AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



737 



when, upon some warm day, it is desired 

 to examine many colonies. 



Tlie packing is not removed until set- 

 tled warm weather, and then only from 

 the top ; the sides remaining packed 

 throughout the year. This packing at 

 the sides I consider an advantage, even 

 during the sultry days of basswood 

 bloom. 



In answer to the argument of cumber- 

 someness, I will simply say that nearly 

 all of the improved methods of manage- 

 ment at all seasons of the year may be 

 practiced with chaff hives without the 

 moving of a single one. How this may 

 be done could form the subject of many 

 long articles. 



Last Winter I wintered 96 colonies 

 out-of-doors in chaff. On April 1, all 

 were alive ; one was queenless, and one 

 dwindled during April, as a result of late 

 " tinkering. "^Bee-iCcc/Jcrs' Review. 



Ml, SMny Bees, 



B. W. PECK. 



Bees in this vicinity are doing quite 

 well, but the weather is very cold. On 

 May 16 ice formed half an inch thick, 

 but still there is considerable fruit un- 

 hurt. My loss was o colonies out of 61 ; 

 two colonies starved and the other one 

 was queenless. On pages 677 and 678 

 of the Bee Journal, I notice questions 

 by J. T. Wilson and William Craig, 

 about black, shihy bees, and like Mr. 

 Craig, I think it is a disease. About 

 two years ago some colonies in my api- 

 ary, that I knew had lots of old bees, 

 had no black, shiny ones among them, 

 while other colonies had from a few to 

 a good many. This Spring I have 8 or 

 10 colonies affected, out of 58, and 2 

 colonies that wintered well are almost 

 ruined with it. These colonies have 

 plenty of brood, yet they die off faster 

 than the young ones hatch, although the 

 young are hatching quite fast, and the 

 bees are piled up in front of the hives 

 by the hundred. I examined them yes- 

 terday, and if I could see straight there 

 were young bees affected in the same 

 way. I examined them with a micro- 

 scope, and they are hairless, or nearly 

 so. As I have had 11 years' experience 

 with bees, and have studied their nature 

 quite thoroughly, I have been consider- 

 ably worried about the disease (if such 

 it is), and would like to hear from others 

 on this subject. We are having a splen- 

 did rain to-day. 



Richmond Centre, O., May 21, 1891. . 



SiztiofPassap-WaysttieBeesRepire. 



JAi\[ES HEDDON. 



I consider it a matter of great impor- 

 tance to bee-keepers to have a correct 

 idea of what mechanical appliances do, 

 and what do not, facilitate and encour- 

 age bees to enter and rapidly carry on 

 work in the surplus apartment. 



When first adopting queen-excluding 

 metal between the brood and surplus 

 apartments, mainly for the purpose of 

 knowing where the queen was at all 

 times, especially when removing surplus 

 cases of comb-honey, I will admit that I 

 felt a little nervous as to the matter of 

 whether the workers would be able to 

 squeeze through these passage-ways with 

 their loads of honey, so readily as not to 

 lessen the amount of surplus honey 

 which might be stored. 



D. A. Jones, of Canada, rightfully has 

 the credit of the great benefit which has 

 been derived from the use of the queen- 

 excluding metal. To satisfy myself, I 

 began making experiments with about 

 40 colonies with the queen-excluders, 

 and the same number, as nearly equal 

 as could be chosen, without. Three 

 times, in three different years, did I re- 

 peat the experiment, each time with a 

 larger number of colonies, and satisfied 

 myself that there is no hindrance what- 

 ever, as I am pleased to see is the pre- 

 vailing opinion of those who answered 

 Query 767. 



The object of this article is to do away 

 with the expensive, troublesome, and 

 erroneous idea of Dr. Tinker. I have 

 experimented a great deal in regard not 

 only to the kind, but the amount of pas- 

 sage-way needed by the bees to do their 

 best, and I tell you here that two rows 

 of queen-excluding holes, the full length 

 of the Langstroth hive, will fully accom- 

 modate the largest colony of bees that 

 ever resulted from one queen (and that, 

 too, in the busiest season of the year) 

 between the brood and surplus apart- 

 ments, while there are eight such rows 

 in the break-joint bee-space board. 



If one-half of them, or more, were 

 filled with comb or glue, as they some- 

 times are when not properly adjusted, 

 there is more passage-way than any 

 colony can use, and that fact is probably 

 one reason why the bees are not slow to 

 plug up many of the holes, when every- 

 thing is favorable for so doing. 



Now, there is a serious objection to 

 using two rows of holes. There has, of 

 late, been discussion enough to convince 

 the greatest novice in apiculture, that to 



