1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



187 



A Modification of the Heddon Plan of Transfer- 

 ring; Placing the Old Hive Above the New 

 One for 21 Days Instead of at One Side. 



Having to make several traiisferrings I consulted 

 my books on bees, and adopted the Heddon plan; 

 but even with this I met many difficulties, and at 

 last Invented a new plan, or, rather, an improve- 

 ment on the Heddon. I work on the Heddon plan 

 until the queen has passed to the modern hive; and 

 to be sure of this 1 place an entrance-guard on the 

 hive. As soon as the queen is safely in her new 

 home I change the Heddon plan to mine in this 

 wise: 



Instead of placing the old hive two feet away I 

 place It on the new hive with a queen-excluder be- 

 tween them; and as the old hives in this country are 

 smaller than the new, 1 put it inside of empty mod- 

 ern hive-bodies tiered up until they are at a height 

 when I am able to cover securely with the modern 

 hive-cover. 



I leave it so until the 21 days, when, in the even- 

 ing, I place a Porter bee-escape board underneath 

 the old hive and queen-excluder, and next morning 

 all the bees will have gone below, leaving behind 

 them the drones, and old crooked combs that can 

 be taken care of later. 



The principal advantages to be obtained from my 

 plan are as follows: 



1. It avoids the double work at the end of the 21 

 days. 



2. It avoids robbing and the bee-moth in the old 

 hive which naturally is weak, owing to the separa- 

 tion of the bees. 



3. There is no need to worry over a fight, as they 

 are practically all in one hive. 



4. It does not matter how many bees pass to the 

 new hive with the queen or whether she be the first 

 or last to go. 



5. If there is nectar coming in, all you have to do 

 is to place a super after the transferring, and it is 

 sure to be attended to. 



6. If the Heddon plan is used during wet weather, 

 my plan avoids the chilling of the brood owing to 

 lack of bees in the old hive. 



Trujillo Alto, P. R., Oct. 24. V, A. Texera. 



[Where you have plenty of empty hive-bodies, 

 and no honey is being stored at the time, your plan 

 of transferring is an improvement over the Heddon. 

 But many times there is no surplus of extra brood- 

 chambers; and in that case the bee-keeper would 

 have to adopt the Heddon plan pure and simple. 

 In any event, if there is a honey-flow on we would 

 use the Heddon plan rather than your improve- 

 ment. It is desirable, after all the brood has hatch- 

 ed out in the brood-nest, to have as little honey in 

 the combs as possible. When this brood-nest is on 

 a separate stand, and it has only bees that are 

 hatching out from brood, there would be no addi- 

 tional honey stored in it. — Ed.] 



What Happens when Bees Boil Out over the Sides 



of a Hive that is being Manipulated in a 



House-apiary. 



Some time ago I wrote you for information in re- 

 gard to house-apiaries about which I had read in 

 the ABC book. I received your reply, and thank 

 you much for your kindness in answering so fully. 

 I intend to build a small house-apiary next season, 

 and there is one thing I should like to ask about. 

 As I intend to arrange the hives they will stand 

 back from the wall 4 in. and up from the floor 4 in. 

 to allow for ample winter protection— the bee-pass- 

 age, of course, being covered. Now, in some ma- 

 nipulations, as, for instance, destroying queen- 

 cells, a strong colony will sometimes "boil" over 

 the side of the hive, regaining the inside by way of 

 the entrance after the cover is on. Now, the ques- 

 tion is, if this occurred in the house-apiary would 

 this quart (possibly) of bees leave the hive and the 

 building by way of the inch openings you recom- 

 mend, and regain the inside by way of the en- 

 trance, or, if left to them.selves, cluster on the hive 

 and perish? 



TROUBLE WITH CAPPING-MELTERS. 



On page 30, Jan. 15, you invite comment on cap- 

 plng-melters. Two years ago I purchased one, cost- 

 ing me with freight, duty, etc., added, about 115.00. 

