A WINTER FLOW OF HOJSTEY 193 



a winter flow is something to be desired or otherwise 

 is a very debatable matter. Some bee-farmers consider 

 the unseasonable laying of eggs affects the queens 

 detrimentally. 



The following article on the effects of a winter flow 

 is based on the author's experience four or five years 

 ago. The practice of having a number of young queens 

 on hand is a very safe one, and would sometimes make 

 all the difference between success and failure. 



A WINTER PLOW OF HONEY. 



SOMETIMES DETRIMENTAL. 



A winter flow must, of necessity, cause an undue 

 strain upon the colony, which reacting upon the queen, 

 prematurely determines her egg-laying capacity. That 

 a queen-bee is predestined to lay a definite number of 

 eggs and no more is a belief generally held by the more 

 experienced bee-farmers of to-day. Eeasoning from 

 analogy, however, this appears to be the case. 



If we take a Leghorn chicken and dissect it, we find 

 the ovaries well developed, or otherwise. When large 

 and well formed with the ovules abundant, then we can 

 rest assured that, had the "subject" of our experiment 

 been permitted to fulfil her destiny, she would have 

 presented us with an opportunity for yet a further 

 experiment. This we will presently see has a direct 

 bearing on the subject of queens "going off" after a 

 winter flow. 



Eecurring to the chicken, an experienced poultryman 

 given chickens as described above, would by good 

 management, suitable food at the proper season, housing 

 in unpropitious weather, etc., cause them to lay during 

 abnormal weather or season, with a continuity that would 

 practically exhaust the ovaries ere the fowls attained 

 their second year. This is the objective of all egg- 

 farmers; they know that the ovaries are exhausted, and 



