26 



TMB' MMERICJtPf BB® JOWKlfMl^. 



We are entering upon the way of a 

 more profitable and enjoyable apicul- 

 ture, as in many things in these clays 

 we are marching with giant strides 

 into realms of knowledge more won- 

 derful than the most vivid imagination 

 has even dared to contemplate. A 

 single honey-bee is a helpless thing, 

 but a colon}' of them has power and 

 utility in proportion to its numbers. 

 Who shall say, then, that it may not be 

 guided to greater results and unheard- 

 of wonders ? And this we think, no 

 less than we do, that the most useful 

 and 3-et abundant, the strongest and 

 yet the lightest metal in all the earth, 

 by the skill of man, is to come forth 

 from the elements and give to the 

 world a new civilization, unthought of 

 possibilities and apparently impossible 

 achievements ! 



For years I have noted the remark- 

 able impulse with which a young 

 swarm begins its labors, and I have 

 thought that we should take heed and 

 make the most of this impulse to rush 

 mattei's, and pile up a surplus. But it 

 is clear that the impulse can only be 

 developed through swarming. Hence, 

 it will not be a surprise, if the time is 

 at hand when practical bee-keepers 

 shall cease to look for means to pre- 

 vent swarming, or a non-swarming 

 strain of bees. 



The new system of management that 

 I have devised and perfected, and 

 which I shall claim the honor of intro- 

 ducing to my fellow bee-keepers as a 

 practical procedure, is founded upon 

 the above views, and an experimental 

 trial of three years. 



The ordinary management is pur- 

 sued up to the time of swarming, which 

 consists in getting all the colonies as 

 strong as possible, and ready for the 

 expected honey-flow. A supply of ex- 

 tra brood-chambers are made ready 

 with empty combs or frames half-filled 

 with good foundation, or a part of 

 each. No wiring of frames is done. 

 As soon as a swarm issues, it is hived 

 in one of the prepared brood-chambers 

 on the old stand. 



The parent eolonj' is set to one side, 

 and the supers taken ofl" and placed on 

 the prepared hive, and the transfer is 

 usuallj' made while the swarm is in 

 the air. A wood-and-zinc queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-board is placed on the 

 brood-chamber, and the supers over it. 

 And here I will say, that the success 

 of this management is largely depend- 

 ent upon the perfect working of this 

 hone3--board, and its adaptation to 

 large colonies. This matter is so im- 

 portant that it may be wise to indicate 

 certain points in its construction, es- 

 sential to success, lest any shall test 

 the new system and pronounce it a 

 failure from having made use of an 

 imperfect and unsuitable honey-board : 



1. The zinc strips should have two 

 rows of perforations, and be set par- 

 allel to, and alternate with, the brood- 

 frames. 



2. The wood slats mnst be plump -} 

 of an inch wide if the brood-frames are 

 spaced more than 1| inches from cen- 

 ter to center ; and the wood should 

 come so close to the perforations that 

 the bees may got a ready foot-hold 

 upon it, and thereby be enabled to 

 pass through the board instantly. 



Having hived the bees and trans- 

 ferred the supers, I then shake the 

 bees from the combs of the parent 

 colon}', down in front of the new one ; 

 but this part of the work may be de- 

 layed to any convenient time within 

 2-1: hours. Thus all the bees that were 

 in the hive before swarming, are kept 

 together, the brood alone being taken 

 away. A colony so managed acts and 

 works like any 3'oung swarm, and as 

 all are large, if plenty of surplus room 

 is given, the product will be corres- 

 pondingly great. 



The brood taken away is placed in 

 another brood-chamber, and put over 

 any colony capable of taking care of 

 it. The added brood is placed over a 

 queen-excluding hone3'-board, and if 

 supers are on the hive, they are to be 

 carried to the top. With the issue of 

 a swarm, every colonj' in the apiarj' is 

 so managed, whether it has one or 

 more added brood- chambers. If all 

 the colonies swarm, the result will be 

 an increase of one or more brood- 

 chambers on every hive. 



