208 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



nest or upper story. If the bottom hoards 

 are fast, and we run short of upper stories, 

 we cannot utilize any lower stories that we 

 may happen to have, as they have bottoms 

 on them and cannot be used for supers. 

 1 prefer loose bottoms. 



EXPERIMENTAL APIOULTUEE. 



" Could wo but surely know 

 Aught of those uutried fields and meadows low 

 Who would not t^o ? 



All of our bee journals are published sim- 

 ply to tell of new things, of those not before 

 known, or, at least, not generally known. 

 From whence come these facts? From ex- 

 perience; from experimenting. Scattered all 

 over the land are bee-keepers. In the spring 

 each one starts in with a more or less defi- 

 nite plan of how he will manage his apiary 

 that season, but many times during the sea- 

 sou must he make a choice of several differ- 

 ent methods. Some of them may be of 

 minor importance, others may make all the 

 difference between a fair crop and being 

 obliged to feed the bees for winter. Suppose 

 the bees are in the cellar; how early shall 

 they be taken out, shall they be protected 

 when taken out, shall they be fed to stimu- 

 late them, shall swarming be allowed, shall 

 foundation be used in the brood nest in hiv- 

 ing swarms, shall there be an effort to make 

 the number of unfinished sections, at the 

 end of the season, as small as possible or 

 shall abundant room be given to the end of 

 the harvest, and then feeding back be resort- 

 ed to for completing the unfinished sections? 

 These, and many more questions, would bee- 

 keepers like answered. 



The trouble with the average bee-keeper 

 is that he is likely to choose some one of 

 these plans and carry it out with his whole 

 apiary. No comparative work is done. If 

 he gets a good crop with the plan adopted 

 he reports it as a success. Perhaps some 

 other plan might have been more successful. 

 A writer in a recent issue of the A. B. J., in 

 criticising my advice not to hive swarms on 

 drawn comb at the height of the honey har- 

 vest, when working for comb honey, men- 

 tioned two or three instances where he had 

 done so, and, by the way, one was where he 

 had put two swarms together, and secured 

 good results. If he tried hiving swarms on 

 starters only in the brood nest, he does not 

 mention it. If he did not try it, he does not 

 know thatit wonld not have been more prof- 



itable. Mr. Doolittle, a few months ago, 

 mentioned in the Review an experience of 

 his in stimulative feeding in the spring. A 

 part of his apiary was fed and went booming 

 ahead at such a rate that it was a great temp- 

 tation not to feed all of the colonies. As a re- 

 sult of resisting the temptation, he learned 

 that in that instance, at least, not much was 

 gained by the feeding. It is in such ways 

 as this that experiments ought to be conduc- 

 ted. 



It is not every bee-keeper that is "cutout' ' 

 for an experimeter. It needs a person of 

 a judicial cast of mind, one that is perfectly 

 willing, so speak, that an experiment shall 

 prove the truth. Too many of us are inclin- 

 ed to make a decision jirat, and then go to 

 work and try to prove what we already be- 

 lieve. This will not answer. An experimen- 

 ter ought to be wholly disinterested in the 

 results, that is, be willing that an experi- 

 ment proves either side of the question. 



It costs money, time and bees to experi- 

 ment. The average bee-keeper cannot af- 

 ford to spare much of these without a reason- 

 able supposition that there will be a money 

 return. If he desires to experiment he is 

 confronted with the query, will it pay? Un- 

 less there are fair prospects of a money re- 

 turn, it must be abandoned. 



The foregoing are not the only reasons why 

 it would be advisable to have competent bee- 

 keepers employed by the government to take 

 charge of experimental apiaries. There is 

 another reason that perhaps but few have 

 thought of, viz., that such a person would 

 be clothed with authority. What he said or 

 did would be looked upon with respect by 

 the outside world. For instance, when queen 

 bees were thrown out of the mails, it was 

 mainly through the efforts of Prof. Cook 

 that they were readmitted. Last year a duty 

 was placed upon queen bees imported into 

 this country. Again it was through the in- 

 strumentality of Prof. Cook that this duty 

 was removed. Prof. Cook told me himself 

 that as an individual he could never have 

 accomplished these results, but, as Professor 

 of entomology in the Agricultural College of 

 Michigan ho was heard and his arguments 

 given consideration. Cases like these are 

 liable to came up at any time, and a good 

 man at the head of a State Experimental 

 apiary would be a power for good. 



It seems as though no arguments are need- 

 ed to show that an experimental apiary in 

 each State would be a great benefit. We all 



