IMI'.' 



(;i.KANIN(;s IN HKK CUI/rUKE. 



15:< 



jcictiiT; i. ('.. (li'piMul uiMHi I'l'itaiii oi)ri;itioii< til 

 n'tiirn imifoiinly tin' -^ami' rrsiilis. 



Tilt' oinMiiiiiis I'll- till' IxTs all' tliiri' I'-iiich 

 holes, fai'iufl till' liivc. oin' in the left t'lul. two 

 in ffont (si'f the fiiitraviiiff on pant' *.•(»). 



Till' lowiT one in front is only '4 inch I'loin 

 lilt' hottoai-hoanl. Mr. llotTiiiaii has used tin 

 slides, iron slides, and wooden slides, to cover 

 bi'e-lii\e entiaiiees. luit none of them ever 

 pleased him. .\t last he solved the prolilem. 

 A stfip ahoiit live inches lonjj;. :.' inches w idi', 

 iind 'm inch thick, has a small hole in the cen- 

 ter. Near one end a l'...-inch hole is bored, and 

 enoiisili ol the thickness cut otV to nail on a 

 block of wire cloth. This strip is then ready to 

 fasten, by a screw to the hive, wire side down. 

 ()ne way it ventilates; the other it closes the 

 hive or iii":i<liii»t»>s the size of the entrance to 

 suit the operator. The first hive on the left 

 shows an olilong enti'ance at the bottom; but 

 this hive was made by anotlu'r, and was taken 

 on a debt. 



The followers ii.sed at the sides of the frames 

 are ha If -inch stuff. A strip is nailed to the 

 bottom ed^re and one at the top. The latter 

 rests upon the rabbets as do the frames. These 

 fcrilowers reach to within about '•s inch of the 

 bottom, and are •'.< inch narrow at both sides. 

 A thin saw-kerf is cut into both edges at the 

 sides for live or six inch's from the top end. 

 Into each of these a piece of thin rubber pack- 

 iiis is fastened extending out % inch. Now the 

 followers are close-litting at the sides for four 

 or live inches only. 



When colonies are to be drawn toout-apiaries, 

 or vice verna. the operation is very rapid. The 

 bottoms are fast: the frames are propolized 

 enough to hold in a spring wagon; the wire 

 cloth ends of the buttons or circular slides are 

 quickly .set in position: u piece of sacking, a 

 tritle larger than the hive, is laid on. and the 

 cap pri'ssed down over it. Drive up th(? wagon 

 and set the hives on. Mr. Hoffman's man can 

 and has hitched tlie team. and prepared, loaded, 

 and roped. :.'8 hives in 150 minute.s, i-eady to 

 driv(M)tl'. Who can equal this? The ventila- 

 tor in the end of the hive now answers a splen- 

 did purjiose. The bees have full range, and 

 some cluslei- in the open space where plenty of 

 air is supijlied. The cap and rim on the hive 

 make it impossible to cut otl' a supply of air be- 

 tween tiie hives whii(! on the wagon. The hole 

 in the end of the hive also makes it convenient 

 to rear an extra queen or divide the colony 

 early, thus economizing warmth. A division- 

 boai'd for this purpose is made exactly like the 

 followers, except that the rubber strips extend 

 around both sides and the bottom. The bees 

 are thus effectually separated. When a nucleus 

 is cut off from the main colony, the hive is 

 turned partially around, so that the stream of 

 bees coming from the tield is divided. A little 

 ob.servaticn will show wh(!ther this is properly 

 accomplished. 



The cap ^or cover) of th(? hive is simply a 

 rim two or three inches deep, covered with 

 boards, over which a sheet of iron is placed, 

 the edges of which extend down over, and are 

 tacked to the sides of the cap. 



Extracted surplus honey is obtained as fol- 

 lows: One follower is removed, and ten frames 

 occupy the hive. Tin; sjiace between the fol- 

 lower left in and the end of the hive is 3^ or X 

 inch. Over the frames and edgi; of the follower 

 a sheet of heavy enamid cloth is placed. On 

 this a bottomless hive is put. Frames of comb 

 for surplus are placed in the upper hive, begin- 

 ning at the end near the follower. The only 

 access the bees have is below and at the sides of 

 th(! follower. The queen seldom gets into this up- 

 per story, and the bees work up very satisfac- 

 toril.T. Every eight or nine days, when honey 



is coming, tliesr hives are ovei'haiiled. 'I'lie top 

 story is remoNcd. 'I'he three first frames ari- 

 i'\amined. If the hives are well fillid with 

 bees, and iliesr fi-aines contain brood, one. two, 

 or iliri'c are renioved. the lin-s paitiallv shaken 

 off and replaced with empty combs. All fram(\s 

 containing honey are taken from the iijiper 

 story, and enijity combs substituted. These are 

 put in racks, and go home to be e\t-racted. 

 \Vheii eight frames of brood are I'cady they are 

 set into an empty hive. A strong colony is 

 moved a short distance, and this hive placc^d so 

 that part of tln^ bees go into it. The operation is 

 repeated througliout the yard. None of the 

 frames in the lower hive are moved, except 

 the first three. 



Mr. H. says if they are handled, bees are more 

 apt to swarm. This was new to us. 



A strong colony containing a select queen is 

 made queenless. The combs ai'e examined, to 

 be sure that no capped queen -cells are present. 

 In eight or nine days the process described 

 above is repeated, except that the eight frames 

 of brood in empty hive are generally placed on 

 the stands occupied by the tiew colonies madt; 

 eight or nine; days before. This is done to 

 weaken them, so that a luitching queen shall 

 not be molested. Th(> colonies made- on the 

 previous occasion are overhauled, and all 

 queen-cells destroyed. Before the work of thi; 

 day is over, a lot of cells are cut from the hive 

 of choice brood made (jueenless at the; former 

 visit, and one is set between two combs of each 

 of the queenless hives. If necessary the frames 

 are separated a little, and the cells pressed in a 

 trifle. At the next visit, if the cells appear to 

 have hatched, no examination is then made. 

 About a dozen thin twigs from apple or similar 

 trees are securely tied together. With this the 

 bees are removed from the combs. No wing or 

 brush is used. 



If the queen ever gets into the upper (or sur- 

 plus) story she is shaken down in front of the 

 hive, and the brood treated like the rest. 



Mr. Hoffman said, " I wonder how many of 

 the readers of (Ji-f;axixgs remember to use 

 grass in the entrances to prevent robbing." We 

 replied. '• How many of them use similar en- 

 trances, and can successfully employ grass for 

 that purpose ?"' The process is as follows: 



Before a hive is opened, a handful of grass is 

 stuffed loosely into the entrance. This ob- 

 structs the bees that belong in the hive and in- 

 creases the guard; at the same time, the rob- 

 bers are not able to dart in unchallenged. No 

 attention is paid to the grass. It gradually 

 dries and shrinks, and the bees carry it away. 



We said, '" Mr. Hoffman, if you hadn't a hive 

 in the world, and could start all over, what size 

 frame would you adoiit?" He answered, "I 

 would make no change unless I made the 

 frames one inch shallower. This I would do, if 

 at all. only because 14-inch boards are not easi- 

 ly obtained, and are rather expensive." 



Mr. Hollman's family consist of four girls and 

 two boys. His good sense is demonstrated in 

 that, when the children are young, they are 

 taught only German. As they grow older. Eng- 

 lish comes as a matter of necessity. The love 

 of music is inborn. The youngest, a girl only 

 two years old, unconsciously hummed a popu- 

 lar air, to our great satisfaction. 



Mr. IT. says his boys do not '" take to bees," 

 hence he will give them practical lessons in 

 organ-building. A dozen are to be manufac- 

 tured, and the boys are to assist. 



Modesty prevents Mr. H. from stating the 

 facts; but, aside from his management of 600 or 

 800 colonies, he does a good deal of other work, 

 and has a revenue of several liundred a year, 

 exclusive of the income from his bees. 



Canajoharie, N. Y. J. H. Nkli.is. 



