T'mm MMERiesp* mmm jqurjnsi,. 



651 



and then to work, too busy to loiter, 

 but not too busy to pay respectful 

 lioniaj^e to their sovereign. 



It may be supposed thai the area of 

 the queen's dominion is contracted so 

 nnrrow. th:it she is practically with the 

 entire colony all the tiuje. This is not 

 the fact. In this hive there is an area 

 of more than 50 square feet of comb. 

 Tlie queen going from the outside 

 comb on the lower tier, crossing every 

 comb lengthwise, must travel 81 feet. 

 Tlierefore a visit to every jjart of her 

 dominion may not be a dailj- occur- 

 rence. 



But in these sunny days when the 

 bee is such a tireless worlvcr that its 

 span of life is only four or five weeks, 

 the hone}' flows, the bees pour it into 

 the hive, the honey from the basswood 

 (linden) trees ; the trees throughout 

 the country are in bloom, and secret- 

 ing more honey than bees in :iny force 

 can gather, and if you listen under the 

 trees, you will hear the hum of the 

 gatherers. 



SWARMING. 



manipulation to Prevent IVat- 

 iiral Inereasc of Bees. 



Writtcji for the American BceJonmal 



BY J. W. TEFFT. 



Mr. Geo. F. Robbins. on page 312, 

 says that he doubts my ability to per- 

 form, or rather keep mj* bees from 

 swarming, etc. 



On July 4 I manipulated 2.3 strong 

 colonies, and examined some others. 

 That was the first day this season that 

 I had found a bit of new comb or 

 sealed new honey, and things began 

 to look bright once more. 



Now it may. and it may not. be of 

 interest to Mr. Robbins, or others, to 

 tell them how I prepare strong colo- 

 nies for honey, and to keep them at it 

 until after the honey harvest without 

 swarming. At the start I will state 

 that my brood-chambers hold 12 1.1- 

 inch wide frames, 2 partition boards, 

 and a 1-inch space outside of that for 

 ventilation space, as the division- 

 boards are bee-space above the bottom- 

 board. Each colony has ID frames for 

 brood, and 2 for side storing in this 

 way. I reversed all the brood-combs 

 containing eggs and unsealed brood— 

 the ripe, sealed brood did not require 

 reversing. I drew from the brood- 

 chambers two frames of ripe brood, 

 bees and all, and placed them in the 

 .surplus chamber, then witli a separa- 

 tor on the outside of the brood. I place 

 the sections; this gives the colony 12 

 frames in the brood-chambers, and 6 

 in the surplus chambers. Six of the 

 frames contain sections— 48 J-pound. 



As to the future management, pro- 

 viding there is a lioney season, things 

 become lively, tlio bees are storing 

 honey, and the young bees are all 

 hatched out of tlic two frames in the 

 surplus chamber, I remove and extract 

 the honey to have the combs empty to 

 replace in the centre of the brood-nest. 

 At the same operation I lift the two 

 frames of side-.storing sections, bees 

 and all, to the surplus chambers ; this 

 operation wedges the brood apart, and 

 at the same time keeps the surplus 

 chamber full, and side-storing sections 

 on all the season through. For in- 

 stance, if I draw a frame of honey. I 

 put in a frame of empty comb in the 

 centre of the brood-chamber, and lift 

 a frame, bees and all, to the surplus 

 chamber. This method of manage- 

 ment enables me to keep a large, 

 powerful colony, storing honey in one 

 hive, and I have but one hive to ma- 

 nipulate, where I had to manipulate 4 

 hives to obtain tlie same results. The 

 system pleases me very much. Why. 

 just think of it — 23 colonies manipu- 

 lated in less than three hours, and I 

 had to nail up some sections at that. 



You see there is a point gained by 

 having frames space themselves, and 

 not have to fuss to space by the eyes. 

 Just thiiik a moment — 23 strong colo- 

 nies containing 414 frames, and hand- 

 ling them all in so short a time ! This 

 wedging the brood-chambgr apart, and 

 removing outside combs of the brood- 

 chamber to the surplus chamber, and 

 removing honey at the same time, is 

 all right, providing one understands 

 reversing combs at the proper time to 

 have the sections finished at all points. 

 There is no mistake about the system, 

 at all. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



I>ooIittle on 4(iieen-Reai-ing:. 



