THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



153 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



Surplus Honey Receptacles. 



Mr. James McMuUiu, in an article entitled 

 "Buihliug Combs and Storing Iloney," page 

 114, Vol. 3, Bek Journal, suys: "The best 

 niode of securing suri)]us lioncy isliould engross 

 the attention of the bee-keeping public." I 

 agree with him full}', and wish more bee-keep- 

 ers would give their experience and their views 

 on this subject. I am more and more convinced 

 tliat bees will woi'k in proportion to the room 

 given them by their keepers. That is, the larger 

 the sx>a<:ti given them at the prcyper worlcing season, 

 the luoi'ccoDib, honeu, and brood tlicy tcill produce. 

 Of course this can be true onlj' up (o a certain 

 limit; but I think the limit is not reached by a 

 majority of bee-keepers. Especially is it not 

 rtaciicd in receptacles for surplus honey, mainly 

 because the shape of the hive Avill not admit of 

 it; all hives that I have ever seen, except the 

 broad and shallow form preferred by Mr. Laug- 

 stroth, being too small upon the top to furnisii 

 suliicient room for honey boxes. It does not 

 avail to say that when one set of boxes is filled 

 3^ou can replace them witii another, for, in most 

 seasons, by the time one set of boxes is tilled, 

 whatever their size, the honey harvest is past. 

 The true way is to have room for the lull capa- 

 city of the swarm from the moment they begin 

 l;o store surplus honey. Then all the bees in the 

 hive t'lat are fitted to labor have room to work, 

 and they will work. 



I make my hives even broader than Mr. Lang- 

 strotli recommends, namely: eighteen inches 

 square, which, vrith the sides one inch thick, and 

 tiie ends one and a quarter inches thick, requires 

 a. honey-board twenty by twenty and a half 

 inches. This entire surface — not a quarter of an 

 inck is lost any where — I cover with eight boxes, 

 holding, when full, six pounds each. On the top 

 of these, I place eight more of the same size, 

 making sixieen boxes — with glass sides and ends, 

 ten ami a quarter inches long, five inches v»'ide, 

 and four and a half inches high, put on one hive 

 all at once at the beginning of the honey liar 

 vest — say when the white clover comes into blos- 

 som — provided the early part of tiie season has 

 been propitious; if otherwise, a little later. It is 

 a great disadvantage to put on surplus honey 

 boxes too early, as much of the heat of the liive 

 i-equired for maturing brood, is thereby lost. 

 Every surplus honey box should be supplied with 

 as much clean white comb, lirmly stuck on, as 

 can be spared. A small piece is better than none; 

 cxcw a few cells will sometimes induce bees to 

 commence work in a box, when an empty one 

 would be entirely neglected. The use of good 

 clean comb in surplus honey boxes cannot be 

 over-estimated. Did Mr. 3fcMulliu use such 

 pieces in those kcney boxes which his bees failed 

 io fill? If he did, his experience is different from 

 mine. I have never failed to have bees work in 

 boxes containing comb, even with the honey- 

 board separating them from the main hive. I 

 have seen my bees at work in skxteen such boxes 

 on one hive at one time. I believe they would 

 have worked in more as readilj-, but i thought 

 sixteen would do. I think, however, I shall 



I adopt Mr. Alley's plan for boxes— just half the 



I size and width of those I now use, viz: two and 



a half inches with glass sides only. This will 



j give one good thick comb in each box, weighing 



I box and all, about three pounds. I believe it 



• will sell better in this ((uantity and in this form 



than in any other. This size would give room 



; on the top of my iuves for thirty-two boxes, and 



1 think any go(;d strong colony would in a good 



i honey season, till them sii in the same time that 



■ they would till two or three boxes holding ten or 



' a dozen jiouuds each. 



[ In using frames of full size for surplus honey 

 last summer, I had the same experience that Mr. 

 McMullin relates. The bees built from the bot- 

 tom ui)wards. I have since been told by an ex- 

 perienced bee-keeper that the bees would hq,vo 

 begun at the tops of the frames, if I had given 

 them one full sheet of comb to climb up on. I 

 have no doubt this is correct, and shall try it next 

 summer. I do not care to have much surplus 

 honey in this tbrm, as it is not so saleable. Bees 

 seem to dislike to store honey so far from home 

 as nine or ten inches from the top of their hive. 

 I once made a large cap for a box hive, the whole 

 size of the hive ten inches high with glass sides, 

 imtting a post in the centre for the bees to climb 

 up on. I watched them attentively many days. 

 They came up at last, increasing in numbers 

 eveiy day, gradually covering the bottom of the 

 box, a few exploring the top. One day they 

 were clustered an inch or two up the post, spread- 

 ing out gracefully from all sides of the post to 

 the bottom of the box. The next day they were 

 up a little higher, and so on up to six or seven 

 inches, my expectations rising -with the bees. 

 But there they stopped climbing, and altera few 

 days more, swarmed without depositing a parti- 

 cle of honey. I concluded it was a poor honey 

 season, and had not then learned to use old comb 

 as an inducement for bees to begin. 



Home of the ideas above have been advanced 

 before, but they seem to be important enough to 

 bear repetition. R. Bickfokd. 



Sexeca F^vIlLS, N. Y., January, 1SG8. 



[For tlie American Bee Journal ] 



Wintering Bees. 



Mk. Editor- — Soon after I commenced keep- 

 ing bees, I used the Weeks or Vermont hive. 

 When I used a patent hive those days I followed 

 the directions. I was to have the bottom lioard 

 suspended at least one inch below the bottom for 

 wintering; I soon found that that plan did not 

 work satisfactorily. 1 had a neighbor who used 

 the common box fuvc; he had a two inch hole in 

 the top which he left open all winter; the hives 

 setting on the top of hemlock stumps without 

 any protection, summer or winter, except some- 

 thing to keep tiie rain out and snow from beat- 

 ing into the top ot the hive. He pla.stered up 

 tight all around the bottom of the hive for win- 

 ter. Ilis bees wintered well, and would every 

 sea.son swarm from two to three weeks earlier 

 than mine; scarcely anj' of them would come out 

 on the snow until the weather Avas warm enough 

 for them to get back into the hive. 



yiuce then I have observed that whenever ] 



