irj) 



GLEAKINGS IK BEE CULTUKE. 



1)EC. 



having the full capacity of the 8-framc Laugstroth 

 hive; and as soon as the bees began to seal the 

 combs in their tirst super, we lift it, sliding an emp- 

 ty one under it; and if they still persist in capping 

 the combs of the upper one, we again slip under 

 both another one, all the time keeping those fur- 

 thest advanced high up, where the ripening pro- 

 cess is going on, but where the bees are discour- 

 aged from immediately capping the cells. 



This tiering system is not new, but I am dilating 

 more especially with regard to a radical use of it 

 for the special purposes above mentioned. Before 

 we consider the honey in any super to be " dead 

 ripe," we usually find a minor portion of the cells 

 of nearly every comb capped over; but did you 

 never notice the fact that it is four times as much 

 Avork to uncap a comb which is completely sealed 

 as it is one only half capped over? This is because 

 the first colls capped are those most elongated, 

 which are very easy to uncap, while it is the lower 

 surfaces that make us all the hard work. You no 

 doubt remember that we use theiiew hive for ex- 

 tracted honey by adding brood-cases in the place 

 of surplus-cases. We use one and two brood-cases 

 tor a brood-chamber, according to the time of year 

 and sj'stem of " contrajntion "—a most valuable s^s- 

 tem for the production of comb and extracted hon- 

 ey, and one which, if I remember correctly, has 

 not been fully described in Gleanings. Whether 

 our brood-chamber consists of one or two brood- 

 cases between it and the extracting-department, 

 composed of a suitable number of other brood- 

 cases, we use the combined wood and metal queen- 

 excluding honey-board, described and illustrated 

 on page 018, Aug. 1, 1886. 



Now, with these shallow sets of frames securely 

 held within the cases, we practice the tiering 

 method to its greatest perfection because of their 

 shallowness, and by virtue of the shaking -out 

 function gained by: the peculiar construction of 

 the cases (a function which 1 consider the most val- 

 uable of any contained in my hive or any other) w-e 

 are able to remove these cases from tlie hives with 

 the certainty that there arc no queens or brood 

 within them, shaking out nearly all the bees with a 

 few motions, placing the cases in our screen-house 

 till the few remaining have deserted, all of which 

 we can do without exposure to robbers, even when 

 they are most persistent, and carry the cases to our 

 honey-table, loosen the scre^ve, lilting the case away 

 from the frames, all of which set up ready for the 

 uncapping-knife. I find these shallow combs very 

 much easier to uncap than deeper ones. I found 

 this out 1.5 years ago, when using shallow combs in 

 Langstroth frames. These frames hang in the ex- 

 tractor in pairs, side by side, hanging on the pro- 

 .iection of the end-bai's, which, you remember, are 

 wider than the top and end bars; and when used in 

 common machines that are not automatic. In re- 

 versing the combs they can be turned around with- 

 out lifting out of the machine, as is necessitated 

 Avith L. frames. It will be seen that it is not only 

 true that these shallow brood-cases are best for the 

 tiering method, where perfect ripening of the hon- 

 ey is desired, but it is also true that we can take a 

 surplus crop through them with less labor than with 

 any other frames, which, I believe, exactly answei-s 

 the question you ask on page 883. 



It may be claimed, cojitrary to the above, that 

 there is quite an expense attached to the supply of 

 so many sets of combs and supers; to which I reply. 



" I giant it ;'■ but that does not disprove that their 

 use will give us a No. 1 extracted honey, such as 

 will sell itself, and that, too, without practicing the 

 compressing method, which costs us nearly half of 

 our honey-crop. If we should figure an interest 

 upon the investment I now have in thousands of 

 nice combs from full sheets of fdn., on wires, it 

 might prove that my 1880 crop has cost me 1 cent 

 per lb. more because of this outlay; but if you will 

 allow the bee-keepers who have purchased most of 

 my crop— purchasei-s who are the best of judges of 

 quality—to speak through Gleanings it will give 

 your readers a fine opportunity to judge as to 

 whether or not such perfectly ripened honey is 

 worth 3 to 3 cents per lb. extra. James Heddon. 

 Dowagiac, Mich. 



Friend II., there are several good points 

 you make in the above. The plan ot leav- 

 ing the whole crop of honey on the liive. 

 over the bees, until the season is over, be- 

 longs to friend Dadant, I believe. althou,L>h 

 before lie gave it in his little book we did 

 the same tiling one season, when we were 

 greatly i)ressed for time; namely, we piled 

 Simplicity hives one over the other, until 

 they were, some of them, four or five high, 

 and the result was just about as you state it. 

 When the combs were raised up before they 

 were well capped over, the bees seemed to 

 leave them partially uncapped, and the hon- 

 ey obtained from these piles of hives was 

 certainly equal to any we have ever secured. 

 I think you are right, too, in saying that 

 these small frames, or shallow frames, rath- 

 er, are much easier to uncap than full-sized I.,. 

 frames; and your third point, of being able 

 to reverse them in any common extractor, 

 it seems to me, is quite a big item. The 

 assistant who does the imcapping, uncaps 

 both sides, and stands the little frames on 

 a shelf, boaid, or, perhaps, still better, a cou- 

 ple of strips with a pan underneath to catch 

 the dripping. The broad ends with only 

 a narrow fi-ame will keeii them upright of 

 themselves, which will be quite an advan- 

 tage ; then the one who operates the extract- 

 or, instead of taking the heavy comb with 

 both hands will take two smaller ones, one 

 in each hand. When uncapped he reverses 

 the two, one in each hand, as quick as he 

 would reverse a large one, granting there 

 were room inside of the extractor to do it. 

 In working the shallow frames for extract- 

 ors, if I understand you, you simply raise 

 each tier of combs when nearly ready to 

 cap, and put an empty case of similar frames 

 under it, and so on until the bees gather all 

 they are going to for the season, leaving 

 every comb on the hive until the season is 

 over. I am inclined to think that bees will 

 store more honey where none is taken away 

 from them than where we keep '' robbing" 

 them all the while, as our Southern friends 

 put it. Of course, we can not work this way 

 for section honey, for it would be soiled and 

 spoiled for market ; whereas, for extracted 

 honey it is just what we want. And this re- 

 minds me that a real nice well-ripened arti- 

 cle of extracted honey is often really nicer 

 than a great deal of our very clean white 

 perfectly capped comb honey. ' It looks, to me. 

 just now as if quite a number of us might 

 think best to try shallow combs for extract- 

 ed honev another season. 



