244 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



they occupied in the fall, unless there is 

 snow on the ground, when this will not 

 be necessary. 



It is generally conceded that a cellar 

 or building in which bees are kept, 

 should be kept as dark as possible to 

 secure the best results. This is especi- 

 ally true if the temperature ever be- 

 comes high enough to tempt the bees to 

 fly from their hives. 



Some bee-keepers are successful in 

 wintering their bees in buildings above 

 ground, though their numbers are few. 

 These wintering repositories are made 

 with thick, frost-proof walls, and a num- 

 ber of colonies are wintered in the same 

 place. It should be remembered that a 

 hundred colonies may winter perfectly 

 in a place where half a dozen would all 

 die. 



As stated in my article on "page 22, I 

 now prefer to pack 4 colonies in one 

 box. In doing this, I do not want to 

 move the bees far from the positions 

 they occupied in the summer. A com- 

 mon mistake on the part of novices is to 

 move their bees into new positions on 

 the approach of cold weather, for the 

 purpose of protecting them more con- 

 veniently, usually setting them'in a long 

 row. If a warm day comes soon after, 

 or in fact, at any time, unless the ap- 

 pearance of the surroundings have been 

 greatly changed by a fall of snow or 

 otherwise, the bees return in great num- 

 bers to their former location, and thou- 

 sands of them are often thus lost. 



When a number of hives are set 

 closely together in a row, trouble is 

 often experienced if it becomes necessary 

 to examine a part of them, as it is hard 

 to do anything with one colony without 

 disturbing all, to a greater or less ex- 

 tent. Besides this, when the bees fly 

 out, they are apt to become mixed, and, 

 in returning, enter the wrong hives, 

 sometimes a few hives getting nearly all 

 of them. This is especially the case 

 when their first flight is on a day that 

 grows suddenly warm after a long con- 

 finement. In the spring, this is very 

 ruinous, and there is often great loss 

 from this source. 



To obviate loss from this mixing of 

 bees, never place more than three hives 

 in a row at any season.. For conven- 

 ience in handling, it is better not to 

 have more than two. 



The hives that I pack together are set 

 in groups of four, two facing east and 

 two west, which position they occupy 

 all summer. 



It is not necessary or desirable that 

 they should be as close together In the 

 summer as they are wanted for winter. 



A hive of bees may be moved two or 

 three feet forward or sidewise, or twice 

 that distance back without detriment, 

 provided its general position toward its 

 surroundings is not thereby changed. If 

 it becomes necessary to move them 

 greater distances than this, or to change 

 their relative positions, it should be done 

 gradually, moving the hive a foot or two 

 each day that the bees fly freely. 

 Ottawa, Ills. 



(Concluded next week.) 



* ■ 



W^orkers Layini^ with Unsealed 

 Brood— Will of the Queen. 



Written for the American See JourruA 

 BY DR. C. C. MILLEK. 



Not often does one meet with so jolly 

 a foe as Mrs. Atchley. We ought always 

 to be glad to have the truth prevail, no 

 matter which side whips, but it is much 

 easier to do so when our opponent fights 

 fair and good-naturedly. 



I think Mrs. Atchley has given satis- 

 factory proof as to workers laying with 

 unsealed brood in the hive, as many such 

 cases have come under her own observa- 

 tion. And although she does not say so, 

 I suppose she has also seen with her own 

 eyes, cases of laying workers while 

 young queens were present. 



Her experiment with the eggs laid by 

 the queen in her hand is very interest- 

 ing, but I must say it doesn't prove be- 

 yond the possibility of a doubt that the 

 will of the queen has anything to do 

 with the sex of the egg. Indeed, inter- 

 esting as are her experiments, they hardly 

 can be said to prove anything new, for 

 queens often lay eggs, in rudimentary 

 cells, much the same as if laying eggs 

 on the hand. The possibility is that 

 a queen, when laying eggs in drone- 

 cells, is in some way in a different posi- 

 tion from that in which she lays 

 worker eggs. 



Please understand that I don't pretend 

 to know. Indeed, I have some doubts 

 if any of us will ever know positively 

 about it. And practically, I'm not sure 

 that it is a matter of any great impor- 

 tance. As it seems to me, there are dif- 

 ficulties in the case, whichever view we 

 take. 



I can think of one argument that 

 would be more convincing than any- 

 thing yet brought forward in favor of 

 the "will " theory. It would be to find 

 the queen laying in drone-cells that 

 were merely begun. Because in that 

 case she would be in about the same 



