38 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ July 11, 1885. 



time of the breedinp of both queens. This, the timeous supply of 

 space, and many little points of management too numerous to 

 go OTer here in detail, will suggest themselves as the operator 

 becomes experienced. 



I cannot draw these observations to a close »-ithout attending 

 to the remarks of Mr. S. Bevan Fox at page 391. Tliat excellent 

 contributor, I am afraid, rather misunderstood me when he con- 

 cludes I reprobate the principle of his plan of placing shallow 

 ekes between the super and stock hive. Were I to do so I would 

 reprobate the very mode by which in days gone by I have taken 

 my largest hauls of honey. On the contrary, I am thoroughly 

 convinced that by no device can bees be induced to store up a 

 greater weight of honey than by a gradual enlargement of one 

 honey-storing compartment as in the adjuster hive, or by very 

 shallow ekes ; or by a similar enlargement, by deeper ekes, 

 of one breeding-space, the queen's production is greatly 

 Btimulated, as has been already pointed out in the adai)ter 

 hive, described by me in one of the early Numbers of the new 

 series ; each plan aUke offering a strong temptation to increased 

 storing and breeding, and avoiding altogether the hesitation 

 often observable in taking possession of a fresh separate 

 adjunct. Still, if we except some rare stupendous supers for 

 ornamental purposes, the honey-dealer is ready to offer a pro- 

 jjortionately larger price for the smallest and most completely 

 sealed packages ; and breeding in separate compartments offers 

 considerable inducements for a more ready lightening of stocks 

 overburdened with honey, besides emploj-iug such separated 

 portions with facility for other colonies. Then again the recent 

 improvements of the Woodbury bar and embossed wax sheets 

 do much to overcome now-a-days twisted combs, and the 

 consequent blocldng up a free communication between the 

 several portions of hives. 



What I did deprecate in " J. E. B.'s" practice was the very 

 limited fixed breeding-space (a too-common error, I am afraid, 

 in the south, where the storifying system is not so generally 

 adopted), and extended ekeiug of unfjlled supers, manifestly 

 tending to force the queen to ascend and convert such enlarged 

 supers into second breeding-boxes or lead off a swarm. 



Mr. Fox might find it worth his while giving the plan of 

 placing an empty super above an all-but-fiUed one a second 

 trial. Both points may be well illustrated by a case from my 

 own apiary. I had this spring a Ligurian colony in two seven-inch- 

 deep breeding-boxes ; when the honey season set in put on a 

 full-sized super ; as comb-building progi'essed therein, nadired 

 vrith a third breeding-box (empty, I was sorry to have no 

 combed one to supply) ; as the super got well filled, put on a 

 second above, drawing all the slides between the two. Shortly 

 thereafter the first super was completed and taken off ; the 

 second, by this time well combed, was set down on the stock in 

 its stead, and a third empty super put on above as before ; the 

 second now only wants a few cells to be completed, and the 

 third is fully combed. I have to-day (3rd July) given a fourth 

 empty super above all ; yet, notwithstanding, should the present 

 heat continue, I must nadir with a fourth breeding-box below 

 to avoid swarming, as a yellow mass of idlers he upon the 

 board and crowd up into the cover-porch. To nathr a hive 

 now 34 inches deep requires a little management. For any one 

 person to attempt to raise it, besides the weight, from its top- 

 heaviness there is a great risk of its toppling over. Such is best 

 effected by securing the boxes together with stout cord passed 

 round the weighing-hooks, and a strong pole shpped through 

 them on top, borne on the shoulders of two men. With the air 

 afforded by this additional breeding-box, to see the immense 

 body of workers contained in a hive, then 41 inches deep, in 

 full work is a treat of no mean order anticipated bj' — A Ren- 

 FEEWSHiRE Bee-keeper. 



[In conclusion our Renfrewshire friend refers for further 

 details to his reply to "J. E. B." which appears in another 

 column.] 



THIS YEAR'S HONEY HARVEST. 



