THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



267 



considerably less mold, either with or with- 

 out cushions; in fact, they were about as 

 good as wire cloth, if the latter were left 

 only a bee-space below the frames, thereby 

 holding all the dead bees in contact with the 

 frames. 



Two things I am sure at present I do not 

 want; namely, tight bottoms and sealed 

 covers. Taking all things into considera- 

 tion, I have arrived at the conclusion that 

 the proper method of wintering is about as 

 follows: There should be strong colonies 

 on eight, nine, or ten frames, without bot- 

 toms, or at least wire clotli held about two or 

 three inches below the frames by a wooden 

 frame the size of the hive-bottom. The 

 hives should be tiered as described in A. I. 

 Root's circular, with a folded gunny sack 

 between the tops of the frames and the top- 

 board of each hive. The lower tier of hives 

 should be two feet from the floor of the cel- 

 lar, which should be dry and dark. Light, 

 and extremes of temperature, have more to 

 do in rendering bees restless than bushels of 

 fruit and vegetables. They should be put 

 away as described by about the middle of 

 October, and allowed to remain as quiet as 

 possible till the 1st of March, not later than 

 the loth, if there are some nice days so they 

 can fly. When on the summer stands at this 

 early date they should be protected against 

 sudden changes of temperature." 



Self-Hivera. — Another Novel, Non- Swarm- 

 ing Idea, 



Perhaps he is right ti> dissemble his love 

 But why does he kick as up stairs? 



Adrian Getaz contributes the following 

 very interesting article to the American Bee 

 Journal : 



" Last spring I decided to make 30 self- 

 hivers, and experiment with them. In prin- 

 ciple they were similar to the Pratt hivers of 

 1892 ; that is, a box placed before the hive 

 and connected with the hive-entrance by a 

 queen- excluding zinc, with a cone permitting 

 the queen to come into the hives, but not to 

 go back. In fact, they were merely queen- 

 traps transformed into hives. Another zinc 

 in the front prevents the queen from going 

 out of the hives. 



The first experience was a mishap. My 

 apiaries are both out of town, and other 

 business requires most of my time. So one 

 of the apiaries was a week and a half with- 

 out attention. When I got there the people 

 living on the place told me that one colony 

 had swarmed every day for several days, and 

 finally the swarm went off. Investigation 

 showed five dead queens in the hives. The 

 theory is, that the old queen was killed by 

 the first virgin hatched, this in turn by the 

 next, and so on. Probably the last one was 

 reared from an old larva, and, as usual in 

 such cases, undersized, and went through the 

 zinc with the swarm. 



Well, other swarms came, and were found 

 in the hives, or at least the queens were, with 



more or less bees. The thing to do is to 

 move the old hive to a new stand, and leave 

 the supers, about one-third of the brood, and 

 the swarm, in a new hive on the old stand. 

 Thus used, the self-hiver (except perhaps 

 some particularity of construction) is cer- 

 tainly a success. 



As a non-swarmer it is a failure. The Da- 

 dauts say that if a swarm is returned to the 

 parent hive two days after swarming, the 

 swarming fever being over, the queen will be 

 permitted to destroy the cells, and the col- 

 ony will not swarm, at least not until new 

 preparations for swarming take place, if the 

 circumstances are favorable to it. Henry 

 Alley says that after a queen has been three 

 days in the trap, she will be permitted to de- 

 stroy the cells. Acting upon these sugges- 

 tions, I waited two or three days, and then 

 returned the swarms from the hivers to the 

 old hives. I soon discovered that the major- 

 ity were swarming again repeatedly, even 

 twice a day. Investigation disclosed the fact 

 that only one queen had destroyed all the 

 cells, the others had only destroyed a part. 

 This was not entirely unexpected. It is ob- 

 vious that the swarms returned to the hive 

 and left in the hiver are not in the same 

 condition as those coming out with their 

 queens, hived in a new hive, and then re- 

 turned. 



As to Henry Alley's assertion, I have to 

 say that so many conditions influence the 

 swarming of bees, that he may have suc- 

 ceeded under some circumstances, while he 

 might have failed entirely at some other 

 times. 



Well, I then proceeded to destroy the queen 

 cells myself. Only three colonies quit 

 swarming ; all the others persisted in swarm- 

 ing as long as they had either a queen or 

 some brood from which to rear one. I per- 

 sisted in returning swarms and cutting cells, 

 and the bees persisted in swarming again 

 and again. Finally, four or five queens 

 ' turned up missing,' probably were killed. 

 Then I acknowledged myself ' licked,' as Mr. 

 Hasty would put it, I divided some colo- 

 nies, and removed the queens from some 

 others. 



Here I have gained an important point. 

 None of the colonies that had been hopeless- 

 ly queenless for some time (from three or 

 four days to nearly two weeks) offered to 

 swarm again. It seems that when they find 

 themselves without queens or brood (except 

 capped brood) they give up all swarming 

 notions and go to work. After new queens 

 were given, they still kept on working regu- 

 larly. 



One or two points in regard to the con- 

 struction of the swarmer: Excepting the 

 one mentioned at the beginning of this arti- 

 cle, no queen, so far as I know, has passed 

 through the zinc. The cone ought to be 

 placed so that the bees are not likely to clus- 

 ter on the end of it, for when there is a clus- 

 ter, they cannot go in and out easily through, 

 the cluster. 



The most serious objection to the self- 

 hiver, as I had it. was that it interferes con- 

 siderably with the ventilation of the hive. 

 My hives have ample entrances, the zinc be- 



