296 



TBE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



and those in the old. cold cellar did the same. 

 But how in the cellar ? Cold is a giaut in a 

 cellar. Why ? Because it continues ; there 

 is no ray of sunlight, no immediate raising 

 of temperature, or chance for the bees to 

 change position. What degree can bees 

 stand ? That depends upon the duration. 

 Here is the important point that too many 

 of us have overlooked. Forty degrees below, 

 can be endured for a short time, but 10 tol.'i 

 degrees above, will kill bees if continued, 

 diarrhtea or no diarrhuia. 



It is the temperature within the hive, that 

 effects the bees, and it requires time for the 

 temperature without to effect the temper- 

 ature within. 



In the same yard stood 17 colonies lower 

 down and packed warmer than the 49 just 

 referred to, all being on full natural stores 

 of honey and pollen, and in the regular 8- 

 frame Langstroth hives. All but two died. 

 All of them had diarrhoea badly. Not until 

 we could remove bee-diarrhtea, could we get 

 a clear view of any other causes which might 

 result in the death of our bees. 



Just to the left stood 73 colonies packed 

 like the above 17 ; these had little pollen in 

 their combs, and stores of a mixture of su- 

 gar and honey, just the same as the 10 refer- 

 red to in the new, damp cellar. They, like 

 the 17, were low down, and were pretty well 

 covered with snow during the severe weath- 

 er. Of these 73 colonies, about one-half sur- 

 vived. 



Of my out-apiary of 208 colonies, all pack- 

 ed, and all on natural stores, nearly all 

 died." 



Where the Langdon Non-Swarmer Differs 



From the Taylor. — What Hopes There 



Are of the Latter. 



Little people, 



(ireat big people, 



Coniiiion size o' men. 

 If your trying 



Knds in crying 



Try him once again. 



E. R. Root voices my sentiments exactly 

 where he says in a recent issue of Gleanings 

 that we should not drop new things too 

 quickly when they are apparent failures. 

 He refers to the Langdon non swarmer as 

 one of the new things that ought to be given 

 a more extended trial. I still have faith in 

 the finding of some method for preventing 

 swarming. The Langdon has failed in a way 

 that I did not expect. At first I could see 

 but little difference between it and the 

 method advised by Mr. B. Taylor ; in fact, 

 the Langdon seemed the t}iore promising of 

 the two. Mr. Taylor, however, has several 

 times told me in private letters that he had 

 no faith in it, but never did he so clearly set 



forth the reasons why as he has now done in 

 the following article which I copy from 

 Gleanings ; 



" Fbiend Root: — The fact that I am and 

 have been experimenting in a non-swarming 

 hive or system of manipulation to effect that 

 purpose, is generally known to the readers of 

 the bee journals. I see that the Langdon de- 

 vice has failed to come to time, the results 

 and reports of R. L. Taylor and Mr. Secor 

 settling that fact. The editor of the Bee- 

 Keepeks' Review knows that I have never 

 had any hope of the Langdon plan succeed- 

 ing, there being more than one reason for 

 expecting failure, to one who had already 

 practically explored the ground occupied by 

 both Langdon and Aikin. 



My experiments this year have not dark- 

 ened the hope of yet perfecting a practical 

 plan whereby swarming can be controlled, 

 even if we could not get quite so much hon- 

 ey. A plan that would enable us to escape 

 that constant watching through the whole 

 working season that is now a necessity, and 

 enable us to keep either a home yard or out- 

 yards by visiting them and giving a little at- 

 tention once a week, would be a great boon. 

 This much 1 will assure the bee-keepers : I 

 will not offer any thing, either for sale or 

 even trial, until I have something certain to 

 offer. The plan I am now working on is 

 radically different from the Langdon plan. 

 There is a similarity in some respects ; but 

 the radical difference is, that the plan of Mr. 

 L. contemplates two hives and two entirely 

 distinct families, with entirely separate en- 

 trances ; while my plan is one hive with 

 practically but one family, all the bees using 

 one common alighting-board and entrance, 

 but with two queens, these queens to be kept 

 separated by a wire-cloth partition through 

 the center of the hive. This partition, how- 

 ever, serves other purposes than keeping the 

 queens apart, as it is entirely necessary in 

 order to manipulate the bees as desired. 

 The possibility of working a single colony 

 of worker V)ees with two queens in a single 

 hive divided by a gauze partition is no lon- 

 ger an experiment. I now state here the 

 fact that I am working such colonies with 

 entire success, the whole colony of workers 

 using either side of the hive, and accepting 

 either queen, without the least disturbance. 

 This is what I claim as my discovery, and I 

 shall keep myself protected legally in its use, 

 so that, if it ever proves successful in serving 

 a useful purpose, there will be no question 

 of priority to dispute about. 



The bees I used in the new hives this sea- 

 son were blacks ; and to determine whether 

 the bees did fully fraternize I removed one 

 black queen from each of two hives early in 

 the season, and replaced them with pure 

 Italians. Thus there was a black queen in 

 one side of each hive, and an Italian in the 

 other. The point aimed at was to see wheth- 

 er the Italian bees, after they hatched out, 

 would all remain in their own side of the 

 hive with their mother, or would accept the 

 whole hive and both queens as their home. 

 After several examinations I found, to my 

 great joy, that the yellow Italians were 



