'TM® MMEMICMM ®B® J0'liJK;l«llClU. 



187 



practice transferring combs containing 

 brood or honey. 



After a few weeks — say from two to 

 four — tlie colonies in the " Ne\v Hive " 

 can be brought to your home, when 

 they will stay in their permanent loca- 

 tion. This moving 4 miles away would 

 not be necessary if you could move 

 that bay-window 4 rods awa}'. The 

 old colony need not necessarily be 

 doubled ; if increase is not wanted, 

 simply carry the last " drive" out to 

 the new colonj-, and add them to it. 

 Smoke them well, and the bees will 

 not quarrel, being all from one (jueen, 

 and the queens can be allowed to tight 

 it out, or you may destroy one, keep- 

 ing your preference. 



I would no more think of doing any 

 old style of transferring than storing 

 surplus comb honey in starch boxes. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



HIVES-FRAMES. 



Diiiicn§ions of Hives and IVuni- 

 ber of Frames. 



Written ior the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. R. ROEBDCK. 



This is the subject of Query 514, on 

 page 85. It is a vei-j' important one 

 to the bee-keepers, but more so to the 

 bees. I think that my experience of 

 25 years with bees, and a number of 

 contraptions called bee-hives (some of 

 which cost me a good deal of money, 

 and more vexations and trouble than 

 all of them are worth), enables me to 

 answer some of " Maryland's " query ; 

 hence I would like to add mj- views on 

 this subject, with the answers given to 

 the query. 



As well might " Maryland " ask 

 what size of harness a farnKu- uses on 

 his horse. I cannot think of anytliing 

 better to illustrate my idea tliau a com- 

 parison of a horse and its harness. 

 That noble animal would be of little 

 worth, so far as working it is con- 

 cerned, without a harness suitable to 

 its size and strength. So with a colony 

 of bees, they are of little use unless 

 they are in a hive suitable to their 

 nimibers. 



It has long since been discovered 

 that we either must have as many sizes 

 of harness as there are horses to be 

 worked, or that the harness must be 

 made adjustable by means of buckles, 

 etc. ; the latter being adopted to be the 

 most practicable. It seems to me that 

 such ought to be the case in reference 

 to bee-hives. 



I will take the query in its order, 

 viz : 1. What number of square inches 

 of comb surface should be in a hive ? 

 If I were to harness a horse, I would 

 ti-y to get the harness so buckled that 



it would fit up nicely and comfortalily 

 all around the horse for which it was 

 intended, whether he was large, small, 

 fat or lean. In giving comb surface 

 to a colony of bees, I would use the 

 same judgment, and give only so much 

 as would nicely accommodate the 

 number of bees in the colony ; I be- 

 lieve that any more or less is not only 

 unnecessary, but actually injurious to 

 the bees, the same as a harness is in- 

 jurious to the horse if too lai-ge or too 

 small. 



I imagine that I here some one ask. 

 How much is necda! "} I would measure 

 the surface needed by the amount 

 which the colony can comfortably fill 

 when the temperature is so that bees 

 fly freely, say at GO^ to 70°. A short 

 and j-et a correct answer to this part 

 of the query would be, a frame of comb 

 to any number of inches that a colony 

 can fill comfortaljly, and no more. 



2. What distance should brood- 

 frames be from centre to centre ? For 

 the brood-nest I would recommend 

 them to be 1 7-16 inches, irrespective 

 of the top or end bars of the frame ; if 

 for extracting, the distance, I think, 

 should be more, say 2 inches, or even 

 more. 



3. What are the inside dimensions 

 of the frame you use ? I use a frame 

 8Jxl2 inches, which is equal to, as the 

 bees usuallj' till them, about 200 inches 

 of conib surface. 



4. What numbers of frames in each 

 hive do 3'OU use ? I use from one to 

 sixteen, according to the size of the 

 horse — colony, I mean. In connection, 

 let me say that my surplus cases rest 

 on top of the frames, and are adjusta- 

 ble so that I can use 3 to 36 one-potmd 

 sections without tiering up ; and by 

 tiering up, as man}" hives more as the 

 bees can fill. 



Burton Citj', Ohio. 



EMPTY COMBS, 



utilizing Empty Combs, Room 

 for the Qneen, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY M. S. ROOF. 



It is often asked, what to do with 

 empty combs. Some say, render them 

 into wax, hire some one to take them 

 away, or hive young swarms on them. 

 It seems strange tliat when it takes so 

 many pounds of honey to make one 

 pound of wax, that any one would ad- 

 vise destroying this valuable comb. 



It would be a nice idea to hive a 

 swarm of bees on empty frames, right 

 in the beginning of the basswood 

 honey ilow, and keep fully one-half of 

 them busy building comb below, until 

 the honey-flow is over ! 



I know several bee-men who are too 

 stingy to buy foundation, and while 

 their liees are filling up the brood- 

 chamber with worthless drone-comb 

 (which they will do when there is a 

 good flow of honey), my bees are 

 storing honey in the sections ; then 

 they will say to me, "How in the 

 world do you get so much more honey 

 than I ?" 



Suppose the bees do crowd the 

 queen ; give them room above as fast 

 as they may need it, and it will be- 

 seen that they will elevate the honey 

 as fast as the queen needs the room 

 below. Why will not the bees in a 

 young colony move the honej' above, 

 just the same as the bees do in the hive 

 they came from ? 



Carrying Honey above the Brood. 



Some one has said that, as soon as 

 the young queen begins to lay, the 

 bees will move the honey above as 

 fast as she needs the room below. 

 This is strange. Black bees will often 

 till their hive with honey, and then 

 stop work. The way to do with them 

 is, to extract their honey late in the 

 day, taking it out so clean that they 

 will not have enough for " breakfast ;" 

 then it will be seen that they will go 

 to work at once. A rule that will 

 work to perfection in the Eastern 

 States, will ruin bee-keepers in Iowa. 



Bees are wintering very -nicely in 

 this vicinity. 



Council Bluffs, Iowa. 



INDIANA. 



Tbe Bee.Keepers of Tipton and 

 Hamilton Counties Convene. 



The Bee-Keepers' Association of 

 Hamilton and Tipton counties met at 

 Westfield, Ind., on Feb. 4, 1888, and 

 were called to order by the President, 

 Dr. E. H. Collins. 



The minutes of the previous meet- 

 ing were read and adopted, after which 

 the society listened to a very instruc- 

 tive address from the President, mak- 

 ing suggestions for the benefit of the 

 association ; the first being that it 

 appoint a reviewer, whose duty it shall 

 be to correct any serious mistakes that 

 might be made in our meeting, and 

 read them at the close of each session ; 



Secondly, that the executive com- 

 mittee be directed to make out the 

 programme during the first of the in- 

 tervening months, and notify persons 

 of whom work is expected at the en- 

 suing meetings of the Association ; and 



Thirdly, that the executive commit- 

 tee appoint at least one person for 

 each meeting to experiment on some 

 subject to be agreed upon ; so that we 

 may have at least one idea well defined. 



