1 H Jl A M ERICA N BEE- KEEP Ell . 



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together. Here I was in a pretty fix ; 

 no lieiter than box hives. By this 

 time I had Four more hives ready for 

 the frame?, s - I concluded that as the 

 bees were inclined to make their 

 comb from front to rear of the other 

 hives I would make the frames in 

 these four lengthwise of the hive and 

 with V-topped tops. Still after get- 

 ting a colony in each of them I found 

 that they were still tied together more 

 or less. None of the eight, were any 

 better than box hives for manipula- 

 tion. 



During the Fall I had one of the 

 old box hives robbed, which I entirely 

 lost; bees, honey and all. It seems 

 that during that season there was no 

 end of swarming, and every few days 

 I would have a swarm, and as my ob- 

 ject was then to increase, I hived each 

 one, thinking that perhaps most of 

 them might put in stores sufficient to 

 keep them through the winter. The 

 first swarm that came out gave me 45 

 pounds surplus honey. The others 

 gave me none. That Fall, after ex- 

 amining them thoroughly I packed 

 away nine colonies that I thought 

 would winter. I lost one colony, and 

 thus ended my first season, 



In all bee-journals and books of 

 modern times I fail to see anything 

 to warn beginners against the build- 

 ing of burr comb abross the frames. 

 Something is said about comb guides, 

 foundation, etc., but no place have I 

 seen this. The bees will build across 

 the frames unless you give them a 

 guide of some kind. My last year's 

 experience convinces me that the only 

 proper guide is a full sheet of found- 

 ation. 



One year ago this Spring I com- 

 menced with eight colonies in hives 



no better than box hives for manipu- 

 lation. This way of doing -business 

 did not suit me at all, and I made up 

 my mind that I would have my bees 

 in hives that I could manipulate, or 

 go out of the bee business. The lat- 

 ter course I did not intend to take, so 

 the first thing I did was to transfer 

 the two old colonies and see how it 

 would work. As I had read that the 

 Heddon plan was very good, I con- 

 cluded to try it ; so at apple blossom 

 time an expert in the manipulation of 

 bees was in the neighborhood for the 

 purpose of transferring some colonies 

 for a neighbor, so I went up to see the 

 performance and engaged him to 

 transfer my swarms, which he did. 

 The result was, two days afterwards 

 I had for my two strong colonies, each 

 of which would have given a good 

 strong swarm in a short time, one 

 light colony of about a quart of bees, 

 that is now, after feeding through the 

 month of April, a very weak swarm. 



So much for following Heddon, a6 

 published in A. B. C. in Bee Culture. 



The swarms that were transferred 

 for my neighbor came out about the 

 same as mine. 



I think the moving of the old col- 

 onies quite a distance from the old 

 stands is a mistake. The reason why 

 I think so will be given later on. The 

 A. B. C. says : " Place a hive with 

 frames filled with foundation on the 

 old hive, making all tight between 

 the hives, and after a while they will 

 all go up in the top." So I thought 

 if there was no better way I would 

 fall back on that, but made up my 

 mind to put my own brain to work, 

 and during the remainder of the sum- 

 mer experimented. I put on a hive 

 with frames of full sheets of founda- 



