266 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



an article in the Grange Visitor, Mr. Taylor 

 briugs out the poiuts so clearly that 1 thiuk 

 best to copy the entire article. He says : — 



*' Bee-keeping has been carried ou for 

 thousands of years but it is only within tlie 

 recollection of living men that it has passed 

 out of the uiediit'val, which was probably 

 also the pre-historic stage. It is natural 

 then, that in this, more perhaps than in oth- 

 er rural occupations, there should be ques- 

 tions pressing for solution. It is much that 

 these questions are being propounded, ques- 

 tions for which until recently tliere was no 

 basis, and this very condition gives promise 

 of certain and valuable results. It is as if 

 the gates were just opened and the apiarists 

 were crowding forward to see wliat a view of 

 the inside would reveal. The interest thus 

 exhibited will be sure to observe and secure 

 what is of value. 



What the station may do for this class is 

 to undertake the solution of these questions 

 that are uppermost, V)y investigations which 

 the members of the class cannot well under- 

 take separately. For instance, in the mat- 

 ter of diseases of the bee there is much to be 

 learned. It is well known that foul brood, 

 the nriost dreaded of these diseases, is caused 

 by a bacillus wliich is liable to convey the 

 disease to any hive which it may enter. It 

 is known that it may be carried from one 

 hive to another in honey. May it be so car- 

 ried in wax ? May it be conveyed by a hive 

 put into use again which had before con- 

 tained the brood combs and bees of a dis- 

 eased colony ? If so, how may they best be 

 disinfe<!ted ? Whether the disease may be 

 conveyed in wax made from combs from an 

 infected colony and so carried from one part 

 of the country to another in comb founda- 

 tion, is a (question of especial interest, and 

 demands speedy and careful attention. 



Again, it is a mooted question to what ex- 

 tent it is profitable to use comb foundation 

 in the brood chamber, f )f course a single 

 exvjeriinent would not settle it, but if care- 

 fully pursued on a somewhat extended scale, 

 the truth can be made known. At the sta- 

 tion this season an attempt in this direction 

 has been l)egun with twelve colonies. Four 

 swarms were hived on comb, four on comb 

 foundation and four on frames with starters 

 only, and it is quite certain the results will 

 be instructive. Then there is quite a large 

 variety of comb foundations used. These 

 are distinguished by difference in weight as 

 well as by difference in the shape of the sep- 

 tum and of the side walls caused by differ- 

 ences in the machines with which it is made. 

 Now some bee-keepers select the extra-thin, 

 some the thin and some the medium : others 

 choose that with a fiat bottom, others again 

 want that of the natural shai)e. and in almost 

 every case the reasons for the choice are 

 l)urely fanciful. AVhich is really the best? 

 Which is least objectionable in the honey, 

 and, by the use of which do the bees secure 

 the most honey ? By projier experiments 

 the station should be able to tell the bee- 

 keepers what is the truth in these matters. 



It has been assumed that it is more i)rofit- 

 able to have very strong colonies rather than 



moderate ones during the time when the crop 

 is being gathered. The station ought to be 

 able to say definitely in time whether this is 

 a sound assumption. 



Looking in another direction we find from 

 the very expectancy with wliich new claims 

 and investigations are regarded, and the 

 eagerness with which supposed truth is re- 

 ceived, especially in matters where there is a 

 promise held out of a saving of labor or 

 trouble, that it would be desirable that there 

 should l)e a i)lace where new inventions in 

 the way of ai)icultural appliances will be 

 promptly and impartially tested, thereby 

 saving individuals large amounts in the ag- 

 gregate for what proves in the end to be use- 

 less traps ; as well as introducing to fhem 

 really useful implements which otherwise 

 would be neglected from a fear that their 

 purchase would prove a useless expense. 

 Already in this line, experiments have been 

 made with the plausible inventions known as 

 the non-swarmer and self-hiver — experi- 

 ments which should save the bee-keepers of 

 the State much money if they will only read 

 the published reports of their workings. 



The foregoing may serve to give an idea 

 of the nature of the work which the station 

 ought to perform, and a hint to those inter- 

 ested of what benefit they ought to derive 

 from it. ( )f course, other items of work 

 should be undertaken as the favorable season 

 of the year for them comes on, and a watch 

 kept for the rising of new questions which 

 seem to deserve consideration. 



Lapeeb, Mich." 



Getting the Bees Ready for Winter. 



It is seldom that I come across an article 

 in which I can so fully agree with the writer 

 as is the case with sombody who signed his 

 name A. B. C. and sent the article to Glean- 

 itKjs. The only thing in which I do not 

 agree with him is in putting the bees in the 

 cellar as early as October. I cannot help 

 wondering if that is what he really means. 

 Bees often have several flights after that 

 date and I think those late flights are a help 

 to them in bearing the confinement that is to 

 follow. I would leave them out a month 

 later than A. B. C. advises. I (juote from 

 the article as follows: — 



"I prepared my bees in several different 

 ways for winter — chaff hives, sealed-cover 

 hives, chaff cushions on some, others with 

 folded gunny sacks between the frames and 

 cover, or top-lioard. .\ll except chaff hives 

 were in the cellar. I also experimented 

 witli tight bottoms. Miller's bottom-boards, 

 no bottom-boards, and wire cloth. As to 

 the chaff hives, they seem to answer well 

 for winter, only that tiiey lost too heavily in 

 bees. In the cellar the tight-bottom hives, 

 both with sealed cover and pads, lost greatly 

 in numbers by mold. Tiie sealed covered 

 hives all showed mold from condensed mois- 

 ture. The Miller bottom-boards showed 



