or third week an empty comb is placed in 

 the center of the brood-nest, as this happens 

 now in more settled weather; and as the 

 cluster of bees is larger, a little spreading 

 doe.s not seem to hurt the prosperity of the 

 colony. This method of spreading is used 

 until the hives become full of brood, and 

 then some combs are raised into an upper 

 story over an excluder. All colonies are 

 given upper stories as soon as their strength 

 will permit, even if their brood has not 

 reached tlie number of ten frames (I some- 

 times have colonies make 30 to 40 pounds 

 of extracted honey before June 1). As the 

 main flow from clover does not come on 

 until the first week in June, or later, 1 find 

 that this extra I'oom keeps the colonies from 

 getting the swarming fever, and I am also 

 the gainer, often by many pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey that perhaps othenvise Avould 

 never have been gathered. The colonies in 

 the yard that have an upper story are 

 shaken on clean empty combs or founda- 

 tion with one frame ot capped brood, and 

 the propel' amount of super room given at 

 once. Two or three supers, one fitted with 

 four to eiglit baits, are given to each shak- 

 en colony. By this method one has a large 

 amount of brood on hand. This is saved 

 by placing it over weak colonies till it is 

 capped; then it can be used for increase, 

 or left on the weak hives until the combs 

 are filled with honey. 



Tn the Altay yard there were 23 hives of 

 brood from 35 colonies. Six weak hives 

 cared for the brood. Tn ten days these hives 

 became so strong that extra entrances had 

 to be provided in order to prevent the bees 

 from hanging on the outside of the hive. 

 During the white-honey flow the combs were 

 filled with lioney, and also an extra set for 

 each six hives. As soon as the brood had 

 all hatched, these bees were shaken from 

 the combs into one hive-body, and four to 

 eight supers given to each hive. T cannot 

 remember exactly, but I know one made 

 330 .sections before the buckwheat flow, and 

 flie other five filled between four and six 

 supers each. 



Colonies Avorked in this way produce 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



fancy comb, the finest that can be made. 

 They do not even offer to swarm as long as 

 plenty of super room is given. Every colo- 

 ny is inspected once a week to determine if 

 honey is fit to remove, if plenty of extra 

 room is ahead of bees, and last, but not 

 least, to see if any colony contracts the 

 swarming impulse. If one should, the cells 

 are broken down, room and more ventila- 

 tion provided ; and by the following Aveek, 

 if they still insist on swarming (as they did 

 in 1915), all brood is removed, which in 

 most cases cures. 



The empty supers are placed under the 

 partly filled ones at the beginning of the 

 flow, and on top of all the supers as the 

 flow nears the end. Bee-escapes are used 

 exclusively, paying well for the extra trip 

 required. 



Increase is made by the Alexander plan 

 in some seasons; but the three-frame nu- 

 clei, made and transferred by auto to an- 

 other yard, have the advantage in tliat all 

 the bees stay. 



Hardly any attempt is made at queen-, 

 reaiing. Good queens can be bought in 

 large lots at reasonable rates from expe- 

 rienced men. If one gives his colonies extra 

 good care, there is not much time left to 

 rear queens. Men who have reared queens 

 for years can send out better queens than 

 persons of only a few yeare' experience. 

 Colonies are requeened every Iavo years un- 

 less queens prove poor. 



Colonies are numbered, and a record of 

 each colony kept. The records help to control 

 the swarming. They give the age of queens, 

 but do not give yield of honey per colony 

 except where colonies prove poor and the 

 queens require changing. The sales for the 

 season give the average of honey per colony. 



The crop last season was, in round figrures, 

 5000 sections of comb and 3000 pounds of 

 extracted honey from 56 hives, spring count, 

 and an increase to 110 colonies. I belieA'e 

 that these bees could have been made to 

 average an even 200 lbs. per colony if I had 

 known then what I know now. 



Don't try to manage outyards Avithout an 

 automobile. 



Dundee, N. Y. 



OUT-APIARIES IN RHODE ISLAND 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



Out-apiaries are not a joy to the " bee 

 fusser," nor are they a royal road to Avealth 

 for him. "Let-alone" .systems must be used 

 for best r{\sults, all things considered. 



All of juy apiaries are uoav " out-apia- 

 ries," and are from eight to twenty-five 



miles from home. The nearest thing to a 

 home yard is the one eight miles away, and 

 it is where I raise my queens and do most 

 of my experimenting. T haA^e three yards 

 all together totaling about two hundred 

 colonies, and I have an oversight of two 



