THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



437 



Explanatory.— The flgfurea before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has liejit bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous sprinj? and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; O* east ; 

 +0 west; and this 6 northeast: ~ci northwest; 

 o% southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Contraction Method. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



During the past three years I have 

 been carefully testing a hive-contrac- 

 tion system, and I have found it of 

 great value, as regards both summer 

 and winter success. It has become a 

 permanent system in my apiaries when 

 running for comb honey, and now, 

 after testing it for three seasons, I feel 

 prepared to speak of what I know. 



I hive all swarms, whetlier first or 

 second swarms, upon five Langstroth 

 frames of foundation, filling up the 

 rest of the space in an 8-frame hive, 

 with 2 contractors or " dummies," A, 

 A, as shown in the illustration. I 

 find that the queen uses these five 

 combs to that extent that I get as 

 much brood in them as in any 7 combs 

 where the whole 8 are used. The 5 

 combs become nearly 5 solid sheets of 

 brood, and where they are reversible, 

 quite all brood. Certain it is that 

 these contractors in no way tend to 

 increase the amount of honey stored, 

 but to a great extent they tend to in- 

 crease the amount stored as surplus, 

 and decrease the quantity stored as 

 winter stores. 



This contraction also keeps much 

 bee-bread out of the hive, leaving it 

 in the field, which is by "far the best 

 and most economical reservoir for it, 

 in this locality. With this treatment, 

 a prime swarm commences work in 

 the cases at once ; I usually place one 

 case on the hive when hiving a swarm. 

 A second swarm usually commences 

 in the surplus cases in 2 or 3 days 

 after being hived. 



In autumn, when the honey harvest 

 is over, the little brood-chamber con- 

 tains but little honey and pollen 

 (almost none at all if the bees are 

 Germans). I now have the honey 

 in the supers that, with the 8-frame 

 system, would have been in the hive, 

 and perhaps in the market, and I am 

 now ready to feed the colony sugar 

 syrup for winter. When fed, the bees 

 are in a condition where all their 

 stores are accessible, and to winter 

 with absolute certainty if they are 

 kept warm enough. Whether the 

 brood-chambers are almost honeyless, 

 or partially stored, depends upon the 

 nature and duration of the honey- 

 flow, and the blood of the bees. Most 



bee-keepers are aware of the fact 

 that Italians are more prone to load 

 the brood-chamber, regardless of the 

 surplus department, both early and 

 late in the season, than are the Ger- 

 man bees. 



While the system is so nearly per- 

 fected tliat with any bees I bring 

 nearly all of the colonies out at the 

 close of the season so as to take one- 

 half or more of their winter and spring 

 stores tlirough the feeder, I have it 

 complete as far as Germans and most 

 hybrid colonies are concerned. I am 

 now at work with assurance of perfect- 

 ing the system, so as to bring out all 

 brood-chambers, with any bees, in a 

 perfect starvation condition, our 

 honey all gone into the market, and 

 our colonies all ready to receive the 

 winter food prepared by the bee-mas- 

 ters, as their whole winter and spring 

 stores. I believe that sugar syrup is 

 better than honey as spring stores, till 

 the weather is quite warm, and till 

 the bees can fly daily. 



I keep the bees on these .5 combs, 

 after placing them on the summer 

 stands, until the spreading of the 

 queen and the advance of the sun 

 north of the equator calls for more 

 room, when I remove the contractors, 

 replacing 3 combs which are put in 



A A shows the two Contractors — one nenrly in 



posiMoii, and the other just ready 



Ui go down into the hive. 



the positions occupied by the con- 

 tractors, or among the combs of brood, 

 spreading them, according to the 

 weather and force of the colony. 

 When this colony swarms, I hive its 

 swarm on .5 combs, as above described, 

 and then on the twentieth day after 

 swarming, I go to the old hive and 

 find, as a rule, a young fertile queen, 

 eggs in the centre combs, and tliree or 

 more combs with considerable honey 

 and no brood, which I remove, re- 

 placing tliem with the contractors. 

 This old colony is soon in the supers, 

 having a 5-comb brood-chamber filled 

 solid with brood. 



I have had colonies, after casting 3 

 swarms, at work in the supers within 

 5 days after contracting. I think that 

 the advantages of this contracting 

 system will be seen ; or it may be 

 called an enlarging system ; that is, 

 enlarging the brood-chamber for 

 about 6 weeks during the time that 

 the queen is notonly the most prolific, 

 but when such prolificness gives us 

 bees to become field-workers, just 

 when we most need them. I think 

 that it will also be seen. too. with 

 what advantage reversible frames 

 may be added to this system. I make 

 the contractors by making a wide 

 frame just the same width all around. 



and just the size of the standard 

 Langstroth brood-frame. It is no 

 division-board, as it has all the same 

 bee-spaces as has the brood -frames, 

 and thus manipulates very easily. 

 When the frame is made, I nail a %- 

 inch board upon each side, and in the 

 middle I place a little cubic block, a 

 little smaller than the width of tlie 

 frame ; by nailing each side to this 

 block, they will be just a little concave. 



" Through all the summer days," 

 the contractors are kept at the same 

 distance from the sides of the hive 

 and adjacent combs, as the combs are 

 kept from each other ; but in winter I 

 move them back close to the sides of 

 the hive, thus aiding as non-conduc- 

 tors, and giving a little more winter- 

 ing room ; these two points are non- 

 essentials however. 



Some of the contractors I fill with 

 chail, some with sawdust, and I also 

 have 300 made of solid wood, but these 

 are only Js of an inch thick, and each 

 pair replaces but 2 combs, leaving 6 

 instead of o. When 6 are used the 

 spaces of the honey-board exactly 

 break joints with the spaces below, as 

 with 8 combs ; but with 5 combs I 

 move the honey-board side-wise as 

 much as it will go and still rest solid 

 on the hive, and then I leave the 

 break-joint feature of the honey-board 

 perfect as before. It was by the use 

 of this .5-comb system that 1" first got 

 my best test of the great valu.e of the 

 break-joint feature of the honey-board. 

 I never knew how much more queens 

 and combs would work up through 

 when they ought not to, till I placed 

 a lot of honey-boards on some con- 

 tracted hives, and in such a manner 

 that the slots corresponded vertically 

 instead of breaking joints with each 

 other. 



My first thought was to have these 

 contractors, broad-frames filled with 

 sections, but experience taught me, 

 first, that we did not need any more 

 surplus room with a Langstroth hive 

 and complete " tiering-up " system ; 

 second, it adds complication to have 

 storing in sections "going on in the 

 brood-chamber ; and third, the honey 

 stored there is not fit for market, at 

 least none that I have ever seen comes 

 up to my standard. If it was only 

 started there, and finished in a better 

 place, it might do, but as such a sys- 

 tem complicates labor still more, why 

 should we use the place when we 

 have all the room we want without it, 

 and in a far better and handier posi- 

 tion ? I have not been troubled with 

 the queen entering the sections, when 

 I used the honey-board in proper 

 position, though it is not queen-ex- 

 cluding, the slots being % of an inch 

 or double bee-passage. 



I notice that others have been co- 

 temporary with me in working out the 

 advantages of contracting, but so far 

 as I have read, I have not as yet seen 

 it systematized as a summer and win- 

 ter management. I have here en- 

 deavored to so place it before my fel- 

 low-bee-keepers, and I do it with the 

 full conviction tliat we can and will 

 lessen the detail labor of manipula- 

 tions, and keep all the advantages of 

 this valuable system. 



Dowagiac, ? Mich. 



