58 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



weather are such as to permit an interchange 

 of the sections, when, if some honey is com- 

 ing in, the hive will soon be as full of Vjrood 

 as the prolificness of the queen will allow — 

 it ought to be overflowing by the middle of 

 June. I do not doubt that packing the hive, 

 as recommended by the editor of the Re- 

 viKW, like feeding, would be an advantage ; 

 but I question whether either would pay a 

 dividend in an ordinary season. In years 

 past, I practiced packing largely, and I can- 

 not avoid the conclusion that, other things 

 being equal, the prosperity of the colony de- 

 pends principally upon the supply of stores 

 and the honey flow. Upon this point, how- 

 ever, I reserve a final decision until further 

 careful tests are made. 



Now, at the opening of the white clover 

 season, if the object is to get all the comb 

 honey possible, I would change places with 

 the sections of all hives full of bees. All 

 weak colonies, in which the brood can be 

 put in one section or otherwise utilized, I 

 would confine to one section only of the 

 hive. With colonies between these two 

 classes in strength I would change the sec- 

 tions as soon as they would bear it ; and I 

 would put supers on at once upon all that 

 are ready or nearly so, and upon the others as 

 fast as the bees are nearly ready to occupy 

 them. The sections of the hives of strong 

 colonies, that were alternated ten or twelve 

 days previous, may have the operation repeat- 

 ed with advantage. With this arrangement, 

 none of my cross-bred bees decline to enter 

 the supers if there is any honey to gather, 

 and that without any attempt to entice them 

 thither by comb, either in frames or sec- 

 tions. 



The extent to which I would practice con- 

 traction I have already indicated. As I pre- 

 fer, with sugar at present prices, to have 

 plenty of stores in the hives for winter with- 

 out feeding, I practice contraction to a less 

 extent thau I otherwise might. 



Feeding back, to secure the completion of 

 sections, I formerly practiced to a consider- 

 able extent, and think it profitable were it 

 uot for two drawbacks which I was unable 

 to avoid, viz., the product is always more or 

 less " off " in flavor, and is sure to candy to 

 some extent unless consumed Vjefore cold 

 weather. Unless these difficulties can be 

 overcome they will condemn the practice to 

 any great extent. 



There remains only the topic of controll- 

 ing increase, which I wish to mention. I 

 agree with the editor of the Review upon 

 this point, as far as he goes, but suppose the 

 beekeeper does not wish for increase, how 

 shall he proceed to get the largest amount of 

 surplus? Shall he pursue Dr. Miller's meth- 

 od, or shall he return the swarm without the 

 queen, and, at the proper time, remove all 

 queen cells and queens except one? I have, 

 to some extent, tried the last method, and 

 am pleased with it. I think it better to hive 

 in the usual manner all early swarms, but to 

 return the later ones, without the queen, ad- 

 justing a trap that will capture all virgin 

 queens, then when a swarm issues remove 

 all cells and queens, and return the swarm 

 with the queen that is in the trap. This 

 stops further desire to swarm, appears to 



give a surplus equal to what it would have 

 been had there been no swarming, and 

 leaves the colony in excellent condition as 

 regards a queen. Much useless brood is 

 thus also prevented, and, although consider- 

 able honey is put into the brood combs, it is 

 afterwards removed to the sections when 

 the young queen begins to lay. 



Lapeee, Mich., 



March 19, 1890. 



Leaders" Needed; Varieties of Bees; Sec- 

 tions ; Supers ; "Contraction" may 

 be Unprofitable. 



€. C. MILLEB. 



EDITOR: Whatever you do, 

 don't give up writing, each month, 

 the exhaustive editorial upon the 

 topic to be discussed in the suc- 

 ceeding number. Suppose you do cover the 

 whole ground, leaving nothing to be dis- 

 cussed, so much the better for your readers. 

 If they can get the whole truth in one page, 

 why read ten ? But your editorial gives 

 your correspondents something to work on, 

 without all being obliged to go over the 

 whole ground, each repeating the things in 

 which he agrees with you. In the pres- 

 ent case, I find some things to tight in 

 your editorial. I like to fight with you. You 

 fight fair. 



First, the kind of bees. The blacks don^t 

 go into the supers any sooner than the Ital- 

 ians — at least, mine don't. I put a bait in 

 the center of the first super, and either kind 

 of bees will commence work in the sections 

 just aa soon as they have surplus to store. 

 In the late years of failure I had pure Ital- 

 ians enter the super, fill and seal the bait, 

 and not touch another section, simply be- 

 cause they had no more to store. Could 

 blacks do any better ? The blacks lead in 

 whiteness of comb, but do they in " delicacy, 

 neatness and completeness of finish?" 

 About the CarniolauK. I'm not sure that I 

 like your saying that because of your posi- 

 tion you " are obliged to be very guarded in 

 naaking assertions, that none may be mis- 

 led," leaving the possible inference that we 

 who are not editors can slash around and lie 

 all we have a mind to. Never mind, I'm 

 sure you didn't mean anything unkind, and 

 I think you'll agree with me that we should 

 all be just as careful not to mislead. But 

 you don't say anything about the Carniolans 

 swarming excessively. As bee-keeping pro- 

 gresses, is there not an increased tendency 

 toward out-apiaries ? And, as out-apiaries 

 increase, is there not an increased desire to 

 avoid all swarming ? Now, if reports are to 

 be credited, at least some Carniolans are a 

 terror at swarming. At the Wisconsin 

 state convention, Mr. Taylor, of Wisconsin, 

 read a paper highly praising the Carniolans 

 for gentleness among other things. Two 

 gentlemen of Madison replied that Carnio- 

 lans that they had procured of Mr. Taylor 

 were exceptionally vicious. Mr. Taylor 

 said they were not pure. Upon being asked 



