226 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



December 



A permanent feeder is attached to all 

 honey boards, and is shown at the left, 

 having the lid turned aside to admit of 

 filling with honey. At the right, on 

 the opposite side, is the record slate, 

 which is supported by a groove in the 

 cleat at one end and a grooved block at 

 the other. This slate is readily remov- 

 able from the side, and when record has 

 been made is simply slipped into the 

 grooves. Neither the slate, feeder nor 

 cell-box protrude above the level of the 

 cleats, so that the lid rests squarely 

 upon them, which gives the additional 

 advantage of perfect ventilation over 

 the honey board, rendering shade- 

 boards unnecessary. 



As noted heretofore, and repeated by 

 Mr. Pridgen in this number, there is 

 the slight difficulty, in manipulating 

 bees thus confined, of their disposition 

 to "boil over" when the the hive is 

 opened, as has been necessary to do 

 formerly, in giving the'cup,&. To insert 

 a frame with the cups necessitates the 

 opening of the hive, and some loss of 

 bees is bound to result. The simple 

 loss of a few dozen, or hundred bees, 

 would not in itself be so objectionable; 

 but, if queen-rearing is being carried on 

 at a time when honey is not coming 

 from the field, it is eminently desirable 

 that all undue commotion and excite- 

 ment should be avoided; and the efforts 

 of the bees, which have escaped, to 

 re-enter the hive, attract robbers; 

 while the unguarded entrance, with 

 plenty of honey inside,- adds to their 

 determination to get in. We therefore 

 was led to muse: "If only these cups 

 might be given without opening the 

 hive, how delightfully satisfactory the 

 whole affair would be." To give the 

 frame with the cups, as stated, without 

 opening the hive seemed impossible, but 

 why not give the cups without the 

 frame; above ? This could be ac- 

 complished easily without opening the 

 hive — but would the bees as readily 

 accept the cups in this way — that 

 was the the question. Repeated trials 



have demonstrated the fact that they 

 will; and the plan has been quite ex- 

 tensively used this season in our yards, 

 with gratifying results. 



Cut through a half-inch honey- 

 board, an opening 3x11 inches. Around 

 this, on the upper side, nail a rim of 

 three-eighths stuff. Along each side of 

 the opening, on the under side, nail 

 strips of tin, as a support for a tin slide 

 by which the opening is closed below, 

 and which may be withdrawn from the 

 end. This slide should extend beyond 

 the end of the honey board, so as to ad- 

 mit of its being withdrawn while the 

 board is secured in position. Have a 

 cleated lid for the top, made of a piece 

 of three-eighths material. To this the 

 cups are attached, and when they have 

 been grafted place the lid in position 

 over the tin slide and withdraw the tin. 

 The second picture will show the result 

 of our first trial of this plan. Twenty- 

 three perfect cells out of a possible 

 twenty-six; and some of these were 

 grafted by a student, taking his first 

 lesson in grafting. Better results have 

 since been obtained, but this being the 

 first, was the only one that has been 

 photographed. In the picture, the lid 

 is simply raised sidewise, in order to 

 give a glimpse of the cells. See next page. 



The arrangement of the hive other- 

 wise is about as described by Mr. 

 Pridgen, excepting that we omit one 

 frame in the center of the hive, to per- 

 mit the bees to cluster solidly about the 

 cells, and to prcnent the possibility of 

 the tips of cells being attached to the 

 top-bars of frames below. 



This plan of giving the cups is per- 

 fectly adapted to the use of the wooden 

 blocks, as they are easily locked in a 

 form on the inside of the lid. 



In connection with this plan of cell 

 building it may be said that, where a 

 sufficient number of bees are employed, 

 and too many cups are not given, it ad- 

 mits of a very simple and satisfactory 

 method of forming nuclei. If a strong 

 colony is made up for this purpose, very 



