214 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



Colonies having swarmed but once, I find, 

 will work nicely after they get their queens, 

 providing honey is coming in sufficiently. The 

 Heddon method reduces the parent colony to a 

 mere fraction, which is of little further good 

 that season; for this reason I abandoned the 

 Heddon method of preventing after-swarms 

 long ago. To reinforce my young swarms 1 

 prefer to hive them on the stands of some other 

 good colonies not having cast swarms, treating 

 these colonies sometimes, if thought best, as 

 the parent colony in the Heddon plan. More 

 colonies can thus be gotten in working order 

 for the basswood-honey flow. I do not suffer 

 any colony to cast more than one swarm. All 

 second swarms are returned after cutting out 

 the queen-cells. Should a second swarm unite 

 with a prime swarm while out in the air, I 

 make no attempt to separate them; but the 

 next prime swarm is hived in the hive having 

 cast the second swarm. Quite a number of col- 

 onies are treated on this plan in my yard dur- 

 ing the latter part of the swarming season every 

 year; only, in practicing it, I do not wait for 

 the after-swarm to issue, but hive the prime 

 swarms into such hives as have cast their 

 prime swarms five or six days previously. 



Swarms issuing during the main honey-flow 

 (from basswood) I also hive in empty hives on 

 the same stands whence they came; shake all 

 bees from parent colonies off and in with them; 

 give section-cases to swarms, and use brood- 

 combs to build up nuclei made during the ear- 

 lier part of the season. All young swarms are 

 given a reduced brood-chamber, hiving them 

 on empty frames provided with foundation 

 starters (strips K inch wide), never using full 

 sheets. The later the swarms issue, the more 

 the brood -chambers are reduced, commencing 

 with seven L. frames or their equivalent, later 

 on using six, then only five or half-stories. 



At any time, should flowers yield honey to 

 any amount, section-cases are applied to the 

 strong colonies. Tt is an impossibility to have 

 all colonies in working order all the time; but 

 since the flow from linden is the most reliable 

 (with buckwheat to follow), I aim to have all 

 colonies strong when it commences, but also 

 have some colonies ready any time. In favor- 

 able years we may get some honey from sugar 

 maple, fruit bloom, and clover; but only clover 

 amounts to any thing, if any thing does at all; 

 and I believe it is better to allow the bees to 

 store in the brood-chamber from the first-named 

 sources to bridge over the different periods of 

 honey dearth. To those colonies that I expect 

 to work in the sections during the earliest part 

 of the season I give only a few sections, dum- 

 mies being used in the cases, with chaff cush- 

 ion on top. If we can supply sections with nice 

 white comb in them, we are all the surer of the 

 bees occupying, filling, and finishing them. 

 Comb foundation I do not use in full sheets 



in sections at any time. I feel a good deal like 

 a prominent German bee-keeper who recently 

 said in the Bienenzeituiig, " If we should use 

 comb foundation in our comb honey we should 

 soon drive many of the purchasers of our honey 

 away from the markets." I myself am not only 

 a producer of comb honey, but also very largely 

 a consumer, and I consider foundation an un- 

 desirable adjunct to my comb honey when it 

 comes to the eating part. 



Since keeping bees I have experienced only 

 one season with a continuous honey-flow from 

 beginning of basswood to the end of buckwheat; 

 but ordinarily we have a honey dearth between 

 the two, lasting from 8 to 16 days, and I find it 

 pays me well to remove all sections after bass- 

 wood is over, sort out all partly finished ones, 

 and have them finished up on a few of the best 

 working colonies during this time. I feed ex- 

 tracted honey in somewhat diluted form. When 

 open cases are used, such course can not be so 

 well pursued; but I believe nearly all comb- 

 honey producers use separators now. 



Although my aim is section honey, still I also 

 raise some extracted honey, for my home use 

 and home trade principally. I find, however, 

 nice white extracted honey, put up in one-pound 

 glass jars (screw-top preferred), sells as well as 

 comb honey in some large cities; but it must 

 reach the consumer before it granulates. 



In fitting my comb honey for market I always 

 scrape sections perfectly clean, stamp each 

 with my name and address, put them up in 24- 

 pound crates, glassed and otherwise neatly 

 made, and sell early. In shipping I combine 

 with the grape-growers of my town, and so I 

 secure very low freight rates to the principal 

 cities, quick transit, and safety; also avoidance 

 of breakage, etc. It would be to the advantage 

 of honey-producers in general if they would 

 follow the example. Prof. Cook is right on this 

 subject. 



Naples, N. Y., Jan. 11. 



CONTROL OF BEES. 



THE DIVISIBLE BROOD-CHAMBER BEST ADAPT- 

 ED TO IT. 



By J. E. Hand. 



Mr. Root:— I notice on page 19 that Dr. Mil- 

 ler seems to think it a thing incredible that 

 any one should have perfect control of his bees. 

 He says when his bees take it into their heads 

 to make preparation for swarming they don't 

 always mind what he says; and he doubts 

 whether mine are much more obedient. It 

 is evident from the above he is laboring under 

 the impression that the prevention of swarm- 

 ing is necessary to the perfect control of bees. 

 With this view of the case, perhaps he may be 

 excused for being rather skeptical. I did not 

 intend to convey the idea that the divisible- 

 brood-chamber hive gives me perfect control of 



