'THE? m^mmmi^mn mmm j^^mnmi^. 



297 



complete sectional brood-nests provided 

 witli frames, which are all movable and 

 interchangeable at will ! 



But all this is a friendly chat on the 

 definition of terms, having no reference 

 to the discussion on the desirability q/ 

 tisiny large or small hives, or sectional 

 brood-chambers. In that discussion 

 we shall take no part. The average 

 honey crop of our friends Dadant 

 being over 20,000 pounds, they arc 

 abundantly qualified to argue upon 

 the best size of hives for use, and are 

 able to give an opinion of value to 

 producers of honey. — Ed.] 



HONEY-BOARDS. 



Hotv lliey 



Should be 

 U§ed. 



RIade and 



Written for the American BceJowmal 



BY J. M. SHUCK. 



This honey-board consists of nine 

 slats of clear, straight-grained white 

 pine \ of an inch thick. The two out- 

 side slats are about IJ inches wide, 

 and the seven inside ones ai'e about 

 IJ inches wide ; they are as long as 

 the hive that they are to cover, and 

 the nine slats are intended to cover a 

 brood-chamber 1 foot wide, and two 

 side walls | inches each in thickness. 



These slats are Iield together by two 

 pieces of heavy galvanized iron, one 

 edge of which is folded at right angles 

 ^ of an inch, to cover the ends of the 

 slats. 



These honey-boards are nailed to- 

 gather in a cast-iron frame, bed-plate 

 and clamp combined, so that the board 

 may be true and propei'ly spaced when 

 done. 



HoiT to Nail Houev-Boards. 



Lay the nine slats into the nailing 

 frame ; then laj' on top of the shits the 

 two end-pieces of g.alvanized iron, with 

 the folded edge down and covering 

 the ends of the slats ; now put in the 

 " spacers " — these are steel checks 

 about an inch long, about | of an inch 

 wide, and 5-32 of an inch tliick ; they 

 are hold loosely upon a polislied steel 

 rod, so as to be handj', and not get 

 lost ; two of these rods are used, one 

 near each end of the honey-board. 

 After seeing that the spacers are in 

 place, bring up the "following-bar" at 

 the end of the board, and also the one 

 at the side of it snug and close, and 

 you are ready to nail. 



Make holes in tlie galvanized iron 

 with a prick-punch, and nail with i- 

 inch wrought tacks, or clout nails. 

 Nail carefully, or the slats may split ; 



when the point of the nail has touched 

 the cast-iron bed-plate, tap liglitly 

 three or four times, and the nail will 

 turn back into the wood, when it may 

 then be driven " home " without split- 

 ting. Drive two nails in each end of 

 each slat, and a nice, light, stiff queen- 

 excluding board, only ^ of an inch 

 tliick, is the result. No perforated 

 metal is needed, as the wooden one 

 will be found to render better satisfac- 

 tion in every way. 



This honey-board is not on the 

 "sink break-joint" principle. I get 

 the bee-spaces all in the hives and 

 supers themselves, so that when a hive 

 or super is placed on anj' plain board, 

 the liee-space prevents the wholesale 

 slaughter of bees. This board. placed 

 upon an 8-frame hive, with the frames 

 accurately spaced IJ inches from cen- 

 ter to center, would "break joint;" 

 but when frames are not accurately 

 spaced, the "break-joint" theory will 

 in a majority of cases bo at fault. 



I take some pride in viy honey- 

 board, and can show some rich, dark 

 specimens ten years old ; yet, if any 

 one wishes to improve upon it, either 

 with or without my permission, he is 

 welcome to do so. 



Des Moines, Iowa. 



SWARMING. 



Do Bees Select a Home Before 

 SwarininsT i — Rearing Queens. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY .J. E. POND. 



I certainly do not wish to say an}-- 

 thing that will tend to cause an un- 

 profitable discussion, but the above 

 question is one of some interest and 

 importance to beginners at least, and 

 any light given them may be of value. 

 Whether bees ever select a home be- 

 fore swarming, is one that probably 

 no one can answer, as tlieir vagaries 

 are such, that the facetious remark of 

 the late Mrs. Tuttle, viz., "Bