THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



use nowadays. Two or three seasons I 

 dispensed with aUghting-boards, using the 

 screen as a bottom-board, or removing it 

 entirely and allowing the bees free access 

 to come and go from the whole bottom of 

 the hives. 



Half way up on the front of the hives I 

 had two i>^-inch auger holes bored, with 

 a 1 5/^ -inch space between them. At the 

 center of this space was screwed a button 

 1 5/8 inches wide and 434 inches long; Vjy 

 turning it, the size of the entrances was 

 enlarged the full width, or closed to only 

 a single bee-space. These I found to be 

 fine entrances, and the bees preferred 

 them to the bottom entrance. I had 200 

 colonies arranged thus, and I liked the 

 arrangement very nmch indeed. My 

 hives at that time were all the 8-frame 

 size, but now I would prefer for a general 

 purpt^se hive the lo-frame size. In lioney- 

 flowsV I used the 8-f ranie size tiered three 

 high. The big colonies gave good results, 

 and I then made and put into use 50 16- 

 frame hives, with the upper story in two 

 parts of 8 frames each. In fact, I used 8- 

 franie bodies for the upper stories. These 

 hives I gave the name of "Jumbo." 

 They have proved "Jumbo" in more 

 than one way. With two queens in the 

 lower story and 16 extracting combs 

 above, one gets "a right smart bit " (as 

 our Florida Crackers express it ) of hon- 

 ey from one single colony. For extract- 

 ed honey these "Jumbo" hives have 

 many advantages, but are rather cumber- 

 .some for the " migrator. " 



I'or comb honey a hive that is shallow 

 and square rather than oblong, and ca- 

 pable of expan.sion and contraction, is the 

 hive of all hives. Then use the Capt. 

 Hetherington tall section, and large yields 

 of comb honey can be produced. 



But comb honey cannot be produced to 

 advantage by a man following migrator\- 

 bee-keeping, his business lies .solely in 

 extracted honey. The lo-frame two-story 

 Langstroth hive is the hive he will find 

 the most advantageous. Outside of his 

 hives and screens, his only tools needed 

 are two or three tents, a good extractor, a 

 couple of honey -knives, and two or three 

 good smokers. Let the thousand and 

 one odd traps " stop home. " His handi- 

 est honey-package is a barrel. One of 

 these with a screen half way up in.side, 

 and a i x i inch bar of wood across the 

 top will make his uncapping-can. A 

 small .solar wax-extractor nii^ht be car- 

 ried, but what is more practical in the 

 line of his business is a square, double- 

 tank galvanized-iron boiler. I have one 

 14 inches wide, 20 inches deep, and 30 

 inches long inside the tank; a little small- 



er at the bottom than at the top. There 

 is a one-inch space between the two at 

 the bottom. They cost about #5.00; one 

 is worth a dozen solar extractors where 

 there is any amount of wax to be render- 

 ed. Have two or three pails of water in 

 the outside tank, and the same in the in- 

 .side one. Then put in the comb and keep 

 adding more. When thoroughly melted, 

 let stand till cool, then turn out'^the cake 

 of wax, scrap off the residues on the bot- 

 tom, and it is ready for market. 



Mr. Nebel, of High Hill, Missouri, once 

 wrote an article for the Review on this 

 subject of preparing bees for shipment; 

 and, among other things, he placed con- 

 siderable stress upon the importance of 

 ridding a colony of those old bees that 

 will die anyway if the colony is to be con- 

 fined several days on a journey. These 

 bees will not bear confinement so well as 

 jvill the young bees. They become impa- 

 tient and uneasy, and stir up a flurry, and 

 worry themselves to death, and in so do- 

 ing excite and annoy the other bees. 

 His advice was that a colony that was to 

 be .shipped a long distance should be set 

 to one side, given a new stand, for a few- 

 hours before shipment, and thus rid it of 

 these old workers whose days are nearly 

 ended, and who cause trouble when con- 

 fined. .\ nucleus may be set on the old 

 stand to catch these old bees, and thus 

 all of the good be gotten out of them that 

 is possible. Perhaps the man who is 

 buying bees might object to such proceed- 

 ings; but I can tell him that, unless the 

 bees are to be confined only two or three 

 days, that it will be to his advantage to 

 have this very thing done. 



While this matter of moving bees is be- 

 ing considered, I might mention that Mr. 

 E. A. Wander, of Connecticut, told me, 

 last fall, at the Buffalo convention, that 

 bees might be moved short di.stances 

 without even so much as stopping up the 

 entrances. Give them a little smoking, 

 and after they are really subdued, put 

 them in the wagon and drive off with 

 them. Naturally, one would think that 

 many of them would leave the hive and 

 go awav, but he says not — that only a 

 very few bees will leave the hive. 



