210 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



April 6, 1899. 



sometimes very convenient for pulling out a division-board 

 or frame, if grlue has been allowed to accumulate on the 

 end-bars until there is not much vacant space left in the 

 hive. Its main advantage is that the tool can be hookt or 

 hung on the edge of the hive after the frames have been 

 loosened. 



At the time the visitor I mentioned was here, I was 

 making artificial swarms from some hives containing Hoff- 

 man frames, and some from hives with loose-hanging 

 frames. In each instance this necessitated removing all 

 the frames, shaking the bees off, and replacing the frames 

 in the hives from which they were removed. He timed me 

 on a number of hives, and said with Hoffman frames it 

 took me from !>< to 2 minutes, while with the loose-hanging 

 frames it took from 3 to 4 minutes. This difference was 

 owing mostly to the time it took to space the latter. 



With me nails and staples have not proved verj' satis- 

 factory as spacers ; still, there are many who prefer them 

 and object to frames that require the use of a tool to loosen 

 them, but here some kind of a tool is necessary anyway to 

 loosen covers and supers. 



Shortly before a swarm is put into a hive containing 

 Hoffman frames, I drive a wedge that fits very tight be- 

 tween the division-board and the side of the hive at each 

 end opposite the end-bars. When this is done, if the frames 

 are made true, it spaces them accurately at the bottom, and 

 by turning the hive bottom side up the frames can be pulled 

 into exact position endwise ; and if the wedges are tight 

 enough they will remain so. When this is not done some 

 frames are liable to be a good deal out of position endwise, 

 and after the comb is built thej' will remain so, and be a 

 continual nuisance, for one end of the frame may be so 

 close to the end of the hive that it will be fastened there, 

 while brace-combs may be built at the other end. As combs 

 are something that, barring accident, will last nearly a life- 

 time, it pays well to take pains to secure straight combs in 

 frames that are held true in the hive. 



Southern Minnesota. 



Bee-Keepers' Mistakes in Colorado —Foul Brood. 



BY " INSPECTOR." 



MY neighbor S. had 3 colonies of bees. He called in 

 early spring at my house to get a few sections. Of 

 course we talkt bees, then I showed him my vat for 

 steaming hives and melting wax. 



" I have a few old combs you may have for wax," he 

 said. " Send your boy down and get thtm." 



When the lad returned I saw the evident signs of foul 

 brood, and dispatcht the boy with a note to my neighbor 

 warning him of the danger of letting the bees taste of the 

 honey in the hive from which these combs came. But my 

 caution was too late ; the bees had been allowed to clean up 

 the honey daubed on the hive, and the best combs had been 

 placed on the grass near by, so the bees could clean up the 

 honey. Several weeks later the inspector found a large col- 

 ony foul in this yard. 



Near the close of the honey-flow a lady desired her two 

 bee-hives examined. The first hive held a late swarm, but 

 tho light it seemed health}', while 8 or 10 foul-broody combs 

 lay under and against the hive. Ten feet distant stood the 

 parent colony, heavj' and populous, with 28 sections well 

 filled with honey, but with the center combs of the brood- 

 nest foul. 



My German friend stopt me in the road — " See here, 

 vou go right past my house. I want you to look at my bees." 



" I will call Saturday." 



"All right ; I'll be there sure," said he. 



I came, found L,. anxious to learn all about the bees. 

 The first hive was clean, and the brood nice. I said, "Now 

 you see the eggs here, and also the young larva; so white, 

 ^nd even the empty cells are clean, and shine, all ready for 

 the queen to drop in the eggs." 



"And here is the queen, you see." 



"Ah, sure 1 but isn't she a fine one ?" 



" In moving these combs I will cut out this honey built 

 fast to the side of the hive. Now can you get another 

 frame to put in ?" 



" O yes, I have some frames of comb upstairs." 



This was brought, and on examining found to be foul. 

 We carried it to the window, and the shrunken cells were 

 pointed out, the cappings with the tooth-pick holes and the 

 dried, coffee-colored matter on lower side of the cells were 

 all explained. 



