\eepeps' JKeviecu'. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 

 $1,00 A YEAR. 



W. Z.HUTCHir*SOr», EditoP & Pi»op. 



VOL, VI, FLINT, MICHIGAN, OCT, 10. 1893. NO. 10. 



AV^ork at IM^idiigan's 



Experiraental 



Apiary. 



B. L. TAYIiOE, APIABIST. 

 U.SE OF FOUNDATION IN THE BBOOD-CHAMBEB. 



T desire in this 

 X article to set 

 forth briefly the 

 chnracter and re- 

 sults of the exper- 

 iments niatle in 

 the apiriry to test 

 the comparative 

 vain e of comb, 

 foundHtiun and 

 starters when 

 used in thebrood- 

 chamber for 

 swarms, and in addition thereto to call at- 

 tention to what the experiments seem to dis- 

 close touching the comparative advantage 

 of swarms of different sizes. In the main 

 all this can be best accomplished by the use 

 of tables which I have prepared and which 

 are presented Kerewith. 



It was not till the 27th of June that I was 

 able to pnt i.ilo operation my plans for 

 making tliB.ie tests. I prepared twelve hives, 

 four of which were furnished with comb, 

 four with foundation, and four with starters 

 only. Tne hivts prepared with comb were 

 designated by llie numbers one to four in- 

 clusive with the letter A, those with founda- 



tion in like manner with the letter B, and 

 those with starters with the same numbers 

 and the letter C, and each hive was marked 

 with the proper designation and its weight. 

 Then in each case when a swarm issued, 

 which was to be used for making this test, it 

 was secured in a basket and weighed before 

 hiving : the supers also, whether taken from 

 the old hive at the time of swarming or sup- 

 plied subsequently, were carefully weighed 

 before they were put in place and a record 

 made on the spot of all items. By referring 

 to table A all these will be found in the three 

 columns following the date of hiving except 

 of course the weight of the cases subsequent- 

 ly adjusted which appears further along. I 

 ought also to say that in each case the hive 

 with the bees and cases was re- weighed early 

 on the morniag subsequent to the hiving in 

 order to detect and thereby correct any 

 change which might chance to take place be- 

 fore the swarm became settled in its new 

 home. The only change it was found neces- 

 sary to make was the addition of the frac- 

 tion of a pound to the weight of the bees 

 which may be supposed to be accounted for 

 by the presen e in the morning of bees which 

 at the time of swarming were afield. 



Other data for table A were obtained by 

 weighing the several hives, bees, supers and 

 all upon three different dates, viz., the 6th, 

 12th, and the 19th of -July (thus dividing the 

 time of the test into three nearly equal peri- 

 ods) and by weighing the cases of honey 

 separately on .July 19th, at the end of the 

 time given to the test. These data with the 



