THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



53 



colony by taking stores from another 

 colony that has a surplus. With the 

 best box hive we must simply guess at 

 the condition of our bees; but with 

 the movable frame hive, which admits 

 of the thorough overhauling of our 

 bees when we are in doubt about their 

 condition, we can handle our bees in- 

 telligently and feel that deep interest 

 in the pursuit that is peculiarly nec- 

 essary to success in bee culture. 

 Some occupations may, and do grind 

 out money like a "tread-mill," but 

 bee culture is not one of them. Noth- 

 ing less than a deep interest in bees 

 will make an apiarist. The movable 

 frame hive is essentially necessary to 

 awaken this necessary interest. 



The box hive system recorded a 

 failure for thousands of years; the 

 Langstroth system of movable frames 

 has recorded a success in a quarter of 

 a century. What a contrast! Let 

 any intelligent man transfer his bees 

 from his box hives to movable frame 

 hives and then use his intelligence, 

 and he will exclaim that "the half 

 has not been told " him. 



Christiansburg , Ky. 



Uniting Colonies in Early 

 Spring — Robber Bees- 

 Feeding in Early 

 Spring. 



BY H. M. DEWITT. 



To unite two weak colonies, remove 

 the queen from one colony, and put 

 the frames with bees and brood at one 

 side, putting in a divider made by 

 tacking wire-cloth on one side of a 

 brood-frame, with the ends extending 

 to reach full length of the hive. Now 

 bring the brood, queen and the bees 

 from the other hive and place in this 

 one; close the entrance on the bees 



and queen put in for tweuty-four 

 hours, slanting a board in front, re- 

 move the hive vacated, and the work 

 is done. In twenty-four hours, or the 

 next night, remove the obstruction 

 from the entrance, leaving the slant- 

 ing board in front, which will cause 

 the bees to mark their home anew. 

 On the third day remove the divid- 

 ing frame and the board from the 

 front. No hive should occupy the old 

 stand from which the queen and the 

 bees were removed for several days. 



BEES ROBBING. 



If all the colonies are kept strong 

 there is no danger of robbing — it is 

 only the weak ones that are robbed. 

 Working with bees at unseasonable 

 times, leaving honey exposed in the 

 apiary, etc., induce robbing. Colonies 

 of black bees and nuclei are usually 

 the sufferers. Contracting the enter- 

 ance, so that but a single bee can pass, 

 is usually a sure cure for robbing. In 

 times of scarcity of honey, the apiarist 

 should be careful not to keep a hive 

 oj:>en too long, or robbing may be the 

 result. All strong colonies maintain 

 sentinels at the entrance in times of 

 scarcity. Those of that colony are 

 allowed to pass, but strangers are 

 "arrested on the spot." If a colony 

 is unable to defend itself, close up 

 the entrance with wire-cloth and re- 

 move it to the cellar or some other 

 convenient place for a few days, and 

 when it is returned to the old stand, 

 contract the entrance to allow only 

 one bee to pass at a time. If you 

 handle your bees carefully and don't 

 leave any exposed sweets in their 

 reach, I don't think you will have any 

 robbing in your apiary. 



FEEDING BEES IN EARLY SPRING. 



Feeding in the early spring is advis- 



