246 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 31, 1904. 



Mr. Post could see no advantage either way. 

 Mr. Holtermann remarked that it was best to hear from 

 men of large experience on these subjects. He had found 

 that with the metal rest and space above the frames the 

 latter were liable to shift in moving ; but with the space 

 beneath the frames the rim of the queen-excluder, or the 

 super or cover, as the case may be, would press on the ends 

 of the top-bars in such a way as to hold them firmly in 

 place. He had moved hives for miles on wagons, over all 

 sorts of roads, wilhout the full number of combs, yet they 

 never stirred. 



Mr. McEvoy— Would it pay to ship bees, say 200 miles, 

 to get a better location ? 



Mr. Lott— Yes, if you could be sure beforehand that you 

 would get a crop there and not at home. 



Mr. Post— It is all luck and chance as to the profit in 

 moving bees for pasture. I have moved bees 40 miles this 

 year and last, and got nothing. Next year I might get six 

 tons. 



A member asked if it would be all right to move with- 

 out fastening the frames if they are self-spacing, and have 

 the bee-space on top. 



Mr. Holtermann — It won't do if you have a proper self- 

 spacing frame. You can't afford to use the Hoffman frame ; 

 but if you take a straight top-bar and drive two staples in 

 each one at each end on opposite sides, letting them project 

 a quarter inch, you have a self-spacing frame which has not 

 the disadvantages of the Hoffman. I got this idea from 

 Morley Pettit. Now have a bee-space below the frames, 

 and the top-bars are held firm, and the frame can not swing. 

 Mr. Hall— If the hive is full of brood-combs fixed by 

 burr-combs, there is not much danger of them stirring. It 

 always pays to move bees to buckwheat. I can't agree at 

 all with taking off metal frame-rests. 



Mr. Lott said he was still satisfied with his plan in 

 spite of the opposition of other good men. 



Mr. Pettit— Just a word with reference to burr-combs. 

 Of 205 colonies piit away for winter in 12frame hives, I feel 

 safe in saying there are not 200 burr-combs. We have our 

 top-bars the proper width, and not too deep, and properly 

 spaced, and we do not have burr-combs— coulA not be both- 

 ered with them ; prefer a staple-spacer. As to the staple 

 interfering with the uncapping-knife, we hold the comb 

 with the staple at the top and cut down from the staple. If 

 you are in the habit of cutting upward, put the staple at the 

 bottom, and you are cutting from it still. I have had long 

 experience with loose-hanging frames, and then with staple- 

 spaced frames, and I could not keep bees without the latter. 

 Mr. Armstrong preferred the Hoffman. He could handle 

 three combs at once. Moving to buckwheat was very un- 

 certain. 



Mr. Pettit — As to spreading out on account of varying 

 seasons, it's like this : Say this year you have a good crop 

 here, and none 50 miles away. Next year it may be re- 

 versed. Now, if two yards are placed one here, the other 

 there, you get a crop from this yard this year, and one from 

 the other yard next. But suppose both yards are here— you 

 have a crop from two yards this year, and no crop next. In 

 either case you have the same amount of honey in two 

 years, and in the latter case we saved the extra traveline 

 expense. 



Mr. Darling said he had never moved bees by train, but 

 would recommend fastening the frames by two strips, one 

 tacked on the frames at each end of the hive. 



Mr. Byer— In moving bees you must always consider 

 the chance of getting no honey when you get there. 



Mr. Pettit — At conventions there is considerable argu- 

 ing at cross purposes. Our systems vary, and to be really 

 understood one must explain one's whole system, almost 

 Now the matter of fastening frames for moving resolves 

 Itself into two questions: Is your bee-space below the 

 frames or above them ? If below, the pressure of the super 

 excluder or cover, makes other fastening unnecessary, pro- 

 vided the frames are self-spacing. If the space is above the 

 frames, the latter must be fastened by means of strips or 

 something of that sort. ' 



R. Lowey— How would you prevent swarming- at out- 

 yards ? 



Mr. Sibbald did not see much advantage in cuttinc out 

 queen-cells. 



