Fur the American Bee Journal. 



My Plan for Dividing Bees. 



L. II. PAMMEL. 



Why is so little written about divid- 

 ing bees ? Is it not beneficial for the 

 bee-keeper to divide his bees in order to 

 save time, secure uniform colonies, and 

 increase to his liking? I have prac- 

 ticed dividing bees for the last 3 years, 

 and I have reaped large harvests of 

 honey and a great increase of colonies. 

 In the spring of 1877 I had 4 colonies 

 of Italians, and in the fall had 16, good 

 ones, with some surplus honey. I must 

 certainly give credit to the good season 

 we had that year for honey. 



I have used several methods in divid- 

 ing bees. I will give a short descrip- 

 tion of my best method : In order to di- 

 vide, the day should be a warm one, af- 

 ter the white clover harvest has com- 

 menced ; then about noon, when the 

 bees are mostly flying, take a hive of 

 the same color as the one you wish to 

 divide, which must be removed to some 

 other part of the apiary, and the new 

 <»ne put in its place. Take 6 frames 

 of brood and honey from the old 

 colony and place it in the new hive, 

 giving the former 6 empty frames or 

 frames filled with comb foundation. 

 The latter will keep the young 

 bees and queen at work.) Fill the re- 

 mainder of the new hive up with empty 

 iomb, and when the bees of the oldcol- 

 )ny return home laden with pollen and 

 loney, they will find a place to store it. 

 If you have no young queen to give 

 hem, place queen cells in the new hive 

 md the bees in the new colony will be- 

 iome active and diligent workers. 



I divided a colony last year, and as 1 

 md not a^oung queen in my apiary I 

 vas obliged to use queen cells, and the 

 esult was that it was the best colony 

 p the apiary in the fall. I believe it to be 

 'etter to use a young mated queen, if it 

 an be had, but if you put in queen cells 

 ou will have better colonies than by 

 atural swarming. 



Dividing bees, which was given to 

 s by Dr. Dzierzon, constitutes a part 

 f the science of bee-keeping. Turn 

 ie pages of history, and see how little 

 u ancestors knew about bee-keeping, 

 ven Virgil, one of the best scholars of 

 icient times, knew but very little of 

 ie science of bee-keeping ; but still it 

 interesting for us to know how gentle 

 id humane he was to his bees, and how 

 irefully he hived the swarms. Had 



Virgil the chances that most bee-keep- 

 ers now have, he would certainly not 

 have clung to his old "hobby." Yet 

 some bee-keepers to-day, with all their 

 advantages spread before them, are still 

 using box hives, and know as little 

 about the interior of a bee-hive, when 

 the colony is at work, as most of our 

 ancestors knew. They often complain 

 of swarms flying away ; let them get 

 movable frame hives, and then they can 

 divide their colonies, and will not be 

 bothered about swarms absconding. 



Each day throws new light on the 

 subject, though many think we are now 

 fully acquainted with the art. We must 

 be progressive bee-keepers, and always 

 be ready to accept advice from the more 

 experienced and scientific apiarists. 



La Crosse, June 10, 1880. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Block for Nailing Sections. 



F. H. SEARES. 



The accompanying engraving repre- 

 sents my machine for nailing surplus 

 section boxes. The outside dimensions 

 of the engraving represent the back- 

 board, which is 6x9 in. 



Block C is put on the center of the 

 backboard, and is 2x3x2% in.; the 

 dotted lines represent the springs, 

 which I make of a heavy clock spring, 

 and fasten to the block C with 6 screws. 



B B represent end blocks, which are 

 2x2x6 in.; as the trueness of sections 

 when nailed depends upon these, great 



care should be taken to have them per- 

 fectly square, and just the right dis- 

 tance apart. 



A A represent the sides of blocks, B 

 B, which the springs press against. I 

 put the narrow pieces, or ends of sec- 

 tion behind springs, which hold them 

 firmly against A A. I then put on the 

 wide pieces, or sides, letting it project 

 in the grooves E E which are cut in the 

 backboard, just the right depth to ad- 



