1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



969 



far better than twp men can with a hot-plate 

 machine. But, to return to the bees: 



An examination at this time shows that 

 every one of the supers is crowded full of 

 bees, and that work in the sections has be- 

 gun in eai'nest. Our colonies are all over- 



FIG. 6. — FORCING THE SECTIONS BACK INTO 



THE FRAME AFTER THE WORK 



IS COMPLETED. 



liowing with bees, therefore we will place 

 on each of ovir 50 comb-honey colonies anoth- 

 er section-super of drawn foundation, and 

 also on each one of our extracting-colonies 

 another .«uper of empty extracting- combs, 

 placing all supers next to the brood -chambers, 

 Fig. 8. We are now up with our work, and 

 are right in the beginning of a fine honey- 

 flow from basswood bloom; and whether or 

 not we are going to secure a partial crop of 

 surplus honey from this source will depend 

 entirely upon ourselves and our methods; for 

 any of the methods as pi*acticed by the hon- 

 ey-producer of the average location would 

 result in an entire failure on our part to se- 

 cure any surplus in such a season as this, for 

 the total amount that our bees will store 

 during this short honey-flow will be only a 

 little more than would be required to carry 

 them through the winter if we allowed them 

 to store it in the brood-chamber, which we 

 do not intend to do, as the diffex'ence between 

 basswood honey and sugar syi"up for winter- 

 ing our bees means a profit of about $400. 

 Just now is the crucial test of our methods. 

 A hitch in any of our methods at this time 

 would mean a loss to us. As we pass along 

 in front of the rows of hives and note how 

 the bees are dropping on the ground and 

 fairly piling up on top of each other we have 



FIG. 7. — THE FINISHED WORK. 



a certain feeling of satisfaction that comes 

 from the knowledge that our bees are doing 

 the very best work that they are capable of 

 performing under the most favorable condi- 

 tions. 



There is nothing more for us to do to-day, 

 as there are no swarms to look after; and as 



my brother and family are coming to spend 

 the day with us we shall enjoy ourselves the 

 rest of the glorious old Fourth of July. It 

 seems good to have the day all to ourselves, 

 and our memory travels backward into the 

 dim and distant past, and we remember 

 another Fourth of July when we did not 

 have things all our own way with our bees, 

 before we knew how to control swarming or 

 practiced the clipping of queens. Oh the 



food ( ?) old days of climbing trees to dizzy 

 eights! On this particular Fourth of July 

 a refractory swarm had clustered high up in 

 the top of a cottonwood-ti'ee. We were 

 younger then than now, so we pulled off our 

 shoes and shinned up the tree with our 

 swarming-box on the end of a pole; and aft- 

 er climbing as high as we could we could 

 only just reach the cluster with the box. 

 We gave it a bump, and down came the bees. 

 Down went the box, and down went McGin- 

 ty. Up went the bees — yes, up our panta- 



IV JUPER OF 



Extracting CoM85 



2""- Super of 

 Extracting CoMB5 



c^Ulf^hj F^^.LiinEk 



BROOD SECTION \NnH 

 NEW COMBS Df<AV\JN 

 FROM FOUNDATION. 



Brood 



Brood 



Brood 



^i'^KSoPEP OF 



5ection5. 



2'"° Super oeJfc- 



TIONb V^lTH DRAWN 

 FOUNDATION. 



qiJFFNFuri unra 



Brood. Queen 



Super of 

 ExTRACTiNQ corns 



FIG. 8. — DIAGRAM KKl'KE.SEWTING AN EX- 

 TRACTED-HONEY COLONY AND A COMB- 

 HONEY COLONY AFTER THE SECOND 

 SUPER HAS BEEN PUT ON. 



loons and into our hair. We didn't climb 

 down — we just dropped. Well, if there was 

 any part of our anatomy that was not punc- 

 tured by a bee-sting we have forgotten where 

 it was. That was the time we were convert- 

 ed to the clipping of queens. Perhaps if 

 you had been within hearing distance about 

 that time you would have entertained serious 

 doubts regarding our conversion along cer- 

 tain other lines. We also remember another 

 Fovirth of July, not so far back in the past, 

 when we had somehow neglected to clip our 

 queens. On this Fourth of July we had nine 

 swarms of bees all clustered together in one 

 bunch. Talk about celebrating the glorious 

 Fourth I we did it that day to perfection. 



When we compare the past with the pres- 

 ent, and while we are having the day all to 

 ourselves, we feel that truly we are begin- 

 ning to reap the rewards of our labors in 

 solving the problem of perfect swarm con- 



