

43d YEAR. 



CHICAGO, ILL, FEB, 12, 1903, 



No. 7. 



The Crucial Time of AVintjering is 



yet to come. The novice often congratulates 

 himself alonpr in January or February that his 

 bees are wintering so w^ll, only to find later 

 on that before settleti warm weather comes 

 inany of his colonies are dead, and those that 

 remain are badly depleted. A week toward 

 the close of winter will show more dead bees 

 than a month at its beginninj:. sometimes 

 twice as many. It is not well to crow before 

 you are out of the woods. 



Shaken Swarms in Knglanil. — The 



British Bee Journal does not boil over with 

 enthusiasm with regard to shaken or brushed 

 swarms. It says: 



" We fail to see any improvement in, or 

 much, if any, practical difference between the 

 ' new dodge ' and the well-tried methods of 

 making artificial swarms practiced in this 

 country for many years past." 



Indeed, it seems to think they have some- 

 thing even better there. That " one better " 

 plan will probably be given in the said jour- 

 nal, when it will be a pleasure to produce it 

 in these columns. 



Taking Out and Returning Bees to 

 Cellar. — Is it desirable, when a favorable 

 day comes, to take bees out of the cellar in 

 winter and then return them after a flight! 

 Naturally one would suppose that giving the 

 bees a chance to lly and relieve themselves 

 would leave them in better condition to en- 

 dure further confinement. But actual trial 

 seemed to show that bees thus treated were 

 rather worse than better for it. It was gen- 

 erally agreed that after having been out for ? 

 flight the bees did not afterward settle down 

 in the same i|uietude as before their flight. 



But the matter has again become unsettled 

 because of the report of the A. I. Root Co., 

 that in the winter of 1901-2 they took out 

 colonies for a winter flight and then returned 

 them with apparently good results. 



It is just possible that the former view is 

 incorrect, and as the matter has a very practi- 

 cal bearing it would be well if many who win- 

 ter their bees in cellars would put it to the 

 test. In the vicinity of Chicago there has 

 been no day warm enough for bees to fly since 

 some lime in the middle or latter part of 

 November, and it is possible that such a day 

 may now come any time. The same is prob- 

 ably true throughout most of the large terri- 

 tory where cellar-wintering prevails. When 



a good (light-day comes let a certain numljer 

 of average colonies be taken out and then re- 

 turned in the evening, or, at most, not more 

 than a day or two later. Then note whether 

 the colonies so treated appear better or worse 

 than the others after the season has fairly 

 opened. 



If the bees can be relieved by a flight be- 

 fore settled weather comes, it will be well to 

 know it and to act accordingly. Those who 

 believe in tlie practice may well ask why it 

 should be that a winter flight, or several of 

 them, should be conceded on all hands to be 

 a good thing for bees wintered in the open, if 

 the same thing is bad for cellared bees. But 

 if further experiment should only result in re- 

 establishing more firmlj' the belief that it is 

 better to leave bees in the cellar until they 

 can come out for good, it is well for us to 

 know the fact. 



This journal will be glad to receive reports 

 from any who may cvperiraeut along the 

 lines indicated. 



Moving Hives with Open Kntrances 



has been practiced by some and mentioned 

 approvingly, butH. H. Hyde says, in the Pro- 

 gressive Bee-Keeper, that after testing it to a 

 certain extent he does not approve of It. A 

 good deal of emphasis can be read Into the 

 last part of his sentence when he says, " It 

 might work very successfully for a time or 

 two, but oh, the time that it does not do so!"' 



Kight Bees for Queen-Rearing. — 



Swarthmore. in Gleanings in Bee-Culture, 

 says that the bees of the best age are those 

 which are engaged in the daily play-spell. 

 He captures these at the time of their playing. 

 An ordinary section-super has wire-cloth 

 nailed over it, and this is placed in front of 

 the hive to catch the playing bees. Then a 

 thin board large enough to cover the super is 

 slipped down between the super and the hive, 

 and the imprisoned bees can then be used at 

 the will of the operator. 



There may be just a little question as to the 

 correctness of his position that there is any 

 serious objection to having been too young 

 for queen-rearing. A bee that has not been 

 out of the cell an hour may not do much in 

 the way of nursing, but it will be getting 

 older all the lime, and it is possible that it 

 may do its share when not many hours old. 



Discharging Feces in the Hive.— 



Do healthy bees discharge their feces in the 

 hive ; The general opinion has probably 

 been that during winter confinement bees 

 never discharge their feces in the hive until 

 the intestines become so distended that their 

 contents can no longer be retained, when the 



bees might be considered in a more or less 

 diseased condition. 



Along with this view it has generally beeo 

 held that the discharges were always more or 

 less lir|uid in character. The late S. Cornell, 

 of Ontario, stoutly held, and gave ocular 

 demonstration to substantiate his belief, that- 

 at least sometimes the discharges were dry.. 

 Some authorities in Europe have held the- 

 same opinion, maintaining that under favor- 

 able conditions bees discharge their feces 

 from time to time in a dry state in the hive, 

 and that careful e.\amination of the debris un> 

 the floor of the hive would demonstrate the 

 truth of this belief. 



The practical bearing of this matter is that 

 if it be true that bees in a perfectly healthy 

 state do void the contents of their intestines 

 from time to lime in a more or less solid form, 

 then if the right conditions can be maintained 

 there need be little anxiety as to long eon- 

 flnement, and little need for a flight till warn> 

 weather comes. In any case no harm can re- 

 sult from trying to maintain the conditions 

 favorable to the frequent voidance in a dry 

 form of the contents of the intestines. Chief 

 among these conditions are pure air and the 

 proper temperature. 



National Organization is not looked 

 upon with rose-colored glasses by H. H. Hyde, 

 judging from' an article written b3' him in 

 the Bee- Keepers' Review. As objections to 

 success are named: Unwillingness of bee- 

 keepers to unite with the organization ; dis- 

 honesty of members; expense of operation;; 

 and the fact that to succeed the combine must 

 " do away entirely with wholesale dealers in 

 honey, and must sell to the retail merchants 

 entirely." 



The writer naively says that he has personal 

 experience as a large buyer and shipper, thus 

 appearing to be in the class of wholesale 

 dealers, and his statement that doing away 

 with wholesale dealers is one of the difficulties 

 in the way of success of a national organiza- 

 tion gives rise to the question whether the 

 wish may not be father to the thought. The 

 organizalion, however, will suffer most, in 

 the judgment of -Mr. Hyde, from " profes- 

 sional grumblers who take delight in picking 

 a flaw, and in causing trouble in general." 



Gathering Statistics is one of the 

 things more or less talked about just now. 

 Some think the National Association should 

 do the work. Others think it might be done 

 by the proper department of the National 

 Government. Is it not possible that there 

 might be some sort of co-operation. Gather- 

 ing statistics involves expense. If we can 

 have Uncle Sam foot the bills, in whole or in. 



