216 



THE AMEKlCAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



the top-bars of the brood-frames. My 

 answer is, as soon as the surplus sea- 

 son opens ; in this latitude it is at the 

 opening of the blaclcberry and rasp- 

 berry blossoms, followed closely by 

 the white clover, which is our main 

 source. Previous to this the crates 

 should all be prepared with sections 

 filled with full sheets of thin founda- 

 tion. The bee-keeper should also be 

 provided with a zinc queen-excluding 

 honey-board. I like these the size of 

 the surplus-crate. This avoids all 

 propolizing and snapping and crack- 

 ing of crates in taking off, and all 

 brace-combs from being built from 

 the under side of the sections to the 

 top of the brood-frames. 



With me, there is no time looked 

 forward to with more interest than 

 the putting on of the surplus-crates ; 

 neither is there a time when the api- 

 arist should exercise better judgment. 

 Approaching a hive, I examine it 

 closely, and if up to the standard, 

 namely, well filled with brood and 

 working bees, I remove all bits of 

 comb from the top-bars, lay on the 

 zinc queen-excluding honey-board, 

 and put on one crate containing 28, 

 4>4x4^xl3^ sections. All things con- 

 sidered, I think this size the best. 



Perhaps the next colony I approach, 

 I have not been ableto build up to the 

 standard. This I leave until I find 

 another not up to the standard. I 

 remove the best combs of brood and 

 young bees (being careful not to take 

 the queen), remove the four combs 

 containing the least brood from No. 1, 

 and change places with them, using 

 judgment in making up the brood- 

 nest, keeping the brood in the centre 

 of the weak colony, and the combs 

 containing the least brood in the cen- 

 tre of the now strong colony. I pro- 

 ceed as before, and put on the sur- 

 plus arrangement, and out of the 2 

 weak colonies 1 have one ready for the 

 honey-flow; and ray experience is 

 that more honey is received, and of a 

 better quality from this one than 

 would be received from the 2, if left 

 to build up during the honey-flow; 

 besides, the trouble of going over the 

 apiary so many times as required in 

 the bit of comb plan, is saved. 



I will now consider the apiary sup- 

 plied with surplus arrangements, and 

 that the bees are well at work in the 

 sections, and the busy season is on 

 hand. The sections must now be 

 watched closely, and as fast as the 

 crates are about two-thirds full of 

 honey, raise them up and put an 

 empty one, arranged as the first, un- 

 der it ; this leaves a space to be filled 

 with combs and honey between the 

 brood-nest and the partially-filled 

 crate on top. This is just as the bees 

 do not want it, and, as a rule, just as 

 they are coming to a point where the 

 swarming-fever is liable to overtake 

 them, they find this great hole in their 

 midst, and it is surprising how they 

 will double their energies to fill this 

 cavity ; at the same time they will be 

 finishing the upper crate. 



It is my custom at this stage of the 

 proceedings to go over the apiary 

 every week. My crates are so ar- 

 ranged that I can draw out all the 

 finished sections,replacing with empty 



ones, keeping the crate containing the 

 least honey at the bottom, and the 

 one nearest completion, at the top. 

 This prevents the bees running over 

 the finished sections, and removing it 

 as fast as finished, gives it its virgin 

 whiteness. 



This system largely does away with 

 the swarming-impulse just at the 

 height of the honey-flow ; but occa- 

 sionally a swarm will issue in spite of 

 everything. In this case what shall 

 be done to prevent the cessation of 

 honey-storing in the surplus depart- 

 ment '? My plan is as follows : 



As soon as the swarm has left the 

 parent hive, take off the surplus ar- 

 rangements, lift out all but one comb 

 and carry them to a new stand. Put 

 in from I to 6 empty frames, accord- 

 ing to the size of the swarm, filling 

 the rest of the brood-chamber with a 

 division-board, put on the zinc honey- 

 board and surplus cases just removed, 

 and close the hive. I proceed with a 

 basket and shake the swarm from 

 their alighting place into it, and dump 

 them in front of the hive whence they 

 came. I watch them closely until I 

 am sure I have the queen, and the 

 work is done. The remaining bees 

 at the alighting-place, as soon as they 

 discover the absence of the queen, 

 will return to the old stand ; so will 

 the field bees remaining on the 7 

 combs that have been carried to the 

 new stand, and all the bees in the 

 fields returning home gives the same 

 working-force as before. The desire 

 for swarming is satisfied, and the 

 work in the sections goes on as though 

 nothing had happened. The 7 combs 

 have plenty of nurse-bees to care for 

 the larva; in them, and at the same 

 time they are so depleted in old bees 

 that they very seldom send out a sec- 

 ond swarm. 



