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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 6, 



wlih peppermint, or anything else ; I scented mine with a few 

 drops of Grimshaw's apifuge, because it happened to be 

 handy, but I fancy peppermint would do as well. Then 

 dredge the queen, drop her in, and — all's well ! At least so I 

 have found it. Will the brethren please report results on this 

 matter, too? 



MiDBAE IN L/VNGSTROTH Fbames. — I was lately a party 

 to the following discussion, and which became a very warm 

 one, bets being freely offered on both sides. The matter at 

 Issue was as follows : 



One party happened casually to suggest dividing Laug- 

 stroth frames midway by a thin, narrow bar, similar in dimen- 

 sions to the bottom-bar ; he did not claim any very great ad- 

 vantage therefrom, other than safety in traveling, for which 

 purpose, of course, wiring is usually resorted to. Anyway, 

 his suggestion was met with the statement, and very confident 

 assertion, that, assuming the upper half to be full of comb — 

 right down to this dividing bar — the bees, instead of continu- 

 ing their comb in the same direction downward, i. e., on exactly 

 the same vertical plane as that part already completed, will 

 divert the same, and construct the lower half in a different or 

 irregular direction, and ?io( as a direct downward cuntimutUon 

 of the upper half, building combs perhaps on the lower half 

 right across the frames. This central bar is to have no guide 

 or starters. 



Now, it would be interesting to know what the opinion 

 would be of a select few of our experienced "old hands." Of 

 course it could be easily decided, a few days would suffice for 

 the purpose ; but that's not the thing — we would like to hear 

 of opinions off hand ; hereabout opinions are about equally 

 divided. As to the Xitilit\j of the suggestion, we- will put that 

 aside, though I do not see why such extra rigidity should not 

 be given to large frames. 



Don't let's have any wagering on the matter — betting's 

 sinful, hut opinions are "respectfully solicited." 



And now, while we are on this subject of giving extra 

 rigidity to deep frames, I might say that Mr. J. E. Earle had, 

 in the Australian Bee-Bulletin of Sept. 24, 1895, page loO, 

 an article in favor of small hives, and, in particular, of one he 

 has adopted, measuring 12x12x12 inches. This should help 

 greatly to settle the matter so long under discussion — the battle 

 of the hives. For my part, I believe Mr. Exrle is right; such 

 deep, narrow brood-chambers would naturally concentrate the 

 heat so essential to the rapid production of honey, sending up 

 a constant stream of it as through a big pipe or chimney, and 

 more nearly approaching to the arrangement in a colony's 

 natural state where a big hollow tree is selected for its domi- 

 cile. 



I think there is a great deal of common sense in Mr. 

 Earle's "cube-foot " or "pillar" hive, as I would take the 

 liberty of naming it, and I fancy the time is not far off when 

 it will become popular. In such deep frames the idea of a 

 middle bar might be utilized to advantage if — but let us first 

 hear the opinions on this matter, and also on Mr. Earle's 

 "cube-foot" idea, of our greater lights. These "pillar" 

 hives would be the return in a measure to the very satlsfaotory 

 old Stewarton hive. 



Do Hens Catch and Eat Bees? — Were this made a 

 leading question in the Bee Journal, I wonder how many re- 

 plies—from Dr. Miller's downward^would be couched in the 

 all too familiar words, " I don't know." 



Well, I do know. Some hens do contract this disgraceful 

 habit; nor did 1 become aware of it until to-day. A good 

 12-month since, on the recommendation of some writer in 

 either a bee-book or in the Bee Journal, I began to combine 

 poultry with ibee-keeping. My fowls have always had the run 

 of the apiary, and 1 have frequently seen them picking up 

 dead bees, but never until to-day did I notice that some of 

 them shamefully take up their stand in front of a hive and 



boldly snap the live bees off the flight-board. I have just been 

 watching one ; she would make a dab, retreat a yard or so 

 with her capture, rub it in the ground and then swallow it; 

 this she would repeat perhaps a dozen times, then take a stroll, 

 and in time come back for another feed. Has this propensity 

 been noticed by others of the brethren who combine poultry 

 and bee-keeping ? South Africa. 



Methods of Securing and Managing Swarms. 



BY HON. R. L. TAYLOR, 



iSupenutendent of the Michigan Experiment Apiary. 



The season of 1896, in point of swarming, has been a re- 

 markable one. The bees lightly set at naught all the accepted 

 canons of bee-keepers respecting that function. Lack of 

 great strength had little restraining influence, and abundance 

 of room, even in the brood-uest, none at all. 



Swarming began the last of May, continuing just a month, 

 during a very moderate flow of nectar, ending abruptly when 

 that flow was at its best at the height of basswood bloom, 

 though even then the secretion of nectar was very light. Not 

 more than one or two per cent, of the colonies did anything at 

 all in the supers before casting swarms, and many did not 

 wait to fill the combs in the brood-nest. Under such circum- 

 stances it is safe to say that it would not be wise to cease 

 efforts to determine the best methods of securing and manag- 

 ing swarms, on account of any bright prospect of speedy suc- 

 cess in breeding out the swarming instinct, or even of any 

 satisfactory invention that will practically allay it. Indeed, 

 it is a very serious question whether, if this object could be 

 secured in either of these ways, it would be satisfactory to 

 more than a very small percentage of apiarists. 



There are always more or less losses from various causes 

 to be made good, and there is no cheaper or more satisfac- 

 tory way of doing this than through the increase by swarming. 

 The loss of even a few colonies each winter during a series of 

 unfavorable years, where there is little or no swarming, with 

 occasional failure of queens and lack of stores, often best met 

 by the uniting of colonies, sometimes makes the aggregate 

 reduction in numbers rather startling. Then the serious item 

 of the rearing of queens comes in, which must be done arti- 

 ficially if increase is secured without swarming. No doubt as 

 good queens can be secured in this way as those obtained 

 from cells built and cared for under the swarming impulse, 

 but how few, comparatively, are the apiarists who have the 

 aptitude, skill and punctuality required to do it. Nineteen 

 out of twenty, for one reason or another, would fail, and iu 

 these times of financial stringency and uncertain honey crops, 

 they cannot afford to purchase. Besides, it can hardly yet be 

 safely denied that bees receive an impetus to work by finding 

 themselves in their newly-pitched tent, destitute of brood and 

 provisions. 



That there are some weighty objections to swarming, if 

 it could be safely repressed, is not to be denied, but these may 

 be reduced to two, namely, the time and labor required for 

 watching and hiving swarms, and the danger of loss from 

 swarms absconding. Some may hold that undesirable increase 

 is another and a more serious one still, but one should be 

 easily able to obviate that, and indeed thereby reap a decided 

 advantage. It is only a question of the disposal of the brood 

 in the hive from which the swarms issues, and that is gen- 

 erally, especially in early swarming, very valuable. To ac- 

 complish this, it is not necessary, as might be inferred from 

 some discussions of the subject, that the brood, when hatched 

 or before, should be returned to the identical colony that pro- 

 duced it; indeed, it may usually be used with decidedly 

 greater advantage in other ways. There are always at the 

 opening of the honey season some colonies that are not up to 

 the strength required for the best work in the supers. Let 



