THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



265 



The walls of the cellar are made of 

 stone and luortar, and are 2 feet thick. 

 I never open it from the outside from 

 the time the bees are put in until 

 taken out. I do not see tliat bees 

 breed any more in a warm, damp cel- 

 lar than they do in a cool, dry one. 

 The old colony of bees I purchased of 

 Mr. M. Quinby in ISfiS, is still alive, 

 and has been wintered all these years 

 in a warm, damp cellar. 



I have never used a subsoil cooler, 

 but intend to put one in sometime, 

 just to cool ofl: the bees when I set 

 them out. I would not ask for bees 

 to winter better than they have on 

 the foregoing plan for 21 years, for I 

 find them uncomfortablv lively when 

 putting them out. 

 De Kalb Junction, X. Y. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Improved Section Case. 



E. p. CHURCHILL. 



The article by Mr. G. F. "Williams, 

 on page 39, agrees with views that I 

 have entertained for sometime. I was 

 glad, indeed, to learn that others see 

 some of the difficulties of rapid work 

 of bees in the sections. 



I have always used Boot's Case, 

 and I think it combines many good 

 features; but as they are made, the 

 outside sections are so near the glass 

 that the bees must pass up between 

 them and the next tier of sections ; 

 and as there is only i^ bee-space at 

 the outside, or next to the glass, the 

 comb must be shortened just H bee- 

 space, and the bees must have holes 

 through the combs in order to get 

 through. 



This trouble has bothered me about 

 as much as it has the bees, I think ; 

 but after studying over the matter, I 

 have finally overcome the difficulty, 

 to my satisfaction, as well as to the 

 satisfaction of others. 



As the Root Case is made to hold 28 

 sections, IJs inches wide, there is a 

 little play between all of them, so as 

 to allow them to be closed up about 

 Yz inches. I tack strips up and down 

 across the glass stays, so they rest 

 against the edges of the sections. 

 These strips are % of an inch thick, 

 and ;?8 of an inch wide. I place the 

 section rests so as to agree with the 

 sections, and nail them there to re- 

 main. I use no spaces nor strips 

 across the rests to be glued down by 

 the bees. The Cases can be made one 

 row of sections shorter, and I think 

 they would be advisable, as they can 

 be made as narrow and as short as 

 one may desire. 



I have always believed tliat the 

 boxes were too wide, so I have been 

 making some only 1 inch for top and ! 

 bottom, with ends about Yf, of an inch 

 wider. I think, as they are so much 

 like natural comb as to thickness, the 

 bees will like them much better. Of 

 course they will not weigh a pound, 

 but I have no fears but that they will 

 sell. 



I have gone a little farther and made 

 sections of the same thickness, and 

 depth i}4x.o}4 inches long, to hold a 

 pound. This size gives more room 



for bees in a clump, and 8 lengths (ill 

 the common crate, l)y using a y inch 

 stri]) at the e'uls. On the lower edge 

 of these 1 nail strips of tin just wide 

 eimugh, so the ends of the boxes can 

 rest on them ; thus doing away with 

 tlie wood rest the whole length" of the 

 boxes ; and also thekillingor so many 

 bees when removing and replacing 

 the boxes. 



I allow % of an inch space between 

 the bottom of the sections and the 

 frame, because where they rest on the 

 frames, they are gummed down, and 

 with a % inch space, they are only 

 waxed. I know it takes some wax; 

 but it takes some lives of bees to set a 

 crate right down on the frames. The 

 queen is more likely to enter the sec- 

 tions where there is no space ; but if 

 one desires them to rest on the 

 frames, he can leave off the rim or 

 edge of the case, and down they go. 

 In fact, this crate can be made almost 

 any size ; and as there are partitions 

 between each tier of boxes, we can 

 leave out one set, and cover their 

 places with cloths, etc., and the re- 

 maining boxes will stay in place. Of 

 course the strips are used at the out- 

 side as with the wide sections, which 

 offers a nice free passage way for the 

 bees, and right where they are most 

 needed. 



I am satisfied we all have lost by 

 allowing only this seemingly trifling 

 thing to pass without a remedy ; and 

 I also believe we have more crooked 

 combs in the sections by allowing too 

 many at once, than from any other 

 cause. Why '? Because where there 

 are more sections than the bees can 

 fill plumb full, they take the centre 

 first ; and where one side of the foun- 

 dation is drawn at a time, it is nearly 

 always crooked ; but if we use just 

 what they can till and work out alto- 

 gether, we have a nice straight lot of 

 comb, if the foundation was properly 

 set and left straight, from our own 

 hands. 



