■i£2 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



and, perhaps, get the swarming- fever 

 before it is time to put on sections, a 

 third section is added under them. 

 While they will not be likely to breed 

 in this last section, it seems to have 

 the desired effect. This is really the 

 Simmins system of preventing swarm- 

 ing. 



Then, some practice contraction of 

 the old colony at the commencement of 

 the season. With the Langstroth 

 frame, the five combs containing the 

 most brood are selected, and a division 

 board placed on each side. The idea 

 is to force or crowd the bees into the 

 sections by using a brood-nest too 

 small to hold all the bees. With the 

 sectional hive how much more easily 

 is this accomplished. All we have to 

 do is decide on the section which has 

 the most brood, set the others on top, 

 smoke out all the bees, set this section 

 of beeless brood on some weak swarm, 

 or where we can use it to the best ad- 

 vantage, and, presto, we have it. And 

 the nice part of it is, it is still the full 

 width hive; no sections hanging over 

 the edge (over division boards) in the 

 cold. 



Supposing you do not practice this 

 contraction plan on the old colonies, 

 this hive still has a great advantage 

 over the single story. For instance, it 

 is natural for bees to store their honey 

 along the top of the hive, between the 

 brood and the top-bar. It is also 

 known that the bees are loth to pass 

 over this sealed honey, and work in 

 the sections; well, at any time of the 

 3'ear, when this condition should arise, 

 with the sectional hive all we have to 

 do is to transpose the two sections of 

 the brood-nest, or, in other words, set 

 the lower one on top. This brings the 

 brood right up next to the sections, 

 just where we want it, and with very 

 little work. 



Thus far, you will notice, I have 

 handled hives only; not a frame expos- 

 ed to robbers; the slow, tedious frame- 

 handling system, has been avoided; in 

 other words, we handle the capacity 

 of five Langstroth frames at each man- 

 ipulation. Later I will tell how to go 

 clear through the season, and raise 

 comb honey on the Gill-plan, without 

 handling a single brood-frame. 



Remus, Mich., March 22, 1904. 



)iroooy 



Willi Formaldlelii^^ 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



njHERE seems to be quite a difter- 

 -L ence of opinion regarding the value 

 formalin as a cure for black brood, 

 but I should judge that most of the 

 the failures are the result of not being 

 half thorough enough in using it. 

 Having had considerable experience 

 with black brood during the past five 

 or six years, losing, as I have, several 

 hundred colonies, after trying every- 

 thing I could think of, or hear of, I feel 



that through the columns of the Re- 

 view I may give its readers a little 

 good advice oil this subject. 



FUMIGATING TANK MUST BP: PRACTI- 

 CALLY AIR-TIGHT. 



First, don't fool away any time in 

 half-way fumigating. I tried putting 

 three or four hives of combs on top of 

 one another, and fumigating \n that 

 way, after closing all cracks as tight- 



