October, 1910. 



American Hee Jonrnal 



the frames hanging 6n rabbets on this 

 partition ami corresponding ones on 

 the outside walls of the hive. 



Each side contains 20 six-frames or 

 50 two-frames, in all, or. as I use it. 24 

 frames on a side, with ;i division-boards. 



HivK-BoDv OR Bkood-Ghambek. 



making 4 divisions in each side of the 

 hive, or 8 in all. This allows for 8 

 queens all together. 



The partition between the 2 rows of 

 frames has a 2-inch space near the bot- 

 tom extending the full length of the 

 hive, and left open except for wire- 

 cloth which keeps the bees apart, but 

 allows a common scent throughout the 

 hive. All division-boards are also 

 about half wire-cloth. 



There are 4 entrances on each side, 

 one for each queen and her progeny, 

 and 4 extra entrances at the ends, two 

 at each end, for use until queens are 

 mated. 



When the hive is filled with nuclei, 

 the entrances are arranged as follows: 

 Two center entrances on each side left 

 open, with a board fastened up be- 

 tween to help the queen to get back 

 into the right place on her return from 

 mating. The outside 2 entrances on 

 both sides are closed, and those in the 

 ends of the hive opened in their stead. 

 This arrangement leaves very little 

 danger of queens getting into the 

 wrong place, and I have never had any 

 trouble from that source. As soon as 

 all queens are mated «// entrances are 

 opened on the sides of the hive and 

 the end ones closed. 



The first year I started 1 and 2 frame 

 nuclei in it, and although they were 



frames, which I placed on top, and 

 then stood back and watched results. 

 It was a very light fall flow that year, 

 and from 27 colonies, aside from this 

 one, I secured only about b50 pounds 

 of extracted honey. The mammoth 

 colony alone stored 120 pounds of fall 

 honey, or within 30 pounds of as much 

 as all the rest combined. 



Late fall, however, showed the weak 

 point in the hive. There is a large 

 cover that goes over all, and then each 

 partition has its individual cover. These 

 little covers would warp, or perhaps 

 failed to fit perfectly in the first place, 

 and when fall came those queens got 

 to visiting. The consequence was that 

 that winter found them with but 2 

 queens in the hive — one in each oppo- 

 site corner, 



I forgot to mention that the hive 

 was made double-walled all through, 

 with a one-inch space between walls. 



I placed the empty super on top, 

 filled with chaff, and 'left them. Both 

 colonies wintered through until spring, 

 but were evidently weakened badly, for 

 they dwindled rapidly in the spring, 

 and by April both were dead. Since 

 then I have used the hive simply to 

 store combs containing choice cells, 

 and find it a fine thing for this pur- 

 pose. Throughout the summer, when 

 I find a choice cell that I wish to save, 

 I place it in one of these compart- 



Emptv Scper Holding 32 Fill-Depth 

 Frames. 



started late thej were all built up until 

 each had their H frames filled solid with 

 brood and honey, at the close of the 

 white honey-flow. 



I had a huge super, or upper story 

 built, containing 52 standard Hoffman 



Hive With Sii-er and Cover Complete. 



ments, and soon have the hive filled 

 with choice queens. Then, as I find 

 inferior queens through the yard. I 

 snap their heads off and replace with 

 this -new stock. Meantime, they are 

 building up finely in the big hive, and 

 when fall comes I have enough to 

 make from 2 to 4 rousing colonies to 

 go into the winter. 

 Barryton, Mich. 



Great Results from Shaking ? 



BY BARON M. LIEAWFUL. 



It has been many months since I 

 have had occasion to write to the " Old 

 Reliable " — not since I was moved to 

 let the Public know of the wonderful 

 method practiced by Conscientious D. 

 But keeping bees under that plan and 

 rearing queens by running extra lives 

 into them through their umbilical 

 cords, have both become chestnutty, 

 and so I hailed with delight the newly- 

 found shaking system. There is some- 

 thing merry in the very name ; it rather 

 tends to set up a rhythmic motion of 

 one's diaphragm just to listen to that 

 name. 



I have now practiced this system two 

 years. Not only has it proved an un- 

 dreamed-of success in the way of 

 honey crops, but has opened up new 



fields of thought. One of those fields 

 is centered around my dear old mater- 

 nal grandfather. It is now plain to me 

 why the dear old man was so success- 

 ful with his bees. Farmers from miles 

 around used to come to him to learn 

 his methods of getting phenomenal 

 yields of honey. They never learned — 

 rather missed the very reason by as- 

 cribing wonder to the fact that he 

 could get such results, suffering as he 

 did with the s/ia/i!>if,r palsy. 



The only disadvantage in the shaking- 

 system is the labor element, an item 

 not to be overlooked when one is get- 

 ting along in years. To overcome this 

 disadvantage I set all my inventive 

 genius at work. At first I arranged my 

 hives in rows, the fronts of the hives 

 on pivots and the backs on eccentric 

 cams. The cams were rotated by a 

 small water-motor. It was found that 

 one-half hour of 3 rotations to the sec- 

 ond at sunrise, and 15 minutes of 2 

 rotations to the second at noon, 

 brought out the best results. -All colo- 

 nies thus treated averaged 767 pounds 

 for the season, against the 37 average 

 of those not treated. This paid a splen- 

 did income from the money invested, 

 especially as the water cost only 12 

 cents per 1000 gallons, and 1000 gallons 

 very nearly did the work of one day. 



I was envious, however, of my cousin 

 Ananias who lived near the Cherryville 

 trolley-line. Ananias's apiary is on a 

 lot close to the trolley. The land is 

 slightly boggy, though not wet at the 

 surface. Every passing trolley causes 

 the ground to shake for a hundred 

 yards, especially when a car is well- 

 loaded and has' a flat wheel. All the 

 cars on this line are flat-wheeled, by 

 the way, because it is a one-horse 

 affair which buys second-hand cars. 

 Four cars per day pass, six on Sun- 

 days. Ananias says that his bees aver- 

 aged nearly half again as great a gain 

 on Sundays as they did on week-days. 

 Along towards August Ananias heard 

 that the company was going to buy 

 new cars, because the had done so well 

 that season. Well, .'Vnanias, who is a 

 stock-holder, got a few of the officials 

 up to his house, and after talking per- 

 suaded them to pay a dividend instead, 

 seeing no dividend had ever been paid. 

 How long his good luck will continue, 

 I don't know. 



I had a grand idea come last spring, 

 though, when I read about that chap 

 who hitches a vacuum pump to the 

 middle of his combs. Why not go him 

 one better and extract the honey auto- 

 matically? Previous to this time I 

 had not shaken during the busy day- 

 hours except at a slower speed for a 

 few minutes after dinner. The newly 

 gathered nectar, after an hour or so of 

 work, caused trouble by shaking from 

 the combs. Then it occurred to rne 

 that I might make use of this very dif- 

 ficulty. It was, you will perceive, a 

 blessing in disguise, just as was the dis- 

 ease of my sainted ancestor. 



Little tin troughs were prepared and 

 attached to the frames and carried to a 

 common trough which led down the 

 slope to my honey-tank. I now ar- 

 ranged an automatic device which 

 would bring on a 4-rotation-to-the-sec- 

 ond speed every 20 minutes, to be kept 

 up () minutes. In this way the accumu- 

 lated nectar was shaken from the 



