Felniiary. ISlf). 



lo-fraine hive. Al any time in spring when 

 the bees cover their combs well, i add an- 

 other hive-body with combs, and 1 continue 

 to do this as often as they need more room. 

 During the last season I had colonies with 

 four hive-bodies, just boiling over witli bees, 

 with liardly any swarms. These hive bodies 

 wereall filled with lioney and brood. 



In running tor extracted lioney. I put 30 

 combs 'Lanestrotli size in these four hive- 

 bodies, which is euual. or a trifle larger, 

 than three lo-franie hive-bodies. As a rule, 

 this is sutlicient //<■;•<■, If anybody finds that 

 his bees need more space, let him add a 

 fifth story. Kor comb honey, of course, this 

 procedure is entirely out of question. 



As this way of using a small hive and yet 

 having big colonies of bees, worlts so well 

 here I would advise tfiose who contemplate 

 introducing larger hives to try this way. 

 When the warm season sets in give plenty 

 of ventilation by boring a hole in the upper 

 story and sometimes by putting three-six- 

 teenths inch thick blocks between the 

 supers, and by enlarging the Hight hole 

 from li to -'4 inches by i; inches. 



Indiana. 



Answer.— I know that 8-frame hives can 

 be used as you say. for I have used them so 

 for years, although piling up only a few of 

 them in the way you mention. Even when 

 working for comb honey. I use two stories 

 whenever needed before the harvest, and 

 can have just as strong colonies as with 10- 

 frame hives. But when they ask us. 

 " Couldn't you get just as strong colonies in 

 larger hives ?" I'm obliged to answer that 

 I could. And are you sure you couldn't get 

 just as much extracted honey with the larger 

 hives? The main advantage of the smaller 

 hives is that they cost less and are lighter 

 to handle; but with most beekeepers that 

 would not balance the advantage that with 

 the larger hives there is less danger of 

 starving in winter. 



In order to secure ventilation, instead of 

 boring holes or wedging up. I prefer to shove 

 the stories backward or forward. 



American Hen Journal 



clean. But they will stay neither new nor 

 clean. Even well seasoned stuff is likely to 

 shrink a little in the course of years, and 

 there will be over top-bars and under bot- 

 tom-bars accumulations of wax and propo- 

 lis, making the space between the two 

 stories a good bit less than the original '4 

 inch. Then the bees will be sure to glue 

 the top-bars of the lower story to the bot- 

 tom-baVs that are over them. So it will 

 be a safe thing to make the hive-body 

 never less thanoli incheseven with the best 

 seasoned lumber, and theprobability is that 

 you will have no trouble if you use your o-S 

 lumber without cutting down. But to inches 

 would be a little too generous allowance for 

 shrinkage and accumulations. 



2. They will do nicely for fall feeding, and 

 will keep well for use the next year or for 

 five years later, after the bees have cleaned 



them out in the fall. But unless the honey 

 is thus cleaned out in the fall, it is not likely 

 you can keep them so as to be used the next 

 year 



i. It will work all right, but you must ex- 

 pect the bees to hll the extracting combs in 

 advance of the sections generally. 



4 I don't know how you can do it. unless 

 you do as von Hruschka's boy did at the 

 time his father invented the extractor. 

 Take a pail large enough so you can lay the 

 frame flat on the bottom, tie a string to the 

 bale and whirl the pail about your head. 



5. Unless rather heavy foundation be used, 

 it is better to wire. 



h. Some use full sheets, some use starters, 

 and some use neither, when the comb is cut 

 out leaving enough of the comb under the 

 top-bar to serve as a starter. 



Hive-Bodies, Shallow Frames, Etc. 



1. In your answer to " Missouri.' page 422, 

 you say that hives should be to inches deep 

 inside. Does that include the '; inch or 

 more that the bodies are raised above the 

 bottom-boards by the cleats or edges on 

 which the hives rest? I have some nice 

 lumber qK inches wide. Would this do? It 

 is for the hive-bodies proper. Or should it 

 be cut down to o!^ inches, the regulative 

 hive depth ? 



2. Will partly tilled sections do for fall 

 feeding in place of sugar ? Would they 

 keep until next year if properly cared for ? 



3. How would it do to put about four shal- 

 low extracting frames in a >>uper and fill 

 the rest of the space with sections ? 



