636 



CLEANINXJS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



We must now hurry and get on our comb- 

 honey supers ; so, taking our section-supers, 

 which we had all nice and ready, with foun- 

 dation in the sections, and an extra Danzen- 

 baker reversible bottom-board, we proceed as 

 follows : 



First set one of the section-supers down, and 

 on this set the upper (or third) case of the 

 hive, without removing the cover. Then move 

 the two lower chambers, bottom-board and 

 all, to one side of the stand, and in its place 

 put the extra Danzenbaker bottom — the deep 

 entrance side up — putting on this the upper 

 one of the two brood chamber cases, and on 

 this the lower one, thus cutting the brood- 

 nest in two, thereby putting the honey in the 

 upper frames in the center of the brood-nest 

 for the bees to remove, while the upper frames 

 now contain brood. 



The two other supers, the section super 

 with the extracted-honey super above it, are 

 now set on top of the brood-chamber. Here 

 are two features with which I am greatly 

 pleased ; namely, in having bees first used to 

 storing in shallow extracting-supers ; and 

 when the section-super is put in between this 

 and the brood-nest, they go right on to work 

 in the sections without losing any time ; and 

 I have also found that nicer and fuller boxes 

 of honey can be produced between such a su- 

 per than where the cover is directly over the 

 sections. Then by using shallow extracting- 

 supers during the time before the main flow, 

 as we have honey coming in nearly all the 

 time, and sometimes a little more than is nec- 

 essary for brood-rearing, it is stored in these 

 supers, leaving plenty of room for the queen, 

 while otherwise it would have to go to waste 

 or the bees would store it in the brood cham- 

 ber, thereby crowding out the queen. With a 

 set of these frames above, too, if a colony has 

 more honey in the brood-chamber than is 

 needed, the bees, when providing room, will 

 carry the honey up into these frames, also 

 bringing the brood up closer to the top of the 

 frames. 



Of course, something has already been said 

 about this plan, now known as the " Barber " 

 plan, which was also my own idea. Another 

 feature in forcing the bees and the honey into 

 the sections is by reversing the two brood- 

 cases, cutting the brood-nest in the middle, 

 and putting the honey of the upper frames be- 

 low, and a large space of brood right under 

 the sections. If the honey-flow continues long 

 enough, this reversing can be done at certain 

 times during the main flow, and all of the 

 honey forced into the sections. This I do not 

 practice to any great extent, as there is some- 

 times danger of not having suflicient honey 

 below for the winter, as we are not always 

 sure of a later or fall flow. 



Now our main flow is over, and we will now 

 proceed to take off the surplus. The shallow- 

 frame super I leave on over the sections dur- 

 ing the time, as the bees finish the sections up 

 nicer. Some advise removing the frame-super 

 when putting on sections ; but I prefer to let 

 them remain, for the reason given above, and 

 then the extracted honey is much nicer, being 

 well ripened. All of the supers are then re- 



moved, the section supers piled up until we 

 have time to tend to them, while the honey of 

 the shallow frames is extracted and the supers 

 put back on the hive. 



I have sometimes put these in between the 

 two brood-cases, and, when the bees clean up 

 these combs, they provide lots of breeding- 

 room for the queen. 



Right here, if I am not mistaken, is some- 

 thing that bee-keepers in northern localities 

 would not think of practicing, hence their 

 talk about useless consumers. But as our sea- 

 son is of such a nature that we have another 

 flow later, after the first main flow, with sev- 

 eral weeks of no honey, or very little, between, 

 bees must breed up so as to have sufficient 

 numbers for that last flow. 



Having said this much, and hoping that my 

 management is clear, I think each could mod- 

 ify it so as to be used in any locality. 



Hunter, Texas. 



[The honey season is holding out in and 

 near Medina in a most remarkable manner. 

 The honey comes from red and sweet clover. 

 —Ed.] 



CONVENTION NOTICE. 



All arrangements for the next convention of the 

 National Bee-keepers' Association have been com- 

 pleted so far as possible, and the convention will be 

 held in the audience room of the Buffalo Society of 

 Natural Sciences, Sept. 10th, 11th, and 12th; com- 

 mencing on the evening of the 10th. The place of 

 meeting is in the Buffalo X,ibrary building, corner of 

 Washington and Clinton Streets, near the business 

 center of the city. The president of the Natural Sci- 

 ences Society, Mr. Smith, has also kindly offered our 

 Association the use of their library and other com- 

 mittee rooms during the time of our convention, and 

 to do all in the power of the society to help make our 

 meeting a success. 



Railroad rates will vary in the different passenger 

 association territory, from one cent per mile each 

 way to one and one-third fare for the round trip. 

 Each person can readily learn the rate on inquiry at 

 his railroad station. 



The Buffalo bee-keepers will try to provide enter- 

 tainment at reasonable rates for all attending the 

 convention, who will notify Mr. Sydney S. Sleeper, 

 of Holland, N. Y., by Sept. 2d, of their wish for en- 

 tertainment. 



In a letter just received from Mr. Sleeper he says, 

 " We want all to come who can, for we wish to make 

 the Buffalo meeting the most pleasant and instructive 

 one that was ever held in America. We will have the 

 cooperation of all the sciences as well as the school 

 board," and names some professional men who are 

 interested in our specialty and will be at the conven- 

 tion to help. 



In a long letter from Mr. Hershiser, just received, 

 he closes by saying, " Call upon me for whatever fur- 

 ther assistance I am able to render ;" and Mr. Penton, 

 an ex-president of the Erie County Bee-keepers' Soci- 

 ety, and others, have offered to do all they can to pro- 

 vide for the comfort of the delegates. 



As stated in my previous convention notice in 

 Gleanings, there will be no fixed program and no 

 papers, and the time will be occupied in answering 

 and discussing questions, except that on Thursday 

 evening there will be a joint session of our association 

 with the American Pomological Society, to discuss 

 " the mutual relations of bee-keeping and fruit-grow- 

 ing ;" and Prof. Beach, of the N. Y. Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, and Prof. Fletcher, of the Central 

 Experimental Farm of the Dominion of Canada, will 

 help talk for the bees at that session, and it is hoped 

 that much good will result to fruit-growers and bee- 

 keepers from this joint session. 



If any bee-keeper who can not be at the convention 

 has any questions, knotty or otherwise, he would like 

 to have answered at the convention, will send them 

 to me I will see that they are presented. 



A. B. Mason, Sec, Sta. B, Toledo, O. 



