May, l;»'J2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



319 



HEADS OF GRAIN V J^mOl DIFFERENT FIELDS 



Doulble Brood-chambers I use 10 - f r a m e 

 for Spring. equipment and fol- 



low the two-body 

 manipulation as early in the spring as pos- 

 sibly, A great deal of emphasis should be 

 placed in giving the bees all of the winter 

 stores they can use. In my locality a 10- 

 frame hive will have to weigh 65 pounds at 

 the beginning of the wintering period. If, 

 therefore, these colonies are provided with 

 sufficient stores early in the fall and given 

 extra room the first thing in the spring, they 

 build up quickly into larger and energetic 

 producers. Of course, the bees must be win- 

 tered well. 



No one can quarrel with Mr. Stahlman at 

 Knox, N. Y., a photo of whose splendid api- 

 ary was shown in July Gleanings. His "rec- 

 ord speaks for his management. However, 

 in my own beekeeping, I have tried to avoid 

 as much as possible the clustering of bees 

 on the outside of the hives. We must keep 



tention to the plans I have mentioned above 

 I have found tliat this equipment enabled me 

 last season to average considerably over 200 

 pounds per colony, spring count, in a season 

 which was only average. From my experi- 

 ence in the last three years, careful observa- 

 tion and such investigation as I have been 

 able to make, I am inclined to believe that 

 an average of at least 200 pounds is possi- 

 ble over a period of five years, if the plans 

 mentioned above are carefully followed. 

 Scotland, S. Dak. 0. G. Bbrton. 



M 

 A New Way A splendid way to help back- 

 of Equalizing ward colonies which have 

 Colonies. not worn-out queens in 



spring: Place an excluder 

 board which has four additional %-inch 

 cleats nailed around the edges, underneath, 

 which makes an additional space above the 

 frames on all colonies from v.-hich you 



(). (;. Biirto-i .secures enormous colonies in standar 

 to averags 200 pounds per 



all of the bees working all of the time. 1 

 have laid great emphasis on what Mr. Pettit 

 has termed the "Morale of the Hive," and 

 I find that nothing is more inclined to make 

 a colony balky than to allow clustering. 



Mv success in swarm prevention I lay to 

 the fact that I try to keep all of the bees 

 busy by allowing a great sufficiency of room 

 not only to the queen but the young bees 

 and field bees as well. The last season I 

 cut no queen-cells and had but two swarms 

 in an apiary of 80 colonies. 



For our use the 10-frame equipment is 

 more satisfactory, although I believe that 

 without the two-body manipulation it would 

 not be entirely successful. By careful at- 



d Viive.s by the two-brood-chamber plan, 

 colony by this management. 



He expects 



expect assistance in the way of drawing 

 young bees. As these colonies become 

 strong you will find the young bees cluster- 

 ing under the board in this extra space. All 

 the young bees like to cluster in this warm 

 space. Simply remove the board with its 

 cluster of young bees and dump in front of 

 the hive needing help. No danger of losing 

 queens this way in either of the colonies, 

 and the bees "stay put." This method sur- 

 passes shaking bees (old and young) from 

 combs and sometimes the queen or adding 

 combs of brood. It is safe, sane and simple. 

 Don't draw from the strong too near the 

 honey flow. J. H. Fishbeck. 



St. Louis, Mo. 



