254 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



criterion of what it would be in general 

 practice, quite a serious difficulty is present- 

 ed to the practical working of the hiver, for 

 it would mean the ruin of all colonies that 

 throw off swarms unless constant watchful- 

 ness is exercised, and if there must be such 

 watchful-!' ss there would seem to be little 

 necessity for hivers. Though I should not 

 expect that the percentage of loss would be 

 generally so lar;_'<', yet I fear it would be suf- 

 ficiently so as to be still a serious matter. 



(;)f perhaps even greater interest than the 

 loss of queens is the effect of the hiver upon 

 the amount and value of the honey pro- 

 duced. At the tinje the hivers were adjusted 

 all the colonies in question were working in 

 the sections except No. 1 though no great 

 progress hud been made except in case of 

 No. 3 whicli had nearly filled the first super 

 of 28 sections. This was an excei)tionally 

 strong colony and was composed of excel- 

 lent workers. .Judging by what other colo- 

 nies did it sliould have produced 7") pounds 

 of comb honey had it been managed as the 

 others were. In the same way the other four 

 would have averaged about one-half as much 

 or 22.5 pounds for the five. 



The actual results so far as comb honey 

 was concerned were all contained in three 

 cases, none of which were very well filled, cer- 

 tainly not to exceed (iO pounds all told, and 

 this was all produced by No. 3 and by Nos. 

 4 and .5 which did not swarm. At once on 

 the close of the clover season the extra hives 

 — those not containing brood — were removed 

 and would yield about 1.50 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey. Even the colonies that did 

 not swarm had pretty well filled the hives 

 below the hivers. 



Of course I appreciate the unsatisfactory 

 character of the comparative result founded 

 as it is upon an estimate of what the colonies 

 would have done under other circumstances, 

 but with a desire to arrive at the exact truth 

 I have judged as fairly as I am ca[)able of 

 doing. 



Until swarming has once begun the hiver 

 has apparently a strong tendency to restrain 

 the swarming fever, but when a swarm once 

 issues, if the old queen is killed, the fever will 

 generally persist till all the young queens 

 but one are destroyed or otherwise dis- 

 posed of. 



Before a final determination as to the util- 

 ity of the hiver, further tests must be made, 

 and it is to be hoped that such further im- 



provements may be made as may render the 

 circumstances of future trials more favor- 

 able. 



Lapkeb, Mich., 



Aug. 16, 1893. 



TIMIBIj'S' tofics. 

 No. 8. 



B. L. TAYLOB. 



" Bees can live without love — what is passion 

 but piuing ? 



But where are the bees that can live without 

 dining ? " 



fF other work of the apiary such as the 

 uniting of colonies and due oversight 

 with regard to queens has been timely 

 attended to there is little to require the at- 

 tention of the apiarist during the first twen- 

 ty days of September except the crop of fall 

 honey in places where there is such a crop. 

 For the securing of this the bees must have 

 sufficient room and at the close of the flow 

 all surplus receptacles sholud be promptly re- 

 moved and the honey stored in a warm, dry 

 room. 



The clearing of the supers of bees will be 

 found a much more difficult undertaking in 

 the fall than it was in July. The bees are 

 sluggish and stubborn and respond very 

 slowly even to a deluge of smoke, so that the 

 apiarist may well try coaxing in place of 

 driving and make use of bee escapes. No 

 doubt they will work more slowly than in 

 the summer but they will still be found a 

 great luxury. 



The extracting of the honey from combs 

 destined to that end, if stored in a proper 

 place, should not be very long delayed, else 

 the operation will be found slow and vex- 

 atious by reason of the thickening of the 

 honey through evaporation. 



When there has been a yield of fall honey 

 but little if any feeding for winter stores 

 will be found necessary even though the 

 brood chambers be quite small, for at that 

 season the brood nest is much contracted 

 thus giving abundant room for stores, but 

 each colony should be examined, for some of 

 the best colonies, if the bees have much blood 

 of the German race and the brood chambers 

 are small, may have put almost all their hon- 

 ey into the supers and when found short of 

 stores the want must be supplied without 

 delay. 



