GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



winter are exchang'ed for the perforated 

 zinc ones, and, after examining the colonies 

 for queens, etc., the frames and supers are 

 l)ut in place and need not be looked at again 

 during the season, although I try to see 

 them two or three times. 



When the honey is harvested, large cov- 

 ered cans are taken to the outyards, the 

 surplus frames are removed from the hives, 

 and held toward the light to see where the 

 light and dark honey lie; the light honey 

 is cut out into one can, and the dark into 

 another. In this way we are able to grade 

 it — something we are unable to do in ex- 

 tracting. It is taken home to be separated 

 from the comb, which is accomplished by 

 means of strainers. A table is used for this 

 purpose having a top made of galvanized- 

 wire screen, three mesh to the inch. A 

 clieese-cloth strainer is made to hang below 

 to catch the particles that pass through the 

 wire screen. An uncapping-can may be 

 used for small quantities. 



When every thing is in readiness the 

 cluinks of honey in the cans are all maslied 

 fine and poured on top of the Avire-top table 

 to drain. The table should be elevated 

 above the storage tank so that the honey 

 will flow into it without extra handling. 



It will be noticed by the foregoing that no 

 extractor or expensive extracting oufit is 

 required. The crop can be handled leisure- 

 ly, and at a time when the weather is more 

 agreeable .than it is sometimes Aviien ex- 

 tracting. Results can be obtained with much 

 less labor, time, and expense. Colonies are 

 less stirred up and excited from giving up 

 tlieir stores. We are able to produce fnllv 

 as much choice honey, I think, as by any 

 other method, and a good many pounds of 

 the very finest virgin wax, which of itself 

 is no small item. 



Hartford, Ct. 



[A number of beekeepers in New Eng- 

 land, particularly Mr. Allan Latham, Nor- 

 wichtown, Ct., and Mr. Yates, have been 

 working on this let-alone principle of keep- 

 ing bees — that is to say, they have been ex- 

 perimenting with lai'ge hives (or Long Idea 

 hives) — so large, indeed, that they have 

 sufficient capacity to cairy a whole season's 

 crop with little or no manipulation on the 

 part of the beekeeper. A year ago last 

 summer, when attending a convention of 

 beekeepers at Amiierst, Mass., we listened 

 to an address by Mr. Yates which he deliv- 

 ered on this subject before the convention. 

 At that time we requested him to prepare 

 an article, with illustrations, showing his 

 system of management, and the foregoing 

 is the result. 



Mr. 0. 0. Poi)pleton, of Stuart, Fla., has 



long advocated the use of a 24-frame or 

 Long Idea hive having a capacity similiar to 

 the one here shown. Many years ago he 

 used a 24-frame double-walled hive in Iowa. 

 He liked it so well that when he went south 

 he continued to use the same hive, but, of 

 course, without the double walls. We will 

 have an illustrated article showing Popple- 

 ton's entire system, which he was using till 

 within a year ago. That there are advan- 

 tages in the system caimot be denied. Wheth- 

 er the disadvantages for the average bee- 

 keeper will outweigh the advantages we will 

 not attempt to say; but it is a system that 

 the average reader can afford to look into 

 with an open mind. A little later on we 

 shall show another system somewhat simi- 

 lar, and yet very different, by J. E. Hand. 

 This is a 16-frame hive capable of vertical 

 expansion. More anon. — Ed.] 



Continued from page 369 



up to a condition where no desire to swarm 

 has becoine manifest; and those that have 

 become "broody " are allowed no comb of 

 brood, but several thousand empty cells at 

 the time of shaking. In the mean time the 

 sujDer of sections right above the combs they 

 are shaken on has from four to tAvelve sec- 

 tions full of drawn comb left over from the 

 previous season. In this way the colony 

 Avhich has not become broody at time of 

 shaking keeps right on with feeding the 

 queen, removes the honey in the brood- 

 combs to the sections, and the queen depos- 

 its eggs Avithout interruption. On the other 

 hand, the bees and queen from a broody 

 colony find their " house all SAvept and gar- 

 nished," with no incentive but to go right to 

 Avork as any good swarm should when com- 

 ing in possession of a neAv home. The 

 condition and tendency in both eases is to 

 rear brood in the brood-chamber and store 

 honey in the supers to the best possible 

 advantage. 



Spacing Danzenbaker Frames Wider Apart in Ex- 

 tracting Supers 



I have found the most effective method for spacing 

 Danzenbaker frames for extracting to be to remove 

 tliR siipporting rivets and replace them about tvpo 

 inches nearer the top-bar. This can be done without 

 mutilating the comb badly. The end-cleats of the 

 liive must then be raised to a corresponding level, 

 ;uid the frame will hang perpendicular by its own 

 ^\cight, .I'ust as do the shallow Danzenbaker extract- 

 inc-frames. As one seldom wants to reverse the 

 frames, this position for the rivet is as good as the 

 center. 



Stouffville, Ont, F. L. PoIjXock, 



