THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



545 



from either of the two other kinds, 

 but had not a single pound of surplus 

 honey last season from (Hi good colo- 

 nies, and about i5 had not swarmed. 

 The colonies in those hives are usually 

 very strong and heavy in the fall. 

 Bees in those three dinerent kinds of 

 hives winter well if wintered in the 

 cellar, better than in common box 

 hives, all of which had more or less 

 moldy combs this spring. All things 

 considered, I prefer hive Xo. 2, and so 

 much am I convinced of its superi- 

 ority, that I made 300 of them last 

 winter, and am now making o(iO more; 

 while I make but 30 hives of No. 3 

 this season." 



One line is here skipped, then comes 

 the following without date, but ap- 

 parentlv written soon after : 



"From Nov. 9 to 12, last, fall, I 

 stored away my 305 colonies of bees in 

 my home apiary into the cellar and 

 they remained there till the 20th of 

 March, when I commenced taking 

 them out. I finished on the 31st ; only 

 3 of the 30.5 colonies had died, .and 

 they had been over-looked last simi- 

 mer, having been queenless ever since 

 swarming. Of the 362, only 3 appeared 

 to be queenless. 



This is the best success I ever had 

 in wintering bees. The bees in my 

 outside apiaries are yet in their win- 

 ter quarters. A. Grimm. 



Let me add^ that if,, as Mr. Heddon 

 claims my father was very successful 

 in winte'riug bees, and I have not a 

 doubt on that point, then it is an es- 

 tablished fact that lie was siiccessful 

 ichile using the 8-frame TMngstroth hive ; 

 because at the time when he kept the 

 " large numbers of colonies" he had 

 discarded nearly all oth^r styles ex- 

 cept the S-franie Langstroth. 



Jefferson, Wis., Oct. 12, 1883. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



The Trial of the Small Sections. 



DK. G. L. TINKER. 



After much delay, I am able to make 

 a report on the use of the small sec- 

 tions. We had so much cold and wet 

 weather in June and July, followed 

 by a severe drouth in August, that 

 the amount of surplus honey is below 

 the average in this locality. In con- 

 sidering the experiments here given, 

 these facts should be taken into ac- 

 count. 



The small section, 3J^x3%xl%, was 

 used on 1-t colonies on an improved 

 plan, the principle involved being, 

 continuous passage ways and contin- 

 uous combs. The plan proved to be a 

 complete success, and might have 

 been tested upon one hive as well as 

 on the 14. I also found that the use 

 of sections without separators could 

 be made, with a little care in the man- 

 agement, entirely satisfactory. But 

 the use of separators with a small 

 section will be found unprofitable on 

 account of the extra labor and expense 

 involved. 



When it was seen that the lialf- 

 pound section without separators 

 would be a success, one colony (a new 

 swarm) was tried on the same plan 

 with a section of larger size, i%x-i%\- 



1}4. Twelve of these were nicely 

 capped over, and tlieir weight found 

 to average about 14 ounces, or not far 

 from the average weight of the 4I4X- 

 4>4x2 section used with separators. 

 •The plan worked as well witli this 

 size as with the smaller. Other sizes 

 larger were made, as samples, but 

 they looked to be so much like a frame 

 that the smaller size was adopted. 

 With this size of section operated on 

 my new surplus arrangement, it is 

 believed that the utmost capacity of 

 comb honey production by a colony of 

 bees can be easily attained. But even 

 with the smaller'size of section, oper- 

 ated on the new plan, it is thought 

 that considerably more honey can be 

 obtained than by any other" plan of 

 section arrangement now in use, and 

 with less labor and less trouble! 



The tests were as follows : On 

 seven hives the small section was 

 tried with wood separators sawed ex- 

 ceedingly smooth out of white poplar. 

 The bees entered the sections readily 

 enough, but not to cluster and begin 

 comb building for several days, and 

 then the progress was slow. In each 

 case the honey was principally stored 

 in the body ot the hive to the exclu- 

 sion of brood, or the colony swarmed. 

 That the separators were an olistruc- 

 tion was plainly evident. The largest 

 yield was only 40 pounds, wiiich 

 amount was about 15 pounds above 

 the average production of the 200 colo- 

 nies in town. The average weight of 

 the sections was 7 ounces. 



