1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



443 



from; and I do not think that I have ex- 

 hausted the subject, but I have given the 

 first principles the same as I did in " Scien- 

 tific Quetn-rearing. " While I have been 

 digging out the plans as given in this book, 

 others have been building many different 

 structures on the queen-rearing principle I 

 gave, for which I am glad; but they have 

 not undermined the principle, nor brought it 

 to naught. 



And now I send this non swarming-sec- 

 tion-honey- producing principle out, expect- 

 ing that others will build different structures 

 on it; and if they do, I shall be glad again. 

 I cheerfully and freely give the principles in 

 this system to all, hoping and believing that 

 the same will prove as efficient in the hands 

 of others as they have with me. 



CHAPTER I. 



AN AVERAGE OF 114J POUNDS OF SECTION 

 HONEY PER COLONY IN A POOR SEA- 

 SON, AND HOW IT WAS DONE. 



The sun rose bright and clear on the morn- 

 ing of April 14, 1905, the morning of my six- 

 tieth birthday; and as old Sol peered over 

 the hill-top in all his golden splendor, kissing 

 the swelling buds and cheering all animated 

 nature with the intuition that ' ' spring has 

 come," I proposed to Mr. Clark, my part- 

 ner, that we go over to the out-apiary, five 

 miles distant, and set the bees out of the 

 cellar, the bees in the home apiary having 

 been set out two or three days previously. 

 The horse was^oon hitched up, as the roads 

 were too muddy and full of deep ruts for the 

 auto, and we were at our destination before 

 nine o'clock, with the stands all prepared 

 for the bees. 



DR. miller's BOTTOM- BOARD, SUMMER SIDE 

 UP. 



I? As I use the Dr. Miller bottom- board, the 

 same having a two- inch- deep side for win- 

 tering, and a three eighths- inch-deep side 

 for summer, a reserve board was placed on 

 the stand of No. 1, row No. 1, summer side 

 up, for the first colony taken out to be 

 placed upon. Before going to the cellar, 

 two smokers were set to burning— one in the 

 bee-yard, side of stand No. 1, row 1, and 

 one at the cellar door just outside. Besides 

 this last smoker, there was placed a soak- 

 ing- wet (right- sized) piece of cotton cloth 

 at the cellar door, ready for immediate use 

 as soon as any hive was brought out, for 

 there is nothing that will keep bees from 

 pushing out of their hive before you want 

 them to like a wet cloth. 



Colony No. 1 was now brought through 

 the cellar door; and while Mr. Clark shut 

 the door, so the bees remaining in the cel- 

 lar might be kept as quiet as possible, I put 

 the wet cloth over the entrance of the hive, 



and then sent a few puffs of smoke in at the 

 entrance through a little hole made by turn- 

 ing back one corner of the wet cloth. A 

 loud roar soon told that this colony was in 

 good condition. A rope was now put under 

 the cleats to the hive, when the same was 

 carried to the bee-yard (Mr. Clark on one 



REMOVING THE STAPLES. 



side, Doolittle on the other) , and set down 

 by the side of the stand it was to occupy. 

 The crate staples which held the bottom- 

 board to the hive were now pulled out by a 

 prying motion with a piece of a wagon- 

 spring, fitted so it would just slip through 

 between the wood of the hive and the top of 

 the staple; then a little more smoke was 

 used to drive the bees back so they would 

 not be in too big haste to come out of the 

 hive when the same was lifted from the bot- 

 tom-board it had previously occupied, to the 

 one on its own stand. The bottom-board 

 No. 1 had occupied all winter was now turn- 

 ed summer side up and placed on stand No. 

 2, when colony No. 2 was brought out in the 

 same way No. 1 had been, and placed on it, 

 and so on till all were out. 



USE OF A ROPE IN CARRYING A HIVE. 



In this way all dead bees, dirt, etc., which 

 had accumulated during the winter were at 

 once done away with, leaving all sweet and 

 clean, and in a prosperous condition. Owing 

 to too much work of all kinds for two or 

 three years previous when I was alone, the 

 bees at the out-apiary had been allowed to 

 become reduced in numbers to 21 colonies in 

 the fall of 1904, one of which was queenless 



