THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



109 



enough so you can employ a competent 

 man to be on the spot. 



ADVANTAGES OF UNOBSTRUCTED FLIGHT 

 NEAR THE APIARY. 



In locating- a' large yard be sure and 

 place'your bees so that they can have an 

 unobstructed flight and vision in all di- 

 rections. Few , apiarists know how a 

 dense, clump of timber close up to the 

 bees cuts down their range. Nine out of 



ten bees will work the other way instead 

 of going over or through the trees. Bet- 

 ter, by far, have them in the timber, for 

 then they would fly up and work in all 

 directions. Of course, if the only nectar 

 to be had is in one direction, they would 

 fly that way, but, all things being equal, 

 they will take the easiest route and the 

 one they can see. 



Payette, Idaho, Feb. Z, 1911. 



Transferring, Italianizing, Making Increase 

 and^Getting Surplus. 



ALBERT SWANSON. 



SRIEND Hutchinson:— Would you 

 please answer the following ques- 

 tions for me ? 



1. Which grade of foundation is most 

 economical and best to use for brood 

 frames; also for extracting frames, both 

 bemg wired ? 



2. I bought some hives of a friend. 

 When I got them home I found them to be 

 in homemade hives, made out of cracker 

 boxes, etc., but with removable covers. 

 These box hives are very large, being 

 equal to about an eleven- or twelve-frame 

 standard hive. I wish to transfer them 

 into standard hives sometime this coming 

 summer. I would also like to have a 

 swarm from each in the early spring, one 

 that will produce surplus honey, and still 

 have the parent colony strong enough to 

 produce surplus honey also. In other 

 words, I wish to make the same increase 

 as you mention in your " Story of the 

 Season," and have it made at the same 

 time of the year as you did, so as to get 

 a crop of surplus honey. I also want to 

 requeen all these stocks with Italian 

 queens. 



Now, just suppose the 40 colonies you 

 had a year ago this spring had been in 

 these hives that I mention, with comm.on 

 black queens in them, and you wished to 

 Italianize and increase so as to get the 



same result that you now got from the 

 40 colonies you had last spring. How 

 would you proceed ? 



I have thought some of this plan: Feed 

 early in the spring, and after they are 

 quite populous, I would put on a standard 

 brood frame body with frames of founda- 

 tion in it, on top. Then keep on feeding 

 until the queen goes up into the upper 

 body, when I would take it off soon after- 

 ward and place it upon a new stand and 

 requeen it. I would also requeen the old 

 box hive (that I took the upper body 

 from) by introducing a queen in a Miller 

 cage. Then, after the honey season is 

 over, I would transfer the bees from this 

 old hive into a standard hive. 



Would the above plan work satisfac- 

 torily? Or would you prefer the Heddon 

 Short Way of Transfering as given in the 

 A B C and X Y Z? 



3. Could I rear two d;zen queens 

 early in the spring for requeening these 

 hives as cheaply as to buy them of a 

 breeder? I never reared any queens. 



Swea City, Iowa, Feb. 11, 1911. 



[I would use medium brood foundation. 

 The cost is only a trifle more than for the 

 thinner grade, while its use (wired) does 

 away with all trouble from stretching and 

 breaking. There is sufficient wax in the 

 foundation to build the combs complete. 



