338 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



except that the frames in the very shal- 

 low hives are what they call " Hoffman 

 frames" now. But as I first made these 

 frames 30 years ago, I think I maybe 

 excused for claiming that I did not copy 

 from the Hofifman frame. 



If the Handy hive had been pushed 'as 

 Root's Simplicity has, the land would to- 

 day be filled with them, and no one 

 would regret having adopted it, as they 

 have maintained the confidence of all 

 who have tried them, through the third 

 of a century's practical trial in compari- 

 son with all the hives in use. 



DlYiling Colonies for Increase. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY J. VF. SOUTHWOOD. 



Query 908 asks which is better in 

 dividing, '* to leave the old queen in the 

 old hive, or remove her into the new," 

 and the time to divide. 



The answers appear not to harmonize. 

 Some say leave the old queen in the old 

 hive ; others say move her into the new. 

 Some say when the hive is full of bees 

 and brood, others say about natural 

 ■swarming time; and still others say, let 

 them divide themselves. 



Answers to the above queries are 

 greatly modified by existing conditions, 

 which, no doubt, accounts in some de- 

 gree for the difference of the answers 

 given. While I am an advocate of nat- 

 ural swarming in general, I am also a 

 believer, under certain conditions, in 

 dividing. One condition, which occurred 

 in my apiary last season, led me to 

 divide. A large swarm issued, led by a 

 queen whose wing was clipped ; they did 

 not settle, and was returning to the hive 

 before noticed. I caged the queen, and 

 removed the old hive to a new location, 

 placed the new hive on the old location, 

 took a frame from the old hive, exam- 

 ined it to see that it contained no queen- 

 cells, placed it in the new hive, filled up 

 with frames of foundation, released the 

 queen in the new hive, shook a few bees 

 from the frames of the old hive which 

 mostly returned to the new hive, and the 

 field-bees returned to the old location 

 and entered the new hive, making that 

 colony the stronger of the two, and con- 

 taining the most of the workers, and 

 gave good results. In a day or two I 

 returned the frame of brood to the old 

 hive. 



The hive was so full of bees before 

 they swarmed, that I gave them a case 

 of sections, more for the purpose of 



giving more room than anything else, as 

 it was early, and I desired to keep back 

 the swarm so as to increase its size. 



Under such and similar conditions I 

 would divide. And when, as in this 

 case, the conditions are favorable, the 

 queen easily found near the entrance of 

 the hive, I would place her in the new 

 hive, as my preference, as there is where 

 the natural swarm puts her. But under 

 different conditions I would leave her in 

 the old hive. 



To illustrate, I will give a case in 

 which I divided a colony last season for 

 a neighbor. They did not seem as 

 though they would swarm until late. I 

 went once, at their request, but did not 

 find enough bees, so I told them unless 

 they bred up to a hive full in a few days, 

 T thought best not to divide ; but on re- 

 turning in a few days, I found condi- 

 tions favorable, so I proceeded to divide. 

 They were black bees, and would hang 

 in great bunches, so I only looked a few 

 moments for the queen, intending to 

 place her in the new hive, but failing to 

 find her, I looked over the combs, found 

 those containing the best looking queen- 

 cells, and also that they did not contain 

 the old queen. I placed all but three in 

 the new hive, and placed it on the old 

 location, removed the queen-cells from 

 the remaining combs, returned them to 

 the old hive, and gave them a new loca- 

 tion. The result was good. 



I think now I would, in a case like the 

 last, give all, or all but one frame to the 

 new hive, and give it the new location, 

 and leave the old queen and old hive on 

 the old location, as they would then get 

 the field-bees, which I think would give 

 better results. 



I have only given two conditions in 

 which I would divide, and one where I 

 would place the queen in the new hive, 

 and one where I would leave her in the 

 old hive. These are only a few, but 

 other conditions may exist in which I 

 would divide. Study well the nature of 

 bees, and then act according as condi- 

 tions modify. 



Monument City, Ind. 



Wliere Honey Conies From. 



Delivered at the (Jntarlo, Canada, Convention. 

 BY R. M'KNIGHT. 



I may say it is rather a trying ordeal 

 for a man to face an audience and at- 

 tempt to interest or instruct it in these 

 days when "the school-master is abroad" 

 in such numbers. A few days before I 



