692 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



product he has to meet the stratagem of 

 the commercial world, with all of Its 

 distrusts, jealousies and rivalries ; chief 

 among which is adulterations. 



Once more, to be successful we must 

 be progressive. A man who knows all 

 about bees, and does not believe that any 

 more can be gained by reading bee- 

 periodicals, new books, attending con- 

 ventions, etc., will soon be far behind 

 the age. 



Let us each^ee to it that we belong 

 not to this class. Deliver us from being 

 fossilized. Missouri has within herself 

 all the elements necessary to enable her 

 to rank with any ©f her sister States. 

 Shall she take a back seat ? Fellow 

 bee-keepers, it remains with ourselves. 

 Let us look upon our calling as dealing 

 with one of God's wonders, and try to 

 emulate their persistency, constancy, 

 patience, and in this way, and in no 

 other, shall we merit and gain success. 

 —Mrs. J. M. Null. 



Non-Swarming Bee-Hive. 



BY JOHN CONSEE. 



I have before me the Contracted, 

 Queen-Restricted, Non-Swarming Bee- 

 Hive. 



Contracted — being eight or less frames, 

 if desired ; also expanded by the inter- 

 changability of frames, taken from the 

 hatching-box on side or rear of the hive, 

 and set in the brood-chamber to be re- 

 filled by the queen with eggs, and allow- 

 ing the queen more room, thereby get- 

 ting a booming colony of bees by the 

 time the white clover honey season 

 commences ; and the bees are in a 

 humor to work with a will, having no 

 inclination to swarm, because the queen 

 is not cramped in her household duties ; 

 meantime the young bees are hatching 

 by the hundreds, and returning to the 

 parent hive from the hatching-box, tak- 

 ing with them the honey from the brood- 

 combs (which were shifted from the 

 hive to the hatching box) to be stored 

 in the sections above the hive proper, 

 from which the combs were taken. 



The work is done by interchanging 

 the frames, which can be done in 2 min- 

 utes, and it need be done about twice or 

 three times during the season. 



Restricted — because the queen cannot 

 pass to the combs that are being emptied 

 of young bees in the hatching-box on 

 account of perforated metal being in 

 her way. This hive is double-walled, 

 having division-boards on the sides, 

 being air tight, having rubber edges set 

 into saw kerfs, and dead-air space at the 



back ; being warmer iu Winter and 

 cooler in Summer. 



Also, a fixed-frame hive, having a 

 movable rack in the bottom that can be 

 shifted from side to side without taking 

 out a frame, and is held firm by the 

 spacers, being self-spaced ; making a 

 loose frame for manipulation, or a fixed 

 frame for hauling to out-apiaries. 



Cases being of the full size of the hive, 

 and allowing separators to pass between 

 each section, can be emptied by invert- 

 ing, leaving but a rim to be used on the 

 top of the hive in Winter, to contain a 

 cushion over the brood-chamber for pro- 

 tection to the bees, and doing away with 

 any packing boxes ; cases resting on the 

 wide, thick top-bar frames. 



Under these conditions the bees have 

 no desire to swarm, the queen having 

 empty combs at all times in which to 

 lay her eggs, and the colony being con- 

 tinually recruited with young bees from 

 the hatching-box. 



I have no use for honey-boards under 

 the case when running for comb-honey, 

 as there are no burr or brace-combs 

 connected with the cases. 



In the engraving (see advertisement, 

 page 698), the hatching-box is seen in 

 the left foreground, attached to 3 hives, 

 there being 3 apartments in the hatch- 

 ing-box, separated by air-tight divisions, 

 having rubber edges, set in saw kerfs. 



The hatching-box is connected to the 

 hive or hives, by tubes and blocks, the 

 queen-excluding metal being so placed in 

 the side of the block that the bees have 

 free passageway to and from the hive. 



If you wish to unite 2 colonies, connect 

 2 hives by block and tube, after taking 

 away the queen from one hive, and the 

 work is done in so quiet a way that the 

 bees do not know but that they always 

 belonged together. 



To feed the bees, set uncapped combs 

 of syrup in an empty hive, connect it to 

 the hive with tube and block, and all the 

 syrup will be taken into the occupied 

 hive, and in so quiet a way that robber 

 bees are not aware that any sweets are 

 being stored. 



A five-pointed bee-escape, to get the 

 bees out of the surplus boxes when they 

 are taken off, is also shown in the en- 

 graving. This escape will clear surplus 

 boxes in less time than any other bee- 

 escape known, and does not smother the 

 bees ; for, as you will observe, the bees 

 can get ventilation all around a 4J^ 

 inch circular plate, on the bottom of the 

 board, and have free escape to the hive 

 below, but a bee cannot return. 



Now, in regard to the advantages of 

 the Contracted, Queen-Restricted, Non- 



