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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



But I can not say that I am willing to 

 swallow his conclusions without making a 

 wry face over them. His conclusions are, 

 that, to obtain at the same time few swarms 

 with a maximum of honey and new wax. a 

 large horizontal hive is necessary, contain- 

 ing at the same time enough combs for the 

 laying of the queen that she may not be hin- 

 dered, enough combs to store all the honey 

 harvested and enough empty frames to per- 

 mit the young bees to construct new combs 

 at the time of their own preference for such 

 work. Of course, these conclusions may be 

 all right for extracted honey, but how about 

 comb honey ? 



His plan of having the new combs built is 

 in his large hive of twenty frames, the brood 

 nest being at one end, then empty combs, 

 then combs of honey alternating with the 

 empty frames or frames of foundation." 



As most of my readers know, I have, for 

 several years, hived my swarms in empty 

 brood chambers (empty except starters) and 

 obtained more honey as the result. It must 

 be remembered that I gave plenty of foun- 

 dation in the supers. The only ojection to 

 this plan is that the combs are not al- 

 ways perfect. It is possible that this plan 

 may be advisable even if it is necessary to 

 sort the combs and melt the imperfect ones. 

 I think the reason why more extracted than 

 comb honey is usually secured is because the 

 nectar can often be gathered more rapidly 

 than comb can be built to store it. If the 

 yield were so slow that there would be time 

 to build comb in which to store the honey, it 

 is possible that no more honey would be se- 

 cured by using comb or foundation. In the 

 bountiful yields that sometimes come, there 

 would be a great loss if the bees were 

 compelled to build comb in which to store 

 the honey. In the article given by the Dr., 

 it does not appear whether the yield in the 

 experiment given was meager or bountiful. 



How to get the Most Benefit from Shavings 

 as Smoker fuel. 



I wrote to Mr. Heddon for his views upon 

 the Smoker question, and he replied that the 

 best that he could give was what appears 

 upon this subject in his book, "Success in 

 Bee Culture." He wrote it seven years ago, 

 yet he says that he has since seen no cause 

 for changing his mind. As he goes more in- 

 to the details of management than I did in 

 my leader, I think best to copy a part of 

 what he says. The first paragraph was writ- 

 ten by the person that Mr. Heddon calls "My 

 Friend." 



"For the past live seasons we have used 

 pine shavings for fuel, with almost perfect 

 satisfaction. The only difficulty we experi- 



enced in their use, was in getting them to 

 burn when the fire is first started in the 

 morning, but now obviate this by first using 

 a small quantity of punk or rotten wood (elm 

 preferred), and when this is thoroughly 

 lighted, fill up the smoker with shavings. 

 Fine shavings, such as can be procured at a 

 planing mill, answer every purpose if covered 

 with a small quanity of a coarser article, like 

 bench shavings of carpenter shops. These 

 last, we thoroughly dampen before using, 

 especially if the smoker is to be run to its 

 full capacity, as they fully prevent the issue 

 of sparks and render the fuel more lasting 

 and serviceable. After the fire is once thor- 

 oughly started, the shavings should be close- 

 ly packed, using care not to destroy the draft 

 or impede the free issue of smoke. A little 

 practice will soon make you proficient in the 

 use of this fuel, and when once used, I feel 

 sure, will please you. Being easily obtained, 

 lasting well when properly packed (we often 

 use one of Bingham's ' Doctor ' smokers 

 three hours, without refilling) and producing 

 a dense volume of cool smoke that will make 

 even the fiercest hybrids instantly quail. 

 Pine shavings, in my opinion, just ' take the 

 cake ' as a smoker fuel. 



In addition to what has been said I wish to 

 add my evidence to the great superiority of 

 the shaving smoke. I would not for fifty 

 dollars be willing to exchange these shavings 

 for any other material, with which I am ae- 

 quanted, to use in our bee-smokers. With 

 them very little heat is evolved: fully as little 

 creosote. They settle the ' cold blast ' prob- 

 lem. Their smoke, while it most completely 

 conquers the bees, leaves no reactionary 

 belligerent effects with them , as does tobacco, 

 rags and some other material. The smoke is 

 not disagreeable to the operator. No sparks 

 fly out while using the smoke. They last a 

 long time, when loaded into the smoker just 

 right, a little closer detail of which I 

 re-present. Pine shavings, are preferable. 

 As in most places, one can get ' planer ' 

 shavings much handier than bench or hand- 

 planed shavings, I will tell you how we have 

 made them work equally well: First, press 

 down to the bottom of the smoker, a thin 

 (one-half inch) layer of hand-planed shav 

 ings, quite snugly packed. Next light some 

 of the punk, ' My Friend ' speaks of, (this 

 punk should be very light and readily com- 

 bustible: only fit to start fire with) and drop 

 it down upon the thin bed of shavings, give 

 it a few puffs from the bellows, to get it well 

 lighted, then fill up to near the top of the fire 

 barrel with the pine planer shavings: pack 

 these down moderately tight, puffing with 

 the bellows as you pack. Now take up a 

 small handful of the bench shavings (any 

 wood will do for these) and douse them with 

 water, squeeze them as dry as you can, so 

 they will not drip, then press them into a 

 layer about an inch deep: that will fill the 

 fire barrel to the top. Now adjust the noz- 

 zle and puff away until the white smoke rolls 

 forth in a volume that will subdue the worse 

 tempered bees, whether lying outside their 

 hive, on their combs, or hanging in a cluster 

 upon some tree, waiting to be hived. When 

 you notice the first spark coming from the 

 nozzle, your smoker needs re- tilling. Re- 



