1906 



Gi.KANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1245 



sides may he l)rushed without chaiiging the 

 position of the frame very miaeh. In llftino; 

 out a frame, take hold of the top-bar just in- 

 side the end-bar, with the thuml)s and tirst 

 fingers: now let go with the right hand and 

 proceed to l)rush without changing the tin- 

 ger-hold in the least. Fig. 5 will show how 

 the frame is held and Innished. It will lie 

 noticed that there is but very little change 

 when the nearest side is brushed as in Fig. 0. 

 A quick sweep is given down tirst one side 

 and then the other, with Imt very little ef- 

 fort. This is much easier antl quicker than 

 the old way. Possil)ly there are others also 

 who have "caught on" to this trick. 



UNCAPPING; HOW TO SEPARATE THE UNRIPE 

 HONEY FRO:\l THE RIPE. 



A careful look at Fig •") will show the wide 

 spacing of the frames and the bulged combs. 

 Mr. Townsend is in favor of plain unspaced 

 all-wood frames for the extract! ng-supers, 

 and uses only eight to a ten-frame super. In 

 this way the combs ai'e all very thick and 

 therefore easy to uncap. 



The comb shown in Fig. 5 is only about 

 half sealed. Insteail of uncapping the sealeil 

 part and extracting all the honey at once, 

 mixing the thin unripe honey with that which 

 is fully ripened, Mr. Townsend always runs 

 sm^h combs through another extractor before 

 uncapping, thus getting all the unripe honey 

 by itself. In the light colonies, the bulk of 

 the honey may be unripe, and the combs, 

 then, should be run first through a four- 

 frame extractor, then uncapped anil the 

 smaller amount of thick honey taken out in 

 a two-frame machine. In tlie strong (colo- 

 nies, on the other hand, the bulk of tlie hon- 

 ey will be capped over, and the combs should 

 tirst be run through the two-frame extractor, 

 then uncapped and finally run through the 

 four-frame to remove that which was fully 

 ripened. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDERS. 



The use of the excluders can best l)e de- 

 scribed by Mr. Townsend in his own words. 



About one-half of our extracted-honey colonies are 

 provided with queen-excluding- honey-boards. Such 

 colonies work well about two out of three years; but 

 in the swarming- season we have to keep a man at the 

 yards where uueen-excluders are used, on account of 

 excessive swarming. 



Where no (lueen-excluder is used our tirst upper 

 story is put on early. This discourages swarming, as 

 the queen has unlimited range through two stories. 

 Now, were we to lift this second story up when tilled 

 with brood and honey, and put an empty story of 

 combs in between, the (jueen would take possession 

 as in the first place. The results would be, were this 

 system of lifting up and putting empties next to the, 

 brood-nest continued clear through the season, that 

 the queen would desert the brood-nest and take per- 

 manent possession above. Now, to hold the queen i 

 below is very simple when you know how. Our tirst 

 upper story is put on about May 2.5, usually; and as we 

 have empty combs to hold the crop we do not extract 

 until the last half of July. You will see by these 

 dates that the first and even the second lot of brood 

 has ample time to hatch out and be tilled with honey, 

 provided the (iueen is crowded down below as the 

 honey season advances. This is how we manage 

 when our two-story colony mentioned above needs a 

 third story (second upper story). Place it on top. 

 By this time the queen is crowded out of the second 

 story down into the brood-nest, and will never go into 

 this third or subsequent stories; then, toward the 

 close of the season let them get a little crowded for 



FIG. 6. — HOW TO BRUSH BOTH SIDES WITH- 

 OUT CHANGING THE POSITION OF 

 THE COMB. 



room. This is essential, as we want our honey fin- 

 ished and capped over, for too much room toward the 

 last of the season means large quantities of unsealed 

 honey; and unsealed honey, no matter how long left 

 on the hive, lacks that aroma and fine flavor found 

 only in well-ripened honey. 



GETTING COMBS BUILT FROM FOUNDATION. 



Mr. Townsend can also describe this bet- 

 ter than I can. Here is his plan in full: 



When a new yard is being- started, and we need 

 extraeting-combs for it, as many wired frames of full 

 sheets of foundation are provided as we think we 

 shall need. Now, half of these upper stories of 

 foundation that have full sets of combs are taken 

 to an established yard and exchanged for combs. 

 This leaves two yards with half foundation and 



