12 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



and the !vvera|?e of surplus was only about 

 two poniids. Mr. Aspinwall's theory is that 

 swarmiiit; results from too many bees, from 

 a crowded condition of the brood nest, and 

 that putting in these wooden half-combs 

 doubles the standing room. It has also been 

 argued that bees do not swarm so long as 

 there are uiitiuished combs in the brood 

 nest, and Mr. Aspinwall thinks that perhaps 

 the bees regard the wooden, jierforated, di- 

 vision boards as so much unfilled comb and 

 act accordingly. Never mind, though, if he 

 should be wrong in his theories, if it will 

 only prevent the desire to swarm we want it. 

 Of course, this plan is in direct opposition to 

 that of contraction, but contraction of the 

 brood nest of an established colony is some- 

 thing that has received but little support. I 

 know that I have never a vocated nor prac- 

 ticed i , but in the management of swarms I 

 think it can be used to great advantage. If 

 there is honey coming in freely and the 

 brood combs are full, there is no doubt but 

 what the bees will go into the supers even if 

 the combs are separated in the manner des- 

 cribed ; in fact, Mr. Aspinwall urges as one 

 advantage that the supering surface is in- 

 creased. I was so enthusiastic over the 

 Langdon non-s armer that my stock of en- 

 thusiasm is a little low, but I shall quietly 

 wait, and experiment, and — hope. 



"feeding back." 

 The editor of Gleanings criticises some of 

 Mr. R. L. Taylor's conclusions regarding 

 his experiment in feeding back honey to se- 

 cure the completion of unfinished sections. 

 There are one or two points in these criti- 

 cisms that J would like to notice. First, he 

 says that in the honey column of that issue 

 of Gleanings good extracted honey is quoted 

 at 7 cts. wholesale and comb honey at 12. 

 This is true of some markets, but I fear that 

 Bro. Root did not take the trouble to strike 

 an average. Taking the highest quotations 

 for first-class white comb honey, and averag- 

 ing them, the average is the merest fraction 

 over 14 cts., while the average price for the 

 best white extracted is the least trifle over 

 Ct}'^ cts. At these revised and corrected fig- 

 ures there is a protit of $5.M on an expendi- 

 ture of $10.17 which is over .TO per cent, pro- 

 tit, just as Mr. Taylor has asserted, instead 

 of only &!, as Mr. Root figures it out. You 

 see that the prices placed upon the two kinds 

 of honey makes all the difference in the 

 world. Possitily the piice (8 cts.) put upon 



the unfinished sections is a fair one, but I 

 think that there are few wholesale markets 

 in which tliis price could be realized. About 

 the only way in which unfinished sections 

 can be sold to advantage is to neighbors, 

 and this market is limited. The experience 

 of Mr. Unterkircher is quoted in which he 

 fed back honey at a loss, but it must be re- 

 membered that there are quite a number of 

 little kinks to be learned in feeding back 

 honey at a profit, and to offset Mr. Unter- 

 kircher's failure I can say that I have fed 

 back thousands of pounds of extracted honey 

 to have sections finished ; some years using 

 as many as twenty or twenty-five colonies, 

 and I have never been less successful than 

 was Mr. Taylor, usually getting three pounds 

 of comb honey from the feeding of four 

 pounds of extracted, while I }iave been so 

 fortunate as to secure four pounds for five. 

 The greatest element of uncertainty is that 

 of the weather. Give me hot weather, and 

 there is no apicultural undertaking upon 

 which I can enter with more certainty in re- 

 gard to results than that of feeding back ex- 

 tracted honey to secure the completion of 

 unfinished sections of comb honey. 



It is true that breeding will be stimulated, 

 but, by limiting the space in the brood nest 

 no more bees will be reared than are needed 

 for winter, and, in this connection, it may be 

 said that I have always carefully marked the 

 hives containing the colonies used in feed- 

 ing back, and such colonies have always 

 wintered the best. All this talk about the 

 trouble of feeding, the muss, the stings, etc., 

 comes because the right implements and 

 methods are not employed. 1 really enjoy 

 the work, and would be almost willing to do 

 it simply for the excellent trim into which it 

 puts the bees for winter. It may not be ad- 

 visable for the mass of bee-keepers to follow 

 this practice, but if rightly managed in hot 

 weather it can certainly be done at a profit. 



THE MICHIGAN STATE EXPERIMENT APIAKY. 



A perusal of the first article in this issue of 

 the Revie\\, aud the one from the same 

 author, as it appears in the Extracted De- 

 partment, will show that bee-keepers must 

 be vigilant, and bring most clearly to the 

 minds of the members of the State Board of 

 Agriculture that the continuance of the Ex- 

 perimental apiary is a most desirable thing 

 not only for bee-keeping but for agriculture 

 in general. When the grant was first secured. 



