1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



881 



clover I'ommeiices to bloom, tlie niatorial compris- 

 ing- them need not lie any tliicker tlian v-incli stuff. 

 As to tlif second reason, 1 find it ea.sier und more 

 expeditious to uncap and extract two sets t)f lialf- 

 deptli frames tlian one of tlie full size, as one sweep 

 of the knife cleans the face of eveiy comb in an in- 

 stant; and if your frames are wired as they ought 

 to be, even in lialf-stoi'ies, notwithst;niding- what 

 others mav sav to the contrary, and your extractor' 

 is capable of taking- a full set of eight frames, or 

 lour of the large ones, as with myself, no time need 

 be usele^sly sacriticed. 



Now. friends, try them. There is, however, no 

 necessity- of going into the e.xperimenl in a whole- 

 sale maimer; a few at first, and more afterward if 

 you need them, will be a wise plan to follow. [ 

 know they aie gaining ground yearly, and this fact 

 alone should be a guarantee that they are not a 

 useless appendage in tlie apiary; and, as I am about 

 concluding, let me add: At all times have plenty of 

 store or sui-|)lus combs, no matter of what style or 

 depth, as they are good capital at any time, espe- 

 cially in a poor season like the past, as bees stored 

 in siicli and did well, while those in sections or on 

 f riimes of foundation did little oi- nothing. 



Lastly, do not be afraid to put youi- name on all 

 honey offered for sale, at the same time stating the 

 source from which it is secured, and thus prevent 

 confusion and suspicion. Too much need not be on 

 the label, but it should be in large print and easily 

 understood. 



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SELF-HIVER. 



C. H. DIBBEHX SUGGESTS AN IMPROVEMENT. 



I have read with much interest tlie article of 

 Mr. VVest, on page 7()3. reporting discoui-agingly 

 as to tlie success of the Alley liivor. I had in- 

 tended to report my experience sooner, but have 

 waited to hear from othei'S. and see how they 

 succeeded, before making my report. In 1890, 

 when Mr. Alley brought out his self-hiver, the 

 idea struck me so favorably that I at once sent 

 to him for a sample. In due time the hiver was 

 received: but in studying it a while I concluded 

 it was not just right: at any rate it did not ex- 

 actly suit me. As I was that year starting an 

 out-apiary, the matter of hiving tlie swarms 

 was a matter of considerable impoi'tance. espe- 

 cially as I found it rather difficult to get suita- 

 ble help. Anothei' serious difficulty was, the 

 place wliere the new apiary was located was 

 surrounded by tall trees from which it would 

 be a very difficult matter to get the swarms. 

 even by an expert. To settle the mattei-, and 

 at the same time give the new hiver a thorough 

 trial. I made up 1(J() of them after a pattern of 

 my own, though not greatly different from Mr. 

 Alley's. That year the hivers were put on every 

 hive in the new apiary, but swarming proved 

 almost an entire failure, as well as the honey 

 crop, as I had but two swarms issin^. through 

 them, neither of wiiich hived itself. P'ortu- 

 nately I was at the out -apiary when they 

 swarmed, and had a good chance to see how 

 the bees and queen acted. The bees in both 

 cases soon settled on trees, and the queen ran 

 up and down the perforated zinc in front of the 

 hive in great excitement. The opening and 

 wire cone were on the ends of the hiver and the 

 empty hives were placed by the side of the one 

 expected to swarm. I soon saw that the queen 

 would persistently run up the perforated zinc 

 front, an<l pay no attention to the wire-cloth 

 tube, through which she was expected to pass. 

 I do not believe she would have passed out of a 

 two inch hole one time in four, if placed at the 

 end where it v^fas darkened by the tube leading 

 to the empty hive. 



This year the hiver had certainly proved a 

 failure, "but it had given me a valuable hint. I 

 can agree with friend West, that the hiver does 

 prevent swarming to a great extent. The two 

 swarms out of the KX) hives I had did not issue 



till the :.'8th and 30th of June, while the b(>es at 

 the home apiary, without hivers on. had 

 swarmed for wee'ks. So I concluded that, as 

 the drones were trapped as fast as hatched, 

 swarming was not only to a great extent pre- 

 vented but delayed as well. 



By comparing the two apiaries I found that 

 aboiit ten per cent of tho.se at the home apiary- 

 without hivers. swarmed, and only tNvo per cent 

 at the out-apiary swarmed with them on. The 

 amount of honey secured was about double as 

 much at the out-apiary. There is not much 

 difference in locations, and .so I concluded that 

 putting on the swarmers did not le.ssen the 

 amount of honey secured, if it did not actually 

 increase it. 



While I had not succeeded in hiving a single 

 swarm, so well was I satisfied that the idea was 

 practical that I remodeled the hivers I had, 

 and made 100 more on a n(nv plan for the sea.son 

 of 1891. Now. to give the reader an idea of the 

 new hiver I will try, as best I can without an 

 illustration, to describe it. 



THE SELF-HIVER I USED IN 1891. 



I use common well-seasoned lath, planed, and 

 make a frame exactly the size of the hive- 

 fronts. The pieces are nailed .so as to make a 

 space as wide as the lath, in front of the hive, 

 and covei-ed with the perforated zinc. On the 

 upper piece I place the wire cones, with open- 

 ings not less than % inch, so drones will not 

 get clogged there. The wood should be painted 

 to pi'event warping, and is hooked to the hives 

 by my malleable hooks, which are just the 

 tiling. 



Now for the empty hive to receive the swarm. 

 I make a similar frame, only it has a one-inch 

 hole bored thi-ough the bottom piece, and only 

 one wire cone on the inside. For a bottom to 

 the empty hive I use an escape-board with the 

 fi'ont strip removed, to make an entrance for 

 the expected swarm. The empty hive is now 

 placed on top of the super, on the hive expected 

 to swarm, and the two hives connected by a 

 leader, made of lath, and covered with the zinc 

 in the form of an inverted V. This, you see. 

 readily leads the queen, in swarming, past the 

 super.and I have another leader just twice as 

 long in case I want to put on two supers. 



JUST WHAT THE HIVERS WILL DO. 



This year I decided that I could, with the aid 

 of the hivers. run both apiaries, some seven 

 miles apart, alone. I made my hivers during 

 the winter, and had them all ready as swarm- 

 ing approached. These I placed on the hives, 

 both at home and at the out-apiary as fast as 

 colonies became strong, or showed signs of 

 swarming. 1 soon had them on all my hives, 

 except a few weak ones, and awaited results. 

 Swarms soon began to issue, and would almost 

 invariably hive themselves all right; but they 

 were very small, as so many of the bees would 

 return to the old stand. I soon found that this 

 was to be the rule, and most of the self-hived 

 swarms would contain only from a pint to a 

 quart. The queen would be there all right, how- 

 ever, and generally enough bees in front of the 

 new hive to show that the bees had swarmed. 

 Of course, such swarms would be useless if left 

 to themselves, and I am not that kind of a bee- 

 keeper. Now, the way I generally managed is 

 about this: 



If a swarm issued while I was present I would 

 wait till the bees were about all out, and the 

 queen and drones in front of the new hive, when 

 1 would remove the old colony and put the new- 

 hive in its place, also giving them the supers. 

 In due time the swarm would return and go 

 into the new hive. Now. in order to make the 

 swarm still larger I would put on a bee-escape 

 board, with an escape in it. as a cover for the 



