582 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



weeks, then I went through to chp the 

 queens, and I found generally two to four 

 frames of brood; but when I came to this 

 little colony I found it the strongest one in the 

 yard. It had five frames of brood, and eggs 

 an two other frames. You see th s hive had 

 no honey in, and there was nothing in the 

 way, so this queen went right on and deposit- 

 ed it full of eggs, and the bees from below 

 came up and brought up honey and pollen to 

 feed them, and plenty of heat from below 

 supplied the needed warmth, and it made 

 me a good strong colony for the honey har- 

 vest, as also the one below did, as later I set 

 these top colonies off the proper time to do 

 it. You can judge for yourself. If you 

 leave them on too long they will get strong- 

 er than the ones below. It is an automatic 

 way of equalizing your bees in the spring. 

 We aim first to put the very lightest colony 

 on the very heaviest one, and so on down. 

 It makes these light colonies safe from rob- 

 bers and all other calamities. It would be, 

 if you please, like taking a regiment at the 

 front which had been all cut up and depleted, 

 and moving them back behind a strong bat- 

 tery of Gatling guns with the commissary 

 wagons just behind them. They are per- 

 fectly safe from all comers; and when they 

 eventually work their way down through 

 the strong and out at the lower entrance, as 

 their own entrance above is closed, they 

 have so acquired the scent of the big colony 

 that there is no fighting, or at least in three 

 years' trial under all conditions I have not 

 detected any. Yes, it is all right to set the 

 light colonies right up at once on the strong 

 ones. It is the best thing in every way for 

 relieving us of this most troublesome problem 

 in our bee-work. It is equal to the cat's 

 trick of climbing a tree to get rid of dogs, 

 which was worth all that the fox had, and 

 more. Long live Alexander, the big-heart- 

 ed man! and long live the bee- journals for 

 recording these things and getting them to 

 us in such good shape. 

 Grand Rapids, Mich. 



[Yes, this plan of strengthening weak 

 colonies is one of the best things that has 

 ever been given to the public. But it is 

 important to carry out directions in full. 

 The colony below should be a strong one or 

 the plan will fail. Uniting two weak col- 

 onies will not work. The two clusters will 

 unite in one, leaving the deserted queen high 

 and dry, when she soon dies.— Ed.] 



MAKING INCREASE. 



A Reply to E. W. Alexander's Criticism. 



BY F. L. DAY. 



I see Mr. Alexander has made a rather 

 scathing criticism, p. 1189, of my report of 

 a test of his plan of making increase, page 

 1017. I can not blame him for being vexed 

 with the report, even though he is mistaken 

 in part. In the spring, when I divided the 

 four colonies in question it was done June 1, 

 as stated in my report; but the first prepa- 



ration was made May 22, not April 22. The 

 error was made in copying from my record 

 of individual colonies. But had Mr. Alexan- 

 der read my whole report with perhai)S a 

 Httle more care he would have noticed 

 where it said, ' ' Here was 75 per cent of 

 swarming, actual or anticipated, at nine 

 days from preparation of colonies. ' ' When 

 I stated in the report that three of the up- 

 per stories had queen-cells, some of them 

 almost ready to hatch, I was not quibbling 

 on one-fourth or one half of a day, but 

 meant that they would hatch in one or two 

 days. From May 22 to June 1 is ten days- 

 just the time the colonies were to remain 

 after being prepared. The nine days was a 

 part of the old mistake. On the tenth day 

 I divided the four colonies in the forenoon 

 and also had the first swarm from one of 

 the lower stories in the afternoon. If Mr. 

 Alexander will refer to my full report in the 

 American Bee Journal for Nov. 2, page 764. 

 he will see where I gave the four colonies 

 treated on his plan credit for producing 

 about 45 per cent more honey than those 

 colonies which were not divided. Is not 

 this a fair showing? He will also notice 

 that all my bees swarmed excessively, which 

 accounts in a measure for the poor success 

 of his plan. 



Mr. Alexander speaks disparagingly of my 

 queen- excluders; but I assure him they are 

 all right. In four years I have never known 

 even a virgin, much less a laymg queen, to 

 get through one of them. 



Detroit City, Minn., Nov. 25, 19U5. 



NON-SWARMING PLANS; THEIR FAULTS 

 AND FAILURES. 



The Chambers Non-swarming Device. 

 BY J. E. CHAMBERS. 



[In explanation it may be well to say that this article 

 is based upon the one by the same author that appears 

 in the Nov. 15th issue, page 1181. It would be well if 

 the reader would turn first to this former article, and 

 then note that, in the one here given, several improve- 

 ments are described. 



As many (and perhaps a majority) of our readers 

 will not have the issue of Gleanings above mentioned 

 at hand, it will be necessary, in order to understand how 

 this non- swarming attachment is used, to make an ex- 

 planation of the method right here. The attachment, 

 consisting of the honey-board and chute, is so fully de- 

 scribed in what follows that no further explanation is 

 needed. 



HOW TO USE FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



When a colony shows preparations for swarming it is 

 removed from its stand to one side, and a frame of brood 

 with adhering bees is taken out and put into an empty 

 hive, as at B, the same being placed on the old stand. 

 The space on either side in the hive is filled out with 

 empty combs or full sheets of foundation. The dividing, 

 board is now placed on top with the slide (I) shoved in. 

 Over this, again, is placed the parent hive (A) with the 

 queen, brood, bees, and all, minus the frame of brood in 

 B. The wire cloth chute is then attached to the front 

 of both hives, as shown in the illustrations. The opera- 

 tion is this: The bees in the old parent hive now above, 

 as at A, will pass out of the opening at H, down through 

 the perforated metal G, strike the wire cloth, and pass 

 upward at the exit above in block C. On returning 

 they will enter the regular entrance to which they are 

 accustomed, in tlie lower hive, where they will unite 

 with the bees on the frame of brood This process will 

 continue until the old bees are all out. The young bees 

 at the first playspell will come out of the upper hive in 



