138 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



where the heat and odoi* from the 

 hive reached. 



The sections being all on and 

 the bees well at work in them, the 

 next thing we may expect will be 

 swarming. It will be rememl)ered 

 that for 3'ears I have called foun- 

 dation in the brood-chamber an 

 "expensive luxury," for I could 

 get comb built below while the bees 

 were at work in the sections, at 

 apparently no cost whatever. For 

 thus opposing foundation in the 

 brood-chamber I have been ridi- 

 culed and called a fanatic for years, 

 but novv I am glad to see that 

 Brother Hutchinson and others are 

 adopting my plans so they will 

 help bear some of the criticisms 

 I have borne all alone for years. 



Before a queen-excluding honey 

 board was used, I hived my swarm 

 in a hive containing ten frames 

 with a division-board in the cen- 

 tre, under which the bees could 

 run, so that in whichever side the 

 queen chanced to go there the bees 

 commenced work. In twenty-four 

 hours after the brood-nest became 

 established I put on the sections 

 from the old hive, which were im- 

 mediately taken possession of; 

 then securing the five frames filled 

 entirely with worker comb, for if 

 any drone comb was built it was 

 built in the sections, but since I use 

 foundation in the sections I get lit- 

 tle drone comb built anywhere. 

 When the queen-excluding hone}'- 

 board was thought of I adopted 

 the following : while the swarm 

 was in the air a frame of brood 

 and the few adhering bees were 

 taken from the hive and put in an 

 emi)ty hive and five empty frames 

 having starters in them (of foun- 

 dation) were put in where they 

 came from, the rest of the hive be- 

 ing filled out with dummies. The 

 queen-excluding honey board is 

 now put on, the sections re[)laced 

 and the swarm returned. In these 

 two ways I have worked for more 



than ten years, securing two ob- 

 jects, lots of comb honey, and all 

 worker comb built without the use 

 of foundation. If the beekeeper 

 wishes to keep these swarms for 

 winter he will spread the combs 

 apart after twenty-four days and 

 insert fouv empty combs, as I gave 

 directions in the Api for 1886. If 

 not he will use them up, getting 

 honey according to the plan ad- 

 vised by friend Demaree of Ken- 

 tucky. 



As soon as the old colony gets 

 a laying queen two or more wide 

 frames of sections are jDlaced on 

 these according to their strength, 

 so that all are kept adding their 

 mite to the aggregate season's 

 crop. I might go on and multiply 

 words regarding this great subject 

 of getting comb hone}', but as this 

 article is already too long, I will 

 stop here, trusting that I have 

 made all sufficiently plain to ena- 

 ble the reader to secure a good 

 yield of section honey. 



In closing, let me emphasize that 

 of all other things the getting of 

 the bees in time for the harvest is 

 the most essential point, and the 

 next is keeping of all hands to 

 work by adapting the size of the 

 brood-chamber and amount of sur- 

 plus room to the size of the col- 

 ony. Failing in these two you 

 fail of a crop. Succeeding in these 

 you are sure of a good harvest if 

 the flowers secrete honey. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



For the American Apicultiirist. 



METHOD NUMBER TWO. 



Dk. G. L. Tinker. 

 HOW^ TO GET STRONG COLONIES. 



The success of the apiarist in 

 producing comb honey depends 

 much upon getting strong colonies 

 in time for the harvest. Where 

 the harvest is from the clovers 



