182 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



An early issue of the Review (if uot the 

 July, then the August issue) will probahly 

 be devoted to a special discussion of "Ex- 

 perimental Apiculture," and Mr. Taylor will 

 thereafter have charge of a department in 

 the Review headed " Work at the Michignn 

 Experimental Apiary." In this department 

 he will tell what he has done, is doing, and 

 hopes to do. Readers will be invited to say 

 what experiments they would like con- 

 ducted, or how they would like particular 

 experiments conducted, to criticise, com- 

 mend and encourage. Mr. Taylor would be 

 thankful for suggestions of any kind by let- 

 ter at once, touching work that can be done 

 to advantage only during the swarming 

 season. Of all the good things that have 

 come to bee-keepers through the Review, 

 I lirmly believe that this will prove Becond 

 to none. 



I have been explicit as to the methods em- 

 ployed in securing the appropriation, be- 

 cause I thought it might help bee-keepers in 

 other States in their efforts to secure recog- 

 nition at the hands of the State Board. 

 Somebody has got to go ahead and do some 

 hard earnest work, and there will be some 

 expenses for printing, postage, car-fare and 

 hotel bills in going to visit the Board ; but 

 these expenses ought to be borne by the bee- 

 keepers of the State — perhaps be paid out of 

 the funds of the State Association. There 

 is no use in trying to avoid this expense ; for, 

 as one of the board wrote me after the meet- 

 ing was over, " All of the talk and writing 

 would have amounted to nothing, had not 

 you and Mr. Taylor come before us in the 

 proper spirit ; then the thing went through 

 like a charm, without a dissenting voice, 

 and with the most hearty good feeling." 



EXTRT^OTED. 



How to Introduce Queens by the Hatching 

 Brood Method. 

 When one has a valuable queen to intrq- 

 duce, the plan of letting her loose on combs 

 of just hatching brood, combs from which 

 all the bees have been brushed off, is some- 

 times resorted to. Of course, the hive is 

 closed for several days, until there are suf- 

 ficient bees hatched to form a cluster and 

 defend the hive. ( )ne trouble, unless it be 

 very warm weather, is the danger of loss 

 from chilled brood. In Gleauintjs, Dr. 



Miller gives a plan that is ahead of that. He 

 says:— 



"When I get an imported queen I generally 

 use the plan of having two or three or moio 

 frames of hatching brood, if possible hav- 

 ing no unsealed brood. Doolittle speaks of 

 this plan, and seems to think it's all right, 

 except that sometimes one may forget to 

 bring it in at night, or it may not be warm 

 enough in the house, and so there's a chance 

 for chilling. Let me tell you how I man- 

 age so there is no danger of chilling. I bore 

 in the bottom of a hive a two-inch auger- 

 hole. On the inside of the hive I nail over 

 this hole a piece of wire cloth. Turning the 

 hive upside down I nail on the hole an- 

 other piece of wire cloth. Then this hive is 

 placed over another hive containing a strong 

 colony. Nothing is between the two hives, 

 so that the heat from the lower hive goes 

 directly through the auger hole up into the 

 hive above. In the upper hive I put the 

 frames of hatching brood, make sure that 

 every thing is bee-tight, put the queen on 

 top of the frame, and auickly V>ut on the cov- 

 er. In five days the upper hive is allowed 

 an entrance large enough for the passage of 

 one bee at a time, and I have seen those five- 

 day-old babies bringing in loads of pollen. 

 In a few days more the hive can be removed 

 to a new location. It would be better, I 

 think, to have the hole larger, so that the 

 heat would pass up more readily. The hole 

 being doubly covered with wire cloth, there 

 is no chance for the bees below to communi- 

 cate with the ones above, so there is no dan- 

 ger of their hatching mischief. I have, how- 

 ever, sometimes used an upper hive without 

 any bottom board with a single sheet of wite 

 clotli between the two hives." 



Some of the Things I Wouldn't do. 

 Bro. Alley, in the May Api., gives about 

 three colums to mentioning some of the 

 things he wouldn't do and some that he 

 would do. I give a few of those that he 

 wouldn't do. 



"I wouldn't introduce a new (jueen for the 

 sal?e of changing the racn of any prosperous 

 colony of bees. Those who do so will be the 

 losers in the end. After the swarming and 

 honey season are over, then change queens 

 if necessary. 



I wouldn't put sections on a hive no mat- 

 ter how populous the colony, till I could see 

 that the bees are gathering some honey and 

 had started to build brace combs between 

 the top bars of the frames. Then I would 

 put a few sections on, but not over one set 

 of twenty-four sections at a time. 



I wouldn't use a section case that is non- 

 reversit)le. When sections are half full, or 

 even quite full, if reversed the bees will at- 

 tach the combs solidly to all sides of the 

 section. Honey so stored can be shipped a 

 long distance without breaking or leaking. 

 I have no section cases for sale, nor am I 

 puffing my own goods. Don't misunder- 

 stand mo. 