I shall use no more hives without a 

 firm strip of woolen cloth between 

 the two stories, tacked on the upper 

 one with a heavy coat of new paint 

 first ; then they are all hasped to- 

 gether, and the bees will not leave 

 the outside sections nearly so much as 

 otherwise. And when we lift a hive, 

 it will not fall apart, nor will the up- 

 per story rise up when we press down 

 a cushion. 



I make the cases with a roof, and 

 pack with hay, and tack on burlap ; 

 then these are hasped to the upper 

 story. I have a ventilator at each 

 end of the case. I believe the pack- 

 ing cools in hot weather, and warms 

 in cold. It also presses the enameled 

 cloth down smoothly on the frames, 

 when in the upper story, and, in short, 

 it is just complete. 



As I have no patent- on this, I have 

 no ax to grind ; but I am interested in 

 improvements in bee-keeping. I can 

 get double the extracted honey that I 

 can of comb, but many will have box 

 honey. It seems strange that any 

 one chooses to let it remain in the hive 

 till capped before extracting, because 

 it causes the bees just so much waste 

 to cap it to be cut off so soon. I 

 choose to extract it soon after it is 



gathered, and do the evaporating my- 

 self, and put on caps if I wish. In 

 many Ihuigs, it is good that we do not 

 think alike ; but we ought to agree 

 that bees cainiot work in a \b inch 

 space and do a fair job. 

 Auburn, Maine. 



Itoiul at the <)lii(> ConvtMition. 



Spring Management of Bees. 



DR. H. BESSE. 



I use a one-story hive similar to the 

 Langstroth, and I use 9 Langstroth 

 frames in each. Usually, about the 

 first week in March, I put my bees on 

 the summer stands, after which I 

 clean out all the dead bees and close 

 the entrances to within an inch, and 

 examine thoroughly as to stores, and 

 if such are about exhausted, I feed 

 them at once by putting a comb of 

 honey as near to the cluster as pos- 

 sible ; or, if I have no comb honey, I 

 fill an empty comb with sugar syrup 

 and give it to them. They should 

 have enough feed at this time to last 

 until about April ; and after this all 

 colonies, whether they have enough 

 to carry them through to fruit bloom 

 or not, should be fed a little every 

 day to stimulate the queen. 



Early in May, every hive should be 

 full of bees and brood, in order to get 

 the best results both in honey and in- 

 crease. If some colonies are yet weak, 

 I give them 2 or 3 frames of hatching 

 brood; giving the strong colonies 

 empty combs, or foundation in their 

 place. 



I am ready, as soon as the honey 

 flow commences, to put on honey-racks 

 filled with one-pound sections ; or. if 

 for extracted honey, upper stories. 

 These I have full "of empty combs, 

 which have been selected from colo- 

 nies that have much drone comb and 

 old combs that are unfit for brood- 

 rearing. I also put one frame of 

 brood in the upper story ; this causes 

 the bees to work there at once. 



For increase, I set apart about J^ of 

 my best colonies, and from these I 

 select 2 or 3 for queen -rearing, and a . 

 like number for drone rearing. This 

 I do about the middle of May, as I be- 

 lieve that nothing is gained by com- 

 mencing this too soon ; as colonies are 

 weakened, brood chilled, and the 

 young queens reared are more frail 

 and less prolific than those reared 

 after warm weather is fully estab- 

 lished. 



The first step in rearing qneens, is 

 to select a last year's light-colored 

 worker comb, and put it in the centre 

 of the colony that I wish to breed 

 from. In 3 "or -1 days this ooinb is 

 usually filled with eggs ; the oldest of 

 which is beginning to hatch into 

 larviB. Then remove the queen and 

 the brood from some strong colony, 

 shaking the bees from the brood- 

 combs back into the hive, and divide 

 the brood among weak colonies ; the 

 old queen can be given to a queenless 

 colony, sold, or given to a nucleus, 

 prepared on purpose for her. This 

 comb of larv;e, from the choice queen, 

 is given to the queenless colony pre- 

 pared for it. Some recommend trim- 



