July. mil. 



241 



American Hee Journal 



packing, and I have in the past winter 

 found excelsior as good as anything, 

 easy to handle and inexpensive. Ne.xt 

 put on super covers, then two supers 

 and pack them, and finally the covers, 

 and I will state here that in making 

 one of these hives to try, a big cover is 

 not needed, for the regular covers will 

 serve. Now with the entrance con- 

 tracted, we have the bees packed in a 

 way that will insure good wintering, 

 conditions being favorable. 



I do not think hive manufacturers 

 will complain when I state that there 

 are but three double-walled liives on 

 the market, for two of them are prac- 

 tically alike and made by the same 

 firm. As to the cost, those I use are 

 advertised at "five for $1:!." We buy a 

 hive to last, and the initial cost, par- 

 ticularly where but few are to be 

 bought, and I am writing for the small 

 beekeeper, is negligible. As to the in- 

 crease in cost of such hives, the 

 argument is not good, for dove- 

 tailed hives cost now about $2.75 

 against :52.10 2.3 years ago, while the 

 manufacturing firm of whom I got my 

 information states "they are now bet- 

 ter made." Everything else has ad- 

 vanced, and in the case of honey we 

 get a much better price while the pro- 

 duction has increased tremendously. 



Another thing in regard to my hive, 

 I think it is going to prove of great 

 use in preventing swarming, working 

 along lines laid down by Miss Candler. 

 I have a hive to try the coming season. 

 In the meantime I will furnish gratui- 

 tously details of construction and 

 method of handling to any one who 

 inquires. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



[In criticizing 8-frame hives and su- 

 pers. Dr. Bonney must not forget that 

 Dr. Miller's record crop was secured 

 in such hives. But he manages to se- 

 cure more than 8 frames of brood. The 

 secret of success is in ample room for 

 breeding. — Editor.] 



No. 4.— Doubling the Yield of 

 Surplus Honey 



By G. C. GREINER. 



T.^KIMG it for granted that spring 

 management has been properly at- 

 tended to, the appearance of the 

 white clover is the signal for active 

 measures toward securing our surplus 

 crop. All better colonies both for ex- 

 tracted and comb honey receive their 

 supers at this time, and as soon as any 

 of these show signs of incoming 

 honey, all the rest of the yard are pro- 

 vided with the same appliances. 



When the first-given supers are well 

 stocked up with bees, which is gener- 

 ally a matter of a few days only, the 

 equalization system, described before, 

 is put in force. The comb-honey colo- 

 nies are treated in exactly the same 

 way as those for e.xtracted honey, but 

 instead of combs being exchanged, 

 broad-frames with their contents, sec- 

 tions, bees and all are the manipulated 

 parts. According to the strength of 

 the colonies, honey flow, and the gen- 

 eral prospect of the season, one, two, 

 and even three of the center ones are 



-fif^ 



fiO 1 



Dr. Boniiey's Chaff Hise. 



exchanged, and this is continued until 

 all are nearly alike in regard to work- 

 ing condition. 



As a consequence of the equalizing 

 manipulations, the contents of the first 

 supers are more or less irregular. 

 Some of the sections are being capped 

 while the work in some others is just 

 started. At the time being we pay no 

 attention to this, but give all the colo- 

 nies their second super, placed under 

 the first one. As soon as the outer 

 rows of sections in this first super are 

 well under way, something like No. 2 

 of the illustration, the third super is 

 given and a bee-escape slipped under 

 the upper one. This crowds all the 

 forces into the lower two supers, and 

 the foundation in the last one is at 

 once taken possession of. There is no 

 particular hurry of removing the su- 

 pers over the bee-escapes. Give the 

 bees time to leave them at their leisure. 

 Whenever convenient they are taken 

 to the honey-house and sorted over — a 

 job I generally do the next morning 

 before other work is crowding. The 

 full sections, if any, are stored for 

 market, the next grade for being capped 

 later on, and the most backward ones 

 are used for bait sections in the supers 

 as they are needed. 



After the first supers have been taken 

 care of all the following are easily 

 managed. They are generally alike 

 from side to side, and need little ex- 

 amining. A glance from the top will 

 reveal any real backward ones that 

 may be taken out and used as baits. 



\Vhen the progress in the side rows 

 of the second super, now the top one, 

 are again like No. 2 of the photograph, 

 the fourth super is given and the es- 

 cape put under the upper one. as before. 

 If this routine is closely followed up 

 from 10 to 15 supers may be taken dur- 

 ing a fairly good honey season from 

 any of the better colonies. But to ac- 

 complish this, to make bees do their 

 best, no more than two supers must be 

 allowed on a hive at a time. .-Ml forces 

 must be concentrated on as little space 

 as possible, but not be crowded so as 

 to be in one another's way. The com- 



plaint of bees not taking readily to 

 their foundation is caused in a great 

 measure by giving them too much 

 room; they must be crowded onto the 

 foundation. 



The illustration of this principle is 

 almost daily before our face and eyes. 

 If a contractor has one-half dozen cel- 

 lars to excavate, he does not send one 

 man with a horse to one place, the 

 same to another place, and so on, but 

 he crowds all the help he can, without 

 interfering with one another, onto one 

 job, because he knows that united 

 effort will accomplish more than scat- 

 tered forces. When this job is finished 

 another is managed in the same way 

 until his contract is fulfilled. 



The same principle applies to the 

 super work of bees. Three, four, five, 

 and even more supers on a hive scatter 

 the working forces over too much ter- 

 ritory, which discourages them, and 

 produces "loafing," and what is still 

 worse, it gives a portion of the bees a 

 chance to do capping, and that must be 

 prevented at all hazards. A hive full 

 of brood and "c.\r>PED " honey is one 

 of the incentives to produce swarming. 



As soon as the honey flow decreases, 

 all colonies receive their feeder, and it 

 is essential that we do not wait too long. 

 The object is to get the bees well ac- 

 quainted wifh them and accustomed to 

 continue section work from this source 

 before the flow ceases. About this 

 time, toward the end of the flow, no 

 more new supers are given, but instead 

 tlie supers with those stored, unfin- 

 ished sections are snbstituted. With 

 all the forces confined to two supers, 

 and all the feed they can carry away 

 they finish (cap) a super in a remark- 

 ably short time, and this at a period 

 when bees under ordinary management 

 would be idle, not earning one cent for 

 their owner. The capping at this ad- 

 vanced time of the year does not seem 

 to induce swarming. Although nine- 

 tenths of all my honey was capped in 

 this way, I had not a single, normal 

 swarm the past season. 



Producing the feeding stock, which 

 the foregoing management requires' 



