THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 423 



improvements, to test out during the swarming season of 1913. If the 

 good boat can "weather the storm," all's well ; if she goes under, we can 

 mingle our tears. 



The Aspinwall hive swarmed, but it was my fault. I had trouble 

 in getting the right kind of sections, and when they did come it was too 

 late; they had cast a "rouser" swarm. They had even built comb in the 

 slatted dividers ; but, say, it showed me that seven solid combs of brood 

 would fill a hive with bees all right. I think the Aspinwall hives will 

 ride the waves like your modern battleships. What care they for the 

 raging storms? We bee-keepers had better take off our hats to this 

 remarkable man before it is too late ; his hair is white with age now. 



But the type of non-swarming hive that delights me most (because 

 it's my own) is the C. A. Neal non-swarming hive, just out of the shell, 

 made as follows : A wire cloth brood chamber is made, standard size, 

 being supported by a skeleton frame-work and six posts 1^ inches 

 square. x\n outer case is made of 13/16-inch stuff, 27% inches long 

 and 24 inches wide. The bottom board is nailed on. A double entrance 

 is provided at either end 14% inches long and Js ii^ch deep ; bridge over 

 the water table is 13/16-inch stuff, with tarred felt nailed in under it 

 to make it moisture-proof. Four 2-inch holes are bored, one in the 

 center of each side and one in the center of each end. Hand bolts are 

 provided; wire cloth is tacked over those 2-inch holes. This gives 

 a 4-inch open space all around the brood chamber, to which the bees 

 cannot enter at all. 



I transferred a powerful Italian colony to my N. S. the middle of 

 July. The temperature was 91° in the shade. There was some fanning 

 on the bottom board and some clustering out, but not any more than 

 with the Aspinwall hive. My first hive was not made right. It had but 

 one entrance and the water table was of %-inch stuff. This water table 

 gets the direct rays of the sun and gets much hotter than the side of the 

 hive. Have just finished one made just right and am satisfied that the 

 behavior of the bees will be perfect in the C. A. Neal N. S. bee hive, or 

 the bees' "Summer Cottage." But will they swarm? (This was written 

 a year ago. Let us know, friend Neal. — Ed.) Don't ask me; let the 

 bees speak for themselves in 1913. (What did they say, friend Neal.^ 

 Ed.) Expect to work six of them myself and have Kretdhmer make 

 me 12 more; that will make 18 for the swarming season of 1913. Will 

 set the old hive to one side at beginning of fruit bloom, put the "Sum- 

 mer Cottage" in its place and transfer the frames to them. Will wire 

 full sheets of foundation in the supers, and empty next the brood cham- 

 ber. If they don't swarm, will have my hive patented. A packed winter 

 case must be provided for the bees in the winter time, sure ! I think 

 the reason the bees do not swarm in the Aspinwall hive is not because 

 he reduces the fanning on the bottom board, clustering out and roaring 

 just at night to a minimum, but simply because he fools the bees with 

 those slatted dividers into thinking that there is "millions of room at our 



