpack- 

 ing in the spring, no carrying the bees 

 into the cellar, nor any carrying of them 

 out in the spring. His apiaries come as 

 near to running themselves as any with 

 which I am acquainted. It seems as 

 though almost the only work done was to 



