*J2 



THE BEE-KEt:t*ERS' REVIEW. 



thoroughly packed and to remain so until 

 settled summer weather, and the other left 

 without any protection but the single-wall 

 hive. If there prove to be marked advan- 

 tages in packing it will be shown, at the 

 time when the packing is removed, by the 

 greater strength of the colonies both in bees 

 and brood : but the crucial test will be in 

 the cash value of the increase and surplus of 

 all of which an accurate account is to be 

 kept. 



Then the matter of feeding during the 

 spring for the purpose of stimulating the 

 production of brood is one upon which there 

 is not a full agreement on the part of the 

 most experienced bee- ke pers, and is of suf- 

 ficient importance to call for as thorough a 

 test as it is possible to make. Todotliis the 

 same care is to be taken in the selection of 

 two sets of colonies as in the preceding mat- 

 ter, and, as in that, a careful record of all 

 the results will furnish a criterion that will 

 perhaps enable us to say whether such feed- 

 ing has any decided advantage. 



In connection with these two proposed ex- 

 periments, if the season is such as to cause 

 considerable s varming, an effort will be 

 made to obtain some light upon the mooted 

 question of the advantage or disadvantage 

 of swarming, i. e., whether a colony which 

 casts a awirm will pr duce results of great- 

 er or less value than it would have done had 

 it passed the season without contracting the 

 swarming fever. I say in connection with 

 the other experiments, because thus the la- 

 bor of selecting colonies of equal strength 

 can be made to serve both purposes. 



Dr. Miller wates me suggesting that I 

 make an experiment to test the comparative 

 advantage of ten frame hives and eight 

 frame hives. Would a two story Heddon 

 hive take the place of a ten frame hive sat- 

 isfactorily ? They are of the same capacity. 

 Such an experiment seems to me a most 

 thankless task for if there is anything I 

 know about the production of comb honey, 

 it is that an eight frame hive in this latitude 

 is better for that purpose than a ten frame 

 hive, for, as a rule, in the former there will 

 be produced as much, or a little more, profit- 

 able brood, less unprofitable brood and 

 eight or ten pounds more section honey, 

 which, in the latter, would go into the brood 

 chamber, while twenty-five per cent, more 

 bees will lounge or labor in the brood ch am- 

 ber of the latter instead of attending to the 

 more profitable business in the supers. This 



is not all, but it seems to me to be enough. 

 To me, the results of an experiment con- 

 ducted on any plan which has yet suggested 

 itself to me would be less satisfactory than 

 is what I already know by direct action of 

 my senses. However, if the Doctor can sug- 

 gest some feasible plan for making an ex- 

 periment at not too great expense, the re- 

 sults of which, if rightly conducted, he will 

 guarantee to produce in his mind a settled 

 conviction to which he agrees always to cling, 

 I would gladly agree to make it. 



Another point which I thin'i deserves at- 

 tention is the question so often discussed as 

 to whether a made swarm does as effective 

 work as a natural one. With proper care 

 this is a matter of which I think a very sat- 

 isfactory solution may be ob ained. The 

 made swarms should be taken from colonies 

 which have not contracted the swarming 

 fever and which have queens equal in quali- 

 ties, as near as may be, with those which the 

 natural swarms possess. A careful record 

 should be kept of the weight of such swarm 

 of either kind as well as of the time of hiv- 

 ing and they should be put into hives alike 

 in all material respects at the same time or 

 if not all at the same time at least in pairs, 

 one of each sort so that the aggregate time 

 of honey gathering of each set shall be just 

 equal. The result? should then be taken as 

 a pretty accurate indication of the advantage 

 or disadvantage of either course. 



Of course, all the experiments of last sea- 

 son should be repeated with such changes of 

 method as experience may intimate will be 

 of advantage. 



The non-swarming attachment with any 

 additional improvements can be tested from 

 the very beginning of the honey season be- 

 fore the inception of any desire to swarm. 



The hiver also should be given the fullest 

 chance possible consistent with fairness to 

 redeem itself, but in the case of each of these 

 devices the best effort possible should be 

 made to compare the actual value of results 

 with that of the results of the same number 

 of other colonies of equal strength. 



In the case of the comparison of the value 

 of starters, foundation and comb in the 

 brood chamber, the same general course 

 should be followed as last year, butmoie 

 should be made of the results in the brood 

 chamber in the matter of brood and comb 

 building. Perhaps also something more sat- 

 isfactory may l)e obtained by a course some- 



