Jaly 8, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



39 



ment is eqaal to any other ; but in such imfavourdble seasonB the 

 nadirs are not kept for stocks. As souu as all the bees withdraw 

 themselves from the nadirs, they (the nadirs) are removed, and 

 the top hives placed on the boards. But even in favourable 

 seasons for honey " F. J." would find that swarms taken from 

 stocks would render enlargement by uaiUra quite unnecessary 

 for two months after swarming. The swarms would require 

 more room before the mother hives, and nadirs may be profit- 

 ably used with them when both honey and stocks are aimed at 

 from swarms of the same season. Some apiarians put their 

 first swarms into small hives with a view to olitaiu supers tilled 

 on them, and we are sure that " F. J." would realise more profit 

 from his bees by swarming, and when necessary nadiring the 

 first swarms. 



We have recently said in answer to another correspondent 

 that early swarms in good seasons do more work and rise to 

 greater weights than uon-swarmers, and also that nadirs used 

 with non-swarmers have very often too much drone comb in 

 them for keeping. It should also be borne in mind that nadiring 

 does not invariably prevent bees from swarming. We have 

 had hives with nadirs under them that sent off one and two 

 swarms each. The loss of these swarms made us resolve never 

 again to nadir a hive that has not swarmed. A little experience 

 will enable our friend to feel his way to the best and most profit- 

 able mode of managing his bees. Meanwhile we advise him to 

 increase the number of his hives by swarming till his set 

 number of stands be covered. — A. Pettigbbw. 



NON-SWAEMING HIVES. 



In a former communication which appeared in this .Tournal 

 May 2Uth last, I described a sort of hive which I considered 

 likely to prove of great use, especially in small apiaries where a 

 few hives only are kept, and that solely with a view to honey. 

 This hive I stated might be made "2-1 or 28iuches long, 12 inches 

 wide, and 9 or 10 inches high, with sliding divisions capable of 

 being removed in the spring and replaced in the autumn." I 

 added that " if such hives were made with bar frames an exact 

 adjQstment of plunder and convenient supply of food and breed- 

 ings oombs could be made every autumn, when the contracting 

 slides are replaced for the winter." 



I return to the subject, as believing my hive to be deserving 

 of attention and trial, as the principle of it is certainly sound. 

 I said that "hives of this sort are yet to be constructed, as I am 

 not aware of their ever having been tried." Something of the 

 kind, however, was tried by me with success several years ago. 

 It was described and illustrated in this Journal under the title 

 of "The Tasmanian Hive," because I first adopted it in Tas- 

 mania twenty years ago. I have one actually in use this sum- 

 mer, which was taken possession of hy a fine stray swarm on 

 the 12th of May. Although it is 21 inches long inside measure, 

 but only 8 inches high and 9i inches wide, it is quite full of 

 comb and brood, and the bees are working well in a super. It 

 has bars, but no frames, and moveable pieces of wood over the 

 bars — as in the new bar-and-frame hives made and sold by Mr. 

 Abbot — for convenience of easy access to parts of the combs 

 without disturbing the rest. The hive I now recommend is a 

 modification and improvement (as I think) of my old hive, 

 which was inconvenient on account of its coming to a point at 

 each end. My reason for not making more iise of these hives 

 is that they take up too much room in my bee houses and sheds ; 

 but if they were placed on single stands in the open air and 

 properly protected they would be found to answer extremely 

 well. 



In managing hives of this sort there would be no need of using 

 supers ; for as soon as it was pretty well filled with honeycomb 

 nothing would be easier than to remove one of the narrow boards 

 covering three or four ot the combs at either end, and with the 

 aid of a whiff of smoke taking out a bar or two of honeycomb. 

 A few turns, and the " slinger " would extract the honey if the 

 combs were not such as could be eaten with the honey. The 

 bars being then replaced, would soon be operated on anew by 

 the bees, and would tend to divert attention from swarming, as 

 well as to obviate the necessity of using supers. I venture to 

 think that no hive would better suit those persons who wish to 

 keep a few hives only with a view to the minimum of swarming 

 and the maximum of honey, and for the benefit of such I now 

 write.— B. & W. 



HOW TO HIVE A SWARM. 

 This is usually done in a very imperfect manner, and hence 

 allow me to name the faults commonly observable :— Ist, Doing 

 useless things. Now, bees are apt to swarm on very hot days, 

 and I am too indolent, or something else, to want to do more 

 on a hob day than necessary. 2Dd, Conforming to old stupid 

 sayings and not to bee-instinct. When one studies the maxims 

 of the past they find much good, but in bee-culture mazes of 

 error. I go for the true bee science. 3rd, Hence I use the 

 simplest and best means. My hives are amid tall trees that 



load me with apples, and hang with grape vines that give me 

 half a ton of grapes. Ilenco I use a tall ladder, long sticks and 

 poles, building in any tree a platform of boards to hive on. I 

 shall now for convenience use the same tools or implements, 

 even if I had no tall trees and long vines of grapes. 