I want to say just a little in regard 

 to the handling and disposing of comb 

 honey. I have bought considerable 

 honey at different times to sell again, 

 and invariably I have been obliged to 

 go over the whole 'lot and clean up 

 the sections. I am sorry to say that 

 honey is a luxury and not a staple at 

 the present time. In times of taking 

 off honey, have the good wife or 

 sister,or some good, careful girl, at the 

 honey -house with a knife or piece of 

 glass, and have her carefully remove 

 all the propolis and bad stains that 

 may appear on the sections ; put them 

 away — the best on one shelf, and the 

 second grade on another, with a sheet 

 of paper between every two tiers to 

 catch any drippings that may occur, 

 as the honey stains the wood, and the 

 nearer " gilt-edge " we keep our pro- 

 duct the more we shall realize for the 

 same. 



In packing for shipment, I find no 

 crate giving as general satisfaction as 

 one holding 14 or 16 of these sections. 

 Glassed at each end, they range in 

 weight from 12 to 15 pounds; they 

 stand shipment well, eitnerby freight 

 or express, and the retailer frequently 

 sells a whole crate to a single 

 customer. 



I cannot urge too strongly the use 

 of the zinc queen-excluding honey- 

 board. I consider it one of the grand- 

 est inventions of the age— no brood in 



the sections, no fastening the sec- 

 tions, crate and all to the brood- 

 frames, thus tearing off the bottom 

 of the sections, or lifting the brood- 

 frames out by their adhering to the 

 crate ; in fact, with the experience I 

 have had with them, I would as soon 

 think of putting on sections without 

 foundation starters as to think of 

 putting on a crate without a queen- 

 excludmg honey-board. 

 rremont,to Mich. 



For tne Amencan Bee JoamaL 



Management i Mle Extractini. 



J. J. WALLER. 



My experience in bee-keeping ex- 

 tends almost as far back as my recol- 

 lection, but it has been only a few 

 years since I first began to keep bees 

 on improved principles. The first ex- 

 tracting of honey that I ever wit- 

 nessed, was by a neighbor who used 

 what I now consider a very imperfect 

 machine. Instead of having a revolv- 

 ing comb basket, the whole can 

 turned, and the honey ran out as it 

 was extracted. Previous to this I 

 had read '' Langstroth on the Honey- 

 Bee," and perhaps two or three other 

 works on bee-keeping, but my first 

 practical lessons were taken from this 

 neighbor. 



1 do not know that I have learned 

 and adopted the best ways, but upon 

 the subject of which I now write, I 

 am pretty sure that for me my plan is 

 the best ; and yet with all the subjects 

 discussed in the bee-papers, I do not 

 now remember to have seen this more 

 than mentioned. I do not doubt but 

 that my plan is an old one to most 

 bee-keepers, and it may be that it 

 will provoke a smile from experts in 

 our calling. I believe, however, that 

 in giving my experience I may do 

 good in leading others to a better way. 



The practice of most bee-keepers, 

 so far as I have seen and read, is to 

 go to the hives as they stand in the 

 apiary, and remove the combs to be 

 extracted from, taking them into the 

 honey-house or some other place for 

 working them. I find several objec- 

 tions to this arrangement, and the 

 principal one is, that at nearly aU 

 times robber bees are troublesome. 

 We all know how it enrages bees to 

 have robbers with their peculiar noise, 

 prying into a hive from the top, it 

 matters not how careful we are to 

 subdue the bees of the hive opened. 

 I know that some will say that we 

 ought not to extract when robber 

 bees are troublesome, but I find they 

 are very bad most of the time, and 

 somewhat ;so all the time. At the 

 beginning of extracting last summer, 

 I examined two of my best Italian 

 colonies, and from each I got six 

 stings in the face ! 



In a late number of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, Mr. McNeill explains how he 

 makes and uses his bee-tent,or screen- 

 house, and intimates objections to 

 Mr. Heddon's make of the same, one 

 of which is that on account of its 

 weight the hives have to be carried to 

 it for manipulation. Now, to me 



