490 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 1 



methods, in the British Bee Journal for 

 March 22, 1906. The principal feature of 

 this communication is what he terms ' ' Sla- 

 den's improved nursery-cage for queen-cells 

 and virgin queens." 

 Here is his description of the cage: 



My improved nursery-cagre for the hatchinjj; of vir- 

 gin "queens and for holding them until they are dis- 

 tributed to the nuclei is illustrated in the cut. The 

 ripe queen-cell is held in position by the wire-cloth 

 sides, which can be easily adjusted to grip securely 

 queen-cells of any size. The cage opens on a new 

 principle, which makes the insertion or removal of 

 the queen-cell or of food for the queen expeditious 

 and easy. The cage hangs between the combs some 

 distance from the top by the stout wire shaft, the 

 bent portion of which rests on the top-bar of one of 

 the frames. The pupa, or queen, is thus kept warm 

 between brood, and this is very important in the cold 

 nights of May and June. The cage itself is of the 

 smallest possible size, so that a number of them can 

 hang side by side between two combs without widely 

 separating the combs, and one or more of the cages 

 can be inserted or removed on turning back the quilt 

 without lifting out a frame. The part c may be made 

 of tin plate or of celluloid. With the latter material 

 the queen and queen-cell can be easily seen inside the 

 cage while it is closed. At t and iv are shown different 

 kinds of shafts. 



This cage can be used, if required, as an introducing- 

 cage. The candy-hole is covered with a tin slide, 

 which, when pushed to one side, enables the bees to 

 liberate the queen by eating through the candy. 



Mr. Sladen deserves great credit for his 

 enterprise and courage in attempting to in- 

 culate better breeding methods for bee-keep- 

 ers in England. The book bears the imprint 

 of the British Bee Journal office, London, 

 England. 



»«« 



MANAGEMENT OF OUT YARDS IN 

 MICHIGAN. 



How to do Without Qiieen-exduders; AVide 



Spacing in Extracting-supers ; More 



About Sectional Honey-houses. 



BY B. D. TOWNSEND. 



Since Mr. H. H. Root's write-up on page 

 1241, 1906, of his visit here last summer I 

 have received several communications with 

 a list of questions to be answered — so many, 

 in fact, 1 am convinced there are many in- 

 terested in this out-yard question, and that 

 more particulars are wanted along this line. 

 This letter is a fair sample of what I have 

 received : 



Dear 5ir.-— The article otr your extracted-honey 

 methods in out-apiaries was very interesting to me, 

 especially the clause on excluders. I had this year 

 an accidental confirmation of your views. Early in 

 the season, on about 30 colonies I put on second sto- 

 ries without excluders, instead of with them, as I al- 

 ways have done, because I desired the queen to lay all 

 through both bodies, so that I might make new col- 

 onies later. To my surprise the second stories, when 

 I went to look at them the next time, were full of 

 capped-over honey with almost no brood at all in 

 them; and as that didn't suit my original purpose, 

 and since I was too busy to do any lifting-up, I put 

 on a third story above, and still had almost no brood 

 at extracting time above the brood chamber. I am 

 going to put out another 200-colony apiary next 

 spring, and I think I shall save myself the cost of ex- 

 cluders and the bother of handling them and taking 

 care of swarms If extracting is done at the out-yard, 

 a little brood is not much of a setback any way. 

 Heretofore, from my out-yards I have hauled home the 

 supers full of honey, freed from bees by escapes, and 

 returned the empty ones the following spring, letting 

 the bees at the home yard clean them up after ex- 

 tracting. But I think I will try my next out-yard 

 with a cheap extracting-house and no excluders at all. 



Now a question. If only light frames are used (as 

 I do) in a ten-frame body, don't you think the thick- 

 ness of such extracting-combs will have a tendency to 

 discourage the queen from using them'/ Have you had 

 experience in that connection'? It seems natural that 

 it would. It is true that, if actually much pressed for 

 additional cells, the bees might cut the combs down 

 to proper depth; but the tendency would seem to be 

 to stay in the regular brood-chamber, with regular 

 spaces and cell depths, as long as possible. I shall 

 give your plan a trial next year in the new apiary. 

 I have always thought excluders an absolute necessi- 

 ty, but long saw that they were a great bother and 

 interference with the best work of the bees. 



W. M. Jajsies. 



Mr. Janes' 20 colonies were worked just 

 the same as we have been working about half 

 our colonies for several years. The secret of 

 swarm control in the production of extracted 

 honey is in giving the second story before the 

 bees begin to think of swarming. 



This practice gives the queen an abundance 

 of room to lay before and during the fore 

 part of our honey season; then, later, after 

 the main breeding season is over, by giving 

 third and subsequent upper stories on toj), the 

 queen is crowded down into the lower story 

 at extracting time, for you will remember 

 we do not extract our white honey until a 

 week or ten days after the season closes. 

 This leaves the honey on the hive clear 

 through the season, and gives us beautifully 

 flavored, rich ripe honey. But were we to 

 extract during the honey-flow, as some do, 

 or raise up this second story and place our 

 third story under the second, then the whole 

 plan would get a black eye, for, quite likely, 

 we should find our brood-nest in the top 

 story, and the brood- nest bare of both honey 

 and brood, at the close of the season. 



I said above, put all upper stories on toji. 

 While this is our practice, it's not absolutely 

 necessary, for there will be practically no 

 brood in the third and subsequent upper 

 stories given, so if one sees fit he can lift the 

 third story up and place the fourth between 

 the second and third story, if the colony 

 needs more than two additional stories; for 

 by this time the queen is back in her original 

 quarters, the brood-nest; and as the main 

 breeding season is now over she will not 

 bother the upper story any more during that 

 flow. 



We have two yards where queen- excluders 

 are used. All our extracted-honey colonies 

 are in 10-frame L. hives, with excluders over 

 these 10-frame bodies. We have excessive 

 swarming about one year out of three. I can 

 hardly explain why this is so; but all who 

 have kept bees long, find that, certain sea- 

 sons, our bees are more inclined to swarm 

 than others. It is these excessive swarming 

 seasons that put a damper on excluders, and 

 set us to studying out some system to do 

 away with excluders and the accompanying 

 excessive swarming, and still have our upper 

 stories practically free from brood at extract- 

 ing time, and the nearest I have come to it 

 is with the system outlined above. 



In regard to thick combs in the upper 

 stories discouraging the queen from going 

 above, this has been tried quite extensively. 

 While it does sometimes seem to discourage 

 her, at other times it does not appear to do 



