1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



49 



side where I stand. In Oct., I built one hive for 2, 

 and one for 3 colonies. 



Now for your objections; "It cannot be hinged at 

 one sido." After working with a rover of this kind 

 for three years, I have failed to find any inconven- 

 ience whatever. On the other hand, it is one of the 

 very things that I like. The cover is raised up cut 

 of the way, and propped in a twinkling-, and if it is 

 hinged at the south side, it is as good as an umbrella. 



Advantages : — With Mr. Underbill, I will say 

 "Economy of material and labor in construction, 

 and convenience in working about or with them." 

 And why not say economy of heat during winter and 

 cool weather in the spring? If the cover is raised 6 

 or 8 inches at the north side, it seems to suit the 

 bees exactly in the hottest weather. The long box 

 referred to above was stocked with five large, natu- 

 ral swarms, hived on frames half filled with fdn. 

 The roof is tlooring covered with pine shingles and 

 was not shaded at all; yet, when the roof was raised 

 8 or 10 inches at the north side, there seemed to be 

 no inconvenience on account of the mercury stand- 

 ing" at H5° in the shade. 



Then, this hive can be locked the same as the poul- 

 try house and the corn-crib, if it is needed. 



I have been quite enthusiastic over this chaff "Ten- 

 ement Hive" for some time; but several years ago 

 I decided not "to write up" new things until they 

 had stood the test of usage (a bad rule; it would ruin 

 the patent business). 



J. M. Reynolds. 



East Springfield, O. Dee. 13, 1878. 



Friend R. sends some beautiful diagrams 

 of his hive with the above very pleasant and 

 "neighborly"' letter. The only objection I 

 have to the tenement hive is : that all that 

 have been tried (and there are a great many 

 of them scattered over the land, as I judge 

 from the pile of letters we receive in regard 

 to them) have almost always been sooner or 

 later discarded. When everybody drops a 

 thing, I regard it as pretty good proof of its 

 unworthiness. The long Adair hive well il- 

 lustrates this. Thousands were made, and 

 many bee-keepers transferred all their bees 

 to them, but now scarcely one is used, unless 

 it is those sold by Mitchell, who claimed 

 them as his patent just about the time they 

 were declared to be a failure. It is quite 

 possible we have never had a really handy 

 tenement hive, and we can certainly give 

 friend Underwood the credit of having in- 

 vented the name, if not the tenement hive, 

 that will be adopted by the coming bee men 

 and women. 



USING SECTION BOXES, TI^IE OF I'l'T- 

 TJNtt THEM ON THE HIVES, ETC. 



MAVING given you my plan of putting sections 

 together, you may be interested to know 

 I about using them on the hives. Last sum- 

 mer, I did not get sectims on all my hives till about 

 June 18th, as I had but little time to see to my bees 

 till June Tth. Having sections to put together, 

 frames to make, &c, after June Tth, 1 got behind- 

 hand in my work and kept behind all summer long, 

 making my work harder and more unpleasant, and 

 I think quite likely I might have had 6,000 instead of 

 5,000 lbs. of honey, if I had been in readiness with 

 everything done'in advance that could be done. 



It is somewhat important to know just when is 

 the right time to put on sections, and I am not sure 

 that I know, but I think 1 would rather put them on 

 too soon than too late. If they are put on too soon, 

 the hive is made unnecessarily cold, and part of the 

 tlying force is kept at home to keep up the heat. If 

 sections arc not put on till after the bees are ready 

 to store surplus, they waste time in storing in the 

 space that should be left for the queen, and very 

 likely make preparations for swarming, thus ma- 

 terially interfering with the surplus crop. If I had 

 only a few colonies and plenty of time to work with 

 them, I think, as soon as the hives seemed well 

 stocked with bees and honey was coming in, I 

 should put on frames of sections only as fast as the 

 bees occupied them, closing out, by means of quilts 



and division boards, all cold space not actually oc- 

 cupied by the bees; but I had 124 colonies to handle, 

 and I could save time by putting on a super filled 

 with sections, all at once. 



SHAEL WE PUT SECTIONS IN TIIE LOWER STORY? 



The summer of 1877, I put two frames of sections 

 at the side of the brood, in the main apartment, be- 

 fore putting on the super, and I am not prepared to 

 say whether it is best to do so or not. 1 think the 

 bees are rather slow in such cases, to finish up the 

 bottom sections. 



Last summer, I put sections only in the supers, 

 and 1 think it made me less work; but, possibly, by 

 right management, more honey might be secured 

 by having sections in the brood apartment also. 

 To get the bees to work more promptly 

 in the sections, I put a frame of brood 

 between two section frames and turned the open 

 side of each (on which were no separators), next to 

 the brood. This brood I put in the center of the su- 

 per, crowding the section frames tight and snug up 

 to it. In a few days, perhaps 5, but varying accor- 

 ding to circumstances, the bees had commenced 

 work on all the sections in these two frames, and 

 then I put two empty frames next the brood, or be- 

 tween the brood and the sections already started. 

 When these empty frames of sections next the 

 brood were started, they changed places with the 

 outside empty ones, and the super was now left 

 with 6 frames of sections in full progress and one 

 frame of empty sections. This frame of empty sec- 

 tions was apt to be very unsatisfactorily worked, 

 and I am not sure that I have hit on the best plan, 

 but I am willing to learn. 1 am sure I can improve 

 another year, and shall be glad of your criticisms. 



Chicago, 111. Dec. 19, '78. C. C. Miller. 



Your experience, friend M., is much like 

 that of the rest of us. There is a great dif- 

 ference in colonies, in regard to working in 

 sections at the side of the brood in the lower 

 stories. If you have no upper story on at 

 all, the bees will work with great vigor, in 

 the sections in the lower story, but this does 

 not pay, unless the colony is a feeble one. 

 Also, if we have only a single tier above, 

 they will be much more disposed to work be- 

 low, than where Ave have the usual upper 

 story full. This is one reason why we have 

 such a difference of opinion, in regard to the 

 storing. A tall frame, like the American, 

 also favors section boxes at the sides ; but 

 with the L. frames, and the whole 56 sections 

 above, the bees are often disposed to let the 

 bottom ones remain until they get soiled and 

 dark, before finishing them. With the fdn. 

 starters, we seldom have any trouble in get- 

 ting the bees to go right into the upper sto- 

 ries at once, without any frame of brood at 

 all. Our bees are generally ready to go into 

 the upper stories in a mass, as soon as honey 

 begins to come, for we usually succeed in 

 having every hive crowded with bees, by the 

 time clover comes into bloom. 



FOIL, BROOD. 



%fi BOUGHT 2 swarms of pure Italians., at $10. each, 

 l|[ in Apr. Moved them to my home, about 3 miles, 

 &3i and soon after commenced feeding them a little 

 honey from a hive that had had a swarm in it the 

 year previous. The Italians being in Langstroth 

 hives, and very gentle, I took great delight in watch- 

 ing their progress, which was done so easily, by tak- 

 ing <>11 the honey board and lilting up the frames 

 one by one, that I learned very many things during 

 the season that I had never heard of before reading 

 Gleanings. No. 1 swarmed June M, it being the 

 earliest swarm in town, 1 think, then again the 13 

 and 17 of June. No. 2 got nearly ready to swarm 

 once or twice, as I supposed; at one time, they had 

 3 queen cells capped over, but the next time I look- 

 ed at them, in a day or two, Ihe cells were destroyed 

 and my hopes nearly blasted. After this, I took 6 of 

 their best cards of brood and placed in No. 1 and 

 their 3d swarm, 3 to each, then fillea their place in 



