S46 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June IS 



same thing, and without any knowledge of 

 each other. I invented a ^^-inch top-bar 

 frame, and am testing it, and it can not 

 possibly sag. About the same time, Mr. 

 Thos. Chantry, of South Dakota, struck 

 upon the same idea. We knew nothing of 

 each other's existence, and nothing was 

 suggested by either one to the other. The 

 same is true of Mr. Danzenbaker and my- 

 self. Mr. E. F. Atwater, of Boise, Idaho, 

 thinks so well of the thin-top-bar frames, 

 that he has, by permission, had frames 

 made for 200 nine- frame cases. 



3. You say, "Close-fitting closed-end 

 frames in a deep brood-chamber [italics 

 mine] are liable to cause trouble by swell- 

 ing. . . A close-fitting frame iiiig/it be 

 made to work provided it were loose 

 enough." I know that a half-way indorse- 

 ment of a thing is apt to do great damage 

 by leaving the impression that it had al- 

 ready been tried and proved to be a fail- 

 ure. Your objections here, if valid, would 

 completely knock out of existence the Dan- 

 zenbaker hive — the best one your firm ever 

 made. I know by this, that, in your haste, 

 you misunderstood the construction of mj' 

 hive. Were it not for this fact I might be 

 so uncharitable as to ask, "Why, without 

 any foundation whatever, go outside of the 

 facts to lug in an imaginary objection? " I 

 reply: 1. My hive is large, but is not a 

 deep-brood-chamber hive ; 2. The looseness 

 is already provided for in the yielding 

 springs, the same as is the Danzenbaker 

 hive. This could also be provided for, as 

 suggested to me by Mr. Arthur C. Miller, 

 by means of yielding vertical strips in hive 

 side- walls; 3. That with leaky covers all 

 parts of the hive give trouble by swelling, 

 which is not met with when good covers are 

 used; 4. That a thing is often condemned 

 on account of the manner in which it is 

 used. Close-fittingclosed-endframes would, 

 perhaps, give trouble in your Dovetailed 

 hive as it is now constructed; but a slight 

 change in construction would overcome the 

 trouble, and enable you to use a good thing 

 without anj' bad results. 



Tophet, W. Va. 



[What appears to you to be a matter of 

 haste, perhaps, on my part, was simply a 

 question of room. I had just a little space, 

 and was compelled to condense — indeed, I 

 dictated the review of your book twice, and 

 the second time I cut out every detail, giving, 

 as I thought, the bare outline of the main 

 or essential principle. If the reader desir- 

 ed the details he could send for the book. 



Perhaps you feel I haven't tried closed-end 

 frames in deep-brood-chamber hives. If 

 3'ou will go over the back volumes of this 

 journal for about ten years ago, you will 

 find where I tried, as I thought pretty 

 thoroughly, closed-end frames such as I 

 saw at the apiary of J. Y. Tunnicliff, in 

 New York, and my criticism was based 

 entirely on personal experience. The possi- 

 ble defect that I pointed out does not apply 

 to the Danzenbaker, because that frame is 



not close-fitting. There is a chance for end 

 play and finger room, and the end of one of 

 the frames may be lowered faster, to a cer- 

 tain extent, than the other, without sticking 

 or pinching. Very likely the closed-end 

 frame, as you make it and use it in your 

 hive, will give no trouble, and I therefore 

 stand corrected. 



But leaky covers are not the only thing to 

 cause the swelling of parts of the hive. 

 Damp weather will do the same. — Ed.] 



SIFTED SWARMS. 



Don't Let your Bees Get into a Mix-up. 



BY T. J. ADAMS. 



On page 288, Apr. 1, Wm. McEvoy gives 

 his way of preventing a mix-up when queens 

 are clipped. When queens are not clipped, 

 how shall we prevent it? With 300 colonies 

 in a space 65X75 feet, and not a queen clip- 

 ped, we succeed fairly well as follows: 



Close the hive tight as soon as the swarm 

 begins to issue. At the end of five minutes 

 let out a dozen or two bees, one at a time. 

 If thej^ take wing, close the hive for five 

 minutes more. A strong colony might 

 smother if confined longer. It may be nec- 

 essary to repeat this several times, or until 

 they do not take wing when let out, but 

 walk up the front of the hive, buzzing and 

 fanning; then open the hive. They are then 

 cured of the svvarming-fever. Give the bees 

 room, and the result will be satisfactory. 

 I think they kill the old queen, and her 

 place is soon filled by a young queen, which 

 is usually a profitable exchange. If in- 

 crease is wanted, take one or two combs of 

 hatching brood with a few bees, and a good 

 queen-cell, and a comb of honey to form a 

 nucleus. 



Sometimes we wish to save the queen, or 

 the queen may be out before we see the 

 swarm issuing. We then take two empty 

 hive-bodies, two queen-excluding honey- 

 boards, and the bee-smoker, to where the 

 swarm clusters. Put one honey-board be- 

 tween the empty hive-bodies, and the other 

 on top for a lid, and raise one end of the 

 lower hive for ventilation. Shake the clus- 

 ter into the upper hive-body, or, if more con- 

 venient, shake into a large pan or other 

 light vessel, and carry to the hive, always 

 carefully covering with the honey- board as 

 soon as part or all the bees are emptied in. 

 When all are in, a few good pufl^s of smoke 

 given through this honey-board cover will 

 drive the bees into the lower hive. The 

 queen will be in the upper hive between the 

 honey-boards. Carry her away, first jar- 

 ring the bees oft" that are clustered under 

 the lower honey-boards. The queen is now 

 very easily found. Kill her, or form a nu- 

 cleus with her as above. To find which 

 hive the swarm came from, smoke and scat- 

 ter the bees in the lower hive-body. Unless 

 a virgin queen goes out with the swarm 

 they will return and cover the front of their 



