THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



189 



Merrill, Mechanic Falls ; Treasurer, 

 VV. W.Dunham, North Paris. Com- 

 mittee on Constitution and By-Laws, 

 VV. W. Dunham, J. A. Morton and J. 

 B. Mason. 



A constitution and by-laws were 

 adopted. The lirst article of the con- 

 stitution dehnes its name as the West- 

 ern Maine Bee-Keepers' Association. 



An article in the by-law provides, 

 that any person can become a member 

 by signing the constitution, and pay- 

 ing the sum of 2.5 cents ; ladies, simply 

 by signing the constitution. 



The Association starts out witli 20 

 members, 18 males and 2 females, 

 representing l-t-5 colonies of bees. The 

 object of forming this Association 

 was to advance bee-culture in this 

 western part of Maine, and in no 

 wise to injure the State Association, 

 and we would like all to join this, as 

 well as the State Association. 



A vote of thanks was tendered to 

 Mr. Mason and family, for the kind- 

 ness bestowed by them. 



The next meeting will be held on 

 Wednesday, April 25, 1883, at the resi- 

 dence of W. W. Dunham, North 

 Paris, Maine, at 1 and 7 p. m. 



W. W. Mekrill, Sec. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Narrow vs.Wide Frames for Sections. 



J. G. STEER. 



On page 144 of the Bee Journal, 

 for March 14, T. E. Turner writes 

 concerning wide frames for holding 

 sections ; in which he gives some very 

 plausible objections to their use, as "I 

 have fully learned from experience. 

 The principle one, namely, the diffi- 

 culty in removing the sections from 

 wide frames, I have been trying to 

 overcome, and as a result have made 

 a narrow frame botli to hold sections 

 and to answer the place of a division- 

 board, in winter, for chaff. 1 do not 

 know that I can make the description 

 of it plain to the readers of the Bee 

 Journal, but I will try. 



The frame 1 use is tlie Gallup, to 

 hold 4 sections, .5>4x.5l4 ; inside meas- 

 ure, IO^bxIO?^ ; outside, ll.yxllij. 

 Instead of the wide frame, 1 make a 

 frame to fill the whole space of the 

 inside of the hive, viz. : 12 inches, 

 and only }4 inch wide. I cut tlie side 

 bars out of ^., inch stuff, and 11-16 

 thick, and reaching clear to the bot- 

 tom of the hive. The bottom bar is 

 the same, and 12 inches long; to be 

 nailed to the side of the side bars even 

 with the bottom ends of the same, in- 

 stead of to the end. I use an ordi- 

 nary top bar of the frame, for the top, 

 letting it project over ij inch, on one 

 side, and the otlier being even. On 

 the side which projects over, I nail tlie 

 bottom bar, which will also project ^ 

 inch, and is to hold and support the 

 sections. 



Previous to nailing, I slot the in- 

 side of side bars, the wliole length, 

 with a ly inch slot, 3-16 deep, and ^ 

 inch from the edge. Be careful in 

 nailing to make these slots come 

 nearest to the edge of ttie side of the 

 frame that is even. Tlie slots are for 

 % inch wood separators. These can 



be slipped in at bottom of the frame 

 after it is nailed, as will be seen, the 

 bottom bar being on the other side, it 

 will not interfere with their insertion. 

 The separators will stay just where 

 you put them. 



Now you have a frame, with bottom 

 bar reaching nearly half-way, or J4 

 inch across the bottom of the section, 

 which, with I4 inch at the sides, and 

 ?4 at the top, is sufficient to keep the 

 sections in their places, and allow of 

 their removal with ease. Set the 

 frame, tilled with sections, in the end 

 of the hive, with the naked edge of 

 the sections next to and close against 

 the end of the hive ; then the separa- 

 tors will come next to the brood. If 

 desired to put two cases or frames of 

 sections at the side of the brood, the 

 second set of sections will slip up 

 against the separators, and into the 

 frame of the first set, as will be seen, 

 ifj of inch. 



The advantages of this frame are: 

 It allows of easy manipulation, as it 

 fits neatly in the hive ; it will stay in 

 its place, and prevents the bees from 

 getting at the outside of the sections 

 to stick them over with propolis. 



It serves as the very best kind of a 

 division-board for chaff packing, as 

 the thin separators and bee spaces 

 admit of a more ready absorption of 

 moisture. They can be used in the 

 upper story in the same manner as 

 two at the side. 



