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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 12, 190 5. 



two reasons — it would make a better winterer, and was 

 more stable. 



The success of these hives has led me to construct a 

 hive for use in the home yard which should have the essen- 

 tial features of the large hive described above, and yet be 

 arranged for the production of section honey in the regular 

 way. I now have 20 such hives and like them very much. 

 These hives have closed-end frames hung crosswise ; are 

 extremely warm and well ventilated ; are cheap, made as 

 they are from boxes procured at the grocery ; are so con- 

 structed as to avoid the objections which many have for 

 frames hung crosswise. 



Much of what I have said thus far is largely introductory 

 to that which is to follow. Such an introduction is unpar- 

 donably long, but without it I should find it difficult to 

 make clear all I wish to say. The purpose of writing these 

 articles is to exploit the closed-end frame and the crosswise 

 frame ; for these two features combined furnish a subject 

 well worth the most careful attention of every man or 

 woman who keeps bees. 



On pages 213, 292 and 468 (1904) will be found queries 

 and answers relating to this subject. If you are interested 

 in this present article you will be repaid if you refer to the 

 pages named. You can gather from page 213 that the ob- 

 jection that most bee-keepers have to a closed-end frame is 

 that it lacks ease of manipulation, and that such is true few 

 if any will question. Why, then, have anything but a free- 

 hanging frame ? Simply because the ease of manipulation 

 is a minor factor with most bee-keepers. Truly, I believe 

 that the majority of bee-keepers would be better off if their 

 frames offered many difficulties in manipulation, for I know 

 that much harm is done by needless handling of the frames. 

 The best bee-keeper is he who can get fine results from a 

 colony and not have to loosen a frame from its place for 

 months at a time. 



That queen-rearing calls for much manipulation renders 

 the closed-end frame unfit for that branch of bee-keeping ; 

 and it is doubtful if the closed-end has sufficient advan- 

 tages to offset its awkward features in the production of 

 extracted honey ; but for the production of comb honey its 

 advantages far out-\*eigh any objections that can be raised. 

 That the closed-end frame causes the death of bees in 

 rapid handling is true, but what of the lives of thousands 

 of bees that it saves ? And right here let me say that it 

 will not cause the death of any more bees than will the wide 

 bottom-bars which some of our sages are advocating. 



The great advantage of the closed-end frame is its 

 power to conserve heat, for it not only makes the brood- 

 nest more snug and free from so much intercommunication 

 of currents of air, but it furnishes an air-space on two walls 

 of the hive. Space which was worse than useless before is 

 converted by this style of frame into actual and valuable 

 use. It is obvious now if it has not been before that the 

 closed-end frame which I speak of is closed to the very 

 bottom. 



Frames well made, with smooth and square edges, 

 pressed close together, are not hard to get apart, and after 

 one is used to the handling of them he will find that for all 

 the ordinary needs they are as easy to manipulate as free- 

 hanging frames. 



There are other advantages besides that of heat-saving. 

 These frames are right where you want them all the time. 

 If a hive gets knocked over by roving beast or mischievous 

 boy little harm is done, and when it comes to moving hives 

 about a man blesses such a frame. 



Many bee-keepers call for a self-spaced frame, and find 

 in the Hoffman what they believe meets their needs. Why 

 any one will use a Hoffman frame is beyond my under- 

 standing, for it has practically all the disadvantages of the 

 closed-end frame with only one and a half of the advan- 

 tages. It keeps frames in place, and it shuts out half of 

 the too-much circulation of cold air. Why in the name of 

 common sense not carry the full width of the end-bar clear 

 to the bottom and get all the advantages ? i^i^ 



New London Co., Conn. 

 [Continued next week.] 



Shook Swarming " and 

 Queens. 



