THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



had to "grunt" as he lifted, he would 

 smile with a look of blissful content, 

 and say, "That one is O. K. for next 

 year," and pass on. In former years 

 we used to worry over too much honey 

 in our hives for the queen to do her 

 best, and would sometimes remove 

 filled combs for empty ones, in the 

 middle of the brood nest. We have 

 ceased all that now, since we have 

 seen the almost incredible manner in 

 which a little patch of brood, in the 

 center, in January, will, under pi'oper 

 conditions, spread into three, four, 

 five, seven and eight combs of brood, 

 within four or five Weeks, and all the 

 honey that was crowded into these 

 combs be nowhere visible. So we say 

 to beemen, in Florida, if any are in 

 doubt how much honey to leave in a 

 hive, first of November, "the more 

 the better." 



Wintering Bees in Tar Felt Paper 



Unlike the usual manner of pack- 

 ing- bees with tar paper where 

 there may be nothing but the 

 paper to protect the bees, our 

 mode of packing simply uses the 

 paper for a case to hold the 

 clover chaff or forest leaves we 

 used in packing, for the paper 

 cases are so arranged that there 

 is on the average 3 in. of packing 

 at the sides and 8 in. at the top. 



Two colonies are packed side by 

 side. For the case cut 32" tar 

 paper in strips 7 ft. 4" long, sew 

 the two ends together with four 

 small wires, 8d nails. This will 

 make an endless belt, so to speak 

 of the case. Telescope one end over 

 the two hives. It is now ready to 

 tack strips of lath around the bot- 



tom to hold the packing from sift- 

 ing through at that point. 



The length we cut our paper for 

 the case, determines to some extent 

 the amount of packing we can use. 

 Before nailing on the lath at the 

 bottom, folds in the paper are made 

 at each corner, thus taking up the 

 bottom to the size required. This 

 leaves the case "bagging" to hold 

 the packing. This size case will 

 hold about three inches of packing 

 at the sides and eight or ten on 

 top. after which the top edge of 

 the paper is folded in toward the 

 center from the four different ways 

 and over all a cover of the same 

 paper the length of the case. Top 

 of the felt cover we place the regu- 

 lar hive covers and they are tied 

 on with a string at each end. Two 

 years ago we wintered 16 colonies 

 in good shape packed this way and 

 we have confidence enough in this 

 plan to risk four yards this winter. 



We have started the new year 

 with some few changes in the Re- 

 view. In the first place the frontis- 

 piece has been discontinued, and 

 the consequent previous blank page. 

 Tliis will make at least one page 

 more reading matter for 1915. Then 

 you will notice that you are re- 

 ceiving forty pages and cover, and 

 eight point, or small type. the 

 same as has been used beginning 

 with the May number 1914. In oth- 

 er words, we are giving the equiva^ 

 lent of eight more pages in the X 

 Review than EVER, excepting dur- 

 ing the last eight months of 1914. 

 We hope to be able to continue 

 this extra size of the Review from 

 now on. 



The Future of Beekeeping 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND, Xorthstar, 3Iichigan 



Lansing, Michigan, 



Given at the Michigan State Convention, 



9-10, 1914 



Dec. 



In speaking of the future, one can 

 cnly judge by the past and present 

 indications. I began beekeeping in 

 187G, 39 seasons ago. A mighty 

 change has transpired in the beekeep- 

 ing v/orld since that period. Comb 

 honey at that time was mostly pro- 



duced in "caps" put on top of the 

 log gum of box. hive, for the mov- 

 able comb hive had only been in- 

 vented a little over a score of years, 

 and had not been introduced only in 

 the apiaries of the most progressive 

 beekeepers. A few at that time had 