I would say to Mr. Turner I always 

 make my upper story to admit divis- 

 ion-board, after being tilled with 

 frames of sections, which, when re- 

 moved, allows of free access to the 

 frames of sections. 



If I have succeeded in making the 

 principle plain, any one can adopt it 

 to their different size of hives. Some 

 may prefer a wider bottom bar, to 

 support the sections. Such can use % 

 or ?:£ inch lumber, which will still 

 allow enough of section to project for 

 a " finger hold." I prefer about Sg. 

 If there is any merit in the thing, all 

 may freely use it. 



Barnesville, O., March 20, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



ftueen Rearing— The Lamp Nursery. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Queens having now become quite a 

 staple product of the apiary, perhaps 

 two or three articles devoted to the 

 subject may not be amiss ; although, 

 as Mr. Doolittle said in regard to the 

 excellent articles that he gave us last 

 year upon comb honey ; " what I write 

 will necessarily be somewhat of a 

 repetition of what I have already 

 written."' 



The first step for the would-be 

 queen breeder is to Italianize not only 

 his own bees, but all the bees within, 

 at least, three miles of his own apiary. 

 The demand, at preisent. for pure 

 Italian queens, that are purely mated, 

 is such that a queen breeder cannot 

 allow black bees in his neighborhood. 

 In regard to the strains of Italians 

 that he will breed from, each one 

 must decide for himself. I prefer the 

 dark Italians. I do not wish to say 



that there are no good honey gather- 

 ers among the light Italians, but, 

 among the several different strains of 

 light-colored Italians that it lias been 

 my fortune to try, none have equalled 

 any of several different strains of dark 

 Italians that I have owned. Honey 

 production, hardiness, amiability, and 

 color should be bred for, in the order 

 named, but I fear that some breeders 

 have bred in the reverse order. I say 

 nothing about the Cyprian and Syrian 

 bees, because, from experience, I 

 know nothing of them. 



Por breeding stpck from which to 

 rear queens, no pains nor expense 

 should be spared to obtain the best; 

 and, as probably the majority of the 

 queens will mate at the home yard, 

 equally as much care should be taken 

 in obtaining stock for the protection 

 of drones. Selection of stock for the 

 protection of drones is a point that, I 

 think, has been too much neglected. 

 After the apiarist has furnished his 

 own apiary, and that of his neighbors, 

 with choice stock, he is ready to com- 

 mence the rearing of queens for others. 



Although objections have been 

 raised against the hatching of queens 

 in a lamp nursery, yet the majority of 

 breeders hatch their queens in this 

 manner ; in fact, it would be well-nigh 

 impossible to rear queens at the pres- 

 ent popular prices without the aid of 

 the nursery. During the [last five 

 years I have had queens hatched both 

 in the hives and in the nursery, and I 

 have never been able to discover that 

 hatching a queen in a lamp nursery 

 enfeebled her constitution or anything 

 of the kind. I can detect no differ- 

 ence between queens hatched in a 

 nursery and those hatched among the 

 bees. A lamp nursery need not be a 

 complicated affair — jiist simply a box 

 with double walls of tin, and large 

 enough to allow several frames to 

 hang inside. A hole should be made 

 at one of the upper corners to allow 

 the space between the walls, which 

 should be about ?^ of an inch, to be 

 filled with water. A round hole, per- 

 haps an inch in diameter, should be 

 made through the walls of the bottom, 

 at the centre, and also through the 

 side walls of each side, and a tube of 

 tin soldered in each hole, thus fasten- 

 ing the walls together so that they 

 will not bulge when filled with water. 

 The tin tubes can be covered with 

 pieces of tin, so that the queens can- 

 not crawl out and become lost. The 

 nursery should be fastened in the top 

 of a tall box. the top of the nursery 

 being level with the top of the box. 

 In order that the heat from the lamp 

 below may circulate all around it, 

 there should be a space of an inch be- 

 tween the sides of the nursery and 

 the inside of the box. Strips of wood, 

 an inch square, can be crowded in be- 

 tween the upper edge of the box and 

 the nursery, and the nursery furnished 

 with a wooden cover hinged to one 

 side of the box. To obtain the best 

 effect, the box, in which the nursery 

 is placed, should be of sucli a height 

 that the bottom of the nursery is 

 about a foot above the top of the lamp 

 chimney. A thermometer should be 

 kept in the nurserv, and the tempera- 

 ture kept between 90^ and 100=. If 



