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5EE CIJLTU 



Published by The A. I. Root Company, Medina, Ohio 



E. R. ROOT, Editor a. L. BOYDEN, advertising Mgr 



H. H. ROOT, AS8T. Ed. J. T. CALVERT, BUSINESS MoR. 



A. I. ROOT, Editor of Home Department 



Vol. XXXVI. 



JANUARY 1, 1908. 



No. 1 



Several cases are reported at Neukirch 

 observation-station, Switzerland, in which 

 "the after-swarm with the young queen is- 

 sued before the prime swarm with the old 

 queen." 



Allan Latham, p. 1564, advocates ample 

 space under frames with small entrance for 

 wintering. Right you are, my friend, and I 

 think the general tendency is now in that di- 

 rection. I don't want less than two inches 

 under bottom-bars all the year around. 



Heartsease honey, according to most of 

 the bee-keepers at the Chicago convention, is 

 rather dark, but several said that with them 

 it was light. My assistant says. "That very 

 white honey we had was heartsease; 1 don t 

 think any thing about it; Iknow it was." 



Winter consumption (outdoors, as I un- 

 derstand it) for the five months, November to 

 March, reported from all the Swiss stations, 

 averaged, for ten years, 12 5 pounds. For the 

 four months, December to March, 11 pounds. 

 Varied from 5 to 28 pounds, for five months. 



By the courtesy of Editor U. Kramer, 

 the beloved leader of Swiss bee-keepers, I 

 am in receipt of reports of Swiss apicultural 

 observation-stations. These were started to 

 the number of four more than 20 years ago, 

 and now number more than 30. Oh for a 

 Herr Kramer in this country to bring us 

 abreast with little Switzerland! 



I TRIED a few cases of feeding in cellar. I 

 put a section of honey in the 2-inch space 

 under bottom-bars, letting it touch the clus- 

 ter of bees. In about 24 hours the section 

 was cleaned out dry, although the colony had 

 heavy winter stores; but it excites the bees, 

 and that is probably not good for them. 



[That is just the trouble. Such feeding ex- 

 cites the bees. — Ed.] 



The plural-queen system is pronounced 

 a success, page 1555, with perforated zinc. 

 What advantage has it over the Wells sys- 

 tem? That allowed two queens separated 

 by perforated wood, and was boomed in 

 England a few years ago, but now nothing 

 is said about it. I can see big advantages in 

 several unseparated queens in one hive, but 

 with excluder I don't believe there's any 

 thing in it. [Why? In the Wells system 

 there was no intermingling of the bees, and 

 each lot of bees with tneir queen had a sep- 

 arate entrance. In fact, the Wells idea was 

 little more than a tenement hive, having 

 two colonies, each sharing the warmth of 

 the other. In the perforated- zinc plan the 

 queens only are separated; but the bees 

 mingle all together. In this respect the col- 

 ony principle is more perfectly developed. 

 As one strong colony is better than several 

 small ones, so the perforated zinc plan ought 

 to be better than the Wells system.— Ed.] 



I don't BELIEVE in feeding in winter, but 

 another Straw will show that I have tried it 

 on a small scale by way of experiment, and 

 after reading "What to Feed Bees in Cold 

 Weather," p. 1556, I am moved to urge you 

 very strongly, Mr. Editor, to try putting the 

 feed under instead of on top. Of course, 

 with a weak colony clustered high up it is 

 not practicable; but where the bees can be 

 induced to come down, as a fair colony will 

 on any mild day in winter, and on any day 

 in the cellar, feeding below has real advan- 

 tages. It doesn't disturb the bees by uncov- 

 er ing them. A brood-comb can be put under, 

 or Good candy in any dish, wooden or earthen ; 

 and if the candy is too soft it can make no 

 trouble below as it can on top. "There isn't 

 room below?" With a 2-inch bottom-board 

 there's plenty of room, and you ought to 

 have nothing less than 2 inches under bot- 

 tom-bars for other purposes. But in any 

 case, can't you make room below as well as 

 above. [Your idea of putting the food un- 

 der is good, in so far as it would eliminate 

 the possibility of the food daubing the bees. 



