1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



549 



a wood strip large enough for the purpose 

 against the entrance upon the inside of the 

 hive, to keep the bees out until they have be- 

 come accustomed to the hiver, which will be 

 after the tirst day. As soon as they have be- 

 come accustomed to the hiver. remove the strip 

 and put in frames of empty comb or foundation, 

 and the hive is ready for swarms. A small 

 alighting-board should be placed from the en- 

 trance to the ground, for the bees to alight 

 upon. If the hives are placed well to the front 

 of the hive-stand when first placed, and well to 

 the rear when reversed, the entrance to the 

 hiver will be very near where the entrance to 

 the colony was before the hives were changed. 



OPEUATION OF THR SWARM-HIVEK. 



When the swarm issues, the bees and queen 

 pass out of the chamber in the hiver in front of 

 the colony, through the wire-cloth cones, into 

 the chamber in front of the empty hive, and 

 the queen is there trapped. The swarm, upon 

 discovering the absence of the queen, returns 

 to the hive, and, finding the queen at the en- 

 trance of the hiver, which, being directly in 

 front of and communicating with the empty 

 hive, the bees at once enter the empty hive 

 with the queen and commence work. The 

 hiver may now be removed by taking out the 

 two screws, and all queen-cells except one cut 

 out of the parent hive. 



The swarm may be strengthened, if desired, 

 by removing the hiver in the middle of the day, 

 when the bees are flying freely, the entrance to 

 the hiver being in front of the swarm -hive. 

 After the hiver is removed, the field-bees will 

 return to the swarm-hive. If the swarm is con- 

 sidered to be strong enough, the hiver sliould 

 be removed early in the morning, before the 

 bees are flying. 



WHAT IS CLAIMED FOR THE ANDERSON SWARM- 

 IIIVER. 



1. It will hive large full swarms. 



2. To see if the bees have swarmed, it is only 

 necessary to raise the cover to the empty (or 

 swarm) hive. 



3. Either of the hives can be examined with- 

 out disturbing the other. 



4. If drones clog the entrance to the hiver, 

 the perforated zinc slide may be withdrawn 

 and the drones liberated, and the slide return- 

 ed: and the drones may then be destroyed, in 

 the evening, at the entrance of the hiver. 



"). If a second swarm issues before the hiver 

 is removed, it will be hived with the first 

 swarm; in such case the old (or laying) queen 

 will be accepted by both swarms, and the young 

 Qu.'(>n balled and destroyed. 



<). If the bees do not swarm, the colony gath- 

 ers honey just as well as without the hiver. 

 During the season of lS'.i2 the colony that made 

 the most comb honey in my apiary of 40 colo- 

 nies had a hiver attached, but did not swarm. 



Bloomsbury, N. J. 



THE HOFFMAN FRAME AS VIEWED BY A 

 CORRESPONDENT FROM AUSTRALIA. 



THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES EXPLAINKD. 



By ir. S. PiiiiJa: 



Judging from correspondence appearing in 

 Gleanings, there seems to be some call for 

 alterations to the Root- Hoffman frame. To 

 my mind, the frame with the ly'ijx:'^i^-inch top- 

 bar and molded comb-guide is almost perfect. 

 I can see no advantage in altering these sizes, 

 not even to the new comb-guide that allows of 

 the top-bar being almost % inch thick. I think 

 the comb surface is small enough. From my 

 experience with %-inch-thick top-bars I find 

 just as many brace-combs between the top-bars 

 as with those reduced to % inch thick; if the 

 bar is widened to IV inches, fewer brace-combs 

 may be present. I have not tried it, but fear 

 it will tend to increase the difficulty; for I have 

 observed that, where a top-bar twists so as to 

 lessen the space between the frames, a larger 

 number of brace-combs were present. If the 

 top-bar is made IV inches wide we increase the 

 difficulty in uncapping the combs; and unless 

 an alteration is made at the same time in the 

 end-bars, we weaken the spacing part of the 

 frame. As to burr-combs, I find a top-bar It^^ 

 wide by M deep absolutely proof against them. 

 Where I have foun,d burr-combs in using these 

 frames, I could always trace it to other causes, 

 such as twisting of top-bar either up, down, or 

 to one side, or the comb has been built down 

 over the bottom-bar of the frame above. I 

 have never had a Ij'iixV top-bar sag through 

 the weight of honey therein, and I have had 

 frames of honey weighing over 10 lbs. Don't 

 you think there is enough wood in a hive with- 

 out putting more, and the comb surface small 

 enough without making it smaller? lam of 

 the opinion that a top-bar Ij^x^ would be 

 equally burr and brace comb proof as one of 

 laj-ger size; possibly it might sag when white 

 pine is used; but could not a stronger timber be 

 used? The ends on which the frames hang 

 could be reduced to ;H', which would give plenty 

 of room for the fingers when handling frames, 

 and allow of the end-bar being made stronger 

 where it passes the top-bar. 



I notice that the frames you are now making 

 are only t^^- thick, where the top-bar rests on 

 the rabbets. I never saw any notice given of 

 this alteration, and fail to see what advantage 

 the reduced size has over the old ?h size. Per- 

 haps you can inform me as to the reason for 

 this alteration. The bottom-bar, I think, as 

 now made, %yi%, is too thick and too narrow; 

 the thickness destroys comb surface, and the 

 narrowness allows of the bees pasting comb all 

 over it, which they often coniinu(; down to the 

 top-bars of the lower set of frames. I do not 

 call this a burr-comb, but it is as great an evil. 

 The only use I have seen the bees make of the 



