264 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



The hives in the open air and those with 

 their entrance to the north are those which 

 wintered best in the cold spells of 37 to 38 

 degrees centigrade [ apparently below zero, 

 or— 34.6 to — 3G.4°F.] of the winter of 1888— 

 89; in spring they developed in population 

 before all the others. Until now, high 

 frames have been recommended for moist 

 and cold countries. "We would not call 

 their " low frames" shallow, however. 

 L' Apicoltobe. — Queen cells, says the editor, 

 which are short and thick, and roughened 

 clear to the point with depressions like the 

 rudiments of worker cells, instead of being 

 smooth and thin at the point like normal 

 queen-cells, contain a dead larva, usually 

 only two or three days old, which has been 

 closed in by the bees. He observed two 

 such cases this year. 



When the queen of a swarm is wanted, his 

 method is not to watch the swarm for her as 

 it runs in a hive, but to allow it to enter a 

 hive containing some empty combs, which 

 are searched for the queen in an hour or 

 two. 



The swarm on finding itself qneenless will 

 return to the old hive. 



He once fed 1500 watermelons, many of 

 which were unripe, worth in all $19,50, to 

 his apiary of 100 colonies, from the middle 

 of August until the end of September, when 

 there was an absolute dearth of forage. It 

 would have cost him those times as much to 

 have fed honey or sugar. The bees did well 

 on their food, and even stored a few pounds 

 of surplus, which was of good body, but lit- 

 tle colored, and very agreeable in taste. 

 Twenty or more a day were fed, according 

 to size. He does not say whether the bees 

 wintered on that food; but it is to be pre- 

 sumed they did, for the next season, though 

 there was a little flow of honey, he again fed 

 watermelons " to complete their winter pro- 

 visions " from which it would appear that it 

 did not hurt them. Care was taken that the 

 juice they obtained was fresh every day. He 

 noticed that they voided the watery i)ortion 

 during their return to the hiVe, at a distance 

 of only a few yards from the feeding-place. 

 Before feeding the fresh melons, he had 

 tried boiling the pulp with a little water, but 

 thejbees took little notice of it. 



Dr. Dubini notices that " some " bees 

 work on his strawberries. 



Abvada, Colo. 



Aug. 1, 1895. 



Bee-Keepers' Review. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



Tebms :— $1.00 a year in advance. Two copies 

 $1.90 ; three for $2.70 ; five for $4.00 ; ten or more, 

 70 cents each. If it is desired to have the Revisw 

 stopped at the expiration of the time paid for, 

 please say so when subscribing, otherwise, it 

 will be continued. 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, SEP. 10. 1895. 



A Honey Knife may be kept sharp, so 

 writes Rambler to Gleanings by fastening a 

 whetstone to the place where the cappings 

 are wiped off by drawing the knife across. 



AN EA8TEEN BEE-KEEPEB's OPINION OF CUB 

 APIAEIAN SOCIETIES. 



One of the most extensive bee-keepers of 

 N . Y., if not the most extensive, has written 

 me a private letter from which I extract the 

 following sentences: — 



•' I am of the opinion that, outside of the 

 social feature, conventions have outlived 

 their usefulness. Instead of uniting the 

 Union with the North American, merge the 

 latter into the former, and incorporate oth- 

 er business matters, such as legislation, 

 freight rates, crop statistics, marketing, etc. 

 Committees could meet as often as necessa- 

 ry, but a general meeting might not be 

 necessary oftener than once in four years. " 



UPON WHAT PLAN SHOULD THE NOBTH AMEBI- 

 OAN AND THE UNION UNITE ? 



In a late number of the American Bee 

 Journal, in reply to a query, quite a number 

 of correspondents express their views in re- 

 gard to the proposed amalgamation of the 

 North American and the Union. R. L. 

 Taylor regrets that so much time is spent in 

 discussing the advisability of a union instead 

 of suggesting plans upon which a union 

 should be effected. If it isn't advisable to 

 join forces of what use is it to discuss plans ? 



After the bee-keeping world decides that 

 such a union is desirable, then a discussion 

 of plans will be in order. It must be admit- 

 ted, however, that the advisability of a union 

 may largely depend upon the plan adopted 

 for a reorganization. All these things need 

 careful consideration and thorough discus- 

 sion. 



