40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Mr. Knight has, since the convention, in- 

 spected for foul brood an apiary of <!U col- 

 onies. All were breeding and every colony 

 had the brood nest at or near the en- 

 trance, and all having a top vent, i. e., 

 holes in the quilts, were in much the best 

 condition. 



When it comes to spring brood rearing, the 

 colony does not depend on the temperature 

 of the air in the hive for the necessary heat, 

 nor are they able to get the necessary heat 

 in the chamber until such time as the colony 

 becomes strong enough to fill the whole hive. 

 Until such strength is obtained, they depend 

 for brood rearing upon the heat generated 

 within the cluster. 



This principle is fully illustrated in a val- 

 uable article by G. M. Doolittle in A. B. J. 

 for Dec. ir>6h last, page 75)1. A careful peru- 

 sal of the whole article will be worth dollars 

 to any one who is not already familiar with 

 these principles. I quote from it as follows : 

 " If we hive a natural swarm of l)ees in a 

 large box, * * * * we find that they 

 suspend themselves from the top in a com- 

 pact form, appearing like an inverted cone, 

 which, to all appearances, is nearly motion- 

 less, so that it will appear as if the l)eeswere 

 idle ; while the fact is, that these apparently 

 idle bees are the colony proper, and inside 

 this, active work is going on building comb, 

 etc. This is easily seen by passing a wire sud- 

 denly and horizontally through the cluster, 

 letting the lower half drop. Out side the 

 living hive, or crust of bees, the temperature 

 is often not more than .tO , while just inside, 

 they are working wax nicely with the tem- 

 perature at 90= to t).5°, as I have found by 

 making careful tests with a thermometer. 

 ***** It takes some time for these 

 crust bees to become lively enough to fly : 

 but the iuside force can do so at a moment's 

 notice, in any colony I ever experimented 

 with : thus showing that the material enclos- 

 ing this living home had little to do with the 

 heat of the cluster, that being controlled by 

 the walls of the living hive." 



Friends, this top-entrance business will 

 solve some of the problems in wintering and 

 springing bees and more too, the K. D. hive 

 will largely solve the problem of the control 

 of swarming. These features we will make 

 public with an illustrated circular as soon as 

 printed. 



LovELAND, Colo, Feb. 7, 1993. 



Bee-Keepers' Review. 



rriiLISHED MONTHLY. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. Ed- & PJ'op. 



T BMS : — SI. 'JO a year in advance Two copies, 

 S1.90; three for *2.70; five for $+."0; ten, or more, 

 70 ceats fach. If it is desired to have tlic R viw 

 stopped at the expiration of tlie time paid for, 

 please say so when subscribing, otherwise it 

 will be continued. 



FLINT. MICHIGAN. FEB 10, 1893. 



Texas Bee-Keepebs will hold a conven- 

 tion March .">th and fith at the home of Mrs. 

 .Tenuie Atchley. one mile north of the court 

 house, in Greenville. No hotel bills and 

 everybody is invited. 



The Bee-Keepers' Guide has raised its price 

 to 7.5 cents a year, has added a neat tinted 

 cover, and is going to use more illustrations, 

 pay for correspondence, and endeavor in 

 every way possible to make itself worthy of 

 its name. 



laj, 



"What is honey?" is asked in Crfeaninys 

 by Dr. Miller who is writing the apicultural 

 part of a dictionary and wishes to give a cor- 

 rect definition of honey. Those definitions 

 that say honey is the nectar or juice of flow- 

 ers collected by the bees and stored by them 

 in the comb cells in the hive are correct so 

 far as they go, but they are incomplete in 

 that they omit to mention the transforma- 

 tion that nectar undergoes before it becomes 

 honey. They give the impression that honey 

 already exists in the flowers, when the fact is 

 that they contain only the material from 

 which honey is manufactmerl. 



O 



CHEAP (ilTEENS. 



In the last Review Mr. Trego mentions an 

 unsatisfactory deal that he had with a South- 

 ern queen breeder that advertised cheap 

 queens. As Mr.C.B.Bankston of Chrisman, 

 Texas, is advertising cheap queens, he fears 

 that some may think that /if is the breeder 

 to whom Mr. Trego referred. Such is not 

 the case. I believe the breeder of whom Mr. 

 Trego complained has gone out of the busi- 

 ness. Mr. Baukston very justly says that 

 breeders at the South can afford to sell 

 queens cheaper than can Northern breeders. 

 At the North the season is too short to al- 

 low low prices, 



