GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



the hives shaded, will perhaps go a good 

 way toward (liscMiragiiig swanus t'rotn com- 

 "iiitfoiit. Atler liaviii;^ done this, a Jones 

 guard >>iit over Llie entrance, to hold the 

 gue n, might b-* a pretty good thing. If 

 they vventolf. we should be a (jueeu ahead, 

 any way — Thitiks for the sujg-^s'iou on the 

 cat-tail fl ig. Tiiere u plenty, aim jst every- 

 where, 1 believe. 



HOW I USE SINGLE-STORY HIVES. 



SOME GOOD SnGGE8TION-< BV FRIEND POPPLliTON. 



ffijDisjHERE seems to be toii*icler!ible intprest among 

 Jjl; bee-kpppers, cuncerulnjt the use of single- 

 — ' story bives; and as I have used them quite 

 largely for a number of years, I will try to tell some- 

 thing about how I u'ie them — not theories about 

 how 1 ihink they oikjM to be used, but just simply 

 the details iif the ordinary management of my api- 

 ary. Of course. I will not need to give the details of 

 aZJ the operation'^ in the apiary — only such a-* con- 

 cern the use of single-story hives. Neither shall I, 

 in this, enter into any discussion whatever about 

 the comparative meriis of the single and d lutile 

 story systems, leaving all such discussion to take 

 care of 1 self in the future. 



1 supp. se it is generally understood, that sintrle- 

 etory hives are almost exclusively used in the pro- 

 duction < f extracted hi^ney; but I u^e them without 

 any partioulnr trouble in getting what little comb 

 honey I do raise, usually ut'ing wide frames at the 

 sides of frames, and a section-rack on top, being es- 

 sentially the method used by Mr. D >olittle. Single- 

 story hives were, I think, first described some 10 or 

 13 >ears ago by Gen. D L. Adair, of Ken'ucky. and 

 Elisha Gallup, of Iowa. These hives have been call- 

 ed by various names, such as "New-Idea" hives, 

 "Long-Idea" hives, "long" hives, "horizontal" 

 hives, etc.; but it seems to me that the term "single- 

 story " hives is the most appropriate. Gen. Adair 

 gave his hive the name of 'New-Idea" hive; the 

 idea, which was new, being to place the brood-nest 

 in the back end of the hive, having the empty combs 

 for surplus honey between the entrance and the 

 brood-nest, the entrance being at the sides of the 

 frames instead of at the ends, as is the ordinary 

 practice. I do not know how largely this idea of 

 Gen. Adair's has been tested, but I think very little, 

 nor do I know how successful or unsuccessiul that 

 little has been. 



I first made the long hives, essentially as I now 

 use them, in the spring of 1S72, the idea coming at 

 that time from the pen of Mr. E. Gallup, of my own 

 State. They are oblong square boxes, 40 inches in 

 length outside measure, and just deep and wide 

 enouirh to take frames 12 inches square, top-bars be- 

 ing 14 inches long. Bottom-boards are either loose 

 or tight, as one may prefer. An entrance is cut in 

 the center of the lower edge of the front side of the 

 hive, »4x12 inches, ordinary triangular blocks being 

 used to control size of entrance. The frames run 

 from front to rear, the number of them being grad- 

 uated to suit season and size of colony, two division- 

 boards being used close up to the frames, one on 

 each side, the latter being kept as near the center of 

 the hive as convenient. T first made the division- 

 boards to fit tight, but found they were too much 

 troubI<^ to manipulate, so have of late years m>)de all 

 to fit quite loosely. I use altogether, double-walled 



or chaff hives, the make of which is, of course, quite 

 different from single-walled hives; but as the brood- 

 chambers in both are essentially the same, I will 

 not, ill this place at least, give any description of 

 the chaff hive. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT. 



As soon as weather becomes warm enough for bees 

 to fly quite freely, usually with us from the 25th of 

 March to the 10th of April, we overhaul and thor- 

 oughly exHmineevery colony, cleaning out the hives, 

 and noting on the outside of the hive its exact con- 

 dition MS regards health, quantity of bees, stores, 

 and brood. This record is a guide for work until ) 

 commencement of the h iney season proper. Dur- 

 ing this examination all colonies that are weak in 

 number are deprived of partof their combs, division- 

 boards and cushions being closed up accordingly. 

 All colonies that are short of stores are given frames 

 of sealed honey, kept over for that purpose, and all 

 Muei nless colonies are disposed of according to cir- 

 cumstances, usually by giving the strong queenless 

 ones the queens from the weakest colonies In the 

 yard, and destroying the weak queenless ones. I 

 have entirely given up trying to unite weak col- 

 onies in the spring, as I can not see that the united 

 stocks are materially t-tronger at commencement of 

 honey-season than each of them would hHve b> en if 

 keptapHrt. Much better satisfaction has resulted 

 from keeping all the weak colonies that have good 

 ()ueens, and building them up by giving brood and 

 young bees from the strong colonies. I feed bees 

 flour every spring until natural pollen appears. I 

 do not know that it is any material help to them, but 

 it keeps them out of mischief, and allows of their 

 being handled without serious trouble from robbers. 

 To briefly summarize, our early spring management 

 consists in seeing that every hive is thoroughly 

 cleaned out, that each colony has ample stores of 

 sealed honey, has a laying queen, and has all the 

 space they can utilize, and no more. 



Later spring management is devoted almost en- 

 tirely to building up our colonies in readiness for 

 the honey season. The best way of doing this is still 

 one of the disputed points of bee culture; and while 

 I do net think that I am surely right and others 

 wrong, I do prefer and practice what is known as 

 the " spreadingcomb system " As soon as the bees 

 ai'e strong enough to cover more brood than they 

 then have, usually the latter part of April or the 

 first of May in this locality, I insert in the center of 

 the brood-nest a frame or two of empty worker 

 comb, doing this work as often as necessary, rarely 

 inserting more than two combs at a time, oftener 

 only one. I usually go over the apiary once a week, 

 inserting combs in such as need it, a moment's ex- 

 amination of each colony being sufficient to allow 

 one to determine what needs doing. This spreading 

 of the combs I regard as one of the most particular 

 operations of the apiary, and should never be prac- 

 ticed largely by any but the experienced bee-keeper. / 

 Too great caution can not be used by the beginner, 

 especially if single-walled hives are used. In fact, I 

 have some doubt whether I should practice this sys- 

 tem at all, were it not for the aid of chaff packing 

 and chaff cushions. This spreading i« continued all 

 through the season with such colonies and at such 

 times as may be necessary, and is, in fact, the foun- 

 dation of the method I use in increasing the num- 

 ber of colonies. 



In making my increase of colonies I practice en- 

 tirely what is known as the " nucleus system," msC^^ 



