1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



131 



I should expect the bees to fill surplus-box- 

 es with drone or store comb, instead of 

 worker-cells, especially if the queen were 

 absolutely compelled to remain in the brood- 

 chamber l)y means of the perforated zinc 

 honey - boards. I believe others besides 

 friend Hutchinson suggested, years ago, 

 that the bees build drone comb whenever 

 they are thinking of swarming, or rearing 

 another queen ; thei"efore if their queen 

 seems to be failing or defective they would 

 instinctively build drone-cells, and seem 

 anxious to have the queen fill them with 

 eggs. This whole matter is deep water, and 

 it serves to show us how little we do know 

 in regard to the workings of these wonder- 

 ful insects, if nothing more. 



EATON'S SECTION-CASE. 



WHAT TO DO WITH HALF-PILLED SECTIONS LEFT 

 OVER FROM THE PREVIOUS SEASON. 



fHE cut below represents my new section-case; 

 not so new, either, as I have used it for the 

 past four years on more than one hundred 

 colonies of bees in obtaining comb honey. 

 Success depends largely on the style of hive 

 used, a thorough knowledge of the time, and how 

 to manage; and last, but not least, the manner of 

 arranging the sections on the hive in order that the 

 V)ees may have perfectly free access to them. 



\ SECTION CASE FOR TIFRING UP 



There are a good many little points to be got at to 

 make a receptacle for sections on a hive, the most 

 convenient for the bees and the apiarist. This is 

 what I have aimed at in my case; and I like it much 

 better than other eases I have used. There 

 are some who use and prefer single-tier wide frames. 

 Well, with wide frames we have to have an outer 

 case to hold the wide fi-ames, besides all those wide 

 frames to take care of out of season. You see, by 

 the above cut, that all I have is the outer case and 

 the bottom-bars of the wide frames combined; the 

 sections sit on the slats the same as they do in the 

 wide frames. This keeps them clean on the bottom, 

 the same as with a wide frame. With the latter you 

 can use separators, which is difficult to do with most 

 of the popular section-cases in use. T have no use 

 for separators. By using full sheets of foundation 

 in sections seven to the foot, and leveling the hive 

 with a spirit-level sidewise, and tipping it forward 

 sUcrbtly, you will have ninety-nine out of one hun- 



dred nice straight sections that you can crate. But 

 if you use wider sections you will have to use sepa- 

 ratoi-s. By using sections (7 to the foot) without 

 separators they will weigh as near a pound as the 

 n^-inch will with separators. With my case you 

 can use separators if desired, as well as without, by 

 slipping a half-inch strip of tin in between the two 

 end rows of sections, so as ^to hold the separators 

 up from going down between the slats. Then as 

 you set in a row of sections, set a tin separator in. 



Now, then, there is another point, although a 

 minor one: The sections set compactly over the 

 brood-nest. There are no wooden partitions be- 

 tween each row. There is but one bee-space be- 

 tween the bottom of the slats and the brood-frames, 

 the slats forming a sort of skeleton honey-board. 

 The case is a bee-space deeper than the sections, 

 thereby admitting of tiering up to any desired 

 height. The slats make the case solid and substan- 

 tial. If such a case were nailed up solid, and the 

 sections fitted in it, the first sections would be very 

 dilHcult to i-emove; and as there are slats under the 

 sections you could not invert it and drive them out. 

 I found that, by such a practice late in the fall, with 

 other cases, when the weather was cold, it loosened 

 and broke out comb, so 1 provided a hinged side 

 which opens out, thereby loosening all at once. If 

 you wish to remove any sections on the hive you can 

 open the side and remove sections without taking it 

 from the hive. 1 use an eight-frame Langstroth 

 hive for comb honey, and make my section-cases of 

 the same material and size of the hive. The crates 

 are painted, and when set on the hive they form 

 pai-t of the same. When I tier up, the cover raises 

 and sits on the case the same as on the hive. You 

 see such a case protects the sections the same as the 

 main part of the hive. It is not patented. You are 

 free to use it, if you see any points of excellence in 

 it. But it would be difiicult to make one from the 

 above cut, without having a sample, as there are 

 important points of construction that do not show. 



HOW TO GET BEES TO COMMENCE WORK IN SEC- 

 TIONS, AND USE PARTLY FILLED ONES. 



I am stimulated to give my plan, from the fact 

 that, when describing it at our convention at Colum- 

 bus, no less a person than Dr. Besse said it was 

 worth his entire trip to the convention; so it may be 

 of use to others, and especially to Bro. Dibbern, 

 who. in the American Bee Journal for 1886, page 774, 

 recommends, after extracting, to cut out the comb, 

 render the wax, and burn the sections. Well, of all 

 things such a plan would be too extravagant for 

 me. There is nothing new about using half-filled 

 sections of the previous year, to induce bees to go 

 to work in the sections; but it is generally recom- 

 mended to extract the honey, then place a few of 

 them in the center of the first tier of sections; in 

 this way you get the center of your case filled first, 

 the end rows being left until the last, and sometimes 

 they are very slow to finish them. My way is, not 

 to extract the honey at all. It is too tedious; be- 

 sides, it is of more value in the comb than out; but 

 when you are ready to put on your first sections, 

 uncap some of these half -filled sections, and fill in 

 the two end rows of your case. Now fill the two 

 center rows with foundation. These freshly uncap- 

 ped sections will attract the bees to work inthe ends 

 of your case at once, and they will not leave the 

 center alone very long. If this is done just as the 

 honej--flow starts, at the proper time they will finish 

 the entire case about the same time. These half- 



