204' 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



edge of the bottom-board, from half an inch to 

 one inch, according to the size of the swarm ; 

 then every comb is ventilated. Some will tell 

 you to fix a convenient place for the l)ecs to 

 cluster on outside ; but I tell you to keep your 

 bees at work inside of the hive. You will find 

 that much more profitable. I never allow them 

 to cluster out. Upward ventilation is wrong in 

 the breeding season ; and so is any contrivance 

 for the bees to pass directly into the surplus 

 honey-boxes from the outside of the hive, for 

 the bees that gather tlie nectar from flowers are 

 not those that store it in the surplus boxes. 

 With the Italians any one can satisfy him- 

 self on that head ; at least I am satisfied now. 



For the upper part of the hive, when the 

 time comes to put on your boxes, remove the 

 honey-board and substitute small strips or 

 blocks, one-quarter of an inch thick ; lay them 

 directly on the fiames, and put on your boxes 

 with the fourth of an inch space between the 

 top of the frame and the bottom of the box, 

 which allows the bees to pass over the top of 

 the frame. Make your boxes, either large or 

 small, to suit your ov/n faucJ^ Should you use 

 one box the size of the chamber, leave a two 

 inch hole the whole length of the box. Should 

 you use three boxes, they would be about eleven 

 and a half by five and a half inches. Have two 

 entrances in each box, one inch by five. Should 

 you use six boxes, have the entrance one inch 

 by five, and place them so that the entrauce 

 goes across the frames, instead of lengthwise, 

 in every case. 



Many persons complain that the bees do not 

 work in boxes. I have frequently seen such 

 boxes. For example, a friend uses the old 

 fashioned chamber hive. He says I now let my 

 bees fill the chamber, Avithout boxes, and cut 

 out the honey after cold weather, when the 

 bees are below ; for they always fill the cham- 

 ber, but will not work in boxes at all. " Well, 

 friend, they cannot work in your boxes." (He 

 tised boxes with an inch hole in each, to corres- 

 pond with an inch hole in the chamber board). 

 "You are a mechanic. Now, how are the bees 

 going to work to cause a cool stream of air to 

 pass into that inch hole, and a stream of heated 

 air to pass out at the same time ? With your 

 boxes out, and your four holes open to the 

 chamber, it is quite different." Still the said 

 friend's liive was a patented one. 



When bees are gathering honey, I take off a 

 full box at night, and the empty one substituted 

 will be filled with bees in the morning, at work 

 building comb, &c. Again, with a division 

 board, I can manage a small swarm just to suit 

 me in every respect, or a large one either. To 

 illustrate this : sometime in August, 1866, a 

 neighbor found a swarm clustered in a bass 

 wood tree about twenty feet high. He sent 

 word for me to come and hive it for him. I 

 was from home at the time, and did not get 

 back till after dark. Having to go away again 

 before light next moning, I went and hived the 

 swarm for him that evening ; and there chan- 

 ced to be less than a pint of bees left on the tree. 

 Three days after I took a piece of comb, with 

 eggs and larvce in it, tied it to the end of a pole, 

 held it up to the bees, and they clustered on it 



forthwith. I put them in a small box and carried 

 them home ; took from a hive a frame filled 

 about one-half with 1>rood nearly mature, and 

 the remainder eggs and larvfc just hatched ; 

 this I inserted in an empf,y hive, introduced a 

 young fertile hybrid queen, and gave her the 

 said lot of less than pint of workers. Adjusting 

 the division board, I let them go to work with- 

 out any feeding. They filled seven (7) frames 

 that fall, and stored sufficient honey to winter 

 on. Last spring I took out two empty combs 

 and inserted two well filled with honey from 

 another swarm ; fed them about two pounds of 

 sugar the last of June and up to the 20th of 

 July. They then had five frames to fill with 

 comb. The first week in August I took out one 

 frame filled with brood and started a new 

 swarm, and gave them access to the honey 

 boxes to keep the queen busy below ; and to 

 prevent swarmiug. I took out frames filled 

 with brood, one at a time, as they could spare 

 them, to build up the young swarm. Taking 

 out one of those frames did not appear to di- 

 minish their labors in the boxes in the least. 

 Recollect that the frames are only about ten 

 inches by eleven, inside measure. To sum up : 

 after the 20th of July, 1867, they filled the bal- 

 ance of the hive, which was five frames ; and 

 I took away six frames filled with brood, one at 

 a time, building up a first-rate swarm. I also 

 took away one luindred pouuds of surplus hon- 

 ey, two thirty-five pound boxes, and two fifteen 

 pound boxes. When the l)ees were numerous 

 enough to store twenty pounds of honey per 

 week, and the thermometer was up to 100*^ in 

 the shade, they did not cluster out the least. 

 I am aware that the form of hive is not every- 

 thing ; but knowing exactly how and when to 

 make the right moves, ami doing it, has con- 

 siderable inlluence on the result. 



We will say that I have the Lee, Kidder, 

 Champion, or Thomas form of hive, or even 

 the shallow form of the Langstroth; then taking 

 out one frame takes out too large a pi-oportion 

 of the working force, at once, from the main 

 hive. I never could manage those hives so as 

 to have all the comb worker-comb, and all oc- 

 cupied with brood throughout the entire comb 

 surface in the breeding season. Yon must re- 

 collect that last season was the worst honey 

 season that I rennnnber, up to the 20th of July ; 

 and from that time up to the 8tli of October, it 

 was (for swarms that had been properly taken 

 care of) as good as any I ever knew. We had 

 none of the drought which was experienced in 

 other sections. 



Cheapness and simplicity in a hive is what I 

 have been studying at for years, and it is pre- 

 posterous to su[)pose that bees will make more 

 surplus honey in your nail-keg than mine. But 

 we ought not to have over three forms of hive, 

 to suit every person's whim. Almost all the 

 little fixings about a hive that are patented, 

 are a perfect nuisance to the practical apiarian. 



There is something yet that I have to speak 

 of in this article. 1 formerly used box-hives 

 twelve inches square and fourteen inches high, 

 and used them for ten years without any sticks 

 in the centre. The centre bar in the Champion 

 or the American hive occupies space that ought 



