80 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Profitable Use of Foundation, or Old 

 Combs, when the Supply is Limited. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It often happens that the apiarist 

 wishes to give each swarra. vvlien 

 hived, a start, in the way of frames 

 tilled with comb or fomidation, but 

 does not have enough of sucli to give 

 a hive full to all the swarms he expects 

 will issue, hence lie wishes to give 

 four or hve frames to each, or near 

 tliat amount. To this end he places 

 his four or live frames of comb in the 

 center of the hive, and iills out each 

 side with empty frames, and places 

 his swarms upon them. 



As the queen has plenty of room to 

 lay in tliese combs without the bees 

 building more, she goes to work de- 

 positing eggs. As honey is coming 

 in at the time, the bees must have a 

 place to store it, so they lill the empty 

 frames with stores, which are always 

 of the drone size of cells, the same 

 as they would build if hived in an 

 empty hive with an old unprolitic 

 queen. Hence, the apiarist becomes 

 disgusted witli the use of old combs, 

 and declares that they are of no use 

 to swarms, as a colony not helped at 

 all will accomplish more than does 

 the swarm he has tried to help. 



This was about the decision I came 

 to, when first trying to use a limited 

 number of combs for a swarm. 

 Therefore, I decided to use a hive full 

 of comb, or none at all. I soon found 

 that these swarms hived on full sets 

 of combs, so far surpassed those not 

 helped at all. that I wished for a way 

 to help all alike, if possible. I had 

 also noted that by the use of the 

 division board I could generally get 

 from four to five frames tilled with 

 nice straight worker comb, after 

 which 1 would get more or less drone 

 comb built by a swarm having no help 

 at all by way of frames of comb. 



I studied on this matter during the 

 winter, and the result was that the 

 next season found me placing ten 

 frames, each having a nice starter of 

 worker comb along tlie top bar. in 

 each hive ; 1 placed a division board 

 in the center, thus leaving five frames 

 on each side. Tfiis division board 

 did not come quite to the bottom of 

 the hive, but allowed room for the 

 bees to pass under it, as they desired. 

 Into these hives I placed my swarms, 

 and in whichever side the queen 

 chanced to go, there the bees com- 

 menced work. As fast as the bees 

 could build comb it was filled with 

 eggs, hence, nothing but worker 

 comb was built. 



After the swarm had been hived 48 

 hours, I put on the boxes or sections, 

 which were immediately taken pos- 

 session of, thus securing the five 

 frames tilled entirely of worker comb ; 

 for if any drone comb was built, it 

 was in the sections. As soon as these 



five frames were filled (which was 

 readily ascertained by the bees com- 

 mencing work in the vacant side of 

 the hive), the frames in tlie vacant side 

 of the hive were taken out and the 

 division board moved to side of hive. 



I next spread these combs apart, 

 and put in each alternate space a 

 frame of comb, thus securing a full 

 hive of nice, straight worker comb. 

 As I used only nine frames to the hive, 

 this gave the swarm four empty 

 combs. 



I thus secured two objects, a hive 

 full of all worker comb, and the bees 

 taking possession of the sections in 

 the shortest possible time. I have 

 been so well pleased with it, that I 

 have used it for years, and find it 

 works equally well in using comb 

 foundation where the apiarist does 

 not feel able to buy enough to have a 

 full hive of it for each swarm. 



Borodifio,N. Y. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Central Kansas Convention. 



On Thursday, Jan. 11, 1883, some of 

 the bee-keepers of Kansas, met at 

 Manhattan, to form an Association. 

 Many were prevented from attending 

 on account of the severe cold weather. 

 Mr. Marlatt was called upon to pre- 

 side; and on motion, the following 

 persons vvere appointed a committee 

 on permanent organization, with in- 

 structions to report at 12 p. m. on Sat- 

 urday, Jan. 20, 1883, viz. : R. Cor- 

 bett,"Ed. Kimball and M. D. Waters. 



On Saturday, Jan. 20, another meet- 

 ing was held, and the report of the 

 committee was made by its secretary, 

 M. D. Waters, who presented a Con- 

 stitution and By-Laws of the Central 

 Kansas Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 which was. on motion, adopted. 



