THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



89 



is making a success in keeping 

 bees. He sends his lioney to mar- 

 ket by tons. This season he has, 

 so it is said, cleared $12,000 from 

 his apiaries. 



Mr. Heddon's hive is nothing new, 

 as is shown in a recent number of 

 "Gleanings," and is also shown by 

 Mr. J, M. Shuck, and many 3'^ears 

 farther back by Mr. John M. Price. 



If the title of the new book was 

 "Success in Advertising" it would 

 be in our opinion more appropri- 

 ate. As an advertiser Mr. Hed- 

 don has been a success, not that 

 he has expended the largest amount 

 of money in such business but he 

 has done more of it and at less ex- 

 pense than any other person in the 

 bee business. 



TOPICS 

 OF GENERAL INTEREST. 



KEEP THE HEALTH OF THE APIARY 

 GOOD. 



No apiary can be kept up to the 

 standard in points of hardiness, 

 vigor and general health, unless 

 new blood is frequently infused. 

 It is good policy to purchase a few 

 queens each season for such a pur- 

 pose, if for no other. So far as 

 we have observed, all the animal 

 kingdom shows marked and un- 

 mistakable evidence of degenera- 

 tion when in-breeding is practised 

 to any great extent. 



First-class queens can now be 

 purchased at such low figures, no 

 one need let his apiaries deterio- 

 rate for want of new blood to im- 

 prove tliem. 



WHEN TO PUT THE SECTIONS ON. 



The proper time to put the sec- 

 tions on is when the hive seems 

 crowded with bees, the honey pro- 

 ducing flowers abundant, and the 

 weather favorable for a flow of 

 honey. It is hardly advisable to 

 put them on under other conditions. 

 10 



Very little is gained by putting a 

 few sections on a hive containing 

 a weak colony. By so doing, the 

 temperature of the brood-chamber 

 is lessened by the increased venti- 

 lation given through the sections. 

 If a colony is not sufficiently strong 

 in numbers to work in a full set of 

 sections, the method given in the 

 March number, page 52, should 

 be adopted. That plan will be 

 found to work well in any case. 



CAN SWARMING BE PREVENTED? 



There are several methods for 

 controlling swarming, but none as 

 yet have been devised to prevent 

 it, unless it is by the " reversible" 

 hive system. Even in that case, 

 it would be a vast deal of trouble 

 if the apiary contained several hun- 

 dred or even but 100 colonies. 



If such a practice is adopted, the 

 hives must be reversed, at least, 

 once, every three days, as all queen 

 cells are sealed on the fourth day 

 from the time they are commenced. 

 And if a larva one day old is se- 

 lected for a queen, the cell vvill be 

 capped on the third day, though 

 usually no queen cell is sealed un- 

 til the fourth day, when, if tiie 

 weather is pleasant, a swarm will 

 issue. Hence the importance of 

 reversing the hive often, to pre- 

 vent swarming. When the cells 

 are reversed at such an early stage 

 in the development of a queen, 

 the larva is destroyed and other 

 cells must be made before the col- 

 ony will cast a swarm. In our opin- 

 ion, a colony treated in such a way 

 several times would soon become 

 discouraged and give up the swarm- 

 ing fever. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS. 



The following will be found a 

 good method for fastening founda- 

 tion in sections : cut the foundation 

 in V-shaped pieces, and have at 

 hand an iron pan containing a mix- 

 ture (equal parts) of hot beeswax 

 and rosin. If many sections are to 



