512 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



frame hive, thus dividing it into two five- 

 frame divisions. To the top of this division 

 I tack a quilt that it may be thrown back 

 from either side so as to leave either set of 

 frames easy of operation. If the hive- body 

 has a tight bottom on it I place a four inch 



FIG. ].— A TEN-FRAME HIVE AKRANGED ON THE FERKIS SYSTEM 



block the thickness of the entrance in the 

 middle of the long entrance, making two 

 entrances so that each five-frame division 

 has an entrance of its own. As this four- 

 inch block is shoved into the division-board 

 it stops all passage of bees from one side to 

 the other. See hive No. 1 in illustration. 



Another form which 

 I like better is to take 

 a full-depth extracting- 

 super, putting a i-inch 

 division in the center 

 and tacking a wire 

 screen, of small enough 

 mesh to exclude bees, 

 on the bottom. Bore 

 two one-inch auger- 

 holes in one end for en- 

 trances, with a button 

 one inch in thickness 

 over each, that they 

 may be closed as much 

 as desired. It also 

 gives a one-inch alight- 

 ing-board for the bees. 

 See hive No. 2 in illus- 

 tration. Tack the quilt 

 on the same as for 

 above. Now we are 

 ready to transfer the 

 bees into either of 

 these hives we have 

 prepared. 



In September, if the 

 honey-flow has ceased, 

 I take a good strong 

 ten- frame colony and 

 transfer it into this 

 prepared hive, giving 

 it another queen, thus 



making two five- frame colonies in one hive- 

 body, each having a queen with only a |-in. 

 partition between them. Feed this pre- 

 pared double colony all the sugar syrup or 

 good honey it will take, and winter in a cel- 

 lar or special repository. Here is where 

 No. 2 is better; for 

 when the bottom is re- 

 moved there is still the 

 wire screen, which 

 keeps the bees from 

 going from one side 

 to the other, and ex- 

 cludes mice and rats, 

 still giving perfect ven- 

 tilation from the bot- 

 tom. 



About the first of 

 March here at Madison 

 I bring out these colo- 

 nies and place them on 

 their summer stands. 

 The first nice warm day 

 I look them over to 

 see that each has a 

 queen, uniting all that 

 are queenless. If any 

 are reduced in bees 

 enough I remove a comb 

 or two of honey and 

 slip in a regular divi- 

 sion board follower, as bees will not clus- 

 ter on the outside of a board as they will on 

 a comb. In this respect a division- board is 

 better than a comb for weak ones. 



When the strongest of these five-frame 

 divisions have some brood in all five of their 

 combs I go through the whole yard again, 



FIG. 



2.— A CLOSE VIEW OF COLONIES MANAGED ACCORDING TO 

 THE FERRIS PLAN. 



