110 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Japanese buckwheat was reported as more reliable for a honey 

 yield. 



A. J. Brewer stated that with no bottom board, a proper cover 

 and good stores, no cold can kill bees. This is encouraging to us 

 in this cold winter we have been having. He uses a plain simplicity 

 hive, presses a burlap sack down in an empty upper story, fills it 

 with forest leaves so full that the cover presses on the packing. 

 Entrance is from 3^ to 5/g inches, by the width of the hive. Has 

 no side packing, and gets good results. 



Holterman believes you can use a larger hive for outdoor win- 

 tering than you can for indoor. He says good stores, bees kept 

 <iO^ given proper ventilation and packed with leaves is good winter 

 insurance. He uses a queen-excluder on his hives for winter, which 

 act as a "Hill device." He has two holes in cover of packing case, 

 above the packing, and advocates that the packing not touch the 

 cover. 



F. C. Hotchkiss, Massina Springs. N. Y., has fed as high as 20 

 pounds of syrup to a colony in the cellar during winter. He uses 

 a shallow pan pushed in at the entrance, and feeds warm syrup. 

 Another member tried it and found it caused a general disturbance. 

 Mr. Hotchkiss' cellar was from 4i to 51 degrees in temperature. 



I. Kinyon reported increasing trouble with comb honey souring. 

 Some others reported the same trouble. It seems that they are 

 also having more trouble with it candying, and it developed that 

 quite a little alfalfa was now being grown in that state, which they 

 believe accounts for the latter trouble. 



Prof. Surface says the cause of swarming is to escape adverse 

 conditions. R. F. Holterman says that the first cause of swarming 

 is the production of drones; second, queen cups; third, small en- 

 trance. Advocates giving room early, and shade. He uses large 

 entrances, as does also S. D. House. 



A pu1)lic grading of honey, at conventions, was suggested by 

 Prof. Surface, and the writer believes this an excellent suggestion.. 



President Howe says that inbreeding means using male and 

 female of the same family more than once, and that it is impossible 

 to inbreed bees. He also says that you can better your bees with- 

 out buying a single queen. 



D. R. Hardy, Burr Mills, N. Y., has built up a splendid strain 

 of bees by starting the year of the Vi^orld's Fair in St. Louis, with 

 a Carniolan queen and breeding to an Italian drone. It has simply 

 been a case of selecting ever since. 



It developed that there were 500 colonies of bees kept within 

 the city limits of Syracuse. 



The next meeting place will be at Rochester. 



