1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



589 



f^n)or)% \\)^ Bee-Papers 



Gleaned by Dr. Miller. 



DIVISIBLE BROOD-CHAMBERS. 



I have over 700 half-story hives, aad do not propose to 

 make or use any other style of hive than the divisible brood- 

 chamber, but have not timn now to tell why I like it any bet- 

 ter than any other hive. — O. R. Coe, in Gleanings. 



CONTROLLING FERTILIZATION OF QUEENS. 



" How the Mating of Queens can be Controlled " is the 

 taking title of an article in Gleanings, but it is rather disap- 

 pointing, as the plan given is simply the old oue of trapping 

 all drones from undesirable colonies. 



MARKETING HONEY. 



To sum all up, I would say, put honey up in the most at- 

 tractive shape possible, and sell for cash if you can obtain as 

 much into a cent a pound as you think it will bring you when 

 shipped on commission. If you cannot thus sell it, ship on 

 commission to reliable parties, sending 500 pounds and under 

 to each party. — G. M. Doolittle, in Gleanings. 



VENTILATION TO PREVENT S\'CaRMING. 



We certainly did not have the swarming with the larger 

 hives that we have had with the 8-frame hives. But there 

 may be another reason for that. We always, during the 

 honey-harvest, left a small opening at the back of the hive, 

 for upward ventilation, and a current of air was constantly 

 passing through the hive, that may have helped a good deal to 

 prevent swarming. We have not been giving this ventilation 

 since we have had the S-frame hive in use. The bees will not 

 finish up the sections quite so quickly at the back end when 

 the ventilation is given, and for that reason we have dis- 

 carded it. But I'm not sure but it's a good thing to have the 

 ventilation, nevertheless. 



For the last two or three years we have been placing 

 small blocks at the corners under some of our hives, raising 

 them "(,■ of an inch from the bottom-board, leaving an opening 

 all around, and I believe it's a good thing. It gives them 

 more air, and it may help to prevent swarming — not that we 

 are troubled with swarms at present. We have not had any 

 this year, and are not likely to have. I'm not fond of swarm- 

 ing bees, but I would even put up with the swarms if the 

 honey would only accompany them. — Emma Wilson, in Glean- 

 ings. 



PRBNENTION OP AFTER-SWARMS. 



The best way I know to prevent after-swarms is to have 

 all the bees that can fly go with the first swarm, and this is 

 the way I manage it: 



Have all colonies strong, even if it should be necessary to 

 double them up in the spring, so that they will swarm at the 

 beginning of the honey-flow. Then hive the prime swarm on 

 the old stand, removing the super, if any, from the parent 

 hive to the swarm ; then set the parent hive on top of the 

 swarm's hive and allow it to remain there two or three days. 

 All the young bees that have ever been ont of the hive, when 

 they come out, will go in below with the swarm. About the 

 afternoon of the second day, if the weather has been favor- 

 able, the parent colony will have become so depleted of bees 

 that they will give up swarming a second time, and will begin 

 to carry out drone-brood. It is then safe to carry them to a 

 new location ; they will not swarm again, but will build up to 

 be a strong colony, and will store some fall honey and be a 

 good colony to winter. In this way we get extra-strong colo- 

 nies that will store more honey than the two together would if 

 the queen-cells had been cut out. Crowd the brood-chamber 

 with bees instead of contracting it. — Geo. W. Stephens, in 

 Nebraska Queen. 



WHY B. TAYLOR DISCARDS DIVISIBLE BROOD-CHAMBERS. 



At length I came to the time, as I have told in the June 

 Review, when I had to choose between them ; and I had to 

 decide in favor of the larger brODd-chambers, upon the ground 

 of utility alone, and for the following reasons: The double 

 brood-chambers cost more to make. I have always sold a 

 single brood-chamber, such as I use, for §1.25, and could not 

 sell two sections of the shallow hive for anything like that 

 sum, for each section costs nearly as much to make as the 

 larger full hive. It is true, there is a little less material in 

 each section of the shallow hives ; but in the two sections 



there Is at least 40 per cent, more material, and very nearly 

 double the work. There are 20 instead of 10 frames; two 

 hive-bodies instead of one, each costing in work and material 

 nearly as much as a single full hive. Now, if I could have 

 secured more honey, or with less work with the double brood- 

 chambers, the increased cost could have been borne without 

 loss ; but after 30 years' trial I was compelled to know I could 

 not. I at length became aware that I had over-estimated the 

 double brood-chambers. Especially did this become manifest 

 in the last few years of poor honey crops, when the struggle 

 for bread and butter became greater. I have no apology to 

 make for over-estimating the double brood-chambers. 



