232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



thin boards crosswise, aud so arranged as 

 to have a cleated edge all around it to pre- 

 vent its blowing off. 



This shows the hive with the surplus 

 apartment filled with 112 sections, size 1% X 

 4XX4X» contained in two section -cases 

 (containing 56 sections each), sitting one on 

 top of the other. 



This shows the surplus apartment filled 

 with 20 L. frames of combs, as arranged 

 for increase or for extracted honey either. 



One of the combs is raised up, and sits on 

 top in full view. The brood -chamber takes 

 10 L. frames, and the surplus apartment 

 20 frames or 112 sections, size ly&XAyi X4>4 , 

 either as the operator prefers. 



The inside of the brood-chamber is 15 

 inches. The inside of the surplus apart- 

 ment is 30 inches. 



This hive is a model of my own, and fit- 

 ted for best results by practical experience 

 of years. Where 3'ou want either plenty of 

 surplus room in a short space of time for a 

 good yield, 112 lbs. of honey, without dis- 

 turbing your bees to put in more sections 

 during a honey-flow, or plenty of room 

 without notice, the entire season, when the 

 yield doesn't exceed 112 lbs., it allows you 

 to do your work before honey-flow begins 

 for whole season, to 112 lbs. per colony. 



Macon, Ga., Jan. 24. 



[This particular hive seems to violate all 

 the principles laid down in hive-construc- 

 tion in modern bee culture. It appears to 

 be a cross between the Long-idea hive and 

 the regular ten-frame Langstroth. Not- 

 withstanding its peculiarities, Mr. Swin- 

 son, I know, produces a great deal of hon- 

 ey, for he orders a lot of stuff to put that 

 honey in, and we must, therefore, judge the 

 hive, not by its looks, but by what it dees. 

 Taking it all in all, I doubt whether the 

 average bee-keeper in average localities 

 would secure as good results in such a hive 

 as those obtainable from the ordinary stand- 

 ard hive on the market. 



It has been laid down as ageneral principle 

 that the surplus part of a hive should not 

 extend over and beyond the brood below. 

 In other words, the top of the hive or the 

 super should be no wider and no longer 

 than the brood-nest. 



Our chaff hives of years ago made use of 

 an overhanging super; and I used to notice 

 that the wide frames containing the sec- 

 tions in that part of the super not directly 

 over the brood-frames below would not be- 

 gin to be as well filled as those directly 

 over the brood-nest; and in northern locali- 

 ties, at least, subject to cool nights, I 

 should expect that very little surplus would 

 be stored in the overhanging parts of the 

 super. 



Another principle that has been laid down 

 is that it is a mistake to give the bees too 

 much surplus room at the start. For that 

 reason, all section devices were, about ten 

 or fifteen jears ago, cut down to single 

 tier. One tier of sections is put on; and, 

 when the bees get well at work in it, it is 

 lifted up and another super put under it. 

 Mr. Doolittle has for years been strenuous- 

 ly advocating the giving of but little sur- 

 plus room at a time. He even goes so far as 

 to put on only two or three wide frames (sin- 

 gle tier) at a time, in case of the weaker 

 colonies, and then adds wide frame by wide 

 frame as the honey-flow advances. 



While I believe and know that Mr. Swin- 

 son's hive answers his purpose admirably, 

 yet I doubt whether it would do in the aver- 

 age locality in the North. — Ed.] 



