THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



259 



hold 24 colonies of bees. The building is 

 finished, and five colonies of bees are now 

 located in it. It is proposed to ask the bee- 

 keepers of Vermont, or others who feel so 

 disposed, to contribute a few colonies of 

 bees, so as to be able to do good work next 

 season. There are seven more colonies in 

 another place that belong to the station, 

 making twelve in all. ISext year we hope to 

 have a regular apiarist and to do some good 

 work. 



Burlington is as easily reached from many 

 places in New York, as from our own State ; 

 and I shall hope that among bee-keepers 

 State lines will be disregarded and that those 

 who can will avail themselves of the welcome 

 offered on behalf of the Vt. B, K. A. to add 

 their names to the membership roll, and as- 

 sist, or better still, all work together in this 

 experimental work. 



Perhaps I shall be able to write more after 

 a visit to the station, but until then, I must 

 extend the congratulations of the Vermont 

 bee-keepers to our brethren of Michigan, on 

 the beginning of experimental work and 

 recognition, by the State authorities, of our 

 industry ; and hope that much good may re- 

 sult in the years to come. 



Babbe, Vt Aug. 18, 1893. 



Winter Experiments Needed With Heat 

 And Ventilation. 



C. W. DAYTON. 



'■ O the long and dreary winter! 

 O the Cold and cruel winter I" 



¥ELL, it ap- 

 pears that 

 the State of Mich- 

 igan has arranged 

 for another feast 

 and invites the 

 whole United 

 States to share in 

 it. I shall endeav- 

 or to remain so far 

 in the rear that 

 those who kicked 

 so hard at certain 

 former experi- 

 ments, can now step forward and demon- 

 strate their superior f ? i judgement, bearing 

 in mind that " a fool can find fault, but it 

 is a wise man who can discern excellence^'" 



The experiment that I would like above 

 all others to have tried just now, is the one 

 with which Mr. B. Taylor has been storming 

 the bee journals of late — ventilation or no 

 ventilation of the hive in winter. To be 

 sure, the foul brood cures are in a most dis- 

 ordered condition at present, mainly because 

 each man strives to hold up his cure as the 

 cure. A doubtful appearing phase of Mr. 

 McEvoy's description is in the origina- 

 tion of the disease. Another thing he says 

 that all drugs are " worse than useless. " 

 When I was in Colorado, last year, in Bould- 

 er county, a big county and a great deal of 

 foul brood existing. I talked with a Mr. 

 Adams, whom I had reason to believe to be 

 an efficient inspector, and he told me that he 

 not only cured the desease with a drug (it 

 may have been salicylic acid but he called it 

 by another name ) but by pouring the same 

 in a diluted form (m the tops of the top bars 

 occasionally the bees would track it all 

 through the hive, thus preventing or check- 

 ing the progress of the desease. A preven- 

 tion is better than cures. He mentioned 

 his own apiaries and the apiaries of several 

 of his neighbors which by this plan had been 

 kept healthy for years while apiaries had 

 died rotten with the disease all about them. 



The more I read the more the confusion, 

 and my next move toward certainty would 

 be to buy a few foul broody colonies and 

 try all the remedies. 



As the season is so far advanced, experi- 

 ments on wintering will probably be the 

 the more seasonable. 



I have not the least doubt but whole api- 

 aries may be wintered safely with or without 

 ward ventilation and whole apiaries die both 

 ways. 



I think Mr. Heddou demonstrated that he 

 could winter bees in almost any tempera- 

 ture and with any or no ventilation by tak- 

 ing away their pollen. The principal objec- 

 ion to his plan by the average bee keeper is 

 changing their food and excluding the pollen. 



Mr. H. R. Boardman, I believe, uses no 

 upward ventilation and always winters suc- 

 cessfully, but it is more than likely he makes 

 the conditions of his repositories such that 

 he himself can not explain or the average 

 bee keeper understand and apply. 



Some years ago Mr. Ira Barber created 

 quite a sensation by relating his method of 

 wintering in a very high temperature. Then 

 he became quiet and his method was forgot- 

 ten. 