Extracting may be done from the 

 added brood-chambers as soon as the 

 brood is sealed, or about the ninth day ; 

 or the combs may be left in place till 

 all the brood hatches. If extracting is 

 not desired, the combs may be storified 

 on as few colonies as possible, and 

 kept till fall and the making up of the 

 colonies for winter, when as many 

 combs of sealed honey may be used as 

 is necessary to winter the bees. 



In preparing for winter, the combs 

 not required should be taken from the 

 bees, or at anj- time from Oct. 1 to 

 Oct. 15, and placed in the brood-cham- 

 bers and piled up out-of-doors, and 

 there left all winter. Bj' this means all 

 extra combs can be kept safe from the 

 moth-larva; from year to year, the only 

 other care being to keep out the mice. 

 This management requires a differ- 

 ent sized brood-chamber than has 

 heretofore been used. I also dispense 

 with the use of "dummies" or other 

 means of contraction. A brood-cham- 

 ber for brood is all that is required, as 

 we want all, or pretty much all, the 

 storage done in the supers. Sjich a 

 brood-chamber will contain only 830 

 square inches of brood-comb, and is 

 large enough for any queen where this 

 management is practiced. 



The size of the brood-frame is 7x17 

 inches, and eight are used in each 

 brood-chamber. It is a, plain, sus- 

 pended Langstroth frame suited to 

 rapid handling ; and, it may be added, 

 that no brood-frame ever invented, or 

 likely to be, can be handled as rapidly 

 as a shallow Langstroth frame. 



This management results in getting 

 all brood-combs attached to the bot- 

 tom-bars of the frames. If the combs 

 are old, the lower edge should be 

 sh.aved off, when, if placed in supers, 

 as here advised, all will be extended 

 to, and attached to, the bottom-bars. 

 Another result is, that in all large 

 colonies built up by this system, the 

 bees build no brace-combs between the 

 brood-chamber and the honej'-board, 

 or other parts of the hive, so that it is 

 always easy to take the hives apart. 



management of the Qneen-4JcIls. 



It remains to give the management 

 of queen-cells and queens bj' this sj's- 

 tem. After shaking the bees from the 

 combs, as stated, if queen-cells are not 

 wanted, they are to be removed. If I 

 wish to hatch them, I proceed as 

 directed, taking care not to injure 

 them. The bees of the colony to which 

 they are given, will complete the cells 

 and care for them. I have yet to find 

 one torn down, whether in swarming 

 time or out. Nor does the presence 

 of the cells incite to swarming, as the 

 queen is unaware of their presence. 

 On the seventh day after, the cells 

 should be cut and hatched in nursery 

 cages. 



If I wish to supersede the queen in 

 the lower part of the hive, I leave one 

 of the cells to hatch, and do not dis- 

 turb the hive (unless they swarm) till 

 about the eleventh day. I then go to 

 the hive, and I will nearly alwaj's find 

 the young queen on the honey-board, 

 trying to get below. I place her be- 

 low, and the work is done, as she will 

 at once destroy the old one. 



Usually the young queen destroys all 

 of the cells in the super in three or 

 four days. All goes well while a lay- 

 ing queen is in the lower brood-cham- 

 ber, until the young queen gets ready 

 to mate, when she is balled and killed 

 by the bees. But if provision is made 

 for her to fly out from the upper part 

 of the hive, it oecasionallj' happens 

 that she is allowed to do so, when the 

 bees will destroy the old queen below. 

 If the queens are kept apart, so that 

 the}' cannot touch each other, it ap- 

 pears that we may have two or more 

 laying queens in a hive at one and the 

 s ime time ; but I think that the bees 

 attending each queen must have a 

 separate entrance. 



As to the drones that hatch from 

 brood placed in the supers, I draw 

 back the cover a little, or raise it up to 



