THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



313 



pends upon the kind of separator used. 

 In this case the whitest honey is the 

 product with the use of the Root fence, 

 and the darkest with the plain separator. 

 Each sample of honey was produced by 

 a different colony of bees from the others. 

 I am not now going to call in question 

 the claim that the kind of separator makes 

 a difference in the color of the cappings 

 of comb honey. That may, or may not, 

 be a fact. What I wish to protest against 

 is the sort of evidence used in the effort 

 to establish that fact. I know that the 

 cappings of honey from different colonies 

 vary greatly in color when each one has 

 the same kind of separtors as the others, 

 and I don't know why they shouldn't 

 vary just as much when the separators 

 vary, without furnishing grounds for as- 

 cribing credit or discredit to the separa- 

 tors. In other words, the facts presented 

 furnish no evidence to support the claim. 



The editor is apparently somewhat stag- 

 gered and suggests that "there might 

 have been some difference in the bees," 

 but goes onto say that "it stands to" rea- 

 son that the fence gives better ventilation, 

 and, con.sequently, better and thicker 

 ripening of the honey." How can it 

 give better ventilation ? Would an em- 

 pty wicker chair standing in a room give 

 better ventilation to the room? And 

 then, is there any evidence that honej- 

 with raised cappings, as the black bees 

 make them, is any "thicker ripened" 

 than that with cappings that lie on the 

 lioney ? 



The most remarkable thing in the pho- 

 tojrraph is that the sections all appear to 

 be rather scantily filled. From the 

 claims heretofore made for plain sections 

 and fences 1 have been looking to find 

 the sections filled nearly solid. 



I want to say further, touching Mr. 

 Golden 's statement, that he had found 

 no "ribbed comb honey as the result 

 from slatted separators" though the slats 

 were from )^ inch to Yf. inch, that this 

 has not been a proper year for testing the 

 fences in this particular. Only a year of 

 profuse honey flow can properly try them. 



DO BEES MOVE EGGS OR I.ARV.5 .'' 



In the American Bee Journal, page 578, 

 Doolittle places himself "on the side of 

 those who claim that bees never remove 

 eggs;" but he holds to the opinion that 

 they transfer larvae from one comb to 

 another and to queen cells; of which 

 transference he believes he has observed 

 many instances, and of which he gives 

 one strong case, but the particulars of 

 which he confessedly quotes from mem- 

 ory after a considerable lapse of time. 

 The case was this: A swarm issued and 

 returned, and the queen cells were cut 

 out the same day. The next day the 

 swarm issued again and returned, and 

 almost immediately three other swarms 

 issued and entered the hive of the one 

 in question, without their queens. 

 The day following all the swarms issued 

 as one; after which the hive was examin- 

 ed and a great number of queen cells 

 were found containing larvte; many of 

 the cells being in places where "it would 

 have been impossible for larvse to have 

 gotten in them (or the cells built over 

 larviE ) other than by bees carrying them 

 there," as he says. His statement, 

 backed by the strength of his name, fur- 

 nishes what theeditor of Gleanings would 

 call "heavy testimony." I have not ob- 

 served the ways of bees for so long a time 

 as has Doolittle, but for a good many 

 years I kept a sharp lookout for just .such 

 cases as the above, in many instances 

 where such transference wouhl seem high- 

 ly desirable to the bees, but, though in a 

 considerable number of cases I thought 

 I saw what might be evidence of the 

 transferring of eggs or larvae, continu- 

 ed observation showed that it was 

 not. Of course, this does not show 

 that Doolittle is wrong; but I may be 

 excused for registering my doubts. 



MOVING THE HIVE VS. CUTTING OUT 



QUEEN CELLS TO PREVENT AFTER- 



SW.\RMING. 



In the last number of the Review, 267, 

 Doolittle vigorously takes issue with me 



