THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



to retard swarming until the proper 

 season. At this time, too, we fn\d the 

 queens; and if their wings are not cHp- 

 ped we cHp them, and make a memoran- 

 dum of it as follows: No. I [ q. cl. '99], 

 showing the queen was a clipped queen; 

 and No. 2, [cl. q. '99] showing the queen 

 was clipped in 1899. We make a practice 

 of disposing of a queen after she is two 

 years old, as the success of spring- build- 

 ing-up depends upon good young queens. 



In our locality the basswood is our 

 principal crop; and the flow usually be- 

 gins about the first of July; so we work 

 the entire spring with that thought in 

 view; and build the bees up accordingl)-. 

 About the first of May we overhaul with 

 the thought of spreading the brood and 

 getting as many young bees as possible 

 for the honey flow. When the brood- 

 chamber becomes full of bees and brood 

 we place another set of combs above, 

 thus giving the queen more room, and 

 retarding swarming. 



Before going any farther I will describe 

 the hive we use. It is the Gallup hive, 

 14 X 20 inches, and 1252 inches deep, 

 with 12 frames which run crosswise the 

 hive. I suspose some will differ from me, 

 and say some other hive is the best. 

 Some other hive may be better for 

 someone else, but ours is the best for us. 

 I prefer it for a number of reasons. 

 First, it is easier to build up colonies in 

 the spring in short combs than in long 

 ones; second, the short combs are much 

 easier handled; third, the hive contains a 

 large amount of comb; fourth, the bees 

 can store honey enough for winter use in 

 the combs, and last, we are better accus- 

 tomed to this hive after so many years of 

 use. We are not. lunvever, such "cranks' ' 

 on the hive question as to believe that 

 success lieth in the hive. 



After the bees are built up strong, and 

 just before the honey season opens, we 

 put the extracting supers on with nine 

 drone combs in each super. I will adfl 

 here that we use the zinc and wood queen 

 excluders between the brood chambers 

 and extracting supers. By using only 



nine combs the bees have built the combs 

 out thick, and it is certainly a great ad- 

 vantage in several respects. We have 

 more honey stored in less combs, thus 

 making fewer combs to handle, and en- 

 abling us to extract more honey in less 

 time. We also economise by using the 

 thick combs for extracting, as there is 

 less money invested in combs. 



In taking the honey from the hives we 

 hold the comb by the ends of the top bar 

 between the thumb and fingers, raising 

 the comb and giving it two sudden shakes. 

 This removes most of the bees from tha 

 comb, when the comb is held in the left 

 hand by one end of the top bar while the 

 bees are brushed off with a brush held in 

 the right hand. The brush is one of our 

 own contrivances. It is made thus: take 



T".-^ 



^- 



^i^ 



'fr 



\ 



THE PICK.VRI) BEE-BRUSH. 



a piece of broom handle about eighteen 

 inches long and saw a slot in the end of 

 the piece, lengthwise, about six inches 

 long. Take some rope and cut it into 



