1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



435 



od of mating young queens by the section-box 

 plan, although I have used them now for 

 about 13 years. 



The plan I have at last adopted is as follows : 

 Hive a good-sized swarm (natural or forced) 

 into a body containing ten all-wood or Sim- 

 plicity frames, each frame filled with 4'4X5% 

 Xl inch one-piece plain sections, thus : 



I^ 



FRAME WITH FOUNDATION. 



Each section should be supplied 

 with a starter of brood foundation, 

 as shown, and the frames are set 

 rather close together until fully 

 drawn out by the bees. Unless 

 honey is coming in rapidly the bees 

 should be fed constantly during 

 comb construction, in the event of 

 the swarm being a forced one. 



In a few days a good prolific queen 

 will have filled the most of these lit- 

 tle combs with eggs, and in due time 

 it will be found that each little comb 

 has its supply of brood, honey, and 

 bee-bread — the exact condition nec- 

 essary for the successful formation 

 of nuclei for queen-fertilization. 



At this point take away all the 

 section-holding frames, supplement- 

 ing them with full sheets of capped 

 brood, honey, etc., taken from other 

 colonies ; put on surplus arrange- 

 ment, and close the hive. That col- 

 ony will yet show you honey before 

 the end of the season, even though 

 you have borrowed every particle of 

 their work from the time of hiving. 

 Let them work on ; you will not 

 need to molest them more 



Remove the sectipn-holding frames 

 now clear of bees, just as taken from 

 the hive, to the honey-house, and ad- 

 just to each side of each little comb, 

 containing brood, a cover made of 

 thin stuff, with ^"inch strips nailed 

 all around the edges, as shown at A, 

 Fig. 1. Four small staples, C C C C, 

 driven part way into each corner of 

 the lid, so as to project or telescope 

 into the section box, will serve to 

 hold the lids in place until they 

 have become glued a bit by the bees. 



When the lids are all in place, 

 each little comb will be in a com- 

 partment by itself, and each com- 



partment may be entered by the bees through 

 the perforated zinc that covers the two 

 1 '4 -inch auger-holes in the center of each 

 lid, as shown in the drawing, E E, Fig. 4. 

 The zincs are nailed fast to the inside of each 

 lid. Pieces of section stuff do very well to 

 close the zinc-covered holes when occasion 

 demands (see dotted lines in Fig. 4). A }i- 

 inch flight-hole is cut just below the 

 two large holes in one lid only. This 

 is stopped with an ordinary drug- 

 gist's cork, which is easily drawn 

 when queens are to be introduced. 



Now run a perfect - winged and 

 sound-legged young virgin queen 

 into each compartment ; then recork 

 the flight-holes and expose the zincs 

 on all sides so that the bees can 

 readily enter all the compartments 

 from the sides, yet no queen can 

 leave the compartment in which it 

 is intended to restrict her. Then 

 hang the frames in the hives of such 

 bees as you may have just used in 

 getting a batch of cells, or any 



Fig. 4. 



FERTHIZER NUCLEUS-BOX. 



A, lid ; B, section-box frame : C C C C, hive-staples, for guidance ; 



D, perforated zinc : F, cork in flight-hole. Fig. 4 is a view of the 

 under side of H, showing holes uncovered ; B, part of section box ; 



E, E, holes covered inside with perforated zinc ; F, flight-hole un- 

 corked ; dotted lines show position of thin board when excluder- 

 holes are covered. 



