146 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



(3) The honoy will be finished in better condi- 

 tion, that i«, witli less travel-stain, because the 

 union of the field forces enables tliem to com- 

 plete the work in less time. 



(4) There will bo fewer unfinished sections at 

 the close of the lioney harvest, for the reason just 

 mentioned. 



(5) Also for the same reason honey can be 

 taken off by the full case instead of by the sec- 

 tion or holder full. 



(6j Drones will be fewer in number, as a double 

 handful will often be killed off in the closed hive 

 whUe tiie other is storing honey rapidly, 



(Tj Artificial swarms and nuclei can be more 

 easily made, as combs of brood and bees can be 

 taken from the closed hive in which the queen 

 can be found very quickly. 



As there is in carrying out this system of 

 swarm prevention no caging of queens, cut- 

 ting out of queen cells, manipulation of 

 brood combs or even opening of the brood 

 chambers at all during the honey season, and 

 all the vexatious watching for swarms and 

 the labor and time involved in securing 

 these are done away with, and instead of this 

 a simple manipulation attended to not 

 oftener than once a week is substituted, it is 

 plain that very many more colonies can be 

 managed by one person, and, indeed, Mr. 

 Langdon informs me that he ' can care for 

 200 colonies with one day's work in a week 

 with no help, instead of working all the time 

 with 100 colonies.' It will, therefore, prove 

 a great boon to all having numerous out- 

 apiaries. 



One of the greatest advantages over any 

 plan for the prevention of swarming yet pro- 

 posed, which Mr. Landon's system will 

 have, should it prove on further trial all that 

 it now promises, is that it will not only pre- 

 vent more effectually than any other the ac- 

 tual issuance of swarms, but, while not re- 

 quiring any manipulation antagonistic to 

 the known instincts of bees, it will prevent 

 all desire to swarm, will completely do away 

 with the ' swarming fever,' so fatal to the 

 hopes of the comb honey producer. Another 

 great feature of it will be the more rigid 

 selection of breeding stock, which it will 

 facilitate. Intelligent selection can accom- 

 plish for this pursuit as much as it has done 

 for the breeders of our larger domestic ani- 

 mals. Furthermore, a strong natural incli- 

 nation to swarming on the part of any race 

 of bees, otherwise possessed of very desira- 

 ble traits, will not, under this system, oblige 

 the rejection of such race. Eventually the 

 disposition to swarm must through constant 

 suppression become less, or. in time it may 

 even disappear, giving us the long-sought 

 non-swarming strain. 



A brief statement of the success which has 

 attended Mr. Langdon's practical test of his 

 system during 18!t2, will be of interest in this 

 connection. In a letter dated December 24, 

 18!)2, he wrote: 



Last season I tried the device on ICKI hives. 

 Except in one instance the bees did no fightiner. 

 Why they do not fight when united in this way I 

 cannot say. It cortainly did not discouragethem 

 in honey gathering, for my yield from the 10(1 

 hives was (l.OtJO pounds of comb honey or an 

 average of 60 pounds per hive, some i)airs yield- 

 ing l')0 pounds, and it has been counted a poor 

 season for bees in my locality this year. .Vfter 

 one season's trial of the device and plan I do not 

 know of a single fault or objection to it. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings 



E. E. HASTY. 



It seemed like going to extremes for Prof. 

 Cook to declare, as he did a bit ago, that he 

 knew of no literature less in need of im- 

 provement than that pertaining to apicul- 

 ture. His point seems to be well taken how 

 ever. There is grumbling enough at our pa- 

 pers, to be sure ; but the real trouble in most 

 cases is lack of enthusiasm on the part of 

 the reader. What ever can an editor do for 

 the man who is disgusted with the subject of 

 apiculture ? Nothing, except he plunge 

 deeper into comicalities and side issues ; and 

 this, although it may temporarily stop the 

 grumbling, makes matters worse in the end. 

 Yes, we would gladly see our papers better, 

 but they are already better than those de- 

 voted to most other specialties. I wanted 

 one day an example of how not to write — 

 wanted an article spending the opening one- 

 third of its space in explaining why the 

 reader need not expect anything worth read- 

 ing, or some equally idiotic trash — and I did 

 not find one. They used to be common 

 enough. This high grade of excellence which 

 our average paper has reached is liable to be 

 a stumbling block to the editor who reads 

 outside literature much and bee papers little. 

 He thus unconsciously judges himself by a 

 standard which is too low. 



AMERICAN BEE- KEEPER. 



This paper is edited by one of the most 

 gentlemanly and excellent of men, and there- 

 fore its reviewer finds it quite unpleasant to 

 say that it seems of late to be getting down 

 in relative merit, and going below its class- 

 mates. The fact seems to be that its large 

 supply business gives it great advantages in 

 obtaining and holding subscribers, and it 

 leans on these advantages too hard — good 

 paper though, if we could only refrain from 

 comparing it with its cotemporaries. Per- 

 haps I forget that we should not expect as 

 many strawberries for .">0 cts. as we get for 

 a dollar. And I'll try to disprove my own 

 position by working hard at the seriatim of 

 the March number. 



Friend De Witt, who appears each month, 

 does a very fair job at iiosting the begin- 

 ners. 



Order your supplies in spring; and read 

 your bee paper, if you have one. — (S. E. 

 Hitchcock.) 