I once believed the double brood-chamber wintered bees 

 better than the full hive ; but in the last few poor seasons for 

 honey I have lost heavily in bees each spring, and the colonies 

 in the double hives fared as badly as those in other hives. I 

 now know that it is the bees themselves that make wintering 

 (when proper rules are observed) safe. I have long observed 

 that some seasons bees wintered well in all styles of hives, and 

 with seemingly careless management. I now believe I know 

 the cause. 



Now, do not understand me as denying that the double 

 brood-chamber has some good points ; but its bad features 

 overcome them. I have tested the "shake-out" function, the 

 reversible function, about which much has been claimed ; and 

 I k7unv that, for practical work, they are arrant humhuas. — B. 

 Taylor, in Gleanings. 



BEST SIZE OP HIVES. 



Concerning the discussion as to big and little hives, Ernest 

 Root says : 



"In the meantime, let us not forget that we have had a 

 few " eye-openers." Let us rehearse just a few of them. (1) 

 More bee-keepers are using cubical hives than we supposed. 

 (2) A larger number find the 10-frame hive preferable to the 

 8-frame than we had any idea of : and (3) it is evident that 

 some bee-keepers are, or have been, getting along with too 

 small a brood-nest ; especially is this true in the South and 

 West. (4) Some like divisible brood-chambers that can be 

 contracted or expanded at will, and think this is the best solu- 

 tion of the problem, (o) Others who have tried them do not 

 find them to be an entire success, and have finally concluded 

 there is nothing better than full-sized brood-frames— that is, 

 a brood-nest with a single set of combs. 



"But perhaps the biggest eye-opener of all is the fact (6), 

 the 8-frame hive is not as generally accepted as about the 

 right size for all bee-keepers as we have thought. 



"Another eye-opener, and closely related to that pre- 

 ceding, is (7) that bee-keepers at large have been running too 

 much toward small sizes in hives, and now the tide is turning 

 slightly the other way. Just where it will land, nobody 

 knows. Now the question rises in view of this, 'Is it wise to 

 stop right here ?' I confess I do not know, and ask for 

 greater wisdom of our many readers." 



SWEET CLOVER — MELILOTUS ALBA. 



Edwin Montgomery, of Starkville, Miss., says this about 

 sweet clover [the great honey-plant) in the Agricultural Epito- 

 mist : 



" Melilotus Alba is considered only a weed in the North- 

 west, but in the South it is prized as one of our most valuable 

 forage crops. It belongs to the leguminous class of plants, 

 and hence derives the greater proportion of its nourishment 

 from the air, and the deep subsoil, where the roots of but com- 

 paratively few plants can reach and feed. Mowed before the 

 plant becomes too large and woody, the quality of the hay is 

 first-class, and in nutritive quality equal to any of the clover 

 family. In its green state stock is not fond of it at first, but 

 soon acquires a taste. It is a rich milk and butter food. The 

 life of the plant is two years. The usual plan is to mow the 

 plant once the second year and allow the second to mature 

 seed. These seeds fall to the ground and germinate where 

 the conditions are favorable, and thus your land is seeded 

 again for two years more. Seed can be bought at from §1 to 

 $1.50 per bushel, and a bushel will sow four acres. It is par- 

 tial to a lime soil, and I would not advise anyone to sow it on 

 any land not strongly impregnated with lime. It will grow 

 luxuriantly during the most protracted drought, due, of 

 course, to the deep extension of its tap-root into the soil. It 

 is said to make first-class hog pasture. 



"A commission merchant for the sale of live stock, at New 

 Orleans, says the best quality of beef he ever received from 

 this State or Alabama was made from animals fattened on 

 Johnson grass and melilotus. As an improver of worn soils it 



