1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



837 



ed with honey; " while the truth is that, when 

 the bees are at work nicely in the sections, 

 with a proper hive, there is scarcely a pound 

 of honey in the brood-combs. I say with a 

 " proper hive," or brood-chamber of a proper 

 size. In this there is a great secret of success. 

 Quinby said, in his " Mysteries of Bee-keep- 

 ing Explained," that 2000 cubic inches was 

 the right size for the brood-chamber, and told 

 us that there is an advantage in feeding infe- 

 rior honey in the spring so as to have the space 

 in the brood-chamber, not occupied by the 

 queen, filled with this poor honey, thus neces- 

 sitating the putting of the nice white-clover 

 honey in the boxes. This is one way of ar- 

 riving at the same object that we do with a 

 brood-chamber of about three-fourths the size 

 of that recommended by Mr. Ouinby. By 

 thus feeding he gave the bees no place to put 

 their honey except in the boxes, thereby los- 

 ing the use of this inferior honey for half a 

 year, besides having the boxes separated from 

 the brood by some distance of sealed stores 

 for the bees to pass over, which was, of course, 

 a detriment; yet he secured much more honey 

 in his boxes than he would otherwise. My 

 plan to accomplish this object has been to 

 have the hive or brood -chamber of a size that 

 an average queen will keep filled with brood 

 to the exclusion of honey, thus keeping the 

 section boxes close to the brood ; and if any 

 feeding is to be done, do it in the fall. This is 

 not all talk, as many of our most advanced 

 apiarists can testify. If any one will try it 

 he will find that the queen will keep the combs 

 in a hive of 1500 cubic inches filled with 

 brood; and if any honey is to be had from the 

 fields, the bees will put it in the sections, as 

 there is nowhere else to store it. This is one 

 of the secrets of securing a good yield of 

 comb honey each year, whenever the flowers 

 secrete nectar. 



Now, suppose Ouinby had, instead of feed- 

 ing, extracted the honey from the brood-combs 

 every week or so, as some have thought might 

 be necessary if we would be successful, how 

 much honey would he have obtained in his 

 boxes? Probably not a pound. Bees will not 

 enter the surplus apartment to work so long 

 as there are plenty of empty combs close by 

 the brood to store in. Again, you may take a 

 hive of 1500 cubic inches, and fill it with 

 frames of sealed honey and put on the sections. 

 Next hive a strong swarm with a good prolific 

 queen in it, and in two weeks' time you will 

 have nearly all of said honey in your sections. 



Once more, if you allow a first swarm to is- 

 sue from any hive and keep back all after- 

 swarms, by the time the young queen becomes 

 fertile every available cell in the brood-cham- 

 ber will be filled with honey, when a good 

 yield is on, and still no start be made in the 

 sections ; but just as soon as she commences 

 to lay, the bees will go to work in the sections; 

 and in twenty days, if we examine them, we 

 shall find scarcely a cell of honey in the brood- 

 combs, and as nice a lot of brood as was ever 

 seen. 



Now, we will suppose that, just as this queen 

 was fertilized, we had extracted all the honey; 

 we probably should not have obtained a single 



section of honey unless from fall flowers, as 

 the bees would have gone to storing in the 

 empty cells before the queen had filled many 

 with eggs; and, having plenty of room for the 

 present, in the brood-combs, and not entering 

 the sections when they should, they would 

 have restricted the room of the queen, which 

 would result in no honey in the sections, combs 

 crowded with honey, and a weak colony for 

 winter — at least this has been my experience. 

 Therefore, if you want a large yield of section 

 honey, keep prolific queens and let the brood- 

 combs alone, so far as the honey in them is 

 concerned, after the sections are placed on the 

 hive. 



The best laid plans of mice and mea 

 .gang aft astray." 



Just wait till 1- 



[Our artist, R. V. Murray, of Cleveland, has 

 been watching the discussion between Doo- 



