THE mrmmmicKn ibeh^ jouRNffiL. 



5^21 



•- '- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * ^ " '^ * 



that vegetation was pushed rightalong; 

 thus the main flow was soon ovei'. 



But I do not wisli to lay all the 

 blame to the bad weather in June. 

 One-third of my bees had plenty of 

 honey to keep up rapid brood-rearing 

 from spring until now, and these same 

 colonies produced, this season, an 

 average of -40 pounds of comb honej', 

 and of extracted Gli pounds. Th# 

 other two-thirds of my colonies, which 

 were in a starving condition in the 

 latter half of May, during which time 

 they ceased to rear much brood, thus 

 reducing the colonies in numbers, 

 rather than increasing the same — this 

 indeed is half the cause of the failure, 

 for the latter did not, on an average, 

 store 10 pounds of surplus honey from 

 clover. Is it not plain enough to see, 

 that had I fed the last colonies, and 

 kept up brood-rearing, I might have 

 had a fair crop of clover honey, de- 

 spite the poor season ? Ten pounds of 

 sugar per colony would have done the 

 work, and if it should have made them 

 as strong as the former, I would have 

 20 pounds of honey, clear, for the 

 labor of feeding, which, in an apiary 

 of 100 colonies, would have added 

 $134 to the income fi'om the bees ; that 

 is, not counting one's time or sections 

 to hold the honey. This shows the 

 great necessity of having rousing colo- 

 nies for the honej' harvest. 



Welton, Iowa, June 14, 1890. 



REVERSING. 



Tlie Objects of Reversing the 

 Brood-Combs Explained. 



Read at the Ohio State Convention 



BY CHALON FOWLS. 



My object in reversing the brood- 

 combs, is to induce the bees to enter 

 the sections more promptly, to prevent 

 swarming by removing one of the 

 causes of swarming, and to get the 

 winter stores in part of the combs, in- 

 stead of a little in all and not much in 

 any. 



Some five or six years ago, in one of 

 his articles, Mr. G. M. Doolittle made 

 this assertion : "The greatest secret of 

 getting comb honey is to get the sec- 

 tions just as near to the brood as pos- 

 sible ; and any plan which allows of 

 one or more inches of sealed honey 

 between the sections, is certainly de- 

 fective." This was not disputed at the 

 time, and has not been since to my 

 knowledge. Assuming, then, that this 

 is correct, it only remains for us to 

 discuss the best means of forcing the 

 brood right up to the top of the brood- 

 frames. 



Now the old plan of extracting from 

 the brood-combs, for this purpose, as 



everybody knows, is an entire failure. 

 The plan of contracting the brood- 

 chamber to 4 or 5 combs is successful, 

 but involves tjie condition of having 

 the brood-clnimber narrower than the 



Franii j.Vo. 1 — I'op. 



super, and also involves leaving the 

 brood-chamber without honey at the 

 close of the season. This is a serious 

 objection in my locality, as we seldom 

 get much fall honey. 



Making the brood-chamber shallow, 

 with the combs only 4 or 5 inches 

 deep, I have tried with new swarms, 

 and it works vvell ; but there is still at 

 least one objection — there is no room 

 for winter stores. Besides, in my case, 

 I have more than a thousand nice 

 worker-combs in wired Langstroth 

 frames, and I cannot afl'ord to tlirow 

 them aside ; and if I produce comb 

 honey, I must use them as brood- 



No. 1 — After Inversion. 



combs, and I must manage, in some 

 way, to bring the brood to the top of 

 the frames. This can be done by re- 

 versing, and still use a full set of 

 combs. 



Unlike the contracting method, the 

 size of the brood-chamber does not 

 need to be guaged by the fertility of 

 the queen, but the combs occupied by 

 the queen will be solid with brood, and 

 those which slie does not occupy, will 

 be solid with honey. To illustrate 

 with a new swarm hived on comljs or 

 comb foundation : 



In ten or twelve days the brood in 

 the central combs will look something 

 like engraving No. 1. If there is any 

 capped honey above the brood in the 

 central combs, it should be lightly 

 mashed down with a knife or finger, 

 and the com))s reversed. The bees 

 will, of course, remove the honey fi^om 



this unnatural portion, giving the 

 (jueen more room in llie same comb, 

 leaving tin; outside combs to be filled 

 with honey. 



In niite or ten days more, the central 

 combs will be found to be solid with 

 brood, but tliey need to be reversed 

 now (see engraving No. 2), so as to 

 throw tlie larva; and eggs above, and 

 the sealed brood below, where the bees 

 are not inclined to store honejs and 

 the queen will lill the combs with eggs 

 as fast as the bees hatch, so that in 

 nine or ten days more, the capped 

 brood is all replaced by eggs and 

 larva;, when they are to be reversed 

 again, and so on, as long as honey is 

 coming in fast enougli to crowd the 

 queen. 



The object is to reverse often enough 

 so as to never lei any brood hatch in the 



Frame No. -' — Top. 



lo^} of the frame. This makes it im- 

 possible for the bees to store any 

 honey there, excepting, as before 

 mentioned, in combs at the side. 



I do not advocate reversing shallow 

 combs — say .^ or inches in depth — 

 but only claim that reversing is an im- 

 portant aid in securing the best results 

 in comb honey, with the majority of 

 frames now in use — Langstroth size or 

 deeper. 



As a preventive of swarming, re- 

 versing succeeds just where the ex- 

 tracting method failed, as it gives the 

 queen more room, and the honey re- 

 moved goes into the sections instead 



]So. -i— After Inversion. 



of the extracted honej-. Besides, the 

 next honey gathered must go into the 

 sections, instead of being crammed in 

 around the brood. 



I commenced the use of reversible 

 frames five years ago last spring, hiv- 



