THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



57 



nation for working in sections be- 

 came less and less, so that the resnlt 

 was a crowding of the brood-cham- 

 ber with hone}', which gave few 

 bees for winter and very little hone_y 

 in a maricetable shape. Beside 

 this, mnch of the comb bnilt to 

 store this extra honey in was of 

 the di'Oiie size, which was the worst 

 of all, for the next 3'ear it would be 

 filled with drone-brood which cost 

 much of my crop of hone}-. In 

 1872, 1 brought the size of m}' hive 

 down by means of division-boaids 

 from 2,000 cubic inches to 1,500 

 and in advocating this size as best 

 was opposed by nearly all of the 

 the bee fraternity. Before the next 

 season had passed 1 saw that even 

 this 1,500 cubic inches v^^as too 

 large for new swarms if I would 

 get the most profit from them ; for 

 in spite of all I could do, the}^ 

 Avould build comb in advance of 

 the queen on either side of the 

 brood, storing it with honey and 

 afterwards with drone-brood. Be- 

 ing determined to have things as I 

 wanted them, the next year (1873) 

 when hiving swarms, I inserted a 

 division-board in the centre of the 

 hive putting five empty frames, ex- 

 cept starters, on either side of it. 

 The swarm was novv hived in this 

 hive and left for forty-eight lujurs, 

 dui'ing which time the bees had es- 

 tablished a brood-nest on one side 

 or other of the division-board. I 

 now took all the frames out of the 

 other side and took the sections off 

 the old colony and put them over the 

 swarm. This caused the bees to 

 build all their store comb in the 

 sections and fill it with honey, while 

 in the brood- nest nearly eveiy 

 square inch built was worker, and 

 filled with brood. In this wa}' I 

 got all the early choice honey in 

 the sections, togetiier witli all the 

 drone comb. As a rule it would 

 take about ten days for the bees 

 to fill the five empty frames with 

 comb, at which time they would be- 



gin to cluster over behind the di- 

 vision-boards thus telling me when 

 the}' needed attention. I now re- 

 moved the division-board, shoved 

 the frames of biood outward and 

 put three or four frames full of all 

 worker comb in the centre, which 

 comb the queen would fill with 

 brood before any of that in the 

 newly built comb would hatch. In 

 this wa}' I got a hive full of worker 

 comb and the honey in the sections 

 just as I wanted it. About this 

 time comb foundation made its ap- 

 pearance, and, after repeated trials 

 with it, I was finally convinced 

 that the use of it was the same as 

 a dead loss to me, for by the above 

 plan I got more honey in the sec- 

 tions when the bees built five frames 

 full of comb than I did if said 

 frames were filled with foundation. 

 I now threw my weight against 

 foundation, calling it an ''expensive 

 luxui-y" when used in the brood- 

 chamber, which brought down a 

 shower of anathemas upon my head 

 by those vvho vended the same. 

 Next, I began using a queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-boai'd in which case 

 the sections were at once trans- 

 ferred from the old colony to the 

 new swarm. Upon hiving the same, 

 as in this case, it was not necessary 

 to wait forty-eight hours for the bees 

 to establish a brood-nest, for the 

 queen was now compelled to store 

 below as she could not go up into 

 the sections. About this time Bro. 

 Hutchinson began championing the 

 use of empty frames in the brood- 

 chamber instead of frame filled with 

 foundation, cutting the brood-cham- 

 ber down to one-half size for new 

 swarms, etc., etc., all of which is 

 known as the Hutchinson plan. 



Having explained in the above 

 how I came to use the above plan, 

 and why, I will now tell INIr. T. 

 just how I work. First, I clii) the 

 wings of all my old queens, but 

 this is not positively necessary. 

 Next, we want a light box the same 