Mr. Hall— If they should decide to swarm at buckwheat 



why, let them go. ' 



Mr. Holtermann— I wouldn't like to get along without 



going through the brood-chamber once a week, but of course 



there is a difference in locality. 



Where fruit-bloom is separated from clover by a period 

 of no honey, then clover from basswood, andbasswood from 



buckwheat by the same, the swarming problem is very 

 simplified. But with a continuous flow from beginning of 

 clover on, what can we do 7 It is a lot of work to go 

 through brood-chambers, but I do not know any wav out 

 of it. 



Mr. Hall — We have the continuous flow, and must go 

 over brood-chambers in the way described. If we find a 

 cell with an egg, we take away all the brood. 



Mr. Darling had never succeeded in preventing swarm- 

 ing by breaking down cells, except in the case of after- 

 swarms, when it works well. 



A member described a unique method of wintering 

 bees, viz.: In cold-storage, where the temperature is kept 

 uniformly at 37 to 40 degrees, Fahr. 



fCoQtinued aext werk. ) 



c 



Contributed Articles 





Bait-Sections and Their Profitable Use. 



BY G. C. GRBINER. 



IT is a well-known fact that there is hardly a single fea- 

 ture connected with the management of bees, on which 

 all bee-experts agree. The use of bait-sections is one of 

 these features, and it may not be out of place to make a few 

 remarks on this subject. 



A writer from Texas says in one of our leading bee- 

 papers : " I do not like bait-combs in the supers. The bees 

 will finish these sections and stain them before the sections 

 that had only foundation are finished." 



I agree with the writer exactly, except that he places 

 his argument on the wrong side of the fence. He does not 

 say whether he uses them or not, but I should infer from 

 the way he expresses himself later on, that he does not. 

 The reason why he objects to bait-sections is just the reason 

 why we bait-section advocates consider them so valuable. 

 To be sure, bees will stain them (if we allow it), and that 

 they begin to work in them long before they work on sec- 

 tions with foundation only, and that is exactly what we aim 

 to accomplish by the use of bait-combs. As objectionable 

 as stained sections may be, I am willing — and undoubtedly 

 almost everybody else would be — to be troubled with them 

 as long as they are an extra gift, and how many unstained 

 sections are thrown in with this gift, on account of the in- 

 duced earlier work in the supers by those bait-combs, we 

 don't know. 



But if these stained sections are so very objectionable, 

 why not prevent them from getting so ? I admit that sec- 

 tions with last year's drawn-comb will never look as nice 

 and clear as those newly built in the height of the clover 

 or basswood honey-flow, but if we use the comb-leveler 

 thoroughly, so that the surface part of the comb is new 

 wotk, their appearance will be greatly improved. And then, 

 we need not let them remain where first placed until they 

 are stained. A little time expended at this time is, I think, 

 well invested. As soon as the colony has nicely started in 

 these bait-sections, they should be moved to the other part 

 of the super. If a row or two has been placed in the center, 

 as I generally practice, they should be exchanged with some 

 side-rows, bees and all. In this way all work in those al- 

 ready well under way is retarded, while the empty ones, or 

 those with foundation, being moved to the place where the 

 incoming bees have been accustomed to unload, are soon in 

 prime working order. Managed like this, they are all fin- 

 ished nearer the same time, and no great harm is done by 

 staining. 



One main reason why some bee-keepers are not in favor 

 of using bait-sections is, they are not particular enough to 

 care for them properly. Unfinished sections that are in- 

 tended to be used for bait-sections next spring, should not be 

 left standing around, exposed to daylight, dust, flies, spiders, 

 etc., and perhaps more or less honey left in until it is time to 

 use them. When the honey harvest is over, and the supers are 

 all gathered in, it is one of my first jobs to sort out the bait- 

 sections for the next year. Anything from a drawn starter 

 to a full-built comb is included in this class. Any sections 

 that are capped about one-half or more are kept for home 

 use (the table), but those with less capping are reserved for 

 next year's baits. All the latter, and those combs that are 



