50 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



posing of the brbod near the sections 

 at will? Beyond question, it is the 

 proper management of the shallow, 

 sectional brood chamber ! Has it 

 any disadvantages ? We assert fear- 

 lessly that it has not, neither in win- 

 tering, the laying of the queen or in 

 the manipulation of hives or combs ! 

 Until about five years ago, a hive, 

 the brood chamber of which was in 

 three shallow sections, each 5 1 inches 

 deep by 12 by 16 inside, has stood 

 here in this town and contained 

 bees uninterruptedly for thirty years. 

 The colony in its thin walls of wal- 

 nut, had resisted the cold and the 

 buffeting of the storms of thirty 

 winters, and it at last succumbed to 

 the depredations of robber bees who 

 gained entrance by its many rotten 

 corners. It had always done well, 

 was generally on hand with a rousing 

 swarm in season, and besides, made 

 a liberal surplus for its owner. When 

 Father Langstroth, a tew years since, 

 recommended a thin walled hive for 

 out-door wintering, I was quickly re- 

 minded of this old hive and colony. 

 (The panels in the sides of each of 

 the cases were not over ^ inch thick.) 

 That it had not been manipulated 

 on the modern plan of tiering up the 

 cases, and the placing of the brood 

 next to the super was no fault of the 

 hive. The combs were attached to 

 top bars in each case on the Dzier- 

 zon plan. 



REVERSING HIVES. 



In a shallow sectional brood 

 chamber we believe that there is no 

 advantage whatever to be derived 

 from reversing its sectional parts. 

 The placing of the brood next the 

 super, and any honey that may be 

 in the upper case below the brood 

 will accomplish all that can be done. 

 We shall, therefore, have no use for 

 a reversible hive. Again, as we shall 

 not have occasion to handle the 

 frames very much but instead the 

 sectional cases, it will not be greatly 

 to our advantage to have the frames 

 as steadily movable as are L. frames. 



On this account a very simple case 

 is all that is necessary to hold the 

 frames — a case without ornamenta- 

 tion, clamps, screws or anything of 

 the kind. Neither do we want a 

 complicated bottom board, but all 

 the parts of a practical hive of this 

 nature should be, and zviilbe, made 

 only of a few parts and all very plain 

 and easy of' construction. 

 New Philadelphia, Ohio. 



[ To be continued?^ 



GETTING BEES OUT OF 

 BOXES. 



Bt p. K. Kussell. 



I find that none of us are too 

 old to learn something, and this 

 seems to be especially true of bee- 

 keeping. Beekeeping is a remark- 

 ably progressive business. So much 

 is this the case, that the best of us, 

 if we would keep abreast of the 

 times, must continually be on the 

 alert for new and improved methods 

 of management. 



Hardly are we settled down in the 

 use of a method or device, before it 

 must be changed or set aside for 

 something better. 



All this is as it should be, no doubt, 

 as it tends to increase of production, 

 cheapening of products, increase of 

 consumption, and is a real blessing 

 to the masses, who could not other- 

 wise enjoy the good things of life in 

 so large a measure. 



But there is one line of improve- 

 ment that I would like to see ad- 

 vanced at the present time, and that 

 is a bette?- method of getting bees 

 out of filled sections, in a sort of 

 wholesale style, if you please. 



I am free to confess that I have 

 not as yet learned of any method 

 that is wholly satisfactory in all 

 cases. It is true that in a small 

 way we may get the bees out with- 



