THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



47 



To save the bees the trouble and time 

 of pushing up through a crowded brood- 

 nest to the supers, I have a close-fitting 

 division board at each side of the hive. 

 It stands out ^ of an inch from the side 

 of the hive and extends up to % inch of 

 the top of the hive. Of course there is a 

 space between it and the bottom board 

 large enough to allow the bees to pass in 

 behind it. The great mass of field-bees 

 use these pasage-ways in going at once to 

 the supers. It is something on the plan 

 of raising the hive up in front and thus 

 throwing the bees to the sides, a la Pettit. 

 When a colony swarms I hive it on the 

 old stand in two supers containing sec- 

 tions filled with foundation. The queen 

 is caught and caged in a section contain- 

 ing a partly finished comb. The section 

 is made into a cage by tacking wire cloth 

 on both sides. The section containing 

 the queen is placed in the upper super. 

 ( )n top of these supers is placed the old 

 liive and its contents. If the bees were 

 working in a super when they swarmed, 

 the super is left on top of the old hive. 



In five or six days, I shake the bees 

 from the brood combs, and cut out all of 

 the queen-cells, unless I wish to super- 

 sede the old queen, when I leave one cell 

 and destroy the old queen. The hive is 

 then placed on the bottom. board, all the 

 supers put on top, and the old queen re- 

 leased at the entrance, accompanied b\- 

 two or three puffs of smoke. The bees 

 must now be given plenty of room, by 

 tiering up. 



B}' this method all of the vim of a new- 

 ly hived swarm is employed in putting- 

 honey into the sections. 



Rkinkrsvii^le, Ohio, Jan. iS, 1S9S. 



T/ie next frontispiece ivill be a scene 

 in a siioar - maple forest of Michigan, 

 from a photograph taken by the editor; 

 and he -cc'ill -write a little about the value 

 of the maple as a honey producer in 

 early spring^erhaps give a ferv remin- 

 iscences of his boyhood among these 

 grandest of forest - trees. 



NOTES FROM FOKEIG.N BEE JOURNALS. 



F. L. THOMPSON. 



As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good 

 news from a far conutry,— S/eif. 



P HEINISCHE BiENENZEiTUNG.— Herr 

 i^ Gudden prevents waste of candied 

 honey in the brood-chamber by putting 

 candied combs in warm water for a day, 

 thus liquefying the honey in the comb. 



New combs, says Herr Kiel, may be ex- 

 tracted from without danger of breaking, 

 if drawn gradually apart while being built, 

 so that the bees make the cells long and 

 the comb thick. 



Heath honey is too thick to extract by 

 ordinary methods, but Herr Gruen writes 

 that for a number of years a neighbor of 

 his has been extracting it without diffi- 

 culty by first inserting into the cells, 

 after uncapping, a sort of comb, each 

 tooth of which penetrates to the bottom 

 of a cell. 



Objects set up in the yard for swarms 

 to alight on, says Herr Flohe, should be 

 placed in position in early spring, to get 

 the bees accustomed to them. In his ex- 

 perience, the advantage in doing so was 

 quite perceptible. 



Herr Kiel thinks queens should not be 

 held respon.sible for all the differences in 

 the yield of colonies otherwise alike. The 

 best colony, witli too much unsealed 

 brood on a cold or stormy day, mav lose 

 a number of bees in gathering pollen or 

 water, and thus be disabled from furnish- 

 ing as much surplus as in other circum- 

 stances. A swarm coming off six davs 

 before the opening of the main flow will 

 have brood to feed when the flow comes, 

 and will yield less than a swarm no bet- 

 ter, but coming at the beginning of the 

 flow. 



vSix judges instead of three ought to be 

 appointed for a large number of exhibits, 

 says Herr Cremer. If possible they .should 

 finish their work before the opening of 

 the show or exposition, or as soon as pos- 

 .sible after beginning, in order that novi- 



