after slie is well established in her new 

 home she will keep the empty combs, which 

 are also placed (one at a time) in the cen- 

 ter of the biood-nest, well filled with brood; 

 and by the time the white-clover flow be- 

 gins, these colonies, too, are compelled to 

 store the incoming honey in the sections. 

 From these colonies, if I do not use all of 

 them for this purpose, I select my comb- 

 honey producers. They are in the very best 

 condition for surplus-honey production, 

 without letting their ambition and energy 

 run to swarming. The question, " Why 

 don't they swarm?" is easily explained. 

 They have a young queen which is not like- 

 ly to swarm; all their working forces are 

 young, ambitious bees, every one being 

 eager to gather honey, and not one old 

 enough yet to let thoughts of increase by 

 swarming ti'ouble its mind. Then by the 

 judicious use of added supers with full 

 sheets of foundation and bottom starters, 

 and a liberal supply of bait-combs, swarm- 

 ing is practically out of the question. 



One super at a time will accommodate 

 the strongest colony that any hive contains; 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



but another must be given, when needed, 

 and a third one added whenever conditions 

 require it. It is not the amount of empty 

 super-room given at one time that keeps 

 bees from swarming, but the gradually add- 

 ed working surface as fast as the bees will 

 occupy it. As a rule, to assist bees in draw- 

 ing out foundation, two supers are all they 

 should have at a time — three for a short 

 time may be permissible. If more room is 

 needed, another may be given below, and 

 the top one removed by means of the bee- 

 escape. This crowds the working forces 

 again on to the new foundation, and keeps 

 them busy drawing out and storing. No 

 matter if there are still some unfinished 

 sections in the upper one, they can be easily 

 finished by feeding after the honey-flow. 



Equalizing at the beginning of the honey- 

 flow by way of exchanging heavy combs of 

 honey with adhering bees from the supers 

 of overly strong colonies with empty combs 

 from the supers of the weaker ones will 

 also tend to prevent swarming. I apply 

 this same principle to rows of sections from 

 the supers of the comb-honey i^roducer. 



LaSalle, N. Y. 



THE IDEAL BROOD-NEST FOR OUT-APIARIES 



An Eight-frame Hive-body and Shallow Extracting-super Make an Ideal Brood- 

 Apartment 



BY J. J. WILDER 



When Editor Root visited me a few years 

 ago we were getting our bees in shape for 

 the first great honey-flow in early spring. 

 lie asked whether we were supering the 

 bees at that early date, for all our hives 

 consisted of one eight-frame body and a 

 shallow extracting-super on top. I told 

 him that this was our regular brood-apart- 

 ment, and we went fully into the merits of 

 such an arrangement. It provides greater 

 bee production, quicker manipulation, and 

 reduces swarming almost to a minimum. 

 At the same time the greatest possible 

 amount of honey is harvested, and of the 

 fanciest grade. 



With a good equipment almost any apia- 

 rist can produce extracted honey; but it 

 requires more skill to produce comb honey 

 in one-pound sectiors or bulk comb honey, 

 when it will make the greatest and best 

 pack. This is all the more true when it 

 comes to producing it in a wholesale way 

 with the smallest amount of labor. 



I have bees in all kinds of southern loca- 

 tions, and the short cuts to great results has 

 been my aim all the time. There are a 

 gi'eat many locations where a single eight- 



frame shallow extracting-super makes an 

 ideal brood-chamber without any additional 

 room, and there are still a greater number 

 of locations where the brood-nest should 

 never be larger than the capacity of a 

 regular eight-frame hive-body. But in such 

 locations we are ti'oubled but little wilh 

 swarming, and no great crops of honey are 

 ever expected. It does not require the skill, 

 etc., that a location does where there is a 

 great abundance of pollen, and Avhere brood 

 rearing is kept up at a gi'eat pitch, espe- 

 cially at certain times, when the bees con- 

 tract the swarming fever. Under such con- 

 ditions it takes an ideal arrangement for 

 the apiarist to cover a great field. This we 

 have in the eight-frame hive-body and 

 shallow extracting-super with the regular 

 frames that go with them. The hive-body 

 contains the regular continuous nest, and 

 this we do not break up any more than we 

 can help. The super we place either over 

 or under this. 



This super, with more or less honey, is 

 left on over winter. (Of course in the 

 North, where bees are wintered in the cellar, 

 they could be removed and set away; and 



