THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



329 



makinj;^ of wider passages to the stor- 

 age apartment. This was tried upon 

 two or three colonies, with a marked 

 degree of success. These wider pass- 

 ages naturally called for slatted dum- 

 mies in lieu of the ordinary separators, 

 which were widened from time to time 

 until one inch and a half was reached. 

 At present, however, the one inch size 

 is being used; and I consider them 

 nearly perfect for the purpose designed, 

 namely, that with freer passages to 

 the supers, the tendenc}' to swarm be- 

 came, perhaps, 50 per cent, less than 

 with supers having narrow passages. 



After the season's experimenting, the 

 writer entertained no further doubt as 

 to the ultimate success, than he did 

 with the potato planter, up to within 

 one or two years of its completion. 

 The workings of most colonies in the 

 5'ard were so favorable t ) the perfect 

 result, that no further doubts could be 

 entertained. Still, there would be one 

 or two swarms to every ten colonies, 

 even with ample storage room. 



Let us note, in this connection, that 

 any or all appliances, however perfect, 

 will fail if the storage room is insuffi- 

 cient. 



As a further means of preventing the 

 tendency to swarm, and, also to facili- 

 tate handling the frames, similar 

 slatted spaces were introduced at the 

 ends of each brood comb. These 

 afforded still more bee-space, also 

 better \entilation, and, prevented the 

 sun's raj'S from striking directly upon 

 the ends to which the combs are at- 

 tached. It was also noticeable that 

 the bees, upon entering the hive during 

 a honey flow, would do so mostly' at 

 one side or end of the entrance. With 

 closed-end frames the colony became 

 more or less crowded at that side of 

 the hive — the slatted ends most 

 thoroughly relieved that tendency, in 

 addition to affording better ventilation ; 

 also, keeping the sun's rays from in- 

 creasing the heat of the colony, as 

 already stated. 



At this juncture, with wider passage 

 ways to the supers, a corresponding 

 evil presented itself. The wider com- 

 munication made, as it were, the two 

 apartments nearly as one, which 

 naturally invited the storage of pollen 

 in the sections; whole supers of beau- 

 tiful white hone3' being rendered un- 

 salable thereb}'. Knowing that drone 

 cells were not used by the bees for the 

 storage of pollen, the use of drone cell 

 foundation suggested itself as being 

 the only remedy. One thousand sec- 

 tions were tried upon my stri^ngest 

 colonies during the season of 1905 with 

 most satisfactory results. Not more 

 than three or four sections having two 

 or three cells containing a little pollen 

 near the bottom. The result was so 

 satisfactory that I decided upon using 

 drone cell foundation as far as was 

 practicable. A small corresponding 

 objection appeared with the exclusive 

 use of the drone cell foundation. A 

 few colonies refused to do satisfactory 

 work with supers entirel3' filled with 

 it. The increased length of the 

 slatted-end brood frames aiorded addi- 

 tional super room, by allowing longer 

 section holders which accommodated 

 five sections instead of four as previ- 

 ously used. By using worker cell 

 foundation in the CJid sections, a still 

 further advance was made. It gave 

 the colony both kinds of comb to build 

 — just what every normal colony per- 

 sists in doing. The result was that 

 the worker cell foundation was filled 

 as rapidly as that for drones, notwith- 

 standing it was at the ends and cor- 

 ners of the supers. Furthermore, with 

 all this advance, not a single cell con- 

 tained pollen or drone brood. This 

 gave really more satisfactory results 

 than was expected, and will enable 

 the honey producer to have better filled 

 supers. So much for the season of 1906. 



In the meantime, the writer discov- 

 ered, upward of ten or twelve yeirs 

 ago, that pollen in the brood combs 

 was a very strong factor in indue- 



