THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



365 



would have done equally as well, and 

 if the bees of his Eldred yard had been 

 able to secure sufficient stores from the 

 fields he would have found that yard 

 equal to or superior to the other. 



IMPORTANCE OF VIGOROUS OUERNS. 



An old queen does not affect the win- 

 tering- of a colony, but does seriously 

 afifect early breeding-. The increase 

 of bees ni a colony from January 1 to 

 April 1 is far greater than is ordin- 

 arily supposed, and that such increase 

 may be at the maximum, it is best to 

 have a vigorous queen at the head of 

 the colony when it goes into winter 

 quarters. I use the term vigorous in- 

 stead of young, because many a queen 

 at the end of her second season (and 

 sometimes the third) is quite as g-ood 

 as a very young queen. 



Young bees in abundance are very 

 important. Many a colony, populous 

 in the fall, comes out in the spring- 

 small, merely because few if any 

 young bees were reared in the late 

 summer or early fall. The old bees 

 die oft" during- the winter and there are 

 not enough young ones to carry on 

 proper brood rearing- during that 

 time. 



In the average northern locality, all 

 stocks with good queens will rear 

 young at a time suitable to furnish 

 bees of the right age for good winter- 

 ing. Often, however, through man's 

 intervention, such breeding- is pre- 

 ventad or interferred with, and when 

 fall arrives, man steps in and com- 

 bines his colonies until they "are 

 strong enough for winter," quite for- 

 getting the age-factor, which factor, by 

 the way, cannot be accurately deter- 

 mined unless it is positively known 

 when brood emerged. Even if man 

 knows the age of the bees in the stocks 

 he is to unite, it is quite beyond his 

 abilities to make such union in the 

 same proportion of ages as those ex- 

 isting in a normal colony. 



The remedy for troubles from such 

 causes lies in the early replacing of 



failing- queens, and in the early union 

 of depleted stocks. And, by the way, 

 that English term "stock," signify- 

 ing an established colony, is far more 

 convenient than the latter three syl- 

 labled word. 



Mr. Lathrop would have done well 

 to have put special stress on the "all 

 summer'' preparation. 



DYSENTERY A PREVENTABLE GERM 

 DISEASE. 



Dysentery is a preventable, germ- 

 disease. The g-erms seem to be g-ener- 

 ally present in the intestines of the 

 bees, but cause trouble only under 

 special conditions. The disease may 

 appear in midsummer, or at any other 

 time under conditions readily con- 

 trolled by the student. 



Fermented stores do not of themselves 

 canse dysentery, but, coupled with 

 efforts to maintain proper temperature, 

 they produce the disease very quickly. 



Inability to maintain proper brood- 

 nest temperature, or, perhaps, I should 

 say to maintain normal body tempera- 

 ture, will soon cause its appearance, 

 be the food ever so good. 



With a dry hive, abundance of youth- 

 ful bees, and a plentiful supply of 0x3'- 

 gen under the bees' control, they will 

 resist the malign influence of poor food 

 to a remarkable degree. 



Right here I wish to refer to the 

 editor's mention of paper protection for 

 out door wintering. 



THE PROPER METHOD OF PROTECTING 

 BEES WITH TARRED PAPER. 



I believe I was the inventor or dis- 

 coverer, of the system, and I have sev- 

 eral times stated what seem to be the 

 principles which cause it to be so ben- 

 eficial, but, as some persons have 

 seemed, when trying- it, to have over- 

 looked one or more factors (important 

 in any form of out-door wintering), 

 and have attributed their failure to the 

 black paper, I wish to emphasize those 

 details. Tarred paper laid over a hive 

 and folded down about it, just as one 