On seven hives, the small sections 

 were used without separators. Three 

 were old colonies and four were 

 swarms. Two of the former were 

 good colonies, but no stronger than a 

 dozen others. The other one was a 

 nucleus last fall, and the sections were 

 not put on until late. Neither of the 

 three swarmed. One gave 72 pounds 

 and 5 ounces, one 51 pounds and 2 

 ounces, and the nucleus nearly 25 

 pounds. The new swarms yielded 

 from 10 to 15 pounds each. Founda- 

 tkm was only used for starters, aver- 

 aging about one inch wide. The 

 average weight of the sections was 8 

 ounces, and they were pronounced 

 tlie handsomest sections that were 

 ever sold in our market, commanding 

 a ready sale at 25 cents per pound. 



Four colonies were worked upon two 

 pound sections, which were all nearly 

 filled witli clean white comb made last 

 year. Each colony was worked to the 

 best possible advantage on the old 

 plan. Three were worked with sec- 

 tion racks and one with section cases, 

 side and top st<iring. The best colony 

 gave 53 pounds and 10 ounces, one 44 

 pound and 6 ounces, one 30 pounds 

 and 10 ounces, and tlie other swarmed. 



Five colonies were worked on the 

 old plan on one-pound sections {i}ix- 

 414x2). These, like the two-pound 

 sections, were nearly filled with comb 

 made last year. Four swarmed, and 

 the other gave 40 poimds. 



The largest other yield of coml) 

 honey was in an apiary near by, of 85 

 colonies on Simplicity "frames. These 

 had been strongly stimulated in the 

 spring, while mine were fed only 

 about 2 pounds of honey each. The 

 best colony gave 00 pounds in two- 



pound sections, each being filled with 

 Given foundaticm. But this colony 

 contained one of Mr. Doolittle's fine 

 i|ueens, and my own apiary is mostly 

 stocked witli this strain of'bees. 



The average yield of the five best 

 colonies in town, worked on the old 

 plan, was only 48 pounds. The aver- 

 age yield of the two best, worked on 

 the hew plan, in the small sections, 

 was 02 pounds, or about one-third 

 more, while the advantages of neai'ly 

 all new comb and full sections of fomi- 

 datioii were against them. 



I am aware that the tests were not 

 on a grand scale, but were carefully 

 conducted ; and when it is said that 

 one-third more comb honey can be 

 produced on the new plan thiin by any 

 of the old methods, I might be ""■ mis- 

 taken " as our friend Heddon would 

 say; yet the advantages, in a com- 

 mon sense view, are clearly on the 

 side of continuous passage ways and 

 continuous combs. 



It was thought before-hand that the 

 small sections without separators 

 would be fastened all together with 

 bulged and crooked combs, and when 

 separated, would make a " mess." 

 But there was not one comli out of 

 several hundred that was fastened to 

 the adjoining section, and not one but 

 could be readily crated. The greater 

 number were as fine and regular as if 

 separators had been used. They were 

 also plump and well-filled out, while 

 many, where the separators were 

 used, were only partly filled. On 

 each hive, the bees went into the 

 sections early and began work. There 

 was no delay. The next day after the 

 sections were put on, the bees were 

 found clustered in them. The differ- 

 ence between separators and no sep- 

 arators was very marked. It was 

 found that any of the sections coulp 

 be readily taken from the racks ana 

 replaced. They were also very free 

 from propolis, so that they could be 

 rapidly handled and put into a crate 

 for the market at once. I could take 

 off 36 sections (the number used on 

 each rack), shake off the bees and 

 have them all in a crate within 10 

 minutes. Where the separators were 

 used, it took not less than a half hour 

 to get the sections off from one rack 

 and nearly the same time to clean off 

 the propolis. 



My experience is, that separators 

 are not only expensive and tedious to 

 handle, but they are always a positive 

 hinderance to the bees, in the large 

 sections as well as the small ones, and 

 that not nearly so much surplus can 

 be obtained with them as without. 



Mr. Bledsoe is certainly right when 

 he says: "The bees are quicker to 

 go to work in common frames with 

 good starters of foundation; more 

 bees can get to work, and the clusters 

 being more continuous, they make 

 more rapid progress." (See page 382 

 of the Bee Journal). Now, this is 

 the principle that I have brought into 

 successful operation by the use of 

 thin sections, continuous passage 

 ways and no separators. On the hive 

 that gave the largest surplus, the 

 racks of sections were tiered up four 

 high, and the result, practically, waa 