4. How can I extract the honey from a few 

 shallow frames occasionally without an ex- 

 tractor, and save the combs for future use ? 



5. Are shallow frames usually wired.'' 



6. Are starters or full sheets of founda- 

 tion put into frames every time the full 

 combs are cut out when running for chunk 

 honey? Pennsylvania 



Answers.— That statement that the depth 

 of a hive body is lu inches is inexcusably 

 careless, and I am very much ashamed of it. 

 It is true that some hives are made that 

 depth, and for one who uses section supers 

 or shallow extracting supers. 10 inches will 

 work all right. But there are likely to be 

 times when one wants to use a hive body as 

 an upper story, and then the case is differ- 

 ent. Suppose we figure a little. The Lang- 

 stroth frame is o's inches deep. Allow the 

 bottom-bars to be flush with the bottom of 

 the hive, and there must be a space of '4 

 inch above the top-bar so as to leave a 5-4- 

 inch space between the top-bars of the 

 lower story and the bottom-bars of the sec- 

 ond story, in case we want to use a hive- 

 body for a second story. Add that '4-inch 

 to the 9!8 inches, and we haveo;'? inches as 

 the ideal depth for a hive-body. That's all 

 right when everything is entirely new and 



Advertising Bees and Honey Without 

 Expense 



Beekeepers, as a rule, do not reali/e what 

 an advantage they have in the way of secur- 

 ing free advertisement; not only free, but. 

 if properly managed, one can get pay for 

 advertising his otvn business. We beekeep- 

 ers study the mysteries of the bees, and dis- 

 cuss them among ourselves through the 

 medium of the bee journals until to us they 

 are commonplace. "The rank and file of the 

 honey consumers never get to knovv of the 

 marvelous things of interest concerning the 

 bee and its works. It is "up to us" to give 

 them, through the newspapers and maga- 

 zines, live, interesting sketches of the bee 

 and honey industry. They like anything 

 unique, original, and interesting to the 

 public. 



Of course, a person must not give the arti- 



cles the appearance of advertising or it will 

 "queer the game." It is not necessary to 

 say that you have honey or bees to sell. If 

 you have bees ttiey will know that you have 

 honey. I have frequently noticed the sur- 

 prise of people when I tell them that I pro- 

 duced a ton of honey. The word "ton" 

 seems much bigger when applied to honey 

 than does 2000 pounds So does " half a ton " 

 or a " quarter ton." It probably seems big 

 to them because they were familiar with it 

 only in spoonful lots when used to cure 

 colds. Then, again, the public cannot get 

 away from the belief tfiat the principal 

 business of the bee is to sling; that the sting 

 is something awful, and that, if you go near 

 a hive of bees you are taking your life in 

 your hands. Some of the common "stunts " 

 tfiat are pulled off among the beekeepers 

 would amaze the public. L. N. Gravely. 

 Ringgold, 'Va. 



Does Sweet Clover Bloat Cattle ? 



A writer in the American B;e Journal 

 claims that sweet clover bloats cattle. I 

 have read very much about this plant, but 

 I have only once heard that cattle liappened 

 to die of it. In this case they ate it so 

 greedily that the quantity, but not the 

 quality, of the green clover killed them. Ex- 

 cess is always hurtful, no matter how good 

 a thing may be in itself. I hope to get some 

 information through the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal. Subscriber. 



Spencer Co.. Ind. 



Bad in Illinois 



Beekeeping in my locality has been very 

 bad for the last three years. I did not sell 

 a case of honey for two years; the bees just 

 made a living, and sometimes not that. Last 

 year we did not get any rain from spring 

 until September, so you know that there 

 was no honey. Herman Geier. 



Morton, III.. Jan. 18. 



Wintering Finely 



My bees are wintering finely. I believe 

 this will be a good honey year. I am getting 

 everything ready for it. F. Lee. 



Cokato. Minn. 



A New Place for a Swarm, the Chest of 

 L. N. Gravely, of Ringgold. Va. 



Notes from a Queen-Breeder 



I find that a colony that supersedes in 

 early spring is a blank through the season 

 so far as honey is concerned; but when 

 they have their own way they usually super- 

 sede at a time when it will hurt them the 

 least. 



About 20 years ago there was a late freeze. 

 It came as the poplar began blooming, and 

 my queens were all laying, and had their 

 hives almost full of brood. After the 

 weather warmed up again they were about 



