THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



469 



you see our queens are not restrict- 

 ed at all but are free to go at any 

 time they wish to, but we make con- 

 ditions so at all times that they have 

 no desire to leave. 



It is the old queen that always 

 heads off the first swarm. Young 

 queens lead off all others. The 

 queens only meet the males once 

 in a life time. The bees perpetuate 

 their existence by superseding the 

 old queen. When she fails to fulfill 

 the requirements of egg laying in 

 the hive the bees start new queen 

 cells and destroy the old queen and 

 raise a new one to supersede^ the 

 old one. 



I am glad you believe in my 

 method which I have been carefully 

 working out for 25 years and I want 

 to say to you if you master it, you 

 have one of the best things I 

 know of and the honey resources 

 are unlimited before you. It is as 

 wide as the world and almost un- 

 occupied and I wish you the best of 

 success in it and I hope you will be 

 inspired by it. 



Yours truly, 



J. A. PEARCE, 

 R. R. 1, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



P. S. As soon as there is the 

 least honey in the bottom of a cell 

 it is of no use for the queen to de- 

 posit eggs in. 



All old bees die each spring and 

 a new lot takes the place of the old 

 ones. Many do not know this. 



It would be desirable foi' each to 

 raise at least all the queens need- 

 ed for the home apiary, if not more, 

 by getting a first class mother in 

 the spring. She will give all the 

 eggs you need and far more. Learn 

 how. 



Combating Foul Brood in Winter 



(Continued from page 442) 



clean with one colony which is 

 under suspicion. Next spring the 

 apiary will be carefully inspected 

 and thoroughly treated. 



The experience of Jan. 2nd was 

 very enlightening. It appears that 

 many diseased colonies survive the 

 summer and autumn only to die in 

 ea^ly winter, leaving more or less 

 honey for roving bees to find and 

 carry away. Serious cases of dis- 

 ease through the bees might still 

 be in possession of the hive were 



easy to diagnose. Treatment with 

 weather too cold for robbers and 

 too cold for beta, which might 

 carry disease, to find entrance into 

 healthy colonies was very simple 

 and easy. 



The experience has taught the 

 writer that it is a great mis- 

 take for bee-inspectors to wait till 

 spring before beginning their active 

 duties. Winter treatment will do 

 more than anything else to keep 

 foul-brood in check. Up-to-date bee- 

 keepers will of course not furnish 

 the conditions which this let-alone 

 apiary showed (unless they be own- 

 ers of let-alone apiaries in the 

 manner of the writer. But there 

 are thousands of let-alone apiaries 

 in this country, and many of these 

 are this day diseased. Many hives 

 are standing this minute without 

 live bees, but with honey which 

 next April will carry desolation in 

 thousands of healthy colonies. Why 

 leave those hives till April? 



Let the inspector do some travel- 

 ing this winter. Let him go through 

 the country. With the bushes and 

 trees leafless he will readily see the 

 two hives here, the three there, and 

 the single one yonder. Let each 

 hive be opened up, tipped over if a 

 box-hive, uncovered if a frame hive. 

 If frame, then lay a cloth over all 

 frames except those being manipu- 

 lated. Any man, who has the ability 

 to do inspection at any time, will 

 find it extremely easy to spot ser- 

 ious cases of disease. If there are 

 10,000 bees in a hive he does not 

 need, to stop three geconds with that 

 colony. But if there are bees be- 

 tween combs in only two spaces, 

 then let him look sharp. Even if 

 there are bees covering portions of 

 five or six combs while the cluster 

 shows other dimensions small, care 

 must be shown. Let judgment be 

 shown here. 50 00 bees will do to 

 leave if other conditions are satis- 

 factory. If there are under 5000 bees 

 and there is any evidence of disease 

 that colony should be sacrificed for 

 the good of the others. If a colony 

 shows only 1000 bees it should be 

 sacrificed anyway, for it is a 

 menace if left. 



In our New England climate it 

 is rarely possible for much fewer 

 than 5000 bees to winter in the 

 open. So it happens that a colony 

 which has weakened because of dis- 

 ease is quite likely to perish before 



