790 



THE MMERICJCr* BE® JQUKNJil^. 



k^mk^^A^Amkt -^ '■ -^ ' ^^^-^ '• 



plants with yellow flowers, which he 

 found in the Yekima countiy, on the 

 eastern slope of the Caskade ]\Ioun- 

 tains. All the kinds of this Rocky 

 Mountain bee-plant resemble each 

 other, except the color of the bloom. 



The bees that rav son kept here in 

 1883 and 1884. averaged about 25 

 pounds of surplus, and increased from 

 2 to 3 colonies in the two seasons. On 

 the whole, it is doubtful whether bee- 

 culture could be made much of a suc- 

 cess in this Big-Bend countrj". except 

 in some favorable spots, as the whole 

 country is too drj-, and has not enougli 

 natural honey-producing trees and 

 plants. It is somewhat better for fruit- 

 growing than Minnesota, but it is a 

 farming country. It is too uneven and 

 spotted ; that is, rock, intermingled 

 with good land. My advice to every 

 one who has a good home and com- 

 fortable living, to stay and be con- 

 tented, and not listen to boomer's 

 stories. 



Medical Lake, Wash.. Oct. 18, 1890. 



SOMETHING- NEW. 



The Queen-Reslrictor, and its 

 System of lUanagenient. 



■ Written fnr the American Bee Journal 



BY C. W. DAYTON. 



This new apicultural fixture began 

 its existence in my apiary seven years 

 ago next March. At that time I was 

 looking for a practical device that 

 would confine the queen without cer- 

 tain portion of the hive, to avoid the 

 presence of brood in the surplus, and 

 the propagation of brood and bees to 

 support, when there was no expect- 

 ancy of there being any honey to 

 gather. 



After some meditation upon the sub- 

 ject, the idea suggested itself to me. 

 instead of guarding apartments of the 

 hive from the queen, as is usually done, 

 why not restrain the queen from the 

 apartments ? 



With this idea as an incentive, I 

 devised a fixture for this purpose. 

 After six years of study and experi- 

 ment upon the original fixture, during 

 which time it has often been added to 

 and improved, I give this description, 

 for the inspection of bee-keepers, of 

 an entirely new and original fixture to 

 be used in the apiary, and an entirely 

 new and original system of manage- 

 ment for the production of honey. I 

 say new and original, because the 

 method originated with me. and has 

 never before, so far as I can find out. 

 been published or practiced by any 

 person in the world. 



I am convinced, from extended ap- 

 plication and tests, that with its help 



more honey can be secured in better 

 shape, and with less labor, than can be 

 obtained by an}' other known method. 



My idea, in the original conception, 

 was based upon the contraction of the 

 brood-nest without material change in 

 the usual hive-space. 



That the queen may be likened to a 

 pivot which maj' admit of adjustment, 

 so as to turn the laws of the hive to 

 the apiarist's immediate advantage. 



That honey should be stored as near 

 to the brood as is possible, and the 

 interference of the queen prevented by 

 establishing a defined limit to her 

 operations. 



That the reversible hive is an idea 

 that is too broad ; and the reversible 

 frame an idea that is too narrow, for 

 practical, or practicable, application 

 or use. 



Mj' experiments along this line have 

 been in an untraversed field ; and in 

 bringing out the "queen restrictor," 

 is provided a gateway through which 

 others may enter for further explora- 

 tion and discovery. 



The failure of queen-cells is accom- 

 plished by reversion, at a season prior 

 to the formation by the bees, of their 

 fixed notions of swarming. This 

 device may be reversed as simply and 

 as quickly as to reverse a single rever- 

 sible frame, and the time required is 

 about one hour for forty hives. 



By reversing often, the bees get 

 queen-cells only started, and they are 

 then destroyed before thej' have set- 

 tled down to the idea that they must 

 swarm. It is of far greater advantage 

 to check the idea of swarming than to 

 prevent the issuance of the swarm, as 

 bees that prepare to swarm seldom 

 work, liut loiter around the hive while 

 honey in the flowers is going to waste. 



By reversion, the combs are caused 

 to be extended to the bottom bars of 

 the frames, making it possible to get 

 as much brood in four or five combs as 

 is usuallj' contained in seven or eight. 



There Is quite a difterence in opiniom 

 as to how much to contract the brood- 

 nest during the harvest, but one thing 

 Is certain that it Is very unprofitable 



The accompanying engraving shows 

 my plan for fastening brood-frames 

 together, and the arrangement of strips 

 of perforated zinc at the bee-spaces, 

 and on the outside frames, altogether, 

 to form an apartment in which the 

 queen ma}' be confined upon a desired 

 number of brood-combs. The side- 

 sheet of zinc has been cut away to 

 show the operation and form of the 

 clasps that hold the strips of zinc 

 upon the frames. These clasps are 

 constructed of No. 14 wire, now, instead 

 of flat pieces of metal. 



By this arrangement the queen may 

 be confined upon any desired number 

 of brood-combs, by lengthening or 

 shortening the claroplng-rod and re- 

 versing wires, as may be necessary. 



By confining the queen upon four or 

 five combs she will keep them filled 

 solidly with brood, while the combs 

 that may be situated just outside of the 

 zincs will be tilled as thoroughly with 

 honey. 



to have as uni-easonable an amount of 

 bi'ood as there often Is during the lat- 

 ter part of the honey harvest ; nor do 

 I want brood scattered through a whole 

 hive-full of combs. The aim is to have 

 few brood-combs, and those combs full 

 of brood, and the lombs for honey full 

 of honey. The plan of caging the 

 queen consists in attaching the two 

 sheets to the outside frames. 



The narrow strips remain upon the 

 frames from Spring, or through the 

 winter, like a permanent attachment, 

 though they may lie removed at any 

 time a necessity occurs. Simply fasten 

 the side sheets in their allotted posi- 

 tions, and the queen is almost certain 

 to be on one of the combs which are 

 fastened together. 1 do not hunt for 

 the queen, nor clip the wings of the 

 queen. The next time the hive is 

 opened the few combs that remain 

 outside of the Eestrlctor will show 

 where the queen is. by the presence or 

 absence of fresh laid eggs. 