After twenty years' experience as an apiarian, I have no 

 hesitation in stating this to be a most extraordinary year both 

 for honey and swarms. Owing to the late swarming of last year 

 I succeeded, by feeding liberally, to commence this spring with 

 nineteen hives, many of them, of course, very hght, whereas 

 now they are all full of honey to the bottom, notwithstanding 

 the glasses, boxes, and caps I have obtained. Fourteen hives 

 have thrown off twenty-seven swarms, five of which went 

 together, the remainder I put into ten hives by imiting, in 



which I succeeded in all cases but one, when by neglecting to 

 put perforated zinc over the top in lieu of the cork, they were 

 all smothered. My first swarm was on the 10th of June, but, 

 late as it is, many hives are full of honey, all will live. The 

 five swarms that went together were the best-behaved mob I 

 ever saw, no riot, none wounded, none kiUed. — T. W. Cualoneb, 

 Newton Kyme, Yorkshire. 



D 



B 



D 



B 



THE MANAGEMENT OF STEWARTON HI-VES. 

 I SHALL be glad of your opinion on my management, and 



the present position, of my two Stewarton 



hives. The annexed rough outlines will ^ ■*■ 



help you to understand me the better. g g 



In the early spring they stood thus — ■ — 



As the season advanced I inserted a box between each of 



the above, and then they stood thus — 



I was afterwards told I ought to have put c A A 



at the bottom, and was advised to remove it. — ~ — — ~ — 

 I did so, and now they stand as on the left. 



To give more room, I after- B B 



wards placed a top box on 



each, and this became the position of them — 

 The first of these swarmed 

 (I beUeve) last Saturday 

 week, unobserved by any 

 one. The second showed signs of swarming, 

 and, to prevent it, I added, yesterday, a fifth 

 box from below, and beneath is now the 

 position of affairs with regard to this one. 



I did not remove either c or d, because neither of 



them seemed to be filled with honey, although in both 

 the bees were working well. Have I done right in the 

 past ? and what do you advise as to the futiu'e ? 



I have two large square glazed supers very nearly 

 filled. The cells are sealed over, with the exception 

 of a very small space at one end of the comb — the 

 outer comb, I mean, as I caunot see the inner ones. 

 Would you advise my ekeing these now, or waiting 

 till completely sealed over ? An answer in the next Journal 

 will much obhge— T. B. D. 



[Your letter has been submitted to " A Renfrewshire Bee- 

 KEEPEE," who, in reply, says : — " The management, on the 

 whole, was not amiss, excepting the blunder of placing an 

 empty between his stock-boxes. That, as a rule, causing a 

 vacancy to any extent between the portions of storified hives, 

 is bad practice — all additional breeiUng-space should be given 

 below, all honey room above. His further procedure will, in a 

 great measure, depend on the strength of his stocks. If the 

 first swarmed, it has, in all probability, room enough for this 

 season ; if they come to sufficient force to afford a prospect 

 of their completing the super, then a second might be tried 

 above. The other stock should have a second super on at 

 once, in like manner. One can form little opinion of such 

 storified hives without seeing them."] 



D 



B 



E 



BEES IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



I BEGAN the season this year with five stocks, one pure Lign- 

 rian (which I have multiphed into four as pure as the parent, 

 and three others that I cannot at preseut tell the purity of), 

 one hybrid Ligurian, the queen of which was kindly sent me 

 by " J. E. B." last year, and three black stocks, one of which, 

 a very old one in a cottage hive, being rather weak to begin 

 with, has afforded me no assistance in forming swarms. On 

 transfen-ing it into a bar and frame hive on May 20th I was sur- 

 prised to find the queen to be a well-marked Ligurian, and the 

 progeny are decidedly hybrids. Being ouly weak, possibly I 

 had noticed it but little, for certainly before the transfer I had 

 not observed a trace of Ligurian blood about it. The stock 

 has now, however, become very strong. 



I have gone entirely upon artificial swarming this year, anel 

 have thus increased my five stocks into fourteen, all strong 

 and thriving, and, including four absolutely pure Ligurians, all 

 but one having more or less of Ligurian blood in them. I hope 

 yet to increase the purity of the hybrid stocks. I have also 

 abandoned the use of aU hives not fitted with frames, a» I find 

 the command this gives over the stocks is very great. The 

 season here has been a very good one thus far, but natural 

 swarming has been imusually late and slow. In an average of 



