190 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the box is too tight or close, the lamp 

 will not burn well. To save oil, and 

 to protect the nursery from sudden 

 changes of temperature, it is better to 

 keep it in some building. If it can be 

 placed in some room that can be dark- 

 ened, and the light admitted through 

 a small aperture, it will greatly facili- 

 tate the examination of queen cells 

 about to hatch ; as, by holding them 

 up before the aperture, even embryo 

 queens can sometimes be seen, es- 

 pecially when the cells are constructed 

 of new wax. When there are many 

 cells in a nursery^ it requires close 

 attention, otherwise a newly-hatched 

 queen will destroy several cells. I 

 nave a brood frame, similar to those 

 used for holding sections, divided into 

 apartments about 2 inches square. 

 This brood frame is covered with a 

 sheet of glass on one side, and upon 

 the opposite side, each apartment is 

 furnished with a glass door tliat is 

 hinged fast by pasting on a strip of 

 cloth for a hinge. Each door is kept 

 closed by a little latch made by driv- 

 ing a common pin part way in, and 

 then bending it over, so that it can be 

 turned around over the door, or 

 turned away when I wish to open it. 

 This brood frame of apartments is 

 kept hanging in the mirsery, and 

 about 9 o'clock in the evening, I ex- 

 amine each cell by holding it up be- 

 fore the lamp, and when I And a cell, 

 the occupant of • which appears nearly 

 ready to commence biting her way 

 out, I place it in an apartment by 

 itself. 



Some breeders have only one nu- 

 cleus in a full sized hive, while others 

 make a small hive for each nucleus, 

 and use it for no other purpose, but, 

 to my mind, it is better to use full 

 sized hives, putting two nuclei in 

 each hive, and keeping them separate 

 by using division-boards. These 

 division-boards can be made very 

 cheaply by using % lumber, tacking a 

 strip of wood across each end to pre- 

 vent their warping, and then tacking 

 a strip of enameled cloth over the 

 edges, not drawing it uptight or close 

 against the edges of the boards, but 

 allowing it to point out so that it will 

 form a sort of tube all around the 

 edges of the boards, and tliis yielding 

 tube will fit any inequalities there 

 may be in the sides of the hive. 



For a stand for the hives I use a 

 board a little larger than the bottom 

 of a hive, with two cleats nailed un- 

 derneath each end to prevent it from 

 warping and to raise it from the 

 ground. .To furnish each nucleus 

 with an entrance, I turn the hives 

 around upon its stand until two 

 diagonally opposite corners project 

 beyond the edge of the stand or bot- 

 tom board sufficiently to allow the 

 bees to pass under the edge of the 

 hive. Three-eighths of an inch below 

 each entrance, to the edge of the bot- 

 tom board,! nail a small piece of board, 

 3 or 4 inches square, to furnish the 

 bees with an alighting board. Queen 

 registering cards are a necessity, as 

 they show, by the position of the pins 

 upon their dials, the date of the last 

 examination, and the condition of the 

 nucleus at that date— something that 

 the memory could not do. 



Queen rearing nuclei need to be ex- 

 amined quite often, and when the 

 hives are placed upon the ground, so 

 much stooping becomes tiresome ; for 

 this reason I have a large share of my 

 nucleus hives perched upon stakes, at 

 such a height that they are conven- 

 ient for manipulation while I am 

 standing upon my feet. I also have 

 the covers hinged, so that they can 

 be turned back, thus forming con- 

 venient shelves for the smoker, queen 

 cages, box of comb containing larvie, 

 etc., etc. There are also two sticks 

 tacked to the sides of each hive, and 

 these sticks project a few inches be- 

 yond the end of the hive ; and upon 

 these projecting ends I can hang 

 combs while caging queens. 



Kogersville, Mich. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



New Device for Sections. 



THOMAS CANNY. 



