1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



703 



PRODUCING BOTH COMB AND EXTRACTED HON- 

 EY FROM THE SAME SUPER. 



There seems to be considerable enthusiasm 

 manifested over the plan outlined on p. 594. 

 I thought myself, when I first tried the 

 plan some eight or ten years ago, that I had 

 struck a great thing, but somehow I did not 

 like it as well in practice as I anticipated. 

 The greatest trouble was the difficulty of 

 keeping the sections and separators tight 

 together in the middle of the super. This 

 was partially overcome by putting an extra 

 end-bar in the middle of the extracting- 

 frame, all close-fitting, of course. These 

 small frames, with the division in the mid- 

 dle, were rather troublesome to extract from. 

 Then the honey could not be extracted well 

 except when warm from the hive, or when 

 warmed up, and it was not convenient to 

 pull the comb- supers to pieces to get out 

 these little extracting- frames as soon as 

 they were taken from the bees, extracting, 

 perhaps, only four or five of them at once. 

 Keeping them properly stored when not in 

 use was another complication, as I did not 

 expect to use them during the whole season. 

 Perhaps all of these points might have been 

 worked out satisfactorily, especially by one 

 who w as making a specialty of bee-keeping, 

 but at that time I had other business on 

 hand, and I was trying to handle my bees 

 with the least possible amount of labor that 

 would secure good results. This required 

 too much time and complication to suit me 

 under the circumstances, so I adopted other 

 plans for securing the better finishing of the 

 sections at the side of the super, and for the 

 rest I fell back upon my well-tried " combi- 

 nation system ' ' of using shallow extract- 

 ing-supers in connection with comb-supers. 

 I never published any thing in regard to it, 

 so I am not entitled to any credit if the plan 

 should prove practical on further trial, as no 

 doubt it will for some. 



But, if I am not mistaken, I was the first 

 one to make public the idea of using the 

 shallow extracting-super in combination with 

 comb-supers, which I consider more practi- 

 cal. If you will look back over the files of 

 Gleanings of twelve or fifteen years ago 

 you will find an article by me on my "com- 

 bination system," which I also outlined in a 

 paper read at the Chicago convention at 

 about the same time. Later, Mrs. Barber 

 and others hit upon the same plan, indepen- 

 dently, perhaps ; and my earlier articles hav- 

 ing doubtless been forgotten by the editor it 

 was hailed as a new thing, though it is the 

 plan on which my apiaries have been han- 

 dled for a number of years. 



GRASSHOPPERS. 



The grasshoppers are beginning to hatch, 

 myriads of them in some places. What the 

 effect will be on the honey crop is an inter- 

 esting question. Last year in some places 

 they ate the alfalfa-blossoms badly, and so 

 reduced the yield. There will probably be 

 more of them this season, and they may 

 damage us greatly. 



SWEET CLOVER. 



In spite of the apparent difference in sea- 

 son, estimates of which varied all the way 

 from a week earlier to a month later than 

 usual, both yellow and white sweet clover 

 began to bloom on exactly the same dates as 

 last year, and just fifteen days apart. An 

 increase in the amount of yellow sweet clo- 

 ver would be a fine thing for the bee-keep- 

 ers here. 



3r 



GIVING BROOD TO SHAKEN SWARMS. 



Dr. Miller wants to know whether the 

 swarms that absconded after being given 

 brood swarmed out the first day or after 

 several days. I believe they all came out 

 again the day after they were hived. Two 

 years ago a large percentage, to many of 

 which brood had been given, swarmed out 

 the next day. Some of them, though, were 

 hived in only one section of my hive, with 

 supers above. This season, all swarms, ar- 

 tificial or natural, were hived in two sec- 

 tions of the brood-chamber, generally with 

 only starters in the frames, and without 

 brood, except in the case of two or three 

 after-swarms. Two or three days thereaft- 

 er, the lower section was taken away, leav- 

 ing them in a brood-chamber six inches in 

 depth, having the capacity of about five 

 Langstroth frames. So far as I know, not 

 one of them swarmed out. Of course, su- 

 pers were given them at the time they were 

 hived. 



This is the biggest season for white and 

 red clover that we have had for many years; 

 but, unfortunately, the conditions for their 

 rapid growth have not been entirely favor- 

 able for the secretion of nectar. 



THE TACK-CLAW HIVE-TOOL. 



We have been using a common tack-claw 

 as a hive-tool, as suggested by Mr. Chalon 

 Fowls, of Oberlin, Ohio, for several weeks. 

 We find this tool to be very effective; and, 

 what is more, it is obtainable at any coun- 

 try hardware store for ten cents. 



the AUTOMOBILE FOR OUT-APIARY WORK. 



I HAVE been using with much satisfaction 

 our little light Olds runabout in going to our 

 three outyards to look after the work; and 

 while these yards are located on a suburban 

 street-car line that makes hourly trips each 

 way, I find I can save time for myself by 

 using the little vehicle, because I can go and 

 come when I please, without waiting for the 



