THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



125 



queen is noticed by the bees blended with 

 that of their own sovereiyu. I know that I 

 have been extremly successful by this 

 method. I have not found it necessary to 

 feed colonies to which I have been introduc- 

 ing queens and cannot see why it should be 

 necessary. If there is [)lenty of food in the 

 hive and the colony in a normal condition, 

 with plenty of young bees, the colony should 

 be in just as amiable a disposition, except 

 when resenting man's intrusion, as at any 

 time. 



The idea that a cage giving the queen ac- 

 cess to the cells is superior to the round cage 

 is all right in theory, but my experience has 

 been that in practice there is very little dif- 

 ference; the main idea being to accustom 

 the colony to the changed scent of their 

 queen. 



The cheap outside wintering case describ- 

 ed in the Review for March, by H. L. 

 Hutchinson, is almost exactly the outer case 

 of the Manum hive or Bristol hive as it is 

 called. If Mr. H. will make an entrance to 

 his hive through the boftoiii board, arranging 

 a stand and sloping alighting board under- 

 neath he will avoid the necessity of a 

 "bridge" with its other contrivances, and 

 will have the Bristol hive. 



My own bees in Vermont, wintered as 

 usual out of doors, are through the winter 

 with a loss of only two in about one hun- 

 dred. I cannot tell exactly how the bees 

 here at the college have wintered as they are 

 yet in the cellar. I anticipate but little loss, 

 however, as the thermometer has stood at 

 between 48° and 40° about all winter. There 

 has been considerable moisture in the cellar 

 and it has condensed upon the interior of 

 the hives so ihat I have noticed it to run 

 from the corner of a hive cover iust raised. 

 Ag'l,., Col., Michigan, April Gth, 1891. 



Getting Large Yields by Raising Plenty of 

 Bees and Preventing Swarming. 



■ URING the past few months I have 

 been in correspondence with a "West- 

 ern man," (and that is as near as I 

 have liberty to say who he is) and his writ- 

 ings have been so graphic, and his success so 

 wonderful that I begged him to write for 

 the Review. With tlie following article 

 came the information that the writer was 

 managing bees for another man, and the 



owner objected to his giving the locality in 

 connection with the report, as many would 

 conclude that that locality was a bee-keeper's 

 l)aradise, and would flock in there and over 

 stock the locality which was well stocked 

 now. As this article shows how to get plenty 

 of bees at the right time, and then hold them 

 to their work, I think best to publish it, 

 even if the writer's name and locality must 

 be with held. — Ed. Review. 



As our experience may help some of your 

 readers to attain success in the matter of 

 getting large honey yields from their apia- 

 ries, I will try to make plain, as briefly as 

 possibly, how we made a success last season. 



The bees were wintered on the summer 

 stands, or rather packed in chaff in long 

 rows made up as follows: Place 2x4's on 

 the ground, or on blocks just high enough to 

 be dry. Set the hives on these about six 

 inches apart. Boar^ up all around with 

 rough lumber, with 4 to 6 in. space at back. 

 Boards in front, against hive, just above en- 

 trance and leaning out at top to give packing 

 space of 2 or 3 inches in front. Chaff under 

 the hive. Scraps of boards split up to about 

 % square, placed on top of frames, 2 sticks 

 to each hive. Two to three ply of burlap, 

 (gunny sack) spread over the chamber. An 

 empty brood chamber set on top, and about 

 }4 tilled with chaff. Then put on lid, with a 

 chip under to let out the moisture, but not 

 enough to let mice in. Then all is packed 

 full of chaff about the hives clear to the top. 

 The packing left about them until in May. 

 If a colony began to hang out we gave more 

 ventilation. 



Last of March, or first of April, every 

 colony was examined to see that they had 

 stores. As the weather became warmer, we 

 would remove some of the packing about top 

 of the hive, to facilitate work. We finally 

 left the chaff out that was in the upper 

 chamber, and placed the lid down on the 

 quilt. The last packing removed being that 

 immediately about the brood chamber. But 

 all were kept packed in whole or in part — 

 enough for protection — until weather was 

 warm and hives full of bees. 



When a colony could spare brood, it was 

 made to help the weaker ones. By the last 

 of May we had lots of bees, and many colo- 

 nies would rear drones, if any drone cells 

 could be found, but we "cut their heads off," 

 ditto queen cells if any were started. 



The last of May and fore part of June, we 

 spared no pains to get large quantities of 



