436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



of me I can not see why any one should pre- 

 fer a section-holder to a simple slat. I am 

 not bothered any to speak of by slats sag- 

 ging. If they should show any signs of do- 

 ing so I just turn them the other side up for 

 a few times. 



SPRING MAKAGEMENT. 



In the spring or early summer, just before 

 the alfalfa comes into bloom, I set a clean 

 bottom-board beside one of my hives, sepa- 

 rate the two sections of the brood -chamber, 

 put the top one on the new bottom-board, 

 lift off the cover, and put it on the section of 

 the brood-chamljer yet on the old bottom- 

 board; then I set this section on top of that 

 which I had placed on the clean bottom- 

 board; lift up the old bottom- board and clean 

 it well, and, lastly, set the hive just where it 

 stood before. This shift I make through the 

 entire apiary, as it disarranges the brood 

 and leaves a space free of brood in the cen- 

 ter of the hive with brood both above and 

 below it. The queen will hustle to fill up 

 the gap with brood, and by the time the hon- 

 ey-flow comes the bees go to storing in the 

 super more readily, make stronger colonies 

 to work during the flow; and, if we give 

 them room enough in supers to store surplus 

 they will, I believe, yield a better income to 

 the bee-keeper. I consider the ease of mak- 

 ing this spring interchange of the brood- 

 chambers a great advantage of the divisible 

 hive, to say nothing of the gain of having 

 the combs in the frames built solid to the 

 bottom-bars as a result of the change or the 

 well-known advantages of handling hives 

 rather than frames in working among the 

 bees. 



HIVE-STANDS. 



I have my hives set on stands 7 feet long, 

 each stand accommodating four hives. The 

 following is a diagram of one of these stands: 



waggoner's hive-shed. 



The hives are set in two pairs with a space 

 between each of the pairs the width of a hive. 

 This is convenient when making the spring 

 interchange of brood-chambers above men- 

 tioned. The 3 X 4-inch sills on which the 

 hives rest are 1^ and 2 inches from the ground, 

 the rear sill being the highest. The roofs of 

 the stands are made of light ^-inch boards, 

 and are high enough above the hives to allow 

 of necessary tiering up and easy handling of 

 supers. 



As a convenience in hiving swarms which 



cluster 8 to 10 feet above the ground I use a 

 ladder, d, diagram of which is shown on 

 next page. 



This ladder can be set under the cluster 

 with the legs spread to suit, the hive set on 

 the platform at the top of the ladder, the 

 bees shaken down on the hi va with cover off; 

 and when the bees are almost all in, or when 

 one wishes to carry the hive to its permanent 

 stand, he can spread the legs of the ladder 

 so as to lower the platform and allow him to 

 lift the hive off easily. The platform remains 

 level, no matter how much the legs are spread. 

 The ladder can be folded up just like an or- 

 dinary step-ladder. The legs are sawed out 

 of 2 X 6-inch stuff, 3^ inches wide at one end 

 and 2^ at the other., A season's use of this 

 ladder has proved it to be a great convenience. 



PREVENTING PARTLY FILLED SECTIONS. 



Toward the close of the honey-flow, in or- 

 der t'l have as few partly filled sections as 

 possible 1 use dummy boxes as long as the 

 super is inside, and as wide as the super is 

 deep. These boxes are made as deep as the 

 width of one or two rows of sections, includ- 

 ing separators. I place one of these, either 

 the one or two row size, on each side of the 

 super with the open part of the box close 

 against the side of the super, and put the 

 partly filled sections, if I have any, over the 

 center of the hive where they will have the 

 best chance of being finished up and capped 

 over. I described these in Gleanings some 

 months ago. 



AN IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-ESCAPE BOARDS. 



When I take off honey I use the Porter es- 

 cape with two very narrow strips tacked on 

 the upper surface of the board, one end of 

 each strip being at the edge of the hole in 

 the escape and the other at the rim on the 

 side of the board. The little strips guide the 

 bees to the escape, and the super is cleared 

 of bees in about two-thirds the 

 time it would be without them. 



Some time ago I mentioned this 

 in Gleanings, and Dr. Miller in 

 his notes said it would be better 

 to have four strips leading, one 

 from each corner of the rim to 

 the hole in the escape. With all 

 respect to the opinions of an ex- 

 pert like Dr. Miller I will tell 

 why I prefer my way. First, the 

 more ends of little sticks you have 

 around the hole, even though they 

 be narrow, the less room there is 

 for the bees to get down into the 

 hole. A steady stream of bees 

 going to the hole, and plenty of room to get 

 down into the hole, is what we want. We 

 want to avoid a jam of bees at the hole the 

 same as we would a jam of schoolchildren at 

 the head of a stairway in case of an alarm 

 of fire. Second, just notice bees follow 

 around the rim where the strips reach from 

 the four corners of the escape-board to the 

 hole. When they come to the acute angle 

 made by the rim and the little strip they will 

 back out, turn around, and go back the way 

 they came, instead of going to the hole in 



