rHE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



11 



issue was from a deep-frame hive. Owiny 

 to the extremely poor season, brood rearing 

 was curtailed to such an extent, that the 

 dummy combs impeded the queen in her 

 work of laying, resulting in an attempt at 

 supersedure. But two queen cells were con- 

 structed. The shallow frames and conse- 

 quently smaller dummies were more favora- 

 ble to the travel of the queen. The objection, 

 however, I have overcome by making pass- 

 age ways for the queen, not only at each end, 

 but along the top and throughout the length 

 two and a half inches apart. With this 

 change a marked difference was manifest in 

 the work of the queen. Mr. F. L. Thompson 

 having one of the non swarmers on trial in 

 a deep-frame hive, had a similar case of 

 supersedure, but the old queen was not liv- 

 ing at the time of issue. After removing 

 the cells, and returning the swarm all work- 

 ed well. 



I look upon this season's experience as 

 most valuable in enabling me to discover 

 the importance of additional passage ways 

 for the queen. They are especially neces- 

 sary if from a dearth of honey or otherwife 

 the brood nest becomes diminished, natur- • 

 ally limiting the travel of the queen. I hope 

 to give more of detail by an illustrated arti- 

 cle in the near future. Although the poor- 

 est honey season 1 ever know, and withal 

 nearly one half of the pasturage cut off by 

 the city of .Jackson ; to which may be added 

 the imperfect working of the dummy combs, 

 and experiments with bee paralysis, still, I 

 obtained as high as twenty five pounds of 

 comb honey from several colonies, while 

 those which stored little or no surplus were 

 heavy with honey. In contrast, the swarm- 

 ing colonies, as well as the swarms, were al- 

 most destitute of stores at the close of the 

 season. Judging from these facts, what 

 may we expect from non swarmers in good 

 seasons ? I presume some one will say, 

 swarms. 



This closed the summer : and autumn was 

 ushered in with another occasion for feed- 

 ing. Although with plenty of atmospheric 

 feeders on hand, which have a capacity of 

 one pound per hour, still the work lingered 

 until about the middle of < )iJtober. As these 

 feeders are designed to supply food directly 

 above the cluster, they may be used quite 

 late. Owing to pressure in other lines of 

 business, the matter of feeding and other- 

 wise preparing for winter was consecjuently 

 delayed beyond what I would recommend 



as being best. However, my bees are, com- 

 paratively speaking, exceptionally secure 

 against a severe winter. 



With December closes the "Review" of 

 '95— yet as a bee keeper I want the !)(i reports 

 from the experimental station in charge of 

 Hon. R. L. Taylor, also the experiences of 

 Mr. B. Taylor, as well notes from foreign 

 journals by F. T^. Thompson, and the general 

 review by friend Hasty. I might mention 

 the Editor and others, but with my best 

 wishes for the New Year, send the Review 

 for isyc, 



Jackson, Mich. Dec. 11, \K)r>. 



Hygienic Living. 



ALLEN PBINGLE. 



TN the October 

 i Review I read 

 an editorial para- 

 graph which gave 

 me some pain and 

 much thought, and 

 I had a strong im- 

 pulse to write an 

 article for the Re- 

 view with the par- 

 agraph as a text. 

 Two reasons de- 

 terred me. I wa? very busy, as usual ; and 

 the advice I proposed to give had not been 

 asked. But when a card comes to me from 

 the editor asking for an article for next 

 issue, and telling me to choose my own sub- 

 ject, I have no hesitation in choosing the 

 subject which the paragraph referred to 

 suggested. I may have sent a mental or 

 psychological dispatch to the editor of the 

 Review at the time when my mind was 

 filled with that paragraph, and it may have 

 raached him through the air or ether with- 

 out the aid of pen, wire, or phone, all of 

 which I believe to be quite possible. Be that 

 as it may, the response cams without any 

 communication of the ordinary kind or by 

 the ordinary methods. 



The editor of the Review in the paragraph 

 referred to, told how nearly all the apiarian 

 editors— himself. Root, York and Holterman 

 — were on the sick list, he himself having 

 been " under the weather a good share of 

 the past summer. " 



Then in the next issue of the Review (Nov. ) 

 he tells us about the illness of his little 

 daughter Ivy at whose bedside he had been 



