THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



149 



Was much honey dew used for winter 

 stores? 



Is the mortality of colonies up to the 

 present date any greater than usual 

 among your own and neighboring bees? 

 What information have you as to the 

 extent of territory in which honey dew 

 was abundant? 



Replies may be directed to the Bureau 

 of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 

 Respectfully, 



E. F. Phillips, 

 In Charge of Apiculture. 



Preventing Swarming by Changing Brood 

 Combs and Uncapping Drone Brood. 



A Canadian bee keeper says, in a pri- 

 vate letter, that, for six years, he has 

 practically prevented swarming, and 

 secured large crops of comb honey, by 

 transposing the brood combs in the brood 

 nest, putting the middle combs of solid 

 brood next to the outside, uncapping the 

 honey in the outside combs, and placing 

 them in the center, at the same time 

 uncapping all drone brood, with an 

 occasional patch of worker brood. He 

 has had as few as three swarms from 

 83 colonies. He is now establishing out- 

 yards; expects to run 500 colonies the 

 coming season for comb honey, and he 

 says that this plan of management will 

 save all trouble from swarming. I don't 

 give his name, as there is no permission 

 in his letter that I may print it. 



A Bee Keepers' Spring Poem. 



The nearest approach to a spring 

 poem that I evei' wrote, is a letter to my 

 brother Elmer in Northern Michigan. 

 There is nothing so very remarkable 

 about it, but it shows how the bees have 

 wintered, and how they are prospering 

 under the influence of this earliest spring 

 that I ever knew. Here is a copy of one 

 of the weekly letters that go to Northern 

 Michigan: 



Flint, Mich., April 18, 1910. 

 Bro. Elmer: — 



Until today I had not opened 

 the hives for a week or ten days. This 



afternoon I examined a few colonies, and 

 there was a surprise in store for me. 

 Some of the colonies have six combs 

 jammed full of brood, with lots of young 

 bees hatching out. You know, after a 

 colony has brought out its first "hatch," 

 and the young bees have hardened off a 

 little, it seems to be able to endure 

 almost any kind of weather. It seems 

 to me as though almost every colony of 

 bees that I have ever lost in the spring, 

 had just about reached the point where 

 their first brood was ready to hatch. If 

 they could have held on another week, 

 they would have pulled through. You 

 know I told you that the colonies were 

 all strong in bees, had plenty of stores, 

 and that I had protected them with 

 sawdust packing all around the sides, and 

 on top; well, when I turn back a quilt, a 

 puff of warm air comes up that I can 

 actually feel in my face— just as the 

 warm air comes up in the registers of a 

 hot-air furnace. The hives are actually 

 full of bees. 



Of course, I must watch out now about 

 stores, as they disappear as by magic 

 when such quantities of brood are being 

 put up. I have quite a lot of sealed 

 combs left. By the time that they are 

 gone, I can feed sugar syrup if neces- 

 sary. Fruit trees and dandelions are 

 beginning to blossom, and, if this warm 

 weather continues, it fairly staggers me 

 to think what I may accomplish this year 

 with 40 such colonies, plenty of empty 

 combs, foundation, queens and feeding. 



Virgil Weaver prognosticates a bumper 

 crop this year from clover. Well, let her 

 come. This world can't all be ill-luck. 

 I was so full of enthusiasm that I just 

 Aad to sit down and write this; I don't 

 know as it was really necessary, but I 

 felt as though I had got to talk to some 

 one who could appreciate the situation. 

 Will. 



The Jones Plan of 5warm-Prevention. 



Of course, it is yet too early to try 

 non-swarming plans here at the North, 

 but down near the gulf of Mexico such 

 things are in style. Here is part of a 

 letter from Mr. Menhall, of Mississippi, 

 who keeps his bees on the roof of his 

 floating photographic gallery, as de- 

 scribed in the Review a year or two 

 ago. Here is what he says: 



Have tried Dr. Jones' plan of swarm- 

 control on two colonies, and it works 

 just as he says — but, but. I am inclined 

 to believe it is a two-edged sword. 



