610 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



out all of the comb, driving the bees as I 

 went. 



The comb was full of brood and honey, 

 and very soft, but I did not extract the 

 honey. I fixed the whole thing — brood, 

 honey, and all — in frames, and placed 

 them in the- new hive, and closed it up. 

 The result was doubly successful: The 

 colony from which I took the full frames 

 having more room and less brood, got out 

 of the notion of swarming at once, so 

 that by the end of the season they had 

 gathered 200 pounds of choice honey, in 

 sections. The transferred colony thrived 

 and prospered so that by Fall they were 

 as strong and heavy as any colony I had. 

 The other hives I treated in the same 

 manner, with the same success. 



Late in the Fall I learned that I had 

 made a great mistake by putting the 

 frames containing the starters into the 

 full hives, so in the following Spring I 

 took out those frames, which were then 

 full of comb — mostly drone comb — and 

 replaced them with frames containing 

 full sheets of foundation. 



From these experiments 1 think I have 

 learned how to prevent first or prime 

 swarms from casting a swarm the same 

 season, viz., by simply exchanging a few 

 frames with a weak colony, for by so do- 

 ing we diminish the brood in the strong 

 colony, thereby discouraging swarming, 

 and at the same. time help the weak one 

 to build up. 



But this is not all, for by this method I 

 expect to prevent after-swarming by hiv- 

 ing the swarm on a new stand, giving 

 them two frames of brood from the 

 parent hive, replacing the same with 

 frames containing full sheets of founda- 

 tion, and cutting out all queen-cells but 

 one on the seventh day after the swarm 

 has issued. 



This method I think preferable to 

 hiving on the old stand, because, by the 

 latter we take away all the field bees, 

 while by the former we take unhatched 

 bees, thus leaving the parent colony in 

 condition to gather in the sweets without 

 interruption. 



Moline, Ills. 



Folding Sections— Inserting Fonniation, 



E. C. AIKIN. 



On page 326, S. F. Trego tells how to 

 dampen 500 sections at once. I have 

 since been using that plan, but instead 

 of the " teapot," I use about 5 feet of }i 

 rubber tube, making a siphon from a 

 pail set above. With care we can apply 



the water with the tube so that a small 

 portion will go down in each groove, and 

 no other part of the section be wet. Do 

 not use too much water, else the section, 

 after it becomes dry, will be quite loose 

 in the corners. That is one of the ob- 

 jections I have to keeping sections in a 

 cellar or cave. They fold nicely, how- 

 ever, when kept in the cellar, but have 

 to be seasoned after folding, or they will 

 shrink in the super. 



In applying water from the tube, move 

 the hand across the crate, reasonably 



The Siphon I use. 



rapid, allowing the stream to strike into 

 the groove openings at an angle, of about 

 45'. 



Before applying water, have one end 

 of crate opened, and immediately after, 

 remove 2 or 3 sections from each row, 

 or they will get so tight that you cannot 

 remove them without breaking the crate. 



FOLDING SECTIONS. 



We use a Crocker press, and I dampen 

 and fold 500 sections in 30 to 40 min- 

 utes. But, one does not play much if he 

 folds 7,000 or 8,000 in a day, though 

 he can do 10,000. 



On page 488, A. D. Burtch says : " I 

 have put up 100 sections and filled them 

 with foundation, in 11 minutes, and did 

 the work well." I wish he would tell us 

 how. It is too much like a " continued 

 story ;" he stops in the most interesting 

 place. 



On page 328, F- Greiner says : " No 

 machine is necessary for bending sec- 

 tions. Two skillful hands, with 10 nim- 

 ble fingers, can put them up at the rate 

 of 1,000 per hour, as I have often done." 



