THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



11 



of a large amount of brood too 

 late to be of use in storing sur- 

 plus, wliile too early to be of much 

 value for wintering ; gives nearly 

 all our colonies young, vigorous 

 queens from our nK)st productive 

 colonies ; and, so far as my expe- 

 rience goes, much less work than 

 where swarming is allowed to pro- 

 ceed without any check ; and best 

 of all, it keeps every hive sup- 

 plied with a large force of workers 

 from the beginning to the close of 

 the honey harvest, and work in 

 surplus department goes on almost 

 without interruption from begin- 

 ning to the end of the season. 



CONTliACTIONS. 



Some beekeepers practise putting 

 new swarms in very small brood- 

 chambers to force the bees into 

 the sections, as for instance, one 

 section of the Heddon hive or 

 Langstroth hive with four or more 

 frames, filling the rest of the 

 brood-nest with dummies or di- 

 vision-boards. I think it best to 

 use seven or eight Langstroth 

 frames, putting one and one-half 

 good swarms into each hive, thus 

 making all new colonies strong 

 enough to enter sections very soon 

 after being hived. It will be ob- 

 served that the object of all this 

 S3^stem is to keep the largest num- 

 ber of strong colonies at work in 

 the sections from the beginning to 

 the end of the season. 



Some writers recommend that 

 new swarms should be hived upon 

 empty frames without comb or 

 foundation, while the sections are 

 to be put on at once with good 

 starters, or liglit foundation in 

 them, thus encouraging the bees to 

 begin in sections first. My expe- 

 rience has been that when so treat- 

 ed more or less pollen is sure to 

 be stored in the sections, and the 

 appearance injured and the at- 

 tacks of the wax moth invited to 

 the destruction of the combs, so 



I advise that the frames for brood- 

 chambers be filled with clean comb 

 or foundation. 



To return to our sections : as 

 the first clamp of sections become 

 nearly filled, or the bees much 

 crowded, let it be raised up, and 

 another placed under it, being care- 

 ful that the bee-spaces correspond, 

 that the bees may pass freely to 

 the upper clamp, and so continue 

 as needed until the close of the 

 season. 



REMOVING SECTIONS. 



As soon as all the sections in a 

 clamp are filled and finished, let 

 it be removed, as the longer it re- 

 mains on the hive the more the 

 bees will stain and discolor the 

 combs. Some writers recommend 

 taking off" each section as soon as 

 finished. This may be a very nice 

 way, but not practicable in a large 

 apiary, as it seems to me. 



Near the close of the season the 

 number of sections on each hive 

 should be reduced to the capacity 

 of each hive to finish as far as pos- 

 sible. 



In removing sections, lift the 

 cloth on top and blow hard-wood 

 smoke down between the sections, 

 driving most of the bees before it 

 into the brood-chamber, and re- 

 move the clamp or clamps at once. 

 If bees are inclined to rob, place 

 the clamps in a tight box, covering 

 the top with a cheap cotton cloth. 



The bees remaining in the clamp 

 will crawl up on the cloth and can 

 be quickly removed. 



When clamps are well filled, an 

 active man can remove and get 

 the bees out of 2000 sections a daj', 

 and carry them into the house. I 

 prefer to store surplus hone}"^ in a 

 dry, warm room, giving the air a 

 chance to circulate around and 

 through each clamp. 



FUMIGATING HONEY WITH SULPHUR. 



Much has been said and written 

 of the necessity of using sulphur 



