THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



103 



sticky job I had on my hands, and how 

 much better it would have been to have 

 filled that empty Heddon case with 

 frames supplied with small starters; 

 for even though the plan failed, the 

 combs built would have been in shape 

 to use. 



Yes, the bees went into the supers 

 with a rush when the lower case was 

 removed, but they were, even then, a 

 week or more behind swarms hived on 

 the Hutchinson-Gill plan; that is, on 

 starters rather than combs. 



At the next visit to this yard, these 

 shook-swarms, on the Townsend plan, 

 were ag-ain inspected, for past experi- 

 ence in hiving- swarms on combs, led 

 me to fear trouble, and — I found it. 

 Several had started queen cells with 

 intent to swarm again. This is so often 

 the case here, that it is sureU' folly for 

 me to continue longer in my efforts to 

 secure best results by hiving on combs, 

 (and this regardless of whether or not 

 contraction is practiced) in m}^ comb 

 honey yards. 



It can be managed successful}^ in a 

 locality like this, only by hiving with a 

 ripe cell or a virgin queen; and, in this 

 case, sealed brood, a la Aikin, is far 

 better than empty combs; however, I 

 use the Aikin plan very little. 



Full sheets of foundation also have 

 been thoroughly tested for several 

 seasons, but too many colonies will 

 try to swarm again; so, after making 

 hundreds of shook-swarms, during a 

 period of several years, hiving on 

 combs, full sheets, and starters, I 

 knoiv that it is best for me (with my 

 present knowledge) to hive on starters 

 hi the brood frames, usually giving 

 one or two combs of honey or brood to 

 the forced swarm. Such colonies sel- 

 dom desert (I clip my queens); and 

 never, so far as I can remember, has 

 any such colony prepared to swarm 

 again, the same season. 



ADVANTAGES OF USING STARTERS. 



By hiving on starters it is seldom nec- 

 essarj' to examine the brood-nest 



afterwards, until one wishes to see 

 that the combs if not perfect, are made 

 so. Combs so-built sag less, and are 

 more satisfactory, in regard to getting 

 brood reared close to the top bars, 

 than are the average combs built on 

 full sheets of foundation. 



DRAWN COMBS ALL RIGHT IN HIVING 



SWARMS WHEN WORKING FOR 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



When I sometimes have occasion to 

 make shook-swarms in any of the ex- 

 tracting yards, either full sheets or 

 combs are entirely satisfactory. 



GETTING POLLEN IN THE SECTIONS 

 WHEN USING SHALLOW BROOD- 

 NESTS. 



Mr. Townsend seems to obtain satis- 

 factory results by hiving in a hive only 

 534^ inches deep; or, at least, he says 

 nothing about any difficulty from pol- 

 len being stored in the sections; but, 

 in this locality I have had many a nice 

 section (even entire supers of sections) 

 spoiled by pollen when above such 

 shallow brood-nests; and there is no 

 preventive when a single shallow 

 case is used. So, I had made two 

 hundred Heddon cases, one inch deeper, 

 and nine frames wide. With these 

 there is less pollen above, but too much, 

 still. One of m}' good neighbors, who 

 has had an extensive experience for 

 thirty years, or more, was quite well 

 pleased with a popular, 7>^-inch, 

 closed-end frame, 10-frame hive, but at 

 last settled on a hi /e containing ten 

 shallow Hoffman frames, 7% inches 

 deep, having more comb space in the 

 brood-nest, than the standard eight- 

 frame hive; but when I called on him, 

 and found him casing hone}', I was 

 surprised at the large number of sec- 

 tions which had to be discarded, owing 

 to one or more cells of pollen. This 

 would indicate that it is the shallow- 

 ness of the hive, rather than the small 

 size, which tends to throw pollen into 

 the sections. 



