THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



143 



the bees can flj- to ami from the hive with- 

 out iiitulrauce. Put tlio hives Croiii tlnee 

 to five inciii's (Voni the yrouutl ami elevate 

 the back one incli lii^lier tiian the front. 

 Lean a Ijoard against the entrance so tliat 

 when the bees come home h)ade(l they 

 can aliglit on tiie Ijoanl and run in instead 

 of fallinir on tlie urounil. I believe in tlie 

 tieiiiiij-np metliod and put one tier of sec- 

 tions on as soon as honey is coming in 

 freely, or wlien the bees are commencing 

 to wliiten the combs. 



In order to get the bees to enter the sec- 

 tions readily 1 put a few sections on full 

 of empty con)b ; the rest with starters of 

 foundation. In a few days if honey is 

 coming in freely and the bees have not 

 entered the sections, I look through the 

 hive and find out where the comb builders 

 are at work and take out such combs and 

 shake the bees into the sections. If they 

 do not run in freely smoke them a little; 

 Avlien they get this tier of sections about 

 hall full and there is a good prospect for 

 more honey, I raise it up and put another 

 empty set under with foundation startei's. 

 I use the Hodgson section-rack and honey- 

 board. It is, I think, the handiest I ever 

 used or saw. There is no patent on it. 

 By just pulling out two keys it can all 

 be taken to pieces. 



It seems that it is not generally under- 

 stood that in the summer bees will not 

 cap over their honey till it is well ripened, 

 and if there is not another tier of sections 

 put on before tlie first are ready to be 

 capped over, I believe there is a great loss 

 of honey and waste of time. It is a well- 

 known fact that in a wet season there is 

 a great amount of water with the honej' 

 and this has to be evaporated before the 

 bees will cap it over. This is done with 

 the wings of the bees. Virgil (so long 

 ago as his time) seemed to have under- 

 stood that bees ripened their honey with 

 the " buzz or motion of their wings." 

 Any one may tell almost any night how 

 bees have worked through the day by the 

 buzzing of tiie bees. Sometimes in the 

 morning the dampness can be seen out- 

 side at the entrance of the hive. "Well, 

 as soon as the second tier of sections is 

 about half full and the prospect still good 

 for honey, put another tier under the two 

 that are on the hive. Frecpiently examine 

 the first or top tier, and as soon as the sec- 

 tions are well capped take them otl' and 

 keep a good watch and if honey is coming 

 in fast put another tier under as before, l)ut 

 be sure that when the honey season is 

 about at a close, you have only one tier 

 of partly filled sections on each hive. When 

 the sections of each tier are well cai)ped 

 take off", and do not leave them on the hive 

 for the bees to soil in running over the 



combs. Now, if the bees swarm, just put 

 the swarm in a new hive with frames 

 of foundation starters, give the swarm 

 not more than six or seven frames, put 

 a division-board next to them, put the 

 swarm where the hive stood that the bees 

 came out of, move the old hive to a nevv' 

 stand and put the sections on. If you do 

 not use a queen-excluding honey-board 

 take out a frame of brood from the parent 

 hive and cut out the queen cells if there 

 are any; put the comb in the new hive 

 with the frames of starters and, as the 

 season advances, move over the division- 

 board and add a new frame once a week 

 till the hive is full. When you put in the 

 last frame take out the division-board. I 

 will say in concluding this article that we 

 ought to have everything ready for the 

 honey season is only a few weeks' dura- 

 tion at most. Be sure you have sections 

 and hives ordered early. 

 Empire Prairie, Mo. 



Description of Queen, Worker and Drone 

 Cells. 



Constantia, Ohio. 

 Mk. Alley: If not too nuicli to ask. would 

 you give an article describing tlie difference 

 ill appearance of Queen, Workei-and Drone cells ? 

 Mrs. VV. O. Calkins, 

 answeu by dr. g. l. tinkku. 



To the experienced eye the ditterence 

 between the three kinds of cells con- 

 structed by a colony of bees is so great 

 that there is never a liability of mistaking 

 the one for the other; but the novice may 

 often be unable to distinguish between 

 queen and drone cells. 



The cells, in which are reared the worker 

 bees, are by far the most numerous to be 

 found in a colony of bees. They are also 

 the smallest in size and the shortest in 

 depth and so are easily recognized. 



The drone cells, like the worker cqHs, 

 are hexagonal in shape but about one- 

 third larger and a trifie deeper. They are 

 easily distiniiuished from the worker cells 

 when uncapped. AVheu they contain larvae 

 and are capped, it is not so easy for the 

 expert sometimes to tell if certain of the 

 cells contain drone or worker larva es- 

 pecially if the drones, as is occasionilly 

 the case, are reared in worker cells. The 

 latter are capped nearly flat, so that a 

 comb of sealed brood presents a surface 

 as even ami fiat as a comb of sealed hon- 

 ey. The color of the capping of worker 

 brood in old combs is a dark brown ; in 

 new combs a light straw color, becoming 

 a shade darker before the brood hatches. 

 Drone cells containing brood are raised 

 up and furnished with a globular capping 

 presenting quite an uneven surface. A 



