566 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Spreading^ the Brood Unneces- 

 sary and Cruel. 



WrttUn for the American Bee Journal 

 BY L. G. BEED. 



I am, and have been for many years, 

 a reader of the American Bee Journal, 

 and I have read so much about spread- 

 inpc the brood, that I feel constrained to 

 have my say upon the subject. Not- 

 withstanding I break new ground on the 

 long-established views and practices of 

 probably all of the most advanced bee- 

 keepers, yet when a fellow thinks he is 

 right, he has a good right to think he is 

 right as any one else, and it is pretty 

 hard for any one to engage in any pur- 

 suit for 20 years without advancing 

 and practicing theories of his own, and 

 this is what I have done in reference to 

 the spreading of brood, to my perfect 

 satisfaction. 



I have demonstrated by actual test 

 and experience that it is not only cruel, 

 but absolutely unnecessary to spread 

 brood at all, either in early spring, or 

 any other time ; and I have often been 

 surprised that such men as Mr. Doolittle, 

 living in this Northern changeable 

 climate as he does, would practice such 

 a manipulation. 



Now, in order to give my plan in full, 

 I shall have to commence by giving my 

 spring management, which is as follows: 



The first warm days in March or early 

 spring, when the bees fly, I light the 

 smoker, take an empty hive, and a car- 

 penter's scraper, which is made of a 

 piece of saw plate or blade, I go to hive 

 No. 1, blow a few whiflfs of smoke in at 

 the entrance, then proceed to open them 

 up. I take out four or five frames, or 

 enough to give me room to work, and 

 set them in a hive provided for the pur- 

 pose. I then with the scraper clean 

 that portion of the hive, then place the 

 remaining frames to that side of the 

 hive, and finish cleaning the hive, giving 

 it a thorough scraping out. 



I then select such of the frames as 

 have brood and eggs in, and place them 

 to one side of the hive — the sealed brood 

 In the center, the eggs outside. I then 

 give them a couple of frames of honey, 

 placing one on each side of the brood- 

 nest, if they have bees enough to cover 

 this many frames, if not, I give them a 

 less number, or just what they can 

 nearly cover. I then place a division- 

 board at their side, leaving a bee-space 

 at the bottom, so that the bees can go 

 under to get any stores that may be in 

 the remaining frames, which I place on 



that side of the division-board, scratch- 

 ing with a common table-fork any 

 places containing sealed honey — if there 

 is not too much, if there is, I only 

 scratch a part of it. 



I now close them up, leaving off the 

 burlap, and putting on the oil-cloth 

 covers and cushions, and tuck them 

 down snugly to keep them as warm as 

 possible. 



I go over the entire apiary and treat 

 all as I have this one, unless there 

 should happen to be a strong, vigorous 

 colony ; these I clean and leave all the 

 frames in, placing the brood in the 

 center. 



Now as the season advances and they 

 require more frames, on account of hav- 

 ing those already in full of brood, I open 

 them up and examine ; if they need 

 room, I add a frame each side of the 

 brood-nest ; if the center frames are 

 nearly empty of brood and eggs, I place 

 them on the outside of the brood-nest ; 

 also, always keeping the sealed brood in 

 the center as much as possible, and the 

 open brood next to the stores. This 

 plan prevents the possibility of chilled 

 brood, and saves the energy of the bees, 

 which is quite an item previous to and 

 during a honey-flow. 



Now I want some of our progressive 

 bee-keepers to try this plan, along side 

 of their brood-spreading plan, and if 

 they do not get better results with the 

 same or less labor, then I will go and 

 crawl into a hole, and take the hole in 

 after me. 



My plan is no new thing to the bees — 

 they have known of it, and practiced it, 

 when let alone, as long as there have 

 been bees, and I sometimes think they 

 know just a little more about their own 

 business, and attend to it better, than 

 some people ; man's cruelty to, and sup- 

 posed superiority over, the lower ani- 

 mals, to the contrary notwithstanding. 



Kent, Ohio. 



Against Sealed Covers —The 

 House-Apiary, Etc. 



WriUe7i for the American Bee Journal 



BY B. TAYLOR. 



The weather is quite cold here to-day 

 (April 14th). , The bees are yet in the 

 cellar. They have wintered in first- 

 class condition. I left some 20 colonies 

 with sealed covers again this winter ; 

 they have bean more, and are now more, 

 restless than those covered with porous 

 covers. The hives are damp, and un- 



