THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



41 



ft great one. Then when it comes to hiving 

 swarms in a contracted brood nest, it can be 

 done so nicely by using only one section of 

 the hive. The brood nest is contracted to 

 only half its size, yet its iiupe.ring surface is 

 as large as ever. Our next choice of a hive, 

 after the new Heddon, is the Heddon-Langs- 

 troth, with loose bottom. The Root, dove- 

 tailed hive is simply this hive with dovetailed 

 corners. 



Let bees in the North be wintered how or 

 where they may, they need protection in the 

 spring to secure the best results every year. 

 Much as we have talked about keeping the 

 bees in the cellar until warm weather has 

 come to stay, it cannot be done some years, 

 unless they are left in until nearly the first of 

 June. Brood rearing ouce begun, it should 

 be continued uninterruptedly : and the only 

 way in which this can be secured with cer- 

 tainty is by protection. The lack of this has 

 caused many a bright hope to be changed to 

 bitter disappointment by a " cold week " in 

 May. It is not such a big job to protect 

 bees in spring as some imagine. Out of the 

 cheapest kind of thin lumber make a box for 

 each hive. Have the box five or six inches 

 larger each way than the hive. Put a 

 "bridge" in front of the entrance to the 

 hive. Set the box over the hive, letting the 

 lower edge of the front end rest upon the 

 bridge. Bring along the sawdust or planer 

 shavings in a barrel on a wheel barrow. Tip 

 up the barrel and pour in the packing mate- 

 rial upon the hive until it is all covered up 

 to the depth of four or five inches. Put on 

 a cover and lay on a stone to keep it in place. 

 The packing is removed by first taking off 

 the box — raising it right straight up — then 

 throwing the sawdust into barrels, using a 

 scoop shovel. Only those who have tried 

 this method have any idea of the rapidity 

 with whicli the work can be done. 



It has always been a wonder to us why 

 one-piece sections have become so popular. 

 Their frail nature, ill-shape when put to- 

 gether, "naughty" corners, the soft, easily 

 stained nature of the wood, all are against 

 them ; while there is only one point in their 

 favor — but it is a big one — , they are cheaper. 

 Yes, they can be put together quicker, but 

 that is only another name for cheapness. 

 Good, four-piece, white poplar sections do 

 not cost, including the putting together, 

 more than $2.50 more per thousand than the 

 one piece. This is only one-fourth of a 

 cent more per pound in the cost of the hon- 



ey, while we have time and again sold honey 

 at an advance of two cents a pound, 

 simply because of the clean, white sections 

 and shipping cases. We have known of 

 many similar instances. It pays to have 

 honey "gilt edge." Besides this, there is 

 the comfort, all through the season, of 

 working with sections that can be depended 

 upon. Open sided sections we have not 

 tried ; but, judging from the filled sections 

 we have seen, their use sometimes leads to 

 straighter combs more completely built out 

 around the edges and more securely fasten- 

 ed to the wood. There are also indications 

 that the bees are more inclined to finish up 

 their work as they go along than to extend 

 their work into more sections, leaving a por- 

 tion of them unfinished. Wide frames, or 

 cases with slats in the bottom for supporting 

 the sections, are needed for open side sections. 

 For the ordinary sections, without separa- 

 tors, our favorite super is still the old style 

 Heddon. With wood separators, the T su- 

 per ; with tin separators, wide frames. 

 Where the honey comes with a rush, so that 

 all the sections grow alike and at the same 

 time, good straight combs can be secured 

 without separators. If the yield is slow, or 

 comes by "fits and starts," or " feeding 

 back" is practiced, separators are really 

 needed. In our experience, particularly so 

 with Italians, sections filled with partly 

 drawn comb — left over from the previous 

 year — are a very great advantage in getting 

 the bees at work in the sections early in the 

 season. Bees will sometimes hesitate until 

 the white clover harvest is half over before 

 making a start in the sections, when a case 

 of partly drawn sections would have started 

 them to work at once. A few apiarists do 

 not approve of this practice, saying that the 

 honey secured in these kept over, drawn out 

 combs is of an inferior quality. We find 

 no such objection, but to those who do, we 

 recommend the plan of first putting on a 

 set of extracting combs, and when the 

 bees are well at work in them, exchanging 

 them for sections filled with foundation. 

 Having been led to commence storing honey 

 in the supers, the bees will continue the 

 practice even if obliged to draw out founda- 

 tion. 



The only plan of controlling increase that 

 we have tried, or that we believe is practical 

 under ordinary circumstances for the mass 

 of bee-keepers, is that of preventing after- 

 swarming by hiving the first swarm upon 



