June, 1915. 



American l^ee Journal 



205 



sands of beginners, amateurs, and those 

 who keep so few colonies that they 

 cannot be with them all the time to 

 watch for swarms, I believe I am offer- 

 ing something of real utility. How- 

 ever, a few experienced beekeeper 

 friends to whom I have shown it while 

 incubating say: "It will have to be 

 tried out." 



Were I younger, or saw more money 

 in it than I think I do, or were not so 

 lazy, and busy, I might have the thing 

 patented. As it is, I am going to give 

 it to the beekeeping world, while rea- 

 lizing that things we do not have to 

 pay a good price for are apt to be 

 laughed at. If you are at all interested 

 in the scientific aspect of beekeeping, 

 or wish to know for sure if my inven- 

 tion will save time, labor and swarms, 

 make one, or send to me for one, and 

 give it a trial. Then report to your 

 bee journal. 



The instinct of a bee is to go up, 

 also to the light, and on a screen or 

 light of glass it would stay and starve, 

 trying to escape ; hence, the swarm 

 "saver" which Mr. Alley patented 

 years ago failed, for he wanted the 

 queen to go sideways and the bees to 

 follow her. Nor would they do as I 

 plan were I to let them go into the 

 brood-chamber by the usual entrance 

 were it closed to them at the last hour. 

 So I yield to their instinct to go up 

 and to the light. Then I put the saver 

 on a week or more before a swarm is 

 expected. This may, of course, mean 



ten days or a month. When I say "I," 

 I mean the experimenter. Don't be 

 too critical. 



Referring to cut No. 1 : 



A is the brood chamber. 



B, a super. 



C, a super containing frames with 

 foundation. 



D, bottom-board. 

 K, cover. 



F, swarm saver. 



G, queen-excluding board, covering 

 top of F. 



H, queen-excluder over half of en- 

 trance of top super. 



I, coarsi wire screen to ventilate 

 brood-chamber. This wire is put on 

 when the swarm saver is, and must be 

 covered a while until the bees get to 

 coming and going by the way of the 

 top of the swarm saver, which they 

 will do, no doubt, in a short time. 

 Then remove cover to .t»ive ventilation. 



Cut No. 2 shows the course the queen 

 and bees would take when they leave 

 the brood chamber. The bees would 

 go out at J but the queen, when the 

 bees swarmed, would follow the dotted 

 path and find herself in C and re- 

 strained from going out by the ex- 

 cluder H. The bees returning would 

 find her in C with a nice lot of frames 

 and foundation, and would remain 

 with her and go to housekeeping. 



I might say to the greenhorn that 

 when this condition is found to exist 

 the proper thing to do is to attend to 



FIG. i.-DR. BONNEYS SWARM SAVER ATTACHED PROPERLY TO THE HIVE 



the swarm, shaking them in the good 

 old way. If you do not know what 

 this means go to the books or ask 

 some beekeeper. 



The cleats on A and B are required 

 on account of the uneveness of the 

 hives. It will be noted that the back 

 of F is shorter than the front, leaving a 

 '4 inch opening at the bottom and \yi 

 inch space at the top, under G. The 

 top of F comes but a little higher than 

 the bottom of C. 



Being very anxious to make this as 

 valuable to the beekeeper as possible, I 

 have asked Dr. Miller to give his opin- 

 ion of it, and make such criticisms as 

 he sees fit. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



[We have had swarm-catchers and 

 self-hivers, but here's a sv/armsaver. 

 Rather a happy choice of name. Is it 

 not, however, also a swarm promoter? 

 For with the ordinary entrance closed 

 will not the bees be pretty warm ? Still, 

 wire cloth is cheap, and abundant ven- 

 tilation is easily planned. Moreover, 

 the device is onlyused where swarming 

 is expected anyhow. 



There would be trouble to train the 

 bees to use the higher entrance. Dr. 

 Bonney says it is the " instinct of a 

 bee to go up." Inside the hive, yes; 

 outside it seems the other way. Rather 

 th?n to go up two stories to find a new 

 entrance, I should expect the bees to 

 go to an adjoining hive, if the hives 

 were in pairs. But there could be a 

 hole half way up for the bees to use, to 

 be closed after two or three days, thus 

 training them by easy stages. 



After this much is said it seems to be 

 easy sailing until we come to the place 

 where Dr. Bonney says the bees would 

 remain with the queen and go to house- 

 keeping. Would they ? Dr. Bonney is 

 reliable enough, but in an untried mat- 

 ter of this kind I'd rathertake the bees' 

 word than his. This is the crucial 

 question. Until an answer is obtained 

 from the bees I should lean to the be- 

 lief that Dr. Bonney has made a cor- 

 rect guess. 



Then when the swarm is safely 

 housed in the upper story, the green- 

 horn is advised to shake the swarm. 

 Out upon you. Doctor. In that case 

 all the "saver" would do would be to 

 save the queen, and I'd just as soon 

 save her with an ordinary entrance 

 trap. Unless there's something in the 

 case that I don't understand (and there 

 is always that possibility), there is an 

 easier and a better way than shaking 

 a swarm, one that can be carried out 

 by a beginner who has never opened a 

 hive, and even with bo.x-hives. 



Two days after the swarm has en- 

 tered its new quarters put a super over 

 it; five days later still, or a week after 

 the issuing of the swarm, remove the 



