RECORD-KEEPING OF HIVES. 



374 



REVERSING. 



Some bee-keepers, instead of using slate 

 tablets, write with a lead-pencil on pieces 

 of section as shown. 



4<H^ % jr. Xv€ 



73 





6, 9r\WvcUitS.(f\ 



7/10. 0'K- . 



QUEEN-REGISTEK CARDS. 



Another system of record-keeping tliMt is 

 popular with some is what are called regis- 

 ter-cards. The accompanying plan shows 



12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Queeti {Register. 



I . I 



29 O iS MISSING. 



28 U 



27 16 TESTED. O CELL. 



26 16 



25 24 23 23 21 20 19 18 17 SELECT Tosted. Hiitcliecl. 



Ni> 



BROOD. 



MARCH. 



OCT. APRIL. 



SEPT, O MAY. 



AUG. JUNE. 



JULY. 



LAYING. 



DIRKCTIONS.-Tack the card on a 

 Conspicuous jiart of the hive or nu- 

 cleus; then, with a pair of pliers, force 

 a common pin into the center of each 

 circle, after wliich it is bent in such f 

 manner that the head will press se- 

 curely on any figure or word. 



how they are used. To indicate the date, 

 the pin heads are revolved so as to point to 

 the proper place. There is no writing, and 

 nothing to do except to turn the pointers to 

 the riiJht place. This is preferred by W. Z. 

 Hutchinson and others. 



RXSVERSIITC This, as the term sig- 

 nifies, is the pn)cess of inverting, or turning 

 over, the combs ; and this may be accom- 

 plished by inverting the several frames indi- 

 vidually or the whole hive at one operation. 

 The subject began to be discussed in 1.S84 ; 

 and for three or four years following tliere 

 was muL-h said on the subject. Reversible 

 frames and reversible hives were invented 

 by the dozen. Some of them were quite in- 

 genious, while others were clumsy and im- 

 practical. 



Taking into consideration the fact that 

 the bees store their honey just immediately 



over the brood, and, as a consequence, their 

 combs at this jioint would be much better 

 filled out. certain bee-keepers conceived the 

 idea of turning the combs upside down at 

 frequent intervals. '• Why," said they, 

 ''when the combs are reversed, bringing the 

 bottom-bars uppermost, the combs will be 

 built clear out to the bottom-bars, and the 

 honey now in the bottom of the combs will 

 be carried up into the supers, just where it 

 iswanted." This seemed very nice in theory, 

 and even in practice it seemed to be partially 

 carried out; for a good many bee keepers re- 

 ported that, when the combs were reversed, 

 the bees, rather than have the honey in the 

 bottom of the combs, near the entrance, and 

 accessible to robbers,would uncap it and take 

 it up into the sections. But the result was, 

 that often poor and dark honey went up 

 above; more often, we believe, the lees al- 

 lowed the honey to stay at the bottom of the 

 hive, and the only real advantage secured 

 was getting the combs filled actually to the 

 bottom-bars, being now at the top. 



A very few claimed that reversing, when 

 done at the proper time, would destroy 

 queen-cells, and S'» control swarming But 

 it did not— at least in our case. 



After all, the real and direct advantage of 

 reversing is in the matter of getting combs 

 filled out in brood - frames as solid as a 

 board. When hunting queens it is much 

 easier to find one where there is no horizon- 

 tal space between the edge of the comb and 

 the bottom-bar, and no holes to furnish her 

 hiding-places. Then, ofcourse, having combs 

 filled out solid gives better fastening to the 

 frame and increases the capacity of the hive 

 just in proportion to the new comb built 

 after leversing. Nearly every frame that is 

 not reversed is liable to have a space of i 

 inch or I; and this is certainly a waste that 

 ought to be utilized if possible. To a cei'tain 

 extent this space can be filled in non revers- 

 ing frames by having sheets of foundation 

 reach from fiame-bott<'m to top bar, wired 

 ill with perpendicular wires; but even such 

 combs are never as well filled as those re- 

 versed. 



Several good reversible frames have been 

 proposed; but we would never think of 

 adopting any of them unless it had some 

 points of merit outside the one exclusive 

 feature of reversing. A reversible frame 

 that is not good for all-around use would be 

 very unprofitable. 



One of the first practical reversing frames 

 was the VanDeusen, having metal corners 

 or ears. This is essentially a standing frame, 