Queens can be reared in the upper stories 

 of hives used for extracted honey, where a 

 queen-excluding honey-board is used, which 

 are as good, if not superior, to Queens 

 reared by any other process; and that, too, 

 while the old Queen is doing duty below, 

 just the same as though Queens were not 

 being reared above. This is a fact, though 

 it is not generally known. 



If you desire to know how this can be 

 done — how to have Queens fertilized in up- 

 per stories, while the old Queen is laying 

 below— how you may safely introduce any 

 Queen, at any time of the year when bees 

 cay fly— all about the different races of 

 bees — all about shipping Queens, queen- 

 cSges, candy for queen-cages, etc. — all 

 about forming nuclei, multiplying or unit- 

 ing bees, or weak colonies, etc. ; or, in fact 

 everything about the queen-business which 

 you may want to know, send for " Doolit- 

 tle's Scientific Queen-Rearing;" a book of 

 1 70 pages, which is nicely bound iu cloth, 

 and as interesting as a story. Price, $1.00. 



COWEiVTIOM DIRECTORY. 



1890. 7'imc nnd place of mccllmj. 



Sept. 26.-Cllpilal, at Snrinafield, Ills. 



(.'. E. Yocom, Sec. Sherman, Ul, 



Oct. R.-S. W. Wiaconsin.Ht Plattcvillp. Win. 



n. Rice. Sec, Boscobel, Wi». 



Oct. in, ll.-Union.at Hamilton, Ills. 



Daniel Shank. Sec, Clayton, Ills. 



Oct. 15.— Central Mkliinan. atl^anslne, Mich. 



W. A. Harnes, Sec. Ijanaing. Mich. 



Oct. 29-31.— International American, at Keokuk. la.. 

 C. P. Dadant. Sec Hamilton, Hl8. 



Oct. 30.— Turkey Ilill, at Wilderman's Sta.. lUs. 



A. Fehr, Sec. Belleville, Ills. 

 1891. 

 Jan. 1.— Michigan Stale, at Detroit, Mich. 



H. D. Cutting. Sec, Clinton, Mich. 



May 7.— Susquehanna County, at Montrose, Pa, 



H. M. Seeley, Sec, Ilartord, Pa. 



Jt^" In order to have this table complete,- 

 Secretaries are requested to forward full 

 particulars of the time and the place of 

 each future meeting. — The EnixoR. 



International Bee-Association. 



President— Hon. It. L. Taylor.. Lapeer, Mich. 

 Secretary— C. P. Dadant Hamilton, Ills. 



National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



President— James Heddon ..Dowagiac. Mich 

 Seo'y. and Manager— T. G. Newman, Chicago 



15 iJiM L^£ WJ^HWV'X^ 



Sour Hone.v — Pond I>ilies. 



I have some poplar honey that I extracted 

 last spring, that is slightly soured. Will it 

 hurt the bees to feed back this fall i I win- 

 ter my bees in the cellar. What was the 

 cause of it becoming sour ? It was sealed 

 up when I extracted it. Will heating it 

 have any effect on it t Also, do pond- 

 lilies that grow in marshes, produce any 

 honey ! C. Reynolds. 



Fremont, O., Sept. 11, 1890. 



[To give the bees the sour honey is the 

 best thing that can be done with it. They 

 wiU'pnt it to a good use. The cause of its 

 becoming sour would be difficult to •state 

 without examining it. It might have Vieeu 

 thin and " watery," if the season was wet 

 in your locality. The bees will seal up 

 such honey just as readily as when it is 

 thicker. Heating it will sometimes sweetoi, 

 it, but care must be taken not to heat it 

 too much, or the flavor will be ''wanting.'' 

 We do not think that pond lilies yield much 

 honey, if any at all. They have never been 

 reported among honey-producers. — Ed.] 



Results in 'I'estius' Carniolans. 



Having read quite a number of articles 

 praising the superior qualities of Carnio- 

 Ian bees much more than they deserve, and, 

 what is noticeable, not a line from any of 

 the veteran honey-producers, but from be- 

 ginners and those who have queens for 

 sale, it seems to me that those who have 

 found them superior to the Italians must 

 have had very poor Italians, or must have 

 had a very limited experience. 



In the spring of 1889, in the hope that 

 they were a valuable acquisition, I re- 

 solved to give them a fair trial. I pur- 

 chased o queens from some of the most 



