AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



479 



cannot get through them. The workers, 

 being so much smaller than the queen, 

 can pass In and out with no hindrance 

 whatever. 



Box B is covered with wire cloth, and 

 forms a passage-way from A to C, 

 through the cone-tube at D. 



The reader, of course, understands 

 that box A is placed before the entrance 

 of the hive from which a swarm is ex- 

 pected. Box C is placed before the en- 

 trance of the new hive, or the entrance 

 of the hive the swarm is to occupy. The 

 two hives are then connected by placing 

 box B upon boxes A and C, as shown in 

 the illustration, so as to form a contin- 

 uous passage-way between the two hives. 

 All outlets to the hives except those 



Reminiscence of an Apd Bee-Keejer, 



S. B. SMITH. 



I have lived almost three score years 

 and ten, and have handled bees nearly 

 every year since I was 16 years old. At 

 that age I worked for a man who kept 

 bees, and when they swarmed I used to 

 assist him in hiving them. After the 

 first year, the bees and I became such 

 good friends that I was trusted with the 

 principal care of them, and did most 

 of the hiving ; also the taking off the 

 surplus honey. 



In those days the only hive I had any 

 knowledge of was the old box- hive, but 



THE AUTOMATIC SWARM HIVER. 



through the metal must be closed to pre- 

 vent the queen from taking wing and 

 joining the bees. 



When a swarm issues, the queen is 

 checked at the entrance of the hive by 

 the excluding metal in box A. The 

 worker bees have no difficulty in passing 

 the perforations, and going into the air 

 PQll-mell, as they usually do when the 

 swarm issues. But the queen, being much 

 larger than the worker bees, cannot 

 pass the metal to take wing and join the 

 swarm, as they do when no self-hiver is 

 used. When the bees find they have no 

 queen with them, they at once return. 

 In the meantime a few young bees have 

 found their queen in box C, and all the 

 bees of the returning swarm join her and 

 enter the new hive, thus hiving them- 

 selves automatically. 



If no more increase is desired, place 

 box C onto box A, so as to form a trap 

 at the entrance of the old hive. Then if 

 a swarm should come off it would hive 

 itself back from whence it came. At the 

 end of the thirteenth day from the time 

 of the first swarm, the swarmer should 

 be removed from the entrance of the old 

 hive, so as to allow the young queen a 

 wedding flight. The old queen always 

 goes with the first swarm. Do not look 

 for swarming after the last of July, for 

 there will be none. 



Wenham, Mass. 



we improved on them by cutting two 

 long slits in the top of the hive, and 

 putting on boxes with glass in one side, 

 so that we could see when they were 

 full. They held from 10 to 12 pounds 

 each. In this way we were quite suc- 

 cessful in bee-keeping. We also had 

 glass in the lower part of the hive, with 

 a slide door that we could open and see 

 the bees at work. 



One day during the swarming season, 

 a swarm came out, and went up very 

 high, so that we could hardly see them, 

 and then settled down and clustered in a 

 bunch of raspberry bushes. They were 

 very cross, and I had great trouble in 

 hiving them. It was past 3 o'clock 

 when they came out, and they did not 

 stay long in the hive where I placed 

 them, but came out and started for the 

 woods. 



I followed them about IK miles, and 

 when they clustered again, I hived them 

 and carried them back to the stand. 

 They went to work the next day, and 

 gathered a large amount of honey that 

 season. 



At another time a swarm started for 

 the timber, and I followed them three- 

 fourths of a mile, and saw them go into 

 a tree. I cut the tree down, split it 

 open, hived the bees, and carried them 

 back to the stand. They filled the hive 

 and cast a swarm that season. 



