THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



405 



FORETELLING SWARMING WITHOUT 

 OPENING THE HIVE. 



Mr. Luding'ton, as described in his 

 article in this issue, certainly has an 

 eas}' and novel method of foretelling 

 swarming without opening the hive. 

 That this method is practical I well 

 know from my experience with the 

 Heddon hive, in which the cells are 

 almost universally built between the 

 two sets of combs. Mr. F. J. Miller, 

 of London, Ontario, once told me that 

 he had for years foretold swarming in 

 this way with the Heddon hives. All 

 that is necessary is to lift the upper 

 section of the brood-nest to know if 

 queen cells are being' built. The lift- 

 ing- of the upper section is not so very 

 objectionable until the supers are piled 

 on top of it, when the lifting of them is 

 a decided drawback. Mr. Miller has 

 given much thought to devising some 

 plan whereby the supers may be lifted 

 quickly and easily, but has not yet 

 succeeded to his satisfaction. 



Automobiles, so it seems, may yet 

 become as cominon as bicycles, per- 

 haps more so, and the almost insane 

 hatred of them that crops out in some 

 localities is to be deplored. It is al- 

 most in keeping with the maledictions 

 pronounced upon steam cars when 

 they were first proposed — they would 

 frighten teams. They will always 

 frighten horses that are not accustomed 

 to them. So will anything else that 

 the horse is not accustomed to. There 

 is a story, and perhaps it is only a 

 story, but it illustrates the point, and 

 it is to the effect that a city horse, when 

 taken out in the country, fairly 

 trembled with fright when he saw a 

 fozv. How horses did shy at bicycles 

 years ago. Now find a horse, if j'ou 

 can, that paj's any attention to 

 bic3xles. Horses are imitative ani- 

 mals. Teach one generation not to 

 fear the automobile, and the next gen. 



eration will not fear them. Having 

 said all this I must say that those who 

 run automobiles on the public highway 

 ought to use all possible care and pre- 

 cautions not to frighten horses. There 

 is no doubt that a disregard for this 

 upon the part of some has much to do 

 with the prejudice against the auto- 

 mobile. 



What has all this to do with bee- 

 keeping ? Just this, the establishment 

 and management of out-apiaries calls 

 for a conveyance of some kind, and 

 when automobiles are cheaper and 

 more simple in construction, they will 

 be the ideal conveyance for the man 

 with out-apiaries. They can go fast, 

 will not tire, balk nor run away, and 

 the bees will not sting them. Per- 

 haps the power may be utilized to run 

 the extractor. 



M»-WUf^ft*M' 



"SUGAR honey" not INSIPID. 



Deacon Hardscrabble comes up brisk- 

 ly, in the American Bee-Keeper, to the 

 defense of his position in opposition to 

 using sugar as a stimulative feed in 

 spring. He makes one bad break, 

 however, and that is where he says: 

 "Perhaps the sugarees can tell weuns 

 how it happens that honey from their 

 yards is often so flat and insipid." If 

 the insinuation is that some of the sugar 

 is stored in the surplus, thus giving 

 the surplus an insipid taste, I can only 

 say that the Deacon must be drawing 

 upon an imagination already sadly 

 overtaxed. If there is any honey in 

 this world that is smooth, rich and 

 oily, the very opposite of insipid, it is 

 that made by feeding sugar to bees. 

 If sugar is fed in the spring for the 

 purpose of keeping up breeding, and, 

 by hook or crook, some of the sugar 

 is stored in the surplus, it will not be to 

 the detriment of the latter. I am not 

 advocating the feeding of sugar for the 

 sake of having it stored in the supers, 

 but, if the subject is to be discussed, 

 let the truth be told. 



