1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



except by the old-style nucleus plan, which 

 I need not describe here. 



Where colonies are allowed to swarm 

 naturally a very good use may be made of 

 our matured cells by g-iving each mother 

 colony, after swarming-, one of these — re- 

 moving-, of course, all other cells they may 

 have in their hive. It may be found neces- 

 sary, some time after, to look each colony 

 over ag-ain for cells, and remove them, if 

 colony is not treated by the Heddon plan. 

 On the whole I rather like this way of prop- 

 agating our best stock. All colonies that 

 swarm can thus be easily provided with 

 queens from superior stock. 



Naples, N. Y. 



[Queens reared under the swarming im- 

 pulse are, as a general thing, large and 

 vigorous, although I believe it is possible, 

 under proper management,. to produce arti- 

 ficial conditions to secure queens that will 

 be just as good; but those conditions must 

 combine some of nature's plans. 



Your plan of grafting cells is, I believe, 

 simple and practical. We have done a 

 great deal of grafting — in fact, we believe 

 all progressive queen-breeders make a prac- 

 tice of it, because there is no way by which 

 selected stock can be secured in a whole- 

 sale way except by this plan. 



We have tried all methods of having 

 queens fertilized in the upper story ; but 

 when perforated zinc only is used between 

 the upper and lower stories, or between the 

 several compartments, the plan is liable to 

 prove a failure. But we have been very 

 successful in using upper stories by sepa- 

 rating the brood-nest from the supers by 

 means of wire cloth, then making each 

 compartment "upstairs" entirely distinct 

 and separate. On this plan the warmth of 

 the cluster below rises up through the wire 

 cloth into the nuclei above. This enables 

 us to use weaker nuclei. So far our results 

 in getting queens fertilized by this plan 

 have been very satisfactory. — Ed.] 



THE SWINSON JUMBO HIVE. 



A Peculiar Arrangement. 



BY ABBOTT L. SWINSON. 



Mr. Root: — In response to a request of 

 yours I send you herewith prints of our 

 "Jumbo" hive, which is intended either for 

 comb or extracted honey, and which will 

 excel any other hive I ever saw for the pro- 

 duction of honey in any form. Its chief ad- 

 vantages are, in brief, plenty of room with- 

 out (constant) changes during a honey-flow 

 for a good yield. In sections where the 

 flow is heavy and of short duration it beats 

 the world. This characteristic feature of the 

 entire South shows up the qualities of this 

 hive, A No. 1; bees may store 112 lbs. of hon- 

 ey by climbing up to the skies to do it, and 

 hence it is done, and done without loss of 

 time. Honey will remain longer on the 

 hives without discoloring. One person may 



produce twice as much honey within a lim- 

 ited period. There is much less clustering 

 of bees on the sections after they are com- 

 pleted, etc. We had several colonies that 

 produced 140 lbs. of comb to the hive, inside 

 of four weeks, last spring. 



This shows the brood-chamber with 10 L. 

 frames, with one raised and leaning against 

 the cover of the hive, which sits on end on 

 the ground, with the top side to the front. 

 The top side of the frames comes perfectly 

 level with the top edges of the hive. 



This shows an end view of hive on stand, 

 and closed. By this it may be seen that 

 the surplus apartment is twice the width of 

 the brood-chamber, and is cleated on top of 

 the brood-chamber by close fitting of the 

 bottom plank of the surplus apartment. 

 This manner of fitting brings the bottom of 

 the inside of surplus apartment on a level 

 with the top side of the brood-frames in 

 the brood - chamber. The cover is made 

 gable-shaped, as shown, and ceiled with 



