272 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



tion to be the second super from the hive, 

 rather than having it always next the 

 hive, as in the Hershisher plan. The 

 Hershiser method results in too many 

 burr and brace combs, and the clogging 

 of the brood nest, as my helper of 1903 

 can testify, when we gave that plan a 

 thorough trial. My method of tiering 

 (first worked out, I think, by Dr. Mil- 

 ler) results in better finish, as well as 

 enabling us to come nearer handling 

 full supers only, in our yard work. 

 Try it. Towards the close of the 

 season, when doubtful if the bees will 

 need more room, it is all right to give 

 the empty super on top. 



Contraction is of little use here, 

 when hiving swarms. Better have 

 swarms, either forced or natural, of 

 such strength that it will not be neces- 

 sary to contract an eight-frame hive of 

 standard size. An average good queen 

 with a large swarm, can easily fill 

 such a hive with brood, which is what 

 we need to insure workers for our sec- 

 ond crop from alfalfa. The old colony 

 will often be as good as the best dur- 

 ing the second flow; especially if any 

 full combs of honey be removed from 

 the brood nest, when the young queen 

 begins laying, and full sheets of wired 

 foundation substituted. 



If you were to unite those swarms 

 when hived, rather than at the close of 

 the season, wouldn't you get more 

 honey, better brood combs, better finish 

 and do it with less work ? If I re- 

 member right, you once said in a foot- 

 note to an article by C. Davenport, 

 that it was your practice to hive two 

 or more swarms in a hive. That pays, 

 if honey is the object. 



Friend Atwater, I have never prac- 

 ticed hiving two swarms in one hive, 

 but I most cheerfully admit that the 

 practice might bring about all of the 

 desirable results that you mention. I 

 should like to see the experiment tried, 

 of hiving two swarms together in an 

 eight-frame brood nest, and that of 

 hiving swarms singly in brood nests 

 contracted to five frames, and then 

 compare results. 



The National Convention to be Held in 



Chicago. 



Ever since the breaking out of the 



yellow fever in the South, have I been 



receiving letters from different parts 



of the country suggesting that the place 

 of meeting for the National convention 

 be changed to some Northern city. To 

 all, for a long time, I returned the 

 same reply: "Let's wait and see how 

 things turn out. If the fever is crushed 

 out of existence, or controlled, then we 

 can go to Texas just as well as ever." 

 To a certain extent, the fever has been 

 controlled, but there seems to be no 

 probability that it will be done with 

 before the time that has been set for 

 holding our convention in San Antonio. 

 The time has come when we can wait 

 no longer. If a change is to be made, 

 it must be made at once, that bee-keep- 

 ers may be planing accordingly. Be- 

 fore taking up the matter with the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, I wrote to the 

 Directors, the editors of the leading 

 bee journals, and to several of the most 

 prominent bee-keepers, asking for their 

 views on the subject. The majority 

 was overwhelmingly in favor of a 

 change. The matter was then taken 

 us with the Executive Committee, and 

 every member favored a change to 

 Chicago, during the fat stock show, 

 the first week in December. It is pos- 

 sible that some other Northern city has 

 greater claims than Chicago for the 

 holding of the convention, but the meet- 

 ing must be held where reduced rail- 

 road rates will be assured, and the fat 

 stock show furnishes these. 



It is possible that there is no real 

 danger from the fever at San Antonio, 

 but the fea7' of it is real, and would 

 have kept away the Northern people. 

 The bee-keepers of Louisana and 

 Mississippi would have been shut up 

 in their own States. Texas has had a 

 slim crop of honey this year, and. 

 taken all in all, a convention this fal' 

 in San Antonio would have been a 

 pretty slim affair. I think that even 

 the Texans themselves would rather 

 wait another year, when, if all goes I: 

 well, the convention can be held in 

 San Antonio with every assurance of a 

 big crowd. 