 I used it a part of one season, and it is now for sale 

 cheap. I found most of the objection that others 

 have noted, and in addition one serious objection 

 which I have not seen mentioned by any one else, 



and that was, a great deal of the wax would be 

 found in the form of loose globules, from the size of 

 a pea down to almost Invisible particles. This 

 could be saved only by skimming and straining, 

 and even then there would be a certain amount of 

 loss, and that, as you are aware, of the very best 

 kind of wax. 



In regard to that question of W. M. Shields, p. 51, 

 Jan. 15, I think that, although these colonies had a 

 fair amount of bees when he took off the supers in 

 September they must have been queenless since 

 the swarming season, and, by two months later, 

 dwindled away. 



Wesley, Ont. George Wood. 



[You ask in regard to the bees clustering outside 

 of the h.ive in the house-apiary during the various 

 manipulations. This will do no harm provided the 

 inside of the house-apiary is dark and you have 

 openings covered by bee-escapes in one or two 

 places. If the room is dark, the bees will always go 

 toward tlie light, and, when once outside, they will 

 go to their own entrances. 



We believe your trouble with the grantilar wax 

 was due to the fact that you evidently did not wrap 

 up the can into which the honey and wax flowed, 

 thus confining the heat and keeping the wax liquid 

 till the work was finished. — Ed.] 



Report of the South Dakota State Convention. 



The South Dakota Stati^Tiee-keepers' Association 

 held its annual meeting at Sioux Falls, Jan. 27th. 

 The attendance was not large, but great interest 

 and enthusiasm were shown. An instructive and 

 entertaining paper on "The Bee-hive and its Occu- 

 pants " was read by Miss Rhoda Carey, of Ellis. Mr. 

 W. P. Southworth gave us a very heliJful talk on 

 the handling and marketing of honey. President 

 Ginsback told how to manage bees so as to get a 

 good crop of honey. 



Secretary Syverud talked on the subject of foul 

 brood. 



General discussion followed each topic, and great 

 interest was shown by all. The questions and ans- 

 wers flew thick and fast. 



The report of the secretary showed the association 

 to be in a prosi)erovis condition. It was decided to 

 hold a field meet early in July. 



The time of the next regular annual meeting was 

 not decided upon. 



Officers elected were— R. A. Morgan, of Vermil- 

 lion, President; Mr. C. Pabst, of Dell Rapids, Vice- 

 president; L. A. Syverud, of Canton, Secretary and 

 Treasurer. 



Sioux Falls, S. D. Geo. F. Webster. 



Swarming More Easily Prevented with the Long- 

 Idea Hives. 



In the article describing the Long-Idea hive, page 

 765, Dec. 1, 1910, Mr. Shlber pays quite a tribute to 

 the relic of the past generation. He truthfully tells 

 some of the virtues of this hive, even if his frames 

 (L. size) were shaped wrong. He forgot to state 

 one Important fact, however, and so I will do it for 

 him. The swarming in spring can be more easily 

 controlled with the Long-Idea hive than with any 

 kind of bees, regardless of their nationality; and 

 Mr. Hand, of Ohio, has perfected the system for the 

 Langstroth hive, which I have used in a much 

 cruder way with the Long Idea, without a failure. 

 Mr. Hand's system is, to my mind, one of the new- 

 est kinks In hive-manipulation to control swarm- 

 ing, and is worthy of a fair trial. 



Del Rio, Texas, Dec. 16. G. Koknrum. 



Bumble-bees Not Subdued by Smoke. 



I read with interest Frank C. Pellett's article on 

 page 802, Dec. 15, 1910. It reminded me of an experi- 

 ence that I had several years ago. I had kept bees 

 for several years, and had become comparatively 

 immune to the effects of their stings. I was curi- 

 ous to know if this immunity extended to bumble- 

 bees, and also wished to see what effect smoke 

 would have upon them. I did not have as much 

 confidence in the smoke as Mr. Pellett had, so I put 

 on my veil and gloves before beginning operations. 

 I got my smoker to going well, and then tackled a 

 nice healthy colony of bumble-bees. I discovered 

 in a very shori time that I could not subdue them 

 with smoke; and sting? Well, rather. For several 

 days I carried reminders that I was not immune to 

 to the effects of their stings. 



McNabb, 111. E. O. GUNN, 



