GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The queen that got above the excluder made if 

 possible for another queen to be raised in the hive. 

 During the honey season there may be one or more 

 queens in a colony, providing they are separated by 

 a perforated zinc ; but as the season winds up they 

 will all le killed off but one. Experience has shown 

 that it would be very desirable if we could arrange 

 to have two queens in a hive : for then it would be 

 possible to have big colonies, and large colonies are 

 the ones that gather the honey. If one queen should 

 die suddenly, the other would be immediately avail- 

 able, and this would be quite an advantage. — Ed.] 



Producing Comb and Extracted Honey, and the 

 Prevention of Swarming 



As it is quite possible to control swarming with 

 two nineframestory Langstroth depths, since the 

 queen does not occupy half of the upper story with 

 eggs, wouldn't a half-story of five-inch frames, nine 

 frame size, on top of a nine-frame Langstroth-depth 

 brood-chamber, and one or two comb-honey supers, 

 answer the same purpose of swarm control? One 

 shallow extracting-super and one comb-honey super 

 would give a depth of about ten inches instead of 

 •the Langstroth extracting-size of 9% inches in depth. 

 As I am a comb-honey producer I should greatly 

 prefer the shallow extracting-super to the Langstroth 

 extracting-super if it has the same power to control 

 swarming, as it would leave me room for more 

 «omb-honey supers. 



Chichester, Que., Aug. 1. Alf. Potvix. 



[The shallow-depth super, if the coml)S were fully 

 drawn, might do nearly as well. Indeed, it might be 

 even better in a moderate honey-flow ; but in a heavy 

 honey-flow the combination of the extracting-super 

 and comb-honey super, with foundation in the sec- 

 tions, would not be equal to a full-depth extracting- 

 super with drawn comb for the prevention of swarm- 

 ing. One of the secrets of swarm prevention is 

 drawn combs placed on the hive when the bees need 

 it for room, and before they start building cells. 

 'Tlie giving of a half-depth super of drawn comb 

 and a super of sections might answer for a few 

 days; but when the extracting-combs are fairly well 

 filled, the bees might hesitate a little before drawing 

 ■out foundation in the sections; and that hesitation 

 might cause them to start preparations for swarm- 

 ing. The matter can be helped a little by lifting 

 the super of extracting-combs when it is partly filled, 

 and putting the sections under. But if the extract- 

 in ?-combs were old, the bees might darken the combs 

 in the sections slightly. In using extracting-combs 

 in connection with sections, the former should be 

 almost new — clean and white. — Ed.] 



Preparing for the Next Season's Increase in Sep- 

 tember 



My apiary of 125 colonies is located forty rods 

 flora our residence, with an orchard on the north 

 and a building at the west, so that there is good 

 protection on these two sides. The bees have always 

 wintered well in this place, but I always make sure 

 that each colony has plenty of stores and that they 

 are in prime order in the fall. Last year I put 80 

 colonies in the cellar and had 45 packed on their 

 summer stands for the purpose of making increase 

 the following season. 



Since keeping bees I have made my increase by 

 selecting a strong colony having a young prolific 

 queen of the previous season's rearing that has been 

 tested long enough so that I know she is prolific. 

 After choosing a number of such colonies for in- 

 crease the next season I feed them during the month 

 of September enough to insure brood-rearing until 

 I have to provide second brood-chambers and combs 

 to keep them from swarming. In the mean time I 

 ieed some of the colonies that I expect to put into 



the cellar enough so that they will be sure to fill and 

 seal five extracting-frames. 



About the last week in September I take the upper 

 brood-chambers oflf the prepared colonies and shake 

 the bees in front of their hives and give them the 

 extracting-supers each containing five combs of seal- 

 ed honey, prepared for them as stated above. Then 

 I put four quilts on top of the escape-board, then 

 another empty super which I fill with very fine chaflf. 

 After this I fasten two-ply roofing-paper around the 

 hive, with four cleats, allowing it to extend above 

 the top far enough to put in some more chaff. Then 

 I fold down the paper ; and, lastly, tie a square of 

 paper over all with a piece of cord. 



Colonies so prepared winter safely and come out 

 in the spring so strong that I can build them up to 

 three colonies by the 15th of June strong enough to 

 store honey in the supers. Bees thus treated seldom 

 make any attempt to swarm, but will work nicely 

 all the time. 



Yorktown, Ind. J. W. Davidson. 



Experiences of a Sixteen-year-old Beekeeper 



I am only sixteen years old, but have kept bees 

 for two years. Three years ago last fall my father 

 bought a colony of bees in an eight-frame hive. In 

 the following spring, when the bees had begun to 

 fly, a beekeeper from a neighboring town visited us 

 and showed us how to open the hive, how to inspect 

 the combs, and how to find the queen. He also told 

 us that we might expect the bees to swarm very 

 soon, and advised us to purchase of him one of his 

 twelve-frame hives, and transfer the bees into it, e.\- 

 plaining that they would be less likely to swarm from 

 such a large hive. But they evidently had contractt~l 

 the swarming fever before we changed the hives, for 

 they soon swarmed. A little later they cast a second 

 swarm. We failed to hive either of these swarms, 

 because we were not at home. Probably because they 

 were weakened by excessive swarming, the bees fail- 

 ed to store any surplus honey in the super that year, 

 though we took out two full frames of honey from 

 the brood-chamber, and packed the two spaces on 

 the outside with dry leaves, using division-boards. 



The bees came out the next spring in excellent 

 condition. My father, a little disgusted at securing 

 so little honey, turned the bother of the bees, as he 

 called it, over to me for the following year. I stud- 

 ied the ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture through 

 many of the long winter evenings, and soon had 

 the ■' bee fever." 



That year, 1911, was well known for its long dry- 

 spells. The beekeepers in this locality not only failed 

 to get a surplus, but were obliged to feed their bees 

 in order to keep them from starvation during the 

 following winter. Many of the old-timers here were 

 surprised when I told them that I had taken off ten 

 pounds of section honey, and about twenty-five 

 pounds of honey in frames, besides securing a fine 

 swarm, and that I had left honey enough to winter 

 the bees. 



The next year, 1912, I secured 162 marketable 

 sections of honey and 20 lbs. in large combs, all 

 from my twelve-frame hive. My smaller colony came 

 through the winter in bad shape, but built up in 

 time to gather enough for winter, and a small sur- 

 plus besides. 



In my comparatively little experience I have found 

 large hives to be the best. The bees seem to winter 

 better, breed earlier, build up faster, and are strong- 

 er in numbers when the flow starts than the bees 

 in smaller hives. I would rather have the twelve- 

 frame hive, standard, than the eight or ten. There 

 is less swarming, and what swarms do issue are 

 large ones. Perhaps an older beekeeper could sub- 

 due swarming entirely with the hive I use. The 

 only objection I have to the twelve-frame hive is 

 that two bee-escape boards must be used side by 

 side, instead of one, but this is a small matter. My 

 super holds ten rows of sections, four in each. I 



