1268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



hand. To give the reader something of an 

 idea of the ease and rapidity with which 

 hives can be handled by this device we will 

 take a pile of five sections of our hive, weigh- 

 ing 125 lbs., and with our naachine we will 

 separate each section in the pile and place a 

 honey-board between each two sections in 

 less than thirty seconds. 



We would especially call your attention to 

 our rapid system of perfectly filling the sec- 

 tions with foundation, which holds the foun- 

 dation always in the center of the sections 

 regardless of whether the hive is level or not. 

 When we say "perfectly filled" we mean 

 that the sections are so nearly filled with 

 foundation that no bee can ever get hold of 

 the edge to gnaw it out and cause popholes 

 in the cornei's of the section of honey; and 

 the foundation will not buckle, even though 

 the sections are out of true. By this method 

 one man can do the work of four with any 

 hot-plate machine, and it insures a section of 

 honey firmly fastened on four sides; and last, 

 but not least, supers filled with foundation 

 by this method may be safely shipped by 

 freight or hauled to out-apiaries, for the 

 foundation can not be jarred out by rough 

 handling. We have a good hot-plate foun- 

 dation-fastener which we will give to any 

 one who will ask for it. 



Our system of finishing all our sections 

 over a feeder insures a uniform filling of 

 them, and eliminates the nuisance of light- 

 weight sections that are capped at the close 

 of a short honey-How and before they are 

 perfectly filled out. We could not produce 

 fancy comb honey in our location by the 

 usual methods in vogue. 



Again, our method of using two queens in 

 a hive up to the time of putting on the sec- 

 tions, together with a super of extracting- 

 combs above the brood-chamber forces the 

 bees to store all the honey that may be gath- 

 ered previous to the main honey-flow in the 

 extracting-combs, since the fertility of the 

 queen is in excess of the room in the brood- 

 chamDers. Taking advantage of the instincts 

 of the bees to store all their honey above the 

 brood, we place these extracting-supers, full 

 of honey, below the brood-chamber after the 

 bees have begun work in the sections, thus 

 compelling the bees through their instincts 

 to store practically all the honey in the sec- 

 tions. By our system of manipulating the 

 sections of the brood-chambers of our hives, 

 taking from and adding to the same as oc- 

 casion requires, thus at all times giving the 

 queens plenty of room, and by removing the 

 top brood-section whenever any considerable 

 amount of honey shall be stored therein, and 

 always placing such honey directly under 

 the brood-chamber, where it will be quickly 

 removed and stored in the sections, we are 

 able to keep the brood and bees together, 

 giving us strong colonies that are constantly 

 becoming stronger as the season advances. 

 Compare this with other methods of so-call- 

 ed swarm control. 



Imagine an artificial swarm made June 10 

 to 15, without any hatching brood in the 

 hive for the next three weeks; what kind of 



condition would such a colony of bees be in 

 for best work in the sections during basswood 

 bloom. They would be mere nuclei compar- 

 ed with our mammoth colonies; and yet the 

 advocates of this system make the broad 

 claim that they get stronger colonies of bees 

 by this method of artificial swarming than 

 it is possible to get by any other system. In 

 applying our system to out-apiaries the home 

 yard is used to draw out and finish the sec- 

 tions, and the out-apiaries furnish the ex- 

 tracted honey to finish ofl" the seetions at the 

 close of the honey-flow. 



The object of these articles is to eliminate 

 all the uncertainties pei'taining to the pursuit 

 of bee-keeping, and place it on a solid basis 

 as compared with other business ventures. 



There is no such word as "luck " as appli- 

 ed to bee-keeping, since every effect has its 

 preceding cause; and the same careful atten- 

 tion to every detail of your business will as 

 surely result in success in honey-production 

 as it will in any other branch of rural indus- 

 try. It is a mistaken idea that bees can not 

 be wintered with the same degree of certain- 

 ty that attends the wintering of any other 

 farm stock. 



A careful observance of every detail as set 

 forth in these two articles on wintering bees 

 will enable any bee-keeper to winter his bees 

 with the same assurance of success that there 

 is in wintering his poultry or sheep. Every 

 writer is supposed to write from the stand- 

 point of his own location; however, since the 

 manipulations of the sectional hive can be 

 varied to suit the requirements of any and 

 every location where bees are kept, they 

 should be governed by location, time, and 

 duration of the honey-flow. There are, in- 

 deed, few locations so poor that comb honey 

 can not be produced at a handsome profit by 

 the methods set forth in this series of articles. 

 "Freely ye have received, freely give," is 

 our motto; and if our methods as described 

 in these articles will prove as helpful to others 

 as they have proven to ourselves, which we 

 doubt not, then we shall indeed feel that our 

 labors have not been in vain. 



To my bee-keeping friends and colaborers 

 along the lines of solving the intricate prob- 

 lems of apiculture, I bid you a hearty God- 

 speed and extend unto you one and all, of 

 whatever race or nationality, the right hand 

 of fraternal fellowship and good will, be- 

 lieving that, in a multitude of counselors, 

 there is wisdom. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



HOW BEES ARE WINTERED IN A 

 COLLEGE DORMITORY. 



BY GEO. W. PHILLIPS. 



The wintering of bees was always an in- 

 teresting problem to me. I was born in the 

 tropics, and lived for 22 years in Jamaica, 

 the country of my birth. There we have no 

 winter, nor any thing corresponding to it; 

 but for twelve months in the year the sun- 

 shine of summer beams upon us. We do, 

 however, have a continuous rainy spell, com- 