I send you a drawing of a section 

 that I shall use this season. This 

 kind of section originated with me, I 

 believe, as I have never read or heard 

 of such being in use. It is cheapness, 

 utility and convenience combined, in 

 obtaining surplus honey in one-pound 

 or half-pound sections, doing away 

 with extra cases, racks, brood frames. 



etc. The apiarist can obtain his sur- 

 plus honey in either half-pound or 

 one-pound sections, and the honey 

 stored in both at the same time, by 

 this device. If you want to get 

 pounds, cut only one kerf on both top 

 and lower bar, of either top or lower 

 tier of sections. 



With a nailing apparatus it can be 

 put together asquickly as 3 one-pound 

 sections. Please put it in the Bee 

 Journal for the benefit of all bee- 

 keepers. It is not patented. 



East Poultney, Vt. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Inspectors of Apiaries. 



J. E. PLEASANTS. 



Dear Editor :— Inclosed find a 

 bill introduced in our State legisla- 

 ture at its last session, and which has 

 become a law. What is your opinion 

 of such a law ? I favor it. The rain- 

 fall up to date is 6^^ inches. 

 Carbondale, Cal., March 24, 1883. 



A bill has been introduced in the 

 Assembly, by Mr. Reeves of San 

 Bernardino, to authorize the Boards 



of Supervisors of the several counties 

 of this State to appoint inspectors of 

 apiaries, and provide for their com- 

 pensation, and defining their duties, 

 and for the further protection of bee- 

 culture. The bill has the concurrence 

 of the representatives from San Diego 

 county. It provides as follows : : 



Section 1.— The Board of Super- 

 visors of any county wherein bees are 

 kept, are hereby authorized to appoint 

 one or more persons as inspectors of 

 apiaries, to hold ofHce during the 

 pleasure of said Board. 



Sec. 2.— The Board of Supervisors 

 shall fix and determine the compensa- 

 tion of the inspectors of apiaries to be 

 paid out of the funds of the county, 

 not otherwise appropriated. 



Sec. 3. — Upon complaint being 

 made to the inspector, to the effect 

 that, in complainant's opinion, the 

 disease known as "foul brood"' exists 

 in any apiary in that county, it shall 

 be the duty of such inspector to in- 

 spect such apiary as soon as practica- 

 ble, and direct the person in charge 

 thereof to destroy all hives ascer- 

 tained to be so affected, together with 

 the combs and bees therein, by burn- 

 ing or burying the same in the ground 

 the following night. 



Sec. 4. — If the owner or person in 

 charge of an apiary, by his own in- 

 spection or through any other source, 

 discovers foul brood iii any hive in 

 said apiary, it shall be his duty to de- 

 stroy such hive and contents in the 

 manner provided in section 3 of this 

 Act. 



Sec. .5. — Any persons failing to 

 comply with the provisions of the last 

 section shall be deemed guilty of a 

 misdemeanor, and upon conviction 

 thereof shall be punished by a fine of 

 not less than 5 dollars nor more than 

 2.5 dollars for the first offense, and by 

 a fine of not more than .50 dollars for 

 each such subsequent offense. 



Sec. .5.— This Act shall take effect 

 from and after its passage. 



[We think such inspectors will be 

 beneficial, if they attend to their 

 duties. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Getting Candied Honey Out of Combs. 



I have been experimenting, for sev- 

 erat years, to find out the best way to 



fet candied honey out of the frames, 

 n fact, I have experimented away 

 many dollars, for I wanted to get it 

 out in a hurry, and I have made sev- 

 eral things for the purpose, which it is 

 useless to describe, and wasted more 

 than a few combs. About one year 

 ago I thought I would try once more, 

 and I was successful. I had a boiler 

 made J^ inch longer than my longest 

 frame, Jj inch wider than my shortest 

 frame, and .5 or 6 inches deeper than 

 the deepest frame. This will just let 

 the longest frame in, lengthwise, and 

 the shortest frame in crosswise. If 

 you have an intermediate frame, you 

 can lay a stick across the boiler ; in- 

 side the boiler put a piece of tin. 



