1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



767 



Don't handle brood-frames singly. It is a 

 waste of time that should be put to a better 

 use. 



Don't use brood-frames with inch-wide top 

 and bottom bars in sectional hives. 



Don't think that these brood-frames would 

 be better if they were a little deeper. They 

 are 4|Xl7f, and the limit of shallow frames 

 has not yet been reached. 



FIG. 4. — LOOKING TIIUOUGII A SECTION FROM 

 THE BOTTOM, SHOWING THE VERY NAR- 

 ROW BOTTOM-BARS AND TOP-BARS. 



Don't think that a ten-frame hive would be 

 better for swarm control than an eight-frame 

 one, as it is far more desirable to have the 

 additional room in the form of another eight- 

 frame brood-section, thus giving a brood- 

 chamber of the capacity of twelve L. frames, 

 and fifteen inches deep. While two ten- 

 frame brood - sections 

 would not 1)6 l)ig enough, 

 three would l)e too big 

 for one queen, and, be- 

 sides, the ten-frame su- 

 per is too wide to get 

 the best work done in 

 the oi;tside sections. 



Don't think that you 

 can improve this hive. 

 We have l)een working 

 on that line for twenty 

 years. 



LOCATION OF OUR API- FIG. 5. — A WIDE 

 ARY. 



To give the reader something of an idea of 

 the apiary in which our season's work is to 

 1)6 conducted we will give a short description 

 of it. 



It is situated in an apple-orchard of large 

 branching trees that afford an excellent shade 

 for a part of the hives as well as for the api- 

 arist. The ground is high, and gently slop- 

 ing to the north and west. The hives are in 

 rows running north and south, and ai*e in 

 groups of four— two facing east and two fac- 

 ing west, with a three-foot alley between 

 backs of hives, and a ten-foot alley between 

 fronts, and six feet between groups. It will 

 be seen that we have four hives to manipu- 

 late, without moving more than three feet 

 cither way. Another advantage in having 

 hives in paii's close together is that, if one is 

 removed, the returning bees will quickly en- 

 ter the other hives instead of buzzing about 

 the old stand for several days. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



1 am awai'e that, on this subject as on 

 many others, I am compelled to take grounds 

 directly opposite those taken by some of our 

 l)est authorities. After much experimenting 

 along the lines of spring feeding to stimulate 

 early brood-rearing, if I were asked when is 

 the "best time to feed bees to stimulate early 

 hrood-rearing I would unhesitatingly say 

 during September. In very many locations 

 there is not enough honey being gathered 

 dux'ing this month to keep up brood-rearing; 

 hence the queen will often stop laying, and, 

 uo matter how many bees your hives may 

 have contained during June and July, if this 

 condition of things is allowed to continue 

 long you will have a colony of mostly old 

 bees to go into winter quarters, which means 

 a weak colony to build up in the spring. No 

 amount of spring feeding can ever place such 

 a colony at the beginning of clover bloom in 

 anywhere nearly as good condition as it 

 would have been if the queen had been kept 

 laying during September, thus giving us a 

 strong force of young bees to go into winter 

 quarters instead of a lot of old ones that 

 would die off before young ones could be 

 raised to take their places in early spring. 



This is improperly called "spring dwin- 

 dling." Spring feeding excites the bees, aft- 

 er enticing them to leave the hive during un- 

 changeable weather, only to be caught by a 

 sudden cold wave and chilled. Spring feed- 

 ing is indeed a two edged sword, cutting 



FRAME FOR THE SECTIONS AND A REGULAR 

 BROOD-FRAJIE. 



both ways, and therefore is a dangerous 

 weapon in the hands of the unskilled. 



All the stimulant that is needed at this 

 time is a vigorous queen, plenty of liees that 



