412 



May 16, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



pieces of wood ^ inch by ^ inch, and 

 21 inches long, one piece being nailed 

 to each of the sides of the iron, as 

 shown in the illustration. 



Across one end of the iron sheet — on 

 what is to be the upper side — is nailed 

 a js inch by Js inch strip of wood 12 

 inches long, which completes the false 

 bottom. 



The short piece of board shown in 

 Fig. 2, is used to lay on the front end 

 of the rear bottom-board, to close up 

 the space between the two brood-cham- 

 bers, when the manipulation of the 

 hive is completed, as shown in Fig. 4. 

 It is 2 inches by 14 inches long. 



Fig. 3 shows the false bottom dropped 

 into its place in the front bottom-board 

 of the two shown in Fig. 1. This false 

 bottom does not fit tight against the 

 bottom-board at B, but is drawn a 

 good bee-space back toward A, so that 

 bees running under at A can emerge at 

 B ; that is, the false bottom forms a 

 sort of bridge for bees to run under 

 and come out at B. The strip of wood 

 on the back end and upper side of the 

 false bottom at A closes all exit in that 

 direction for the bees, when a brood- 

 chamber is set on the front bottom- 

 board, and the space between the two 

 is closed by dropping in the little board 



Fig. 2. — False Bottom and Closing Stick. 



shown in Fig. 2 ; all egress for the bees 

 from the rear brood-chamber is under 

 the false bottom in front. 



Fig. 4 shows the arrangement of the 

 hives completed. 



The entrance of the hive marked 11 

 is in the usual place, and is the only 

 place where bees can get into that 

 hive. The entrance to the rear brood- 

 chamber, marked 1, is just in front of 

 the entrance to hive 11, and is shown 

 by a dark line in front of the entrance 

 to hive 11. This is also the only 

 place where bees can get into or out of 

 the rear brood-chamber. 



Now in practical use I find that very 

 few of the bees which come out from 

 the rear brood-chamber locate the place 

 where they come out, but instead locate 

 the entrance to the front hive. In 

 fact, the hive is " all one to them," as 

 it is to all the bees which fly from 

 either brood-chamber. 



The idea that they would not locate 

 the entrance to the rear brood-chamber, 

 I took from the fact that it is more 

 natural for bees to go up into a hive, 

 as they are in the habit of doing 

 through a short passage-way, than it 

 would be to go down and under through 

 a long one, and it works that way in 

 practise. But to get out, they will go 



Fig. 1. — Two Hive-Bottoms Facing. 



3. — False Bottom in Place. 



Fig. 4. — Complete Biie- Arrangement for Swarm-Control. 



