THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



395 



take them, turning' each hive up to the 

 lig'ht, and as I set it on the shelf I con- 

 tract the entrance to suit the size of tlie 

 colony. I push the hive back against 

 a Yz inch slat that lies against the 

 coping with the tin slides between the 

 slat and coping. This brings the hive 

 within XYz inches of the oiTtside of the 

 building; and I would make it less if I 

 could. Have the frames stand at rig'ht 

 angles to the siding- of the building, 

 and not parallel to it, at this time 

 of the year. Now all that is nec- 

 essary is to put the block closing- 

 the feeding-groove and center in place. 

 After all are on the shelves, I look 

 them over to see that all is tight in- 

 side and out. I have a pint fruit jar 

 for each colony, tilled with a thin 

 syrup which I give them. It will not 

 be necessary to visit this yard for a 

 week, and not then unless more feeding 

 is to be done. I believe it pays well to 

 feed a pint each week for three weeks. 

 By that time the bees usually begin to 

 gather enough to live on. It is sur- 

 prising how fast bees build up in a 

 house-apiarj' as compared with those 

 out in the yard. 



I do not open hives much until the 

 beginning- of fruit bloom, when the 

 colonies are looked over, especial at- 

 tention being paid to the queens and 

 to the arrangement of the brood nest, 

 giving more room if needed. 



In this locality there is a lull in 

 honey gathering after fruit bloom before 

 the white harvest commences, and it is 

 during this period that I get every- 

 thing in readiness to hustle when it 

 comes. The studied aim should be to 

 have as many workers ready as pos- 

 sible to commence when the white 

 clover bloom begins. 



In working for comb honey I go 

 through the colonies just before white 

 clover commences to flow, and contract 

 each brood-nest to from five to eight 

 Langstroth combs, using wide frames of 

 eight sections each, if there is room to 

 put them in on one or both sides of the 



bi-ood-nest. In contracting I also use 

 division boards Yz inch and 1 inch 

 thick. At this time I turn the hive a 

 quarter, so that the side of the hive is 

 toward the entrance. I also put in 

 the entrance - guard and drone - trap. 

 This may cause some confusion for 

 a day, but the bees soon get used 

 to going through it, and I positive- 

 ly know it does not hinder the work 

 after the very first. I turn the hive 

 mainly because I can work with the 

 frames much better and handier with 

 the hive in this position. I leave the 

 hive in this position the remainder of 

 the season. 



NO. 3, SHOWING SHRLF-BOARDS WITH 



WIRE SCREEN BOTTOM BETWEEN 



THEM. 



The colonies should be, at this time, 

 ready to receive their first super. I 

 use the T super, with bait combs, and 

 tier up as more room is needed. I keep 

 close watch for any indications of 

 swarming, and, if a colony is found 

 getting ready to swarm, I cut out the 

 queen cells, and rearrange the combs 

 so that the ones with the least brood 

 occupy the center of the brood nest. If 

 it should happen to be a very populous 

 colony, I take one or two combs of 

 hatching brood and help one that is 

 nearly strong enough. There are some 