An election of officers for the en- 

 suing year was then held, with the 

 following result : 



President, D. B. Himes. 



Vice-President, E. Kimball. 



Secretary, Thomas Bassler. 



Treasurer, R. Corbett. 



After some interesting discussions 

 on several points of progressive bee- 

 culture, the Association adjourned to 

 meet at the call of the secretary. 



TnoMAS Bassleb, Sec. 



for llie American Bee Journal, 



Chaff Hives andUpwardVentilation. 



T. C. DAVIS. 



It gave me much pleasure to see an 

 article from the pen of Mr. Uoolittle, 

 on page 52 of the Bke Journal, on 

 this subject, because 1 am fully con- 

 vinced that our safe wintering prob- 

 lem is to be solved by the chaff hive 

 and its proper ventilation. 



In the wintPr of 1880 and 1881, 1 had 

 five of the A. I. Root chaff hives, and 

 five others, of my own make, of the 

 same size as the Simplicity, with fixed 

 bottoms, and the ends double, with 3 

 inches of space tilled with chaff. Ttiey 

 had also double stories, put on the 

 same as the Simplicity. 



From the 20th of June until the first 

 week ill October of 1880, 1 was in 

 Europe, and had no one to feed the 

 bees during the dry spell we had in 

 the early fall, so when they were ex- 

 amined in October, I found them 

 rather weak and deficient in young 

 bees. I had nothing to do but to pack 

 them for winter, the best way I could, 

 on their summer stands, in those hives. 

 They were all put on four frames, in 

 the middle of the hives, and the sides 

 filled with division boards and chaff. 

 Passages were made in all the combs, 

 and passage ways were provided be- 

 tween the frames and the coverings, 

 by laying small sticks across tlie 

 frames. The coverings were made of 

 an old ingrain carpet, that was once a 

 good and thick one. Above that there 

 were six inches of loose oat chaff, and 

 a good chaff cushion, so that the upper 

 stories were nearly full with chaff. 



Four of those in the Root chaff- 

 hives, wintered excellently, and came 

 out, in the spring, strong and healthy 

 without any help, except about a pound 

 of candy made of sugar and tiour, that 

 was laid on the frames about tlie mid- 

 dle of March. In the other Root hive, 

 they dwindled badly. They were un- 

 easy and flew out continually, when 

 the weather was not intensely cold, 

 and died on the snow. It puzzled me 

 greatly to know why this colony acted 

 so different to the rest. 1 thought 

 they were all packed exactly the same, 

 and the entrances of all were closed 

 the same, to about four inches. 



After many fruitless examinations, 

 I noticed that the carpet on this one, 

 was not exactly the same as on the 

 others. The other four were cut ex- 

 actly the size of the hives, and they 

 had raveled some at the ends. After 

 putting them close to the front parts 

 of the hives, they were rather short 

 at the other ends, but not short enough 

 to let the chaff fall in. The carpet on 

 this one was an inch longer than the 

 hive, and both ends were closed tight. 

 When I found this difference, the car- 

 pet was turned back about }-4 of an 

 inch, and a little straw laid on the 

 opening under the chaff. From that 

 moment the bees became more easy, 

 and did not fly ont as before. They 

 came out all right, but 1 Ind to put 

 them on two frames and helped them 

 with some brood from other hives. 



When the other five hives were ex- 

 amined, I found the carpets packed 

 close, the same as the last mentioned, 

 and a considerable dampness in the 

 hives. I turned these carpets back, 

 also, and filled up as before. The en- 

 trances of these were not more than 

 an inch, and they were enlarged to 4 

 inches at once. They showed some 

 signs of dysentery, and they dwindled 

 some, but after this, the hives dried 

 out some, and all came out strong and 

 in good condition by the end of May. 



During the winter of 1881-82 I had 

 15 of Root's chaff hives, and 3 of the 

 others, packed in the same way, with 

 the carpets turned back about 34 of an 

 inch at the back part, and the en- 

 trances of all the chaff hives left wide 

 open. They all came out in splendid 

 condition. 



This winter, I have the 15 chaff 

 hives, and 2 of the others, on their 



