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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



thick you will find that M inch is the normal distance between 

 the surfaces of the sections when no separator is between 

 them and there is a good flow of honey. At the close of the 

 flow, sections will be Hnisht up with more space between 

 them, and this may also be the case when the flow in general 

 Is poor. Sometimes a half Inch or more space may be found 

 between two surfaces, but I think you will find that during a 

 good flow no sealing is done till only about li inch is left be- 

 tween the two combs. Counting then K inch between two 

 sealed surfaces, and also between a sealed surface and a sep- 

 arator, you will see that the ^s inch cleats on B. Taylor's sep- 

 arators will make both sides of all the sections built out to 

 within % inch of the edge of the section. 



With regard to sections being bulged or built to one side, 

 and also with regard to sections being built true without sep- 

 arators, there is a good deal of difference at different times, 

 and possibly in different places. Some have reported that 

 they could get good, straight work done without any separa- 

 tors at all. I never could get such work. When the houcy 

 comes with a rush, and all the sections are being workt upon 

 at once, the tendency is to have the sections all drawn out 

 with equal pace, in which case fair work is done without any 

 separators, and if separators occur in every alternate space 

 there may be no trouble about packing the sections for ship- 

 ment. But in a slack time the work will be more or less cen- 

 tralized, the outside sections neglected and those that are 

 among the outer ones of those workt upon will have the side 

 toward the center filled faster than the other side, thus mak- 

 ing the section swing from the center unless the comb is an- 

 chored to the bottom-bar of the section. Formerly with the 

 full complement of separators in use I had many sections 

 bulged over against the separators ; that is, the section was 

 swung out of perpendicular, and the bottom of the comb built 

 fast to the separator. Latterly I don't have that trouble, 

 even during a slack flow. I suspect it is beciuse nowadays I 

 use bottom starters. With bottom starters and separators in 

 alternating rows there may be but little bulging, especially 

 during a good flow, but it may not be best for you to try it on 

 too large a scale until you find from a few colonies what the 

 bees will do for yon. 



How to :nake Use of a Lot of Combs. 



1. I have a few hives of combs on hand whose colonies 

 became queenless last fall, and were robbed of their stores by 



the other colonies. Wishing to use those frames of combs for 

 next season's swarms, they being of good quality, how can I 

 best care for them ? Can I hive the swarms on a full hive 

 of combs, or only use one-half or a less number of combs in 

 each hive, supplying the remaijider with frames of full sheets 

 of foundation ? Also, how should they be arranged? Can I 

 place the combs altogether, and the foundation together, or 

 place them alternately throughout the hive ? I use the 10- 

 frame hive. 



2. In forming nucleus colonies, when you use from two to 

 three frames of brood and bees, or in hiving small swarms, 

 where you use a division-board to contract the brood-nest, 

 how do you arrange them for supplying the restof the frames? 

 Do you place them all to one side, or spread the frames and 

 place the frames of empty combs or foundation between 

 them. I had a little experience the past season in adding 

 frames of foundation to hives partly filled with frames. When 

 the bees drew out the comb, they made the cells longer on one 

 side than on the other, consequently the combs were to one 

 side of the center of the top-bar. What is the remedy ? 



C. J., Vermont. 



Answers. — 1. Either way you mention will work all 

 right. In fact you can hardly go amiss in using the 

 combs for swarms. Instead of filling hives full of old combs, 

 and thus having only a few swarms receive the benefit, it may 

 be as well to divide your favors. Make a guess at the number 

 of swarms you will have, then divide that by 2, and then 

 divide your combs among that number. For example: Sup- 

 pose you have 30 old combs, and you feel tolerably sure you'll 

 have 20 swarms. Instead of figuring on 20 swarms, take the 

 half of that and plan for 10 swarms, and that will make 3 

 combs for each swarm. The reason for this is that you're not 

 sure about the number of swarms, but you want to make sure 

 to use up all your combs. Perhaps it may be just as well to 

 put the combs all together at one side of the hive, then fill out 

 the rest of the hive with frames entirely filled with founda- 

 tion. If foundation is put between two old combs, it some- 

 times happens that the bees draw out the cells of the old comb 

 unnecessarily, and leave the old comb between them too thin. 



