1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



693 



FIG. 4. — hand's bottom-board IN OPERATION 



this plan, and I think it practical at any 

 rate. 



This reminded me of the plan Mr. Pritchard 

 mentioned, of introducing queens by shak- 

 ing the bees out in front and running the 

 ({ueen in with them. If, some time, a bee- 

 keeper finds more than one virgin in a hive, 

 as he often will, or if he has virgins on hand 

 and he knows of a hive in the yard with a 

 laying worker, he can kill two birds with 

 one stone by shaking the bees all out of 

 their hive some 75 or 100 yards away and 

 running the virgin in with them as they re- 

 turn. It is not a sure way of introducing a 

 virgin in such a hive, but it is the best plan 

 I know unless a ripe cell is given in a pro- 

 tec tor 

 Mesilla Park, X. M. 



PERFECT CONTROL OF BEES WITH ECON- 

 OMY OF LABOR. 



A Double Bottom-board Having a Switch Ca- 

 pable of Shifting the Bees from One Hive 

 to the Other, 



BY J. E. HAND. 



For generations the outside world has 

 looked upon bee-keeping as a hazardous 

 pursuit, and these outsiders can hardly be 

 blamed for entertaining such erroneous 

 ideas when up-to-date bee-keepers acknowl- 



edge their inability to control the 

 swarming impulse of bees with 

 any thing like economy of labor. 

 When bee-keepers learn how to 

 control their bees by economical 

 labor-saving methods, the pursuit 

 of honey-production will stand 

 upon a solid basis as compared 

 with other business ventures. 



As many of the readers of this 

 journal already know, the writer 

 htis for several years been engaged 

 in an earnest endeavor to solve 

 the problem of swarm control with 

 economy of labor. Our etTorts have 

 not been in vain; for after much 

 experimenting along many lines 

 we have at last discovered princi- 

 jiles by which bees may be con- 

 trolled with the same precision 

 and certainty that the expert en- 

 gineer controls his engine, and 

 with an economy of labor that 

 renders the new system well nigh 

 automatic in operation. Results 

 that formerly necessitated an al- 

 most endless routine of shaking 

 and brushing bees, interchanging 

 hives and brood-chambers, clip- 

 ping queens, etc., are now obtain- 

 ed in the highest state of perfec- 

 tion in a much easier manner. 



The simple equipment is incor- 

 porated in a bottom-board. Fig. 1, 

 which is adapted for use with any 

 hive having a loose floor. This 

 bottom-board is double, and wide 

 enough to accommodate two hives side by 

 side separated by a one-inch strip. A rim 

 around the outside forms a one-inch space 

 under the frames. On each side, centrally 

 located, is a main outside entrance, )4XV2 

 inches, CD and EF, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, each 

 leading through a short covered passageway 

 to two inner entrances, each having a capac- 

 ity equal to the outside entrance. These 

 inner entrances are opened and closed by 

 switch levers, A and B, the inner ends of 

 which are pivoted to the bottom-board, and 

 work in a socket in each end of a central 

 "frog," the outside protruding from the 

 main outside entrances. 



When a switch-lever is thrown either way 

 from a central position the inner entrance 

 to the hive on that side is closed while the 

 one to the hive on the other side is opened 

 without changing the position or appear- 

 ance of the outside entrance, as this is al- 

 ways open full width. 



Fig. 2 shows the " s^vitch-boa^d " with the 

 covered passageway, G, removed, showing 

 the position of the switch-levers A and li, 

 and the central "frog." 



On each end, centrally located, is an aux- 

 iliary entrance )4XQ inches, provided with 

 a cut-off, I, Fig. 2, to be opened and closed 

 as occasion requires. 



Fig. 3 shows one of the auxiliary entrances 

 closed ^\ith stop H, also the covered ])assage- 

 way turned bottom side up, showing the 

 ventilating-holes and the feet upon which it 



