THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



397 



do it (the middle of July here) g-iv- 

 ing' the bees a free entrance. The trap 

 is put back in position Jind left thus 

 the remainder of the season. 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



P^or extracted honey my spring- man- 

 ag^ement is the same as for comb honey. 

 My extracted honey is produced almost 

 entirely at the East Martinsburg 

 house-apiary. The hive used is the 

 same ten-frame Simplicity. As soon as 

 anj' colonies need more room I add an 

 upper story of empty combs. This 

 gives the queens and bees plenty of 

 room, and it is not unusual for queens 

 to laj' in fifteen combs. I use eight 

 combs in an extracting story, I do 

 not expect a very large amount of 

 honey to be stored before white clover 

 bloom. Allowing the queen to have 

 full swing at this time does much to 

 discourage swarming, if not to prevent 

 it altogether. At the commencement of 



■% Ira- /■ ;. 



NO. 4, SHOWING FEEDERS IN POSITION. 



white clover bloom I extract if neces- 

 sary, and put a zinc excluder between 

 the sets of combs, confining the queen 

 below. If the brood is hatching in the 

 extracting super, or nearly ready to 

 hatch, I take it out, putting in empty 

 combs and use the brood in strengthen- 

 ing weaker colonies. I like to get 

 every colony so it is doing something to 

 help on the business, if nothing more 

 than to rear queens. The traps should 

 be put on at this visit. The arrange- 



ment is the same as for comb honey, 

 except that when working for extracted 

 honey it is best to have partition boards 

 between the hives, so the bees will not 

 run from one hive to the other, as we 

 work with them. Get out a rectangu- 

 lar board 12 xl8x Yz then saw it diagon- 

 ally from corner to corner. Nail it on 

 to the studs and shelf boards. (They 

 are shown in the cut of the feeders. ) 

 I once had a great prejudice against 

 drone-traps, but I had to overcome 

 that, for the}' are a great acquisition 

 for an out-yard house-apiary. As I 

 use them, it is more of a last resort, for 

 a very small per cent, of my bees ever 

 attempt to reallj' swarm. I use them 

 to head oft' the colonies that are deter- 

 mined to swarm, and would be other- 

 wise lost b3' going oft" to the woods. 

 The trap, besides being a queen- and 

 drone-trap, is also a sort of bee-escape. 

 I found that while manipulating the 

 bees in the house-apiary it was neces- 

 sary to have some place where the bees 

 could get from the outside of the hive 

 to the inside without going through the 

 window-escape. So the ends of the 

 trap each has a 1)^ inch hole bored 

 through it, and a wire cloth cone 

 nailed on the inside so the bees can 

 pass freely inside but not out. When 

 I am handling combs and wish to 

 shake the bees oft" I shake them on the 

 trap which is in position between the 

 hive and side of house- apiary, when 

 the bees will very soon pass inside. I 

 do not look over these brood-nests every 

 week, as with comb honey, as I have 

 found it unnecessary. I keep using 

 the brood from the extracting supers, 

 as it comes to maturity, for I want 

 rousing big colonies when white clover 

 opens. Too many wait until white 

 clover is in bloom before beginning to 

 work up their colonies. All the care 

 these bees get during the very busy 

 season is to see there is plenty of store- 

 room. I tier up, putting another set 

 of eight combs under the first super, 

 and still another if necessary. This 



