AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



699 



queen be returned, and the queen-cells 

 all destroyed, they are almost certain to 

 swarm again, and perhaps at a bad time. 



2nd. Is elipp'ng not likely, if persis- 

 tently carried out throughout an apiary, 

 to result in a race of deformed bees (as 

 regards wings) in the future ? for both 

 in the animal and vegetable kingdoms 

 malformation, however caused originally, 

 may become hereditary ; and so much is 

 this recognized that anything of the 

 sort is, if objectionable, carefully avoid- 

 ed, or if ornamental or useful, as care- 

 fully fostered and made much of by 

 rearers of ^tock, or by gardeners in 

 selecting the animals or plants to breed 

 from. 



I do not see why bees should be an 

 exception, and fear that if carried too 

 far this practice may have an evil result. 



There certainly remains the safe- 

 guard that even if the young queen has 

 a tendency to deformity, she will in all 

 probability mate with a perfect drone, 

 for any other would surely be out-paced 

 in flight, and so lose the opportunity ; 

 but on the other hand, the drone being 

 the "son of his mother," and fatherless, 

 he will inherit to the full any infirmity, 

 and consequently, if all drones in an 

 apiary are the offspring of wing-clipped 

 mothers, themselves the daughters of 

 clipped queens, and descended from a 

 succession of the same, the chances are 

 greatly in favor of an hereditary tendency 

 to deformity. 



For these reasons I deem it undesir- 

 able, and think that the strict followers 

 of the practice are treading on danger- 

 ous ground; but I should much like to 

 have the opinion of its advocates in this 

 connection. 



Panama. 



Cellar vs. Oat-Door Wintering — 

 Fire or No Fire in Cellars. 



Written for the, American Bee Journal 

 BY DE. C. C. MILLER. 



Last winter I left 12 colonies of bees 

 out-doors all winter. I'll not leave the 

 same 12 out this winter. Couldn't if I 

 wanted to, for just 12 of them died be- 

 fore the winter was over. I wasn't 

 altogether to blame for it, because they 

 were left out with the expectation of 

 being provided with protection that I 

 was disappointed in getting. But when 

 I found I was disappointed it was well 

 started into the winter, and as it didn't 

 seem severe, I thought I'd risk leaving 

 them without protection of any kind, 



and see how they would come out. I 

 saw. 



I feel a good deal like saying I'll not 

 fuss any again with out-door wintering ; 

 and still I can't get rid of the feeling 

 that I'd like to succeed in it. I have 

 done so, to a degree, by using proper 

 protection, but on the whole I have done 

 best by wintering bees in the cellar. The 

 reason that I'd like to winter bees out- 

 doors is, that I have just a little notion 

 that when bees winter out in the pure 

 air, they are in a little better condition 

 to commence work in the spring. Still, 

 if they have good air in the cellar, I 

 don't see why they ought not to do just 

 as well there. But just there is the rub. 

 Have they as good air in the cellar ? 



I did something more. It seemed a 

 mild winter, and I thought I would see 

 if bees could not get along without tire 

 in the cellar. They did get along, but 

 it was a pretty bad sort of a " get along." 

 I cannot say how many colonies I lost 

 by it, for the spring and early summer 

 were so bad that they kept dying off 

 for a long time after they were out of 

 the cellar; but I know that an unusually 

 large number died in the cellar, and, 

 moreover, I think that some of those 

 that succumbed after coming out might 

 have pulled through if they had not 

 been weakened by the bad effects of 

 their bad wintering. 



Now one lesson that I ought to learn 

 (and it is a lesson that others may learn 

 as well) is, that it is not a good thing to 

 try experiments on too large a scale. I 

 ought to have been satisfied with killing 

 6 colonies instead of the 12 left out 

 without protection. I ought to have 

 been satisfied to leave one cellar without 

 fire, instead of both. 



Then another lesson is, that it is a 

 good plan to "let well enough alone." I 

 have been quite successful in wintering 

 bees in the cellar with fire, and perhaps 

 I ought not to yield to a hankering after 

 something different. I hardly expect to 

 hold right to exactly the same kind of 

 I wintering all the rest of my life, for I 

 know myself too well not to expect some 

 new bit of foolishness, dear knows in 

 what direction, but I think I'll at least 

 try 



It's a good rule to follow somewhat in 

 the light of your past experience, at 

 least so far as that experience is a suc- 

 cessful one. If a friend should ask my 

 advice as to how he should winter his 

 bees, I should first ask how he had win- 

 tered them, and if he had been reason- 

 ably successful, I should advise him to 

 make no change. If he had a climate 



