SEPTEMBER t. 1915 



Ii;i(l (Mnic'il iii<,<l of 

 tlio lioiicy into llie su- 

 per to make loo.ii Ini' 

 brood in the brouil- 

 clianiber. There was 

 no evidence that 1 

 could not discover that 

 the fecundity of the 

 (|neen had been ex- 

 liausted some ten days 

 previously, as there 

 was a lariie amount of 

 esigs and unsealed lar- 

 v;b in the iiive. It was, 

 in fact, almost the on- 

 ly colony I found in 

 the yard jMeparing to 

 swarm, with j)erhaps 

 t he most prolific 

 queen. Did she place 

 eii'g"s in the queen -cells 

 because of the exhaus- 

 tion of her supply of 

 eg:g^, or was it for 

 lack of room in which 

 to lay her super-abun- 

 d a n c e of egg's? 1 

 thought the latter rea- 

 son most in harmony 

 with the facts. 



Again if, as Mr. 

 Hand states, the eggs 

 are laid in queen-cells 

 becau.se of the exhaus- 

 tion of eggs we should 

 naturally expect to 

 find eggs most fre- 

 qnenth' in queen-cells 

 in large hives where 

 the queen has a largo 

 amount of room for 

 egg-laying. But in- 

 stead we find egg's in 

 queen-cells most often 

 in small hives where 

 licr laying has been restricted. 



We sometin^.es have seasons in which a 

 large amount of brood is reared with veiy 

 lew eggs in queen-cells as little honey is 

 (oming in, and the bees wear out rapidly, 

 but in other years, with less brood in the 

 iii\es but honey abundant in the fields, we 

 lind almost every hive supplied with eggs 

 in queen-cells. Can it be tiiat queens are 

 more broody in seasons of abundance than 

 in years of famine? 



Other reasons might be given for dis- 

 agreeing with Mr. Hand along this line, but 

 enough has been given to show that thej'e 

 is more than one cause for queens laying in 

 queen-cells. 1 believe there are many, and 

 temporary exhaustion of the supply of eggs 

 is onlv one of I hem. 



713 



House apiary of W. H. 



he considers the 



H. Stewart, Emerson, 111. Mr. Stewart writes that 

 keepins: of hecs out of doors a " makeshift." 



Another nuUler with which I take issue 

 with my friend is scaled covers for winter 

 use. He tells us that '' sealed covers on the 

 inner chambers under the packing preserve 

 the heat." This, in a sense, is true; but it 

 is not the sealed covers that preserve the 

 heat, but tlie packing. We do not cover a 

 sweaty horse in winter first with an oilcloth 

 or rubber blanket, and then a woolen blan- 

 ket to keep him warm. No! we cover him 

 with a good woolen blanket, and if that is 

 not enough we j^ut another woolen blanket 

 over the first. We do not keep ourselves 

 warm in severe weather by placing first 

 over oui- bodies an air-tight covering, and 

 then over that woolens or other cloths to 

 retain the heat, and then leave off our shoes 

 and stockinas for the air to circulate be- 



