THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



291 



bees oatside, even with no extra protection, 

 as then we give chance for frequent flight 

 and copy their usual condition. 



There are many cases besides the one you 

 give that prove that food is a considerable 

 factor in the matter of safe wintering. It 

 seems positive that honey adulterated with 

 glucose, much fall honey which often has the 

 glucose like honey dew honey in large pro- 

 portion, and honey dew honey itself, are all 

 fatal to bees as winter food ; especially if 

 the bees are long contined. The presence 

 of pollen by stimulating activity may also be 

 harmful, while cane syrup honey is, like 

 our best early honey, a very safe winter 

 food. With other conditions most favorable, 

 probably any food, almost, would be whole- 

 some and safe, but with other conditions 

 awry, then the good food may ward off dis" 

 aster. 



Some years since I doubted if dampness 

 were an obstacle to safe wintering. Our old 

 bee cellar with water always running 

 through it was a great success. The bees 

 always wintered well, and came out bright 

 and strong, even on fall food, and despite 

 the winter, whether very mild, or so cold that 

 the mercury went down among the thirties. 

 Our present cellar is equally unfavorable, 

 yet it preserves as high a temperature. I 

 have known the mercury in the old cellar to 

 be at 38= F for weeks, and yet the bees came 

 through all right. In our present cellar, 

 though the mercury goes no lower, yet the 

 bees never winter well. The old cellar al- 

 ways seemed pleasant in summer or winter. 

 The present one always seems chilly and 

 forbidding. The one was dry and whole- 

 some, the other is damy and clammy. The 

 one was in sand and well drained, the other 

 is in moist tenacious clay. I feel quite sure 

 that the constant moisture in our present 

 cellar is the explanation of its failure. Both 

 cellars are coated all over with cement, and 

 I supposed and think now that both are well 

 drained. Thus I should like a cellar to be 

 so situated as always to be dry and whole- 

 some, so that when we enter it we do not 

 wish for an overcoat. I am inclined to the 

 opinion that a cellar in sand is better than 

 one in any hard unyielding clay. I should 

 prefer to have my cellar in a protected place 

 rather than on a bleak hill. In such a cellar, 

 with good food, I believe we will suffer no 

 perceptible loss, even in the most serious 

 seasons. 



Ag'l Col., Mich. Sept. 16, 1893. 



Some Criticisms on the Experiments With 

 the Lanpdon Non - Swarmer. 



FBANK BAUCHFUSS. 



Man knows but little here below 

 Compared with what he longs to know. 



IRIEND HUTCHINSON :— In the Au- 

 gust number of the Review I find Mr. 

 Taylor's experiments with the Lang- 

 don device and as you invite suggestions and 

 criticism of this line of work, I take the lib- 

 erty in addressing these lines to you, 



The report does not mention one impor- 

 tant point, i. e. whether these colonies which 

 swarmed had queen cells newly started or 

 some which were kept over through the time 

 of depopulation. 



In our opinion the devices should be at- 

 tached very early, before the colonies have 

 any idea of swarming. 



The use of only one story of the Heddon 

 hive for brood chambers was hardly fair as 

 almost any colony will swarm thus con- 

 tracted: how can we expect two colonies 

 thrown together to be satisfied with such 

 cramped quarters ? On the contrary we 

 should like to have seen the experiment 

 tried with large hives also, such as 10-frame 

 Langstroth or the Quinby. 



During the past season we have used one 

 Langdon device and besides a number of 

 our own get up, which are simpler and al- 

 low both colonies to use the same entrance, 

 the alternating of which is regulated by a 

 tongue, this plan avoids confusion in trans- 

 ferring the bees to one colony, this seems to 

 be a point where the Langdon is faulty, as 

 we find that the bees refuse to travel through 

 the passage-way, cluster outside and stop 

 ventilation. The hives used were ten-frame 

 Langstroth and two-story Heddon, and 

 wherever the devices were adjusted early 

 enough swarming was prevented and the 

 yield of those colonies was as large as of any 

 pair, excepting one, in the yard. The next 

 day after alternating, the queen cells would 

 be destroyed and drones killed, still there 

 seemed to be enough bees remaining in the 

 closed hive to take care of most of the brood, 

 although eggs and small larvae were nearly 

 all gone, but the loss sustained in this way 

 seemed to be made up again, in that the beea 

 lived longer as they did not have to take care 

 of so much brood, at least the present 

 strength of the colonies seems to prove this. 



Although these devices have worked satis- 

 factorily this season we don't claim them to 



