1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



539 



The time required to reverse the hive is not over 

 one minute, and the time required to hive the new 

 swarm is none at ail; as the bees, when the trap is 

 used, Avill tiive themselves. Now, I have pointed 

 out a few of the advantages of using the reversible 

 hive and queen-trap. If the above operations are 

 not strictly practical, there is a chance for some 

 one to "get up" and explain. There is not the 

 least objection to such a plan, as I am sure no colo- 

 ony will attempt to swarm again after being thus 

 treated. By adopting the above, it seems to mc 

 swarming may be completely controlled. 



Wenham, Mass. Henkv Alley. 



Your suggestion is certainly an important 

 one, and no doubt it can be made to answer 

 a good purpose, althongli I am a little in- 

 clined to think, from what experience I 

 have had with swarming, that the plan will 

 not "always take the wind out of their 

 sails," as you express it. Very likely the 

 experiment will be tried by a great many, as 

 it comes in just the right season. Almost 

 any hive can be prepared in a short time so 

 that it may be reversed after swarming, and 

 still keep the surplus-receptacles in their 

 usual place right above the brood-nest. If 

 any others have tried the plan, Avill they 

 please report? 



^ ' I ^ 



LETTER FROM CHINA. 



SOME VALUABLE FACTS FHOM OUR MISSIONAHY 

 rRlENDS. 



'HEN I first came to Foocliow, which place is 

 only a little north of the tropics (N. lat. 

 ~6° 7 ) I found that well water here was 

 not nearly so cool as it is in Oregon or 

 Maine. Now, we are very sure that 

 the interior of the earth is hot, while the tem- 

 perature of the surface of the ground varies with 

 the temperature of the air. But the amount of 

 this variation decreases as we descend into the 

 earth, so that at a depth of 30 or 40 feet we ought to 

 find a nearly constant temperature the year 

 round; and this temperature can not differ much 

 from the mean annual temperature of the air 

 above; hence, well water and spring water are 

 much warmer in the tropics than in the temperate 

 zones. 



At Shau-wu a Chinaman ventured the remark 

 that well water was warm for the winter half of 

 the year, and cool for the summer half of the year. 

 It seemed so to him, because throughout the cold- 

 er half of the year well water is warmer than the 

 air, and so at the first touch feels warm to the bare 

 hand. You don't notice the same thing in your 

 northern climate, because your houses arc w.^rmed 

 by stoves; and then, too, the difference between 

 the temperature of the well water and the hand is 

 much greater with you there than it is with us 

 here. Then, again, this Chinaman probably never 

 drank well water in cool weather. lie would not 

 — iiare to. Ov '• well at Shau-wu is about 35 feet deep, 

 and has a tcnjperature of about 67° Fahr. In sum- 

 mer and 63° in winter. 



Recently in traveling among the mountains I 

 took the temperature of several springs. One of 

 these, about 11300 feet above the sea-level, had a 

 temperature of 62'2°. It is quite a copious spring, 

 comes right out from the bowels of the mountain, 

 and jt^ ]tempe;-a,tufe ^ardl^ varies the year round. 



Another spring, 500 feet higher up, had a temper- 

 ature of 56°. I once tested its summer temper- 

 ature, and I think it was .58°. In that region is a 

 mountain about one mile high, and near the top is 

 a monastery. I once visited this in the hottest 

 summer weather, and in it was a well, the water 

 from which was so icy cold that it made my teeth 

 ache so that I could not drink it with comfort. A 

 Chinaman who accompanied me said it was so cold 

 that it " bit the teeth." 



Three weeks ago I crossed a mountain-ridge 

 about 3000 feet high. The water in a spring on the 

 north side, 1500 feet high, had a temperature of 57°. 

 Si,x hundred feet higher was another, with a tem- 

 perature of 54°. Near the top was a third, with a 

 temperature of 48°. Coming down again about 

 3000 feet on the south side of the mountain, a 

 fourth spring, flowing from a seam in a ledge of 

 rock, had a temperature of 64''. In each case I 

 presume the temperature of the spring was not 

 far from the mean annual temperature of the 

 place where it was located. In high northern lat- 

 itudes the ground freezes in winter to the depth of 

 30 feet or more. J. E. Walker. 



Foochow, China, April, 18?6. 



Friend Walker, is it not probable that 

 these very cold springs you speak of, high 

 upon the mountain, have some subterrane- 

 ous connection at still higher altitudes, 

 where snow and ice prevail':* I suppose it is 

 true in China, as well as in other parts of 

 the world, that the highest peaks are cov- 

 ered with snow, even in the summer time ; 

 but even if not covered with snow, I sup- 

 pose the temperature would be down to 

 about the snow-point, and this might lower 

 the temperature of the water so as to cause 

 it to remain low, even after it issued from a 

 spring several hundred feet lower still. We 

 thank you for these interesting facts. 



PREVENTING INCREASE. 



now 1 H.WE TRIED, AND FAILED. 



gUBING the four seasons — the fifth now 

 began — in which I have followed apicul- 

 ture, I have made the production of comb 

 honey a specialty, devoting some attention 

 to e.vtracted honey, and 1 endeavor to make 

 all my operations subservient to that end. To do 

 this, the most difficult problem that confronts mc 

 is that of swarming— not how much shall be allow- 

 ed, but when and how shall it be done? I want lo 

 prevent much increase, and to that end I have 

 read, studied, and labored, Last year's efforts 

 were largely spent in showing how the plans of 

 Cook, Heddon, Doolittle, and others, do not work. 

 Every scheme I try to prevent swarming fails. 

 The difference in locality will largely account for 

 this, tjut not altogether. Dr. Miller's plans I have 

 not tried, chiefly because of the time and labor in- 

 volved. 



I am now going to give the results of my experi- 

 ments of last year, for although I have learned 

 chiefly what can nut be done, I am certain that I 

 am much nearer a solution of the problem than 

 ever before. 



THE ABC PLAN. 



I have repeatedly tried the plan given by Mr. 

 Boot; viz. : Take a frame of eggs and newly hatch- 



