THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



11 



have staples driven in the end bars, 

 near the lower ends, and projecting- % 

 inch. This is a Cogfg-shall kink of 

 real value, for, as W. W. Somerford 

 says, with these "you can ram frames 

 in or out without killing bees between 

 the ends of the hive and the frames. " 



HANGING FRAMES ON CASING NAILS 

 IS SATISFACTORY. 



I know that the principle of hanging 

 frames on casing nails will be satis- 

 factory, as I have handled such frjimes 

 in the apiaries of Mr. Thos. Chantry, 

 formerly of South Dakota. Mr. Geo. 

 E. Dudley, of this State, also uses them, 

 and credits the idea to the late B. 

 Taylor, of Minnesota. 



These supers will cost only a trifle 

 more than the freight alone on similar 

 goods from the East. 



But, to return, about April 1st, all 

 the bees are set on their summer stands, 

 plain rims of 1x4 fencing, large enough 

 to hold two colonies side by side. 



About May 10th, another trip is 

 made, shallow cases added to the 

 colonies that need more room, and a 

 little equalizing done. 



Again about June IsttolOth, accord- 

 ing to the season, the yards are again 

 visited and enough supers put on each 

 colony t<j hold all the first crop, ordin- 

 arily. If anj' colony seems crowded 

 below, some brood is raised up into 

 one of the extracting supers. 



Plain zinc excluders are used on all 

 colonies from this time until the close 

 of the season. 



NO THOUGHT OF SWARMING. 



As the colonies have an abundance 

 of room at all times, there is no thought 

 of swarming, save in the very few 

 colonies which supersede their queens 

 during the first flow. During the 

 second crop, no matter how heavj' or 

 how light, there is no swarming, even 

 from colonies supersedeing their queens 

 or from crowded comb honey colonies. 



If the hrst crop of alfalfa blooms and 

 yields nectar, the honey is extracted 



after the close of the flow, early in July. 



Our extracting outfit consists of one 

 horse, a light spring wagon for carry- 

 ing tent, two-frame Cowan extractor, 

 uncappingtubs and Daisy springwheel- 

 barrow. The two-frame extractor is 

 very handy to carry around, but its 

 capacity is so limited that I shall buy 

 a larger machine. 



I have had but one helper, who ex- 

 tracts and fills cans while I uncap and 

 bring in the honey. H. D. Burrell once 

 said in the Review that "any boy with 

 a non-reversible, two-frame machine 

 could extract as fast as one man could 

 uncap the combs." I have never been 

 able to hire a ^iian who could extract 

 with a two-frame reversible machine 

 much faster than I could bring in the 

 combs and uncap them myself, and I 

 am a feather weight if there ever was 

 one. However, I use but few of those 

 thin, wafer-like, Heddon combs, which 

 Mr. Burrell seems to prefer, and that 

 makes a big difl'erence. 



The problem with us is to extract 

 the honey from all the yards before 

 the opening of the second flow. We 

 have never made any large record, 

 900 pounds in one afternoon being the 

 largest, while I notice that N. E. 

 France reports over a ton in the same 

 time, with a four-frame Cowan ma- 

 chine. However, our honey is very 

 thick and gummy and difficult to ex- 

 tract, so we can hardly hope to equal 

 Eastern records. 



can't use BEE-ESCAPES. 



I use the Coggshall plan of flopping 

 the quilt and smoking, and, by so do- 

 ing, most of the shallow supers are re- 

 moved without shaking or brushing 

 individual combs. Some of the deep 

 supers are removed the same way, but 

 most of the deep frames have to be 

 shaken and brushed. Bee-escapes are 

 entirely out of the question, for when 

 our honey is cold it cannot be extracted. 



The second flow from alfalfa may 

 begin, (if at all) late in July or early 