Red Clover 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



Having about as many c: lonies as I can well keep in town (pro- 

 vided they all winter), I am planing to start an out-apiary next sea- 

 son, and I was thinking that It might be a good plan to practice 

 " ehook swarming ",.and at the same time secure a supply of long- [ 



tongued (red clover) queens, introduce them among the brood and 

 nurses left queenless, thus saving them the two or three weeks' time 

 before they could rear a laying queen of their own. If there are any 

 vital objections, please give me the benefit of your experience. Also, 

 whether you would advise me to invest in so many long-tongued 

 queens— say lb to 2.5 — or would it be safer to get only a few, and the 

 balance Italians ?— G. A. H., Pittsfield, 111. 



Replying to the above query, which reached me a few 

 days ago, I will say to begin with, that I am very much in 

 favor of the method called " shook swarming " by our 

 modern bee-keepers. There is nothing new in any of the 

 manners by which this is done, but the name, although per- 

 haps appropriate, has not " took " my fancy to any extent. 



The manner of procedure which I prefer because it is 

 the safest, is to make one "swarm " out of two colonies. I 

 have always been in favor of safe methods, and very much 

 admire an old Italian proverb : — 



Chi va piano va sano, 

 Chi va sano va lontano. 

 " Whoever goes slowly, goes safely; whoever goes safely goes a 

 long time." 



The swarm is shaken from a colony into a new hive, in- 

 cluding the queen and one comb of brood which is given at 

 the same time. The swarm is left on the parent colony's 

 stand, and the parent colony itself is moved in the place of 

 another strong colony, which is in turn removed to a new 

 spot. If a queen is at once given to the colony from which 

 the old queen has been taken, there will not be much dan- 

 ger of swarming, but in case the bees are noticed building 

 queen-cells a new swarm may be made from the same hive 

 in a few days, and before a natural swarm has had time to 

 issue. 



Now as to red clover queens. I have seen very much in 

 the papers about these, and have heard them praised, but I 

 am very skeptical about any one having secured any very 

 positive and lasting traits in a race of bees in the short 

 time that we have had the Italian bee with us. I 

 know of traits which may be fixed quite readily, such as 

 color, but the length of tongue has varied very much. From 

 the very beginning of the importations (and our old bee- 

 keepers will remember that we were once the most active 

 importers), bees have been found that could get honey from 

 red clover ; yet, however much I tried I never could secure a 

 positive advantage ; that is, secure bees that would show 

 regularly. 



There is a time when no bees can work on red clover 

 and I have also seen times when even the little common 

 bees worked on its blossoms. I believe that the length of 

 corolla of the clover bloom depends upon climatic condi- 

 tions, and that there are seasons when all the bees are able 

 to reach the honey in its bloom. 



When we first imported bees we had an old friend living 

 near us who was very much interested in this matter. He 

 was the first to notice that the Italians worked on red 

 clover. But one day he came to me and said the common 

 bees had noticed the others working on the clover and were 

 trying it, too, but could not succeed. I followed him to the 

 field and saw both blacks and Italians at work, and for all 

 the willingness I had to see the thing as he did, I could not 

 help concluding that they were all working alike, and that 

 neither the Italians nor the blacks were making much head- 

 way, although they seemed quite busy. This was some 30 

 years ago, and although we have had some of the so-called 

 red clover queens, I have yet to see a single barrel— even a 

 single 10-pound can — of red clover honey put upon the mar- 

 ket. I was once shown a case of very nice honey by a bee- 

 keeper who claimed it was from red clover, but a test of this 

 honey disclosed the fact that it was strongly flavored with 

 basswood, and I concluded that the man was deceiving him- 

 self in thinking that he had succeeded in producing red- 

 clover honey. 



Yet, we must not discourage the steps that are taken 

 towards red clover bees, for it is a step in the right direction ; 

 but I do not think I would rely on the possibilities of stock 

 from any one apiary. On the contrary, if I desired to buy 

 bees I think I should order from two or three different re- 

 liable breeders, taking care to secure good, prolific bees 

 without paying much attention to the yellow color, for too 

 many are putting color as the first requisite. 



There is no doubt that queens, reared in the South and 

 brought up to our Northern States at the time of swarming, 

 will save much time to the colonies that are divided by 

 shaking or otherwise, and at the present prices it pays bet- 

 ter for a honey-producer to buy his queens from the South 

 than to rear them in our northern climate. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



