OCTOBER 15, 191i 



A NEW RECORD SYSTEM 



How to Make Abbreviations and Signs Tell a Long 

 Story 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



To the making of record systems there 

 seems to be no end; and, lest the end 

 should be approaching, it is the writer's 

 purpose to postpone its ai'rival by describ- 

 ing a new one. 



There are three different classes of rec- 

 ords — one for the man who is raising 

 queens, one for the man who is increasing 

 and building up colonies, and one for the 

 busy honey-producer. The first is so rad- 

 ically apart from the other two that it 

 should begin and remain a separate affair. 

 Of a necessity it will differ from each sys- 

 tem of queen-rearing and with each indi- 

 A-idual's methods. 



The others, however, naturally merge 

 one into the other, for the man making 

 increase may be and quite likely is raising 

 lioney in the same yard, so a system should 

 be elastic enough to cover both of these 

 branches of apiculture. 



This granted, the next question is, "What 

 shall be recorded?" This should be an- 

 SAvered Yankee fashion, "What is the rec- 

 ord to be used for?" To save time. To 

 reduce cost of operation. Then it must be 

 simple, easy to make, and at a glance 

 convey all the information needful in the 

 rapid handling of colonies. At this point 

 the need of some way of designating each 

 ■colonj' presents itself. Numbers here as 

 in so many other lines of human endeavor 

 ■will be found to be the best. But numbers 

 permitted to run riot are often most trou- 

 blesome; so, to restrain them they must be 

 grouped, which is another plan used in 

 many i^laces. As hives are not infrequent- 

 ly moved in some apiaries, and as such 

 moving would cause endless confusion were 

 the hives numbered, the stands should bear 

 the numbers and the liive (colony) be 

 known only by the j^laee it occupies. This 

 granted, the grouping of the numbers in 

 the apiary must be considered. For the 

 sake of clearness an ajoiary for 200 colo- 

 nies will be used as an example. The yard 

 is so shaiDed that we can have four rows 

 •of hives with fifty in a row. That makes 

 the numbering look easier until we look 

 for number 63, or almost any number ex- 

 cept the ends, and those will bother unless 

 the numbering is begim correctly. The 

 rows must be broken up into shorter 

 leng-ths, and ten makes a good and readily 

 ■countable groujD. Furthermore, the hives 

 may be set in pairs in each group. The 

 ".numbering is beginning to take form; 



665 



but, stop a minute. The first group 

 must have only nine hives; i. e,, from 1 

 to 9 inclusive; the next has ten; i. e., 

 10 to 19 inclusive; the next has from 20 

 to 29, and so on. Why? Because when 

 we look for 40 it must be in the group 

 with the rest of the forties, not in the end 

 of the group of the thirties, as it would be 

 if our first group ran from 1 to 10 in- 

 clusive. This is a seemingly trivial matter ; 

 but just juggle with figures grouped in 

 each way and see the difference. Or look 

 at this diagi'am and see how readily any 

 number may be located. (For the sake of 

 brevity only the terminal numbers of each 

 group are given here.) 



No matter where one stands in the api- 

 ary, any desired number is quickly spotted. 

 The record-book must be arranged in the 

 same way — that is to say, each page should 

 embrace a group of ten, the first page, 

 however, having only nine. 



Now we have reached a point where we 

 can consider the nature and the form of 

 the entries. Four cardinal i^oints are to 

 be considered, and every part of the bee 

 culture, aside from queen-rearing, has to 

 ' do with one or more of them. First : Con- 

 dition of the colony as a whole. That is 

 to say, is it a top-notcher for the time of 

 year, or one degree less, or two degrees 

 less? To illustrate: The top-notcher in 

 May is a colony that is big enough for 

 section work. The one a degi'ee lower will 

 do well for extracted honey, but is not 

 quite strong enough for sections. The next- 

 degree colonies will come up to a producing 

 grade before the flow is over, or at once if 

 helped from some other colony. So we can 

 gi-ade our colonies as 1, 2, and 3, and W, 

 the W standing for "weak." 



Later we want to know if the colony 

 has swarmed, a SAvarm is expected, or is 

 to be forced. 



The second point is the queen. Who is 

 she? How old is she? or is she missing? 

 and if so, what is taking her place as a 

 cell, a virgin, laying workers, or larvee giv- 

 en for a queen to be raised from. 



The third point has more particularly to 

 do with increase or with building up colo- 

 nies in the spring, and it is embraced in 

 the word "brood." How many frames of 