2. It doesn't matter so much as to anything else, so you 

 don't allow too much room for the size of the cluster. Keep 

 them sufficiently crowded for room so that the bees will have 

 to cover the whole of all the frames given to them. A small 

 cluster put on a whole hive-full of frames, instead of building 

 each comb regularly down to the bottom, will spread out side- 

 wise and work the combs unevenly. 



Questiot;)'Box> 



In the multitude of counsellors there is 

 safety. — Prov. 11-14. 



Getting FoiiiKlalioii Filled Oat. 



Query 42.— A colony is in a one-story hive. 

 I want to give it another story filled with 

 frames of foundation to get them filled out. 

 having a queen-excluder between, and the 

 queen in the empty story. In order to get 

 the best work, shall I put the empty story 

 below or above ?— Iowa. 



J. A. Green — Above. 



G. M. Doolittle— Below. 



P. H. Elwood — Above for a time. 



Emerson T. Abbott — Put it abov«. 



Prof. A. J. Cook — I would put it below. 



W. G. Larrabee — I should put the 

 empty story below. 



Jas. A. Stone — I would put the one be- 

 low having the queen in it. 



C. H. Dibbern — I think I should put it 

 below, but I have never tried it. 



H. D. Cutting — Put the empty super 

 above, but keep the queen below. 



Rev. M. Mahiu — I would expect the 

 better results from putting below. 



Eugene Se<:or — I don't know, but I 

 think I would put the empty one below. 



E. France — I would not do either. I 

 would put all the brood below, with 



foundation to fill out, then put what 

 combs you have left above, and fill out 

 with foundation. 



Mrs. L. Harrison — I should think 

 above, but I have had no experience with 

 below. 



R. Li. Taylor — Which hive is empty? 

 Put the one filled with foundation above, 

 of course. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown — If you do this at 

 the right season, I should put the empty 

 story above. 



J. M. Hambaugh — If I understand you 

 correctly, I would put the super of un- 

 drawn combs above. 



A. F. Brown — Put below with one 

 frame of unsealed brood from above. I 

 have used this plan extensively. 



Dr. C. 0. Miller— I rather think below, 

 provided the weather is warm. Perhaps 

 above, if before the honey harvest. 



Chas. Dadant & Son — Put it above in 

 cool weather, anywhere in hot weather. 

 Put it below during a heavy honey-flow, 

 unless you want it filled with honey. 



Mrs. .1. N. Heater — Thatdepends upon 

 the time of year, and the strength of 

 your colony. During a honey-flow, if 

 you will alternate the empty frames 

 with the filled ones in both stories, leav- 

 ing the queen below, the bees will do 

 quicker work for you. 



Dr. A. B. Mason — If your " colony is in 

 a one story hive," it is not empty, and 

 the one with the frames is not empty. 

 If you want to get the frames of founda- 



tion "filled out" with honey, .put them 

 above, and the queen below ; but if you 

 want to get them "filled out" with 

 brood, put them and the queen below. 



J. E. Pond — This is a mooted question. 

 I prefer putting it above, but I am not 

 able to say what the concensus of opin- 

 ion is, in regard to the question. In my 

 own locality it would make little differ- 

 ence, if any, but convenience to myself 

 causes the opinion I give. 



G. W. Demaree — If you want to pre- 

 vent swarming, put the brood above and 

 confine the queen below the excluder on 

 the frames of foundation. To prevent 

 confusion, put one comb containing eggs 

 and unsealed brood below. If you want 

 swarms, or do not object to swarms, put 

 the foundation in the upper story. 



Bee-Keepers' Pliotog'rapli, — We 



have now on hand a limited numl)er of ex- 

 cellent photographs of prominent bee-keep- 

 ers — a number of pictures on one card. The 

 likeness of 49 of them are shown on one of 

 the photographs, and 131 on the other. We 

 will send them, postpaid, for 30 cts. a card, 

 mailing from the 121 kind first; then after 

 they are all gone, we will send the 49 kind. 

 So those who order first will get the most 

 ■' faces" for their money. Send orders to 

 the Bee Journal office. 



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