" Well," said my friend, " if this is the disease, then 



that hive under the willow has it, for I put some of these 

 combs in that hive when I put the szfarm in." 



" We'll go and see," said I. "You handle the frames 

 and I will use the smoker, while you see if you can find the 

 disease." 



Lifting a frame from the center of the brood-nest, he 

 soon discovered the cells containing the foul and ropy mat- 

 ter. " / inow what /but brood is," he said ; " and now when 

 I understand how to treat the hive, I shall be able to avoid 

 such a state of things hereafter." 



Several weeks afterward we met. and when I spoke of 

 the importance of bee-keepers becoming fully informed re- 

 garding the danger, he replied, " O you are" doing lots of 

 good ; I would not take $25 for what I learned of you." 



One yard of about SO hives was found where a dozen 

 foul hives were emptied and spread over the ground, and 

 thousands of bees were crawling over them. The result of 

 this mistake was the ruin of one-half the bees, and no sur- 

 plus for that year. 



Another yard of 10 or 12 colonies were all diseased but 

 4. The yard was cleaned, wax melted, and bees that were 

 saved did quite well ; but at the end of the season an old 

 hive was found back of the house in the brush ; it was dead 

 and foul, and when the cover was lifted several bees flew 

 out. 



Larg-e Hives and Small Hives — Swarming-. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



BEFORE proceeding with the subject upon which I in- 

 tend to write, I wish to say that I approach it with some 

 hesitancy because I presume Mr. Coverdale to be a 

 bee-keeper whose experience antedates mine, and covers 

 a far greater number of colonies than I have yet handled. I 

 will venture, however, to submit a few thoughts suggested 

 by his two articles giving an account of his experience with 

 10 colonies in 2-story hives, on pages 805 (1898) and 67(1889.) 



What strikes me most forcibly is the seetning inadequacy 

 of his motive for njaking the experiment. I say seeming 

 inadequacy because it may be that Mr. Coverdale had mo- 

 tives not avowed, and, again, it may be that I have not a 

 full comprehension of the one avowed. The chief purpose 

 of the experiment, if I gather it rightly, was to learn if the 

 colonies in the double-deckers would swarm as much as col- 

 onies in hives of one story. I think he manifests a little 

 surprise that they did so swarm, and then he goes on to 

 outline the condition of these colonies, and gives the condi- 

 tions under which colonies in any hive, whether in large or 

 small single-story hives or double-deckers, may be expected 

 to swarm. With brood-chambers full of brood and honey, 

 queen-cells present, weather propitious, and a honey-flow 

 on, what is there to look for but swarming, unless the bee- 

 keeper himself intervenes ? 



It seems that Mr. Coverdale did put on supers at the 

 time the second stories were placed under, but the giving 

 of room above cannot be relied upon to prevent or even re- 

 tard swarming under all circumstances. With honey 

 enough in the hives to keep brood-rearing going on, and 

 not enough coming in from the fields to start work in the 

 supers, queen-cells may be started, and then it is my experi- 

 ence that swarming preparations will not be abandoned 

 when the flow comes. 



My experience with two-story hives is limited, but I 

 have thus far been unable to get much work done in supers 

 placed on top of them. 



Contrary to the advice and practice of most bee-keepers, 

 I use hives of six dift'erent sizes. The smallest size I use is 

 the 8-frame dovetailed, and I have a larger percent of 

 swarms from these than from anj' of the larger sizes. The 

 larger the hive the less swarms has been the rule with me. 

 (I will remark here in parenthesis that I do not find any 

 great disadvantage or inconvenience in the use of so many 

 different sizes of hives. My aim is to have enough for a little 

 apiary of each size, and so determine sooner or later which 

 is the best size for me, with reference to both the honey 

 and the wintering problems.) 



With regard to swarming, I think the trouble with the 

 small hives is that queen-cells are started before they are 

 started in the larger hives that give more breeding-room for 

 the queen. After these cells are started, room above cuts 

 no figure. The bees will continue their swarming prepara- 

 tions even tho work should be begun in the supers. 



In the larger hives queen-cells not being started so 

 soon, the honey-flow may come before any are started, then 

 work will be begun above, and perhaps no swarming prep- 



