THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



broadened in scope, if the Union is only 

 managed with the same wisdom that has 

 characterized its past career, it will become 

 a power in the laud. 



By the way, the Union has already scored 

 one victory the present year. A bill was 

 introduced in the Missouri legislature for 

 the enactment of a law prohibiting the 

 keeping of bees in any city, town or village, 

 nearer than 50 feet from the line of any real 

 estate owner. An appeal was sent to the 

 Union, and copies of the decision of the 

 Supreme Court of Arkansas, in the case 

 where a bee-keeper was prosecuted for re- 

 fusing to move his bees from a city, were 

 sent to the members of the legislature, and 

 letters were written to them, and when the 

 bill came up in the lower house it was 

 promptly killed. 



Q 



THE WELLS SYSTEM. 



"Two souls with but a single thought; two 

 hearts that beat as one." 



( )ur bee-keeping friends across the Atlan- 

 tic are now greatly interested in what is call- 

 ed the Wells system of managing bees. In 

 one point it resembles the plan described by 

 Mr. Taylor in this issue of the Review. It 

 resembles the Taylor plan in that the bees of 

 two queens are worked together in one hive 

 and one set of supers, but the division board 

 between them is of perforated, queen-ex- 

 cluding metal instead of being a thin, solid 

 board. There is also a queen excluder be- 

 tween each brood nest and the super above 

 it; thus each queen is kept on "her side of 

 the fence." There is no attempt at prevent- 

 ing swarming, the great advantage claimed 

 being that populous colonies and large yields 

 are secured. This arrangement is not call- 

 ed two colonies in one hive, but one colony 

 with two queens, and in one sense it is an 

 acknowledgement that the "queen power" 

 is not sufficient to run a hive of the size used 

 — two queens are required to keep the popu- 

 lation of one hive at the profitable iioint. 

 It is really an argument in favor of smaller 

 brood nests. There is one poiut, however, 

 that ought not to he overlooked: there may 

 be a mutual benefit in the combined heat of 

 the two colonies. If the bees of two (jueens 

 will thus work together in harmony, then 

 it would be the same with three, the same 

 with any number, and we could, if we wish- 

 ed, have a great long hive with a dozen 

 queens, each being kept in her proper sphere 



by queen-excluding metal. What a remedy 

 for weak coloniesi I must confess that this 

 idea looks more novel than practical, but so 

 many things are being done now days that 

 there is no knowing what )nay be done next. 



AFTEK-SWAKMING PREVENTED BY THE USE OF 

 THE BEE-ESCAPE. 



Frank Coverdale writes me that he has pre- 

 vented after-swarming by hiving the swarm 

 on the old stand, then placing the old hive 

 by its side with its entrance near that of the 

 newly hived swarm. The old hive is then 

 closed except that a bee-escape is placed in 

 the entrance on the side next to the new 

 hive. Of course, every bee that leaves the 

 old hive never gets back, but finds its way 

 into the new swarm. All of the working 

 force, and all of the young bees when they 

 come out to play, are thrown into the new 

 swarm. In seven or eight days the old hive 

 can be given a new stand, the same as in the 

 Heddon plan, but it will be completely rob- 

 bed of all the bees except the young, downy, 

 just hatched ones, which is not the case with 

 the Heddon plan, as was explained in the 

 Extracted Department (Doolittle's article) 

 last month, and after-swarming will possi- 

 tively be prevented in every case. If no in- 

 crease is desired the escape can be left in 

 place for a longer period, 21 days if the 

 weather is warm, or, if it is cool, it may be 

 taken away at the end of two weeks. When 

 the bees have all hatched out, the few re- 

 maining may be shaken off in front of the 

 new swarm and the honey extracted from 

 the combs, or they can be used in any way 

 thought best. Or the matter may simply be 

 carried to such an extent that the old colony 

 will be so weakened that not only will it not 

 swarm but it will not be sufficiently popu- 

 lous for winter, but will still be able to care 

 for and protect the combs until fall, when 

 the two colonies may be united, the better 

 queen being preserved. 



EXXRMOXeD. 



The Pratt Self-Hiver a Success in the Hands 



of E. R. Root. 



At tiie Washington meeting of the North 



American, Mr. E. R. Root read an essay on 



self-hivers and their use. As the manner in 



