THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Novembei 



strips of wood 3-8 iuclies thick, or 

 tliieker, if you like u deep entrance. 

 Now, if we cut out from one end of 

 tiie honey-board frame a piece the 

 width of tlie original entrance and 

 place the frame, bee space side down, 

 beneath tlie body, we will have two 

 entrances, one above the other. One 

 through the meshes of the entire 

 honey-board and out under ttie same. 

 The other, the original entrance over 

 it. Of coiu'se the edge of the zinc must 

 be flush with the front of the hive. 



Next cut away the lower section oC 

 the Alley queen trap. Then cut two 

 entrance blocks the same thickness as 

 the honey-board frame. The object be- 

 ing to elevate the ti'ap to the level of 

 the old entrance, thus closing it and 

 leaving a suitable entrance below it. 

 Place the trap on the blocks, snug 

 against the hive with the little wii-e 

 cone enti-ances of the trap next to the 

 original hive entrance and the job is 

 completed. In this way we can catch 

 the queen without interfering with the 

 free flight of the workers. In fact, I 

 see nothing to prevent it from being a 

 permanent flxture of every hive. This 

 contrivance is not so liable to become 

 clogged with drones, dead bees, etc., as 

 is the Alley trap if it is left on the 

 hive any length of time. By using the 

 upper story of the trap only, and the 

 whole surface of ttie honey-board, like 

 a sieve, as it were, and providing a 

 new enti'ance by its means, practically 

 the same as the original one. we can 

 undoubtedly conti'ol swarming to a 

 great extent, if not entirely. 



After the bees have swarmed, re- 

 move the entrappe<l queen and proceed 

 to hive them as recommended by 

 the expei'ts. If necessary, the hon- 

 ey-board may l)e restored to its former 

 use. 



No doubt, some one will say: Why 

 go to all this trouble, which can be 

 obviated by clipping the fjueen's wing? 

 Very true. Some people have a mania 

 for clipping things. Docking horses' 

 tails, cropping the ears and tails of 

 dogs and cutting the wings of ])oultry, 

 etc., striving to improve on nature. But 

 some of us ai'e so constituted that we 

 shrink froni mutilating any living crea- 

 ture, including the coin of the realm. 



I liad a clipped queen at the begin- 

 ning of the season. I wns away to the 

 city on business, when her mutilated 

 majesty led out a swarm. My wife 

 found her'iiopping about on the grass" 

 Instead of hiving the swarm im'uedi- 

 ately, her household duties claimed htr 



attention, so she clapped the coffe 

 strainer over the queen and weightei 

 it down with a strawberry box lill& 

 with nails. She was "bound to kee) 

 the queen in!" The swarm returned t 

 the hive and all was Avell. Upon m 

 arrival, my wife greeted me with 

 "The bees have swarmetl and I hav 

 the queen under the coffee sti-ainer o 

 the lawn!" I brought out a new hiv 

 and made all ready to shake the bee 

 in front of it. Upon raising the strair 

 er to get the queen 1 found a miserabl 

 black cricket beneath it! After a thoi 

 ough investigation of this Strang 

 transformation, I learned that whe 

 the children returned from school m 

 little boy saw the new ornaments o 

 the lawn. While investigating tt 

 same, a stray chicken killed the quee; 

 He then tried to square things by sul 

 stituting the cricket. 

 Yonkers, N. Y., Sept. 2,3, 1904. 



SHALLOW HIVE DEFENDED. 



By J. E. Hand. 



EDITOR American Bee-Keeper: 

 Mr. McNeal's ably written artic 

 on the shallow brood chamb 

 hive, on page 170, is very interesth 

 reading, and nu>re so, perhaps, to the 

 who are not ac<iuainted with the s 

 tual facts of the case. 



To those of us, however, who a 

 using the very shallow frame with t 

 most gratifying results, in successl 

 wintering as well as honey productic 

 the whole article savors rather stroi 

 ly of theory. But it is refreshing 

 note Mr. McNeal's willingness to " 

 vise his theories" in case they £ 

 ])roven fallacious. To cut a long sto 

 short, he has simply set up a man 

 straw" and coolly and deliberately pi 

 ceeded to punch the stuffing out 

 him, as not one of the serious obj< 

 tions which he so vividly sets for 

 can apply to the properly construct 

 divisible bi'ood chamber hive. 



Like every theorist who wishes 

 set forth the great siqieriority of t 

 deep frame or tall section, he mat 

 use of the oft repeated, though erroi 

 ous, statement that bees have a gw 

 preference for combs that are deep 

 than they are long. 



It should be evident to even a ca 

 less ol)server that two things, and oi 

 two, govern the shape or form of n 

 ural combs. These are the shape of i 

 hive and the size of the cluster. It 

 the rankest kind of nonsense for ai 