So let me lay down a few of my rules for hiving : — 1st, Allow 

 no one to stir or make the least noise while the bees are light- 

 ing. What ! Not blow a horn, or ring a bell, or drum on a 

 tin-pan, or throw dust or water? Not do anything? Yes, 

 reader; just exactly do nothing but keep still. Now I have 

 followed this rule in over eight hundred swarms I have hived 

 for myself and others, and I tell you the broad fact that I never 

 yet lost a single swarm in all that number — not one. Hence, 

 if your noise or bell, tin-pans, horns, and other senseless con- 

 fusion did good, you ought to beat me. But yon cannot. I 

 never lost a swarm yet, not one, even when they began to 

 "go off," when I was obeyed ; and if called to aid a neighbour, 

 and he wo'n't stop his noise and confusion, I "go off " because 

 of his noise, just as bees are apt to do. Once a man a few miles 

 out in the country came yelling like an Indian war-whoop, "Dr. 

 Parker, come ! Come stop this swarm of bees and I will give 

 you five dollars." I tied my horse, stepped into the orchard, 

 and said to wife and daughter, " Go to the house with those tin- 

 pans ; my boy, take the house bell in and stop your tin-horn ;" 

 and to the farmer, " Stop throwing dirt ; " and to the hired man, 

 " Take the pail of water to the house." All was quiet, but the 

 dog running about. " Call him off there under that tree." So I 

 quieted the confusion. Then I stood still ; and the bees, scared 

 no longer by the unusual noise, stopped and lit on the last apple 

 tree, just as they would have done on the nearest tree to the 

 hive they came out of had they been let alone. 



So, I say, it is your tin-pans, noise, and running about that 

 drives bees off to the woods, and as a wise bee-keeper you ought 

 to know better. Now, let me tell you another fact. Bees will 

 not go 200 feet from the hive they come out of i! you let all be 

 perfectly quiet and there is anything to light on. My bees, not 

 one out of a hundred swarms go even 100 feet before they always 

 light. So make it a rule to have no stirring, no noise, but all 

 quiet until they are well lighted. Then bring out the hive from 

 the cool cellar — where it has been put a day or two lest it get 

 damp and mouldy— neat and clean, and as you of course have 

 the strips of boards or sticks, boards, hiving cloth, &c-, proceed 

 to place your ladder and platform in the tree or on the ground, 

 and other appliances, so that before the last bee has lit you are 

 ready to hive them. 



2nd, Never put a swarm directly into a hive. You ask. Why 

 not ? Because if you do the bees may not know it is a hive they 

 are in, but only think they have had a slight accident or jar 

 while yet on their lighting-limb or place ; so they will leave 

 the hive and go off to the woods, because they don't know they 

 are hived. Hence you will place the hive so that when shaken 

 off of the limb they lit on they will have to creep buzzing into 

 the hive, and all go voluntarily up on the inside of it. Then 

 they will not make the mistake of thinking they are not hived, 

 but will know they have accepted a hive. 



.3rd, You need not be very quiet or slow about making the 

 bees go in the hive. You minded the bees until they lit, now 

 is the time to change and make them mind you. So a gentle 

 rudeness in shaking off the limb is as good as saying, "Bees, 

 you have left your lighting place." If they don't go in the hive 

 readily take a dipper or flat piece of shingle or board, dip up a 

 few, a pint or so, and shake them roughly close by the hive, as 

 if to say, " There is the hive; why don't you see it?" Then 

 brush rapidly but gently the rest towards the hive, as if to say, 

 " Go in now, right away, no loitering; I tell you, my bees, go 

 in." Those that crawl up the outside of the hive brush off and 

 push back as far as you can away off from the hive, as if saying, 

 " No going up the outside of the hive ; go in or clear out." Thus 

 you will learn yourself to be prompt, so gentle as not to be 

 stung, and yet so rough as to make them obey. I have thus 

 often made all the bees of a swarm, said to be too lazy to get into 

 the hive, all go in in ten minutes, time and again. They will 

 thus go in, even if they cannot all stay in the hive. 



4th, As soon as the most of them are in, be ready to remove 

 them to their permanent stand. Thus you avoid the coming- 

 out of a second swarm, and the lighting and commingling of two 

 swarms. Thus you get rid, too, of the few bees always uneasy 

 and flying about the swarm, and who doubtless are the ones 

 who find and lead the swarms off to some hollow tree or log 

 in the woods. These bees are rarely over twenty to fifty in 

 number, often not ten of them. Suppose the new hive is on a 

 platform 20 feet from the ground, and all are in but a quart on 

 the outside the hive, and fifty to two hundred flying in the air 

 (there are really less than that usually). Now I raise the ends 

 of the hiving cloth and tie it over the top of the hive closely. 

 The quart of bees outside of the hive are fast between the hive 

 and cloth, and not one can escape. The most of those fJjing 

 about the hive will see the change as you take it down the 

 ladder slowly, and go to the permanent stand. Yon set it down 

 when and where as it is to be. Untie the cloth and drop the 



