June, 1913. 



American Hee Journal 



we took off the top hive with the 

 queen, and placed it on another stand. 

 Then we grafted another lot, put them 

 in and also gave feed, sugar syrup that 

 had been poured into a frame of comb. 

 This started a little robbing, but in the 

 evening of that day it turned cold, and 

 the next day those cups were all torn 

 down. 



We next tried grafting cells into a 

 queenless colony that was building cells, 

 but they would have none of them. We 

 are going to come back to our de- 

 queened colony if the weather warms up 

 and try again. Mr. Bird did the graft- 

 ing. He selects some warm corner 

 where the sun is shining brightly and 

 no breeze stirs, and it seems warm 

 enough to prevent the larvs from be- 

 coming chilled. 



We are going to keep at it until we 

 succeed. It is possible that we have 

 not fed enough, although the bees have 

 been getting nectar from dandelion 

 and fruit-bloom. Robbing is, however, 

 attempted each afternoon, so that we 

 shall feed regularly and try to get cells 

 accepted. The changeable weather has 

 been against us. We cannot rear 

 queens during unfavorable weather. 

 Although we have had no measure of 

 success as yet, we are confident that 

 we can rear queens when the right 

 conditions are secured. 



[The Doolittle method has often 

 succeeded with the old queen in the 

 upper story over an excluding-zinc. 

 The weather is probably the cause of 

 your ill success. It would be interest- 

 ing to know how many of the extensive 

 queen-breeders use the Doolittle arti- 

 licial cell-cups. — Editor.] 



Acme cover, is necessary unless one 

 uses a blanket. The use of cloths over 

 frames and sections is out of date and 

 cannot be tolerated by the progressive 

 bee-man. [We still use them, and 

 would not do without them. — Editor.] 



Projecting hand-holds are not to be 

 used with the hive, as they take up room 

 and interfere with piling in compact 

 piles. The hand-holes are sufficient. 



The advantages of this hive, using 

 the standard dovetailed hive-body and 

 frames, are that you save expense. It 

 is the cheapeslcover and bottom made. 

 There is no waste lumber. When you 

 want a cover, if a bottom is handy, you 

 have a cover. The bane of the bee- 

 man is complicated hive parts. I am 

 trying to get this made so as to do 

 away with the separate honey-board, 

 and it will be practicable, I am sure. 



The cover will be compact, and no 

 projecting edges will catch the wind 



and blow off. Such a cover will hardly 

 need a stone or brick. 



The crack around the top edge of 

 the hive can be seen, and robbing de- 

 tected much sooner than when one has 

 to get down and look under the cover 

 to see whether bees are getting in. I 

 can get these cover-bottoms, tin, nails, 

 and all for an 8-frame hive for less 

 than 20 cents each. Their cost, made 

 from the best white pine, would prob- 

 ably not be over 25 cents. 



There are 12 pieces in this cover- 

 bottom, including the tin, and by a lit- 

 tle better designing the number of 

 pieces may be reduced to 10. 



A shade-board might be necessary in 

 some localities, and the lack of an 

 alighting-board would be a very seri- 

 ous objection to some people. But the 

 simplicity of the hive and parts appeals 

 to me, and for those who do a great 

 deal of moving it should prove of 

 value. 



Cover Side 



The Efficiency Hive 



Bees are going to be moved more in 

 tlie future than they have been in the 

 past. Carload rates on bees will be re- 

 duced, probably as low as live-stock 

 rates. We need such system of man- 

 agement and arrangements that a car 

 of bees can be loaded in a day, includ- 

 ing all preparations. 



When hauling bees on an automobile 

 or wagon we should be able to load 

 them as snugly as brick. The cover 

 should be of the same size as the top 

 and the bottom. The bottom and cover 

 should be interchangeable. This is a 

 simplification that is worth while. The 

 cover must be tin roofed with an air- 

 space over the honey-board. 



The cover-bottom I have here shown 

 will require but a trifle over 3 feet of 

 lumber. The tin for the 8-frame hive 

 size can be cut from regular roofing 

 tin sheets 20x28 inches, two pieces 

 from each sheet. The ;!s-inch strips 

 are nailed on top of the tin, and hold 

 it in place on three sides. When it is 

 used as a bottom-board the tin is up 

 and the wax and propolis can be easily 

 scraped from it. 



This cover-bottom requires a hive 

 stand, as it reaches just to the front of 

 the hive, and does not provide for an 

 alighting-board. But in a way this is 

 an advantage, as every hive should be 

 placed on some good platform or 

 stand to protect it from dampness. 

 A honey-board, as used with the 



Wem.ev Foster''. Cover-Bottom. 



Southern 



Beedom- 



Conducted by Louis H. Scuoi.i.. New Brauntels. Tex. 



Increase and Out-Yards 



Instead of making increase at an api- 

 ary and building up the nuclei with the 

 intention of later moving the colonies 

 up to a new place to establish an addi- 

 tional bee-yard, it is far better to do 

 this all at one time. One of the great- 

 est advantages is keeping the bees of 

 the newly-made nuclei from returning 

 to the parent colonies, and another is 

 preventing the chance of these nuclei 

 being robbed out, when left in the large 

 apiary. 



We use a shallow extracting super 



on all our colonies in the early spring 

 for additional brood-rearing room and 

 honey storage; this is also mentioned 

 under the head of " Carniolan and 

 Swarming," in this department. After 

 these supers have served their purpose, 

 and as soon as the bees of the colonies 

 are well at work in the newly-given 

 supers filled with foundation, which 

 have been slipped in between the shal- 

 low-comb supers and the brood-nest 

 on the coming of the honey-flow, the 

 former are removed. Almost all of 

 them will still have some brood in 

 them which is sealed. Some will have 



