THE A3IERICAN APICULTURIST. 



281 



practised for two seasons with no 

 loss of queen from imperfect sep- 

 aration. 



In using wide frames of sections 

 these same division-boards are 

 used to limit the size of surphis 

 room according to the number of 

 frames given. 



As no frames fit tightly, both 

 brood and wide frames are re- 

 moved and replaced as readily as 

 from the ordinary Langstroth 

 brood-chamber without shaking out 

 or removing the bees. To say that 

 I am pleased with my arrangement 

 and this system would be saying 

 little. I have to thank Mr. G. W. 

 Demaree, James Heddon, Doctor 

 Tinker and Oliver Foster for 

 points which enable me to follow 

 out this plan successfully. 



Mr. Heddon's book showed me 

 advantages and the possibilities of 

 this system that I had not thought 

 of, and I believe that in the future 

 in large apiaries, when little manii)- 

 ulation is to be given, this will be 

 the system followed. 



With these shallow hives of 

 hanging frame I claim I can follow 

 the Heddon system and get all the 

 practical and desirable features 

 and do it better and easier than 

 with the new Heddon hive, and 

 that without having anything in 

 the apiary that will not work on 

 my regular depth L.-hives. I have 

 several Heddon hives in the apiary 

 and am studying their merits and 

 defects. 



The " shake out" feature I find 

 is no easy thing to follow with a 

 full case of honey ; with only 

 brood and empty combs it is less 

 trouble. 1 imagine the ''■ smoke 

 out" feature will stand the test 

 better, but with each plan or both 

 combined, some bees are left on 

 combs and must be allowed to 

 leave at their leisure in the screen 

 house. 



When a case is to be cleared 

 quickly and surely, I believe the 



"brush off" plan will be the "short- 

 est way across," 



Thumb-screws I like and do not 

 like. They are in the way and are 

 exposed to the weather, but are 

 convenient to crowd up both wide 

 and brood frames. I am undecid- 

 ed whether to order next season's 

 hives with or without them; I 

 think it will be without. 



FINDING THE QUEEN. 



To find the queen in my hives 

 we can set one case on another 

 bottom-board, and then it is just 

 the same as looking through two 

 ordinary hives, except the frames 

 are light and easy to lift. This 

 will do in early s[)ring, but when 

 colonies are populous would be 

 tiresome. To shake them on the 

 ground and watch for the queen as 

 they run in, I find unsatisfactory ; 

 and have followed a plan this sea- 

 son which is original, and although 

 I tliink others must have thought 

 of it and followed it I have not yet 

 seen it described in the bee jour- 

 nals. To do it I sift the bees ; the 

 drones and queens are left. The 

 queen excluding honey-board is 

 the sifter. 



I free one brood-case of every 

 bee, place it on a bottom-board, 

 on it the zinc honey-board, above 

 this an empty hive and then the 

 brood-case of bees. Tliey are 

 then smoked and driven down into 

 the empt_y hive and through the 

 zinc into the lower brood-case. 



In most cases the frames in the 

 top story are taken out and shak- 

 en, but it is often unnecessary. 

 The queen is found trying to find 

 her way through the honey-board. 

 I have not failed to find her in a 

 short time except on my last trial 

 a few da3'S since. Whether the 

 queen was small from lack of eggs 

 and was able to go through or 

 was not clipped and took wing, or 

 the zinc was imperfect, I cannot 

 say. 



