February, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



103 



brood~-ehamber, one at each corner. The 

 first supers given always contain one or 

 two rows of bait combs, sections having 

 full combs or foundation well drawn out, 

 left over from the previous year. These are 

 sometimes moved to the outer rows after 

 work in them is well started. When the 

 first super is partly filled, another super 

 with foundation sheets is put under it, and 

 later, before the height of the honey-flow, 

 another under that; but when the honey- 

 flow is diminishing it is put on top. As 

 soon as two-thirds of the sections in the first 

 super are capped over it is removed and the 

 unfinished ones are put back in another 

 super. In removing supers of finished sec- 

 tions the bees are not smoked out nor brush- 

 ed off from the supers. Porter bee-escape 

 boards are used to clear the sections from 

 bees, the finished supers being placed at the 

 top, and the escape beneath it to allow the 

 bees to return to the colony of their own ac- 

 cord. Bees that pass thru these escapes in 

 only one direction can go out but cannot 

 return. 



FUMIGATES THE COMBS. 



The combs are then fumigated with sul- 

 phur to kill bee-moth eggs. He prefers 



that to bisulphide of carbon. The latter 

 does the work all right, but is highly in- 

 flammable. 



DOES NOT TRY TO STOP SWARMING. 



Mr. James does not clip the queen's wings 

 nor try to stop first swarms. He expects 

 them and two - thirds of his colonies to 

 swarm. He watches closely for them at 

 the home apiary between 10 and 12 o'clock 

 during the swarming season. They usu- 

 ally settle on a limb and haug half a day 

 before going off. He then spends one hour 

 at the out-apiary to hive those that are 

 out, and returns to the home yard in time 

 to get the afternoon swarms. Sometimes 

 they hang from afternoon until the next 

 morning. This ties him right up to his 

 apiaries in good weather during swarming 

 time. He rarely has a swarm go off. Some 

 come out as late as 2 o'clock on very warm 

 days, but usually not often after 1 o'clock. 

 He often has to climb trees to secure the 

 swarms. The limb they are on is partly 

 sawed off near the tree; and as it breaks 

 half thru and swings down he can reach, 

 cut off, and descend with the branch bav- 

 in"' the swarm. 



One of Mr. James' apiaries in a forest. 



