1905. THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 211 



ENGLAND. anointed them with vaseline to prevent the 



THE SIMMINS METHOD. bees from rebuilding them. He did that In 



Now and then some mention is made ol the fall of the year, but he always left the 



Mr. Simmins and his non-swarming hive or burr combs (those on the top of the frames) 



lystem, or rather, both combined. The sys- to facilitate the climbing up In the supers, 



tern is intended to be applied to the produc- His hives were double walled, with a 



tion of comb honey. cushion above in winter. For making the 



In producing extracted honey swarming cushion, he considered tow as the best ma- 

 can be almost entirely suppressed by giving terial. Needless to say that In Italy, the bees 

 enough already built combs to hold all the are never wintered indoors, 

 brood raised and all the honey that is Incomplete combs (in the supers) were 

 brought from the field. But, as we know, saved until the spring, and then uncapped 

 foundation is not combs. and set over the hives for stimulating pur- 



Another fact of which Mr. Simmins availed poses and removed as soon as empty, 



himself is that the bees cluster immediately The hives were tilted forward considerably, 



behind the hive entrance and, furthermore, relatively speaking, during the winter, in or- 



that they do not tolerate empty space inside der to get rid of thhe condensed water from 



the cluster. They will build combs there evaporation. He did not contract the en- 



jven if they have to gnaw or nibble off the trances as a protection against the mice. 



wax from the combs in the more remote Me thought it unnecessary, and very likely 



part of the hive. it was in his locality. He thought that 



This being the conditions, Mr. Simmins the bees would come out in the spring far 



proceeds thus: The space immediately back more healthy when they had good ventila- 



it the entrance is provided with frames with tion during the winter. He used to make 



starters only. According to their instincts holes in the upper part of the combs to 



;he bees rapidly complete these combs. As enable the bees to pass from comb to comb 



fast as they are built, the apiarist cuts them without having to go around. Sometimes 



5ut, fits them in sections and puts the sec- a part of a cluster eats up all the honey 



ions above in the usual way. The effect of around and can not go to another place 



:his is to provide combs partially built in because the temperature is too low to travel 



he sections and thus to approximate the around the combs. To prevent the bees 



advantages of the already built combs used from plugging the holes, he inserted small 



in working for extracted honey. tin tubes in them. 



The hives used in England are different He did not like the Dadant or Langstroth 



[rom ours, in shape, size, number of frames, frames — thinking them too shallow. The 



stc. Mr. Simmins uses two styles. One is bees winter far better in tall frames than In 



one-story brood nest with the frames shallow frames, 



across, about 15 in number, the six or seven He sometimes united the colonies that had 



In front being those destined for comb build- swarmed, two by two to keep them strong 



ing. and avoid too much increase. — -Li'Apicoltore. 



The second style is a two-story hive. The 



lower story contains the frames with the WINTER CONSUMPTION, 

 starters for the building of comb, the top Mr. Tesselsky, through repeated experi- 

 3tory the brood nest and finally the supers ment found that the bees wintered In sin- 

 are placed above this. The frames in the gle walled hives consume IS per cent more 

 latter system can be placed lengthwise. As honey than those wintered in double walled 

 Ear as I can see, this plan could be carried hives. — L'Apicoltore. 



DUt as well with our American hives. 



BEES HATCHING EGGS. 



ITALY. Mr. Jamarrone has for several years 



On account of light honey crops the price hatched chickens in bee hives. He adver- 



of honey has advanced in Italy from 4 3-4 tised an apparatus for containing the eggs 



Bents per pound to 6 cents. for something over $2.00. — L'Apicoltore. 



MR. DUBINI'S BEE-KEEPING. SUNSHINE IN WINTER. 



For years Mr. Dubini (now deceased) was Mr. Bauchenfels believes in disturbing the 

 ne of the leading apiculturists, not only of bees as little as possible in winter. He 

 Italy, but of all Europe. He has written thinks the shining of the sun at the en- 

 numberless articles for the bee papers and trance a strong cause of disturbance and 



few books that are considered among the put a small board above to shade them. On 

 best. the other hand, he believes the heat of the 



He had some peculiar ways of managing sun shining on the wall to be beneficial, 

 bees. He always removed the brace combs enabling the bees to change their position 

 (beween the top bars) of his frames and if necessary, in order to reach the honey 



