103 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June 



to use zinc exclusively that the queens 

 can pass through, for the excluding bot- 

 tom-board as well as drone-trap, and 

 then the swarms can be hived in the ordi- 

 nary way without allowing a drone to 

 escape. Besides, queens can mate from 

 such hives as though no zinc was being 

 used. 

 Creek, N. C. 



[And still Mr. Pridgen is trying to 

 " combine " a drone trap and a hive ven- 

 tilator. Why not pursue the same Amer- 

 ican craze, Mr. Pridgen, just a little far- 

 ther and combine a self-hiver with your 

 combined ventilator, queen and drone 

 trap ? As we have Siid before, our de- 

 vice is devised to meet but one purpose. 

 It is not always desirable that a hive 

 should be so thoroughly ventilated at a 

 time when the drone-catcher is in use. 

 If it should be desired, the hive may be 

 ventilated in the way suggested by Mr. 

 Pridgen, if that method is one which 

 pleases him. It appears to us, laowever, 

 to be going a very long way around in 

 order to use in combination a point 

 that is always so readily accessible. And 

 suppose our hives have not removable 

 bottoms. Then, there are thousands 

 upon thousands of persons having a few 

 colonies, who may desire to use a queen 

 trap or a drone-catcher, and who h tve 

 never had a perforated excluder in the 

 yard. To be brief and strictly honest, 

 Mr. Pridgen. we would suggest that, no 

 less than ourselves, "one thing tliou 

 lackest" — in the construction of your 

 improved drone-catcher, and that is a 

 hive to go with each catcher which will 

 conform to the working- requirements of 

 this new product of your genius. Com- 

 binations are yet at a great discount in 

 this field. Ventilation is hardly restricti^d 

 at all by the use of our drone catcher. 

 If it were, why not slide the honey- 

 board directly endwise, leaving a free 

 passage of air diagonally through the 

 interior of the hive. That provides per- 

 fect ventilation without extra cost and 

 at ten per cent, of the trouble advocated 

 by Mr. Pridgen. When we invent a 

 hive-ventilating device there will be no 

 drone catcher about it. It will be de- 

 vised for ventilating hives. — Er>.] 



PREVENTION OF INCREASE. 



BV J. H. .TOHXSOX. 



FOR the benefit of those who would 

 try my plan, I will say that it is 

 sure and procures honey, if any is 

 to be had. We need perhaps half as 

 many temporary hives as we have perma- 

 nent ones. These need not exceed, exclu- 

 sive of labor, twenty-five cents each in 

 cost. These little hives have two sets 

 of rabbets or supports to accommodate 

 section boxes. The one set is at the 

 same height from tlie bottom-board as 

 it is in the regular hive; the other sefe 

 is half way down beween this and the 

 bottom. The opening side or door is 

 simply a movable division-board with 

 a top-bar tacked on the top. A slate or 

 board will answer for a cover. The 

 brood-frame I use is 133^ inches long; 

 my section is \% long, so that a tier of 

 three sections equals the length of a 

 brood-frame. My section is ^% high: 

 the brood-frame 103^, so that two tiers 

 of three sections each equal a brood- 

 frame. In the winter when I have 

 leisure I get basswood lumber, scant 

 three-sixteenths thick, of the same width 

 as my sections: saw it into pieces of the 

 same lengths with my brood-frame top 

 bars. Xow, with half-inch wire nails 

 tack three sections lengthwise under 

 neath each piece, thus: 



1 



"Many fall into the error of judging en- 

 tirely by results, reeardless of causes." 



"Tis but a part we see and not the whole. 

 —Pope. 



We will call it a triplet of sections. 

 Two equal a brood-frame. Those pro- 

 jecting arms rest on the rabbets spoken 

 of above. When shifted on top of regu- 

 lar hives, later on, they rest on the 

 upper (dge of the sui-plus cases. 



When a swarm has issued, prepare to 

 hive thus : In the center of a tempo- 

 rary hive hang two combs; they may 

 contain honey and brood, some of which 

 should be unsealed larva?. The object 

 of these combs is to help hold the bees, 

 furnish laying room for the queen and to 

 hold the pollen that the bees may gather. 

 On both sides of these brood-combs hantr 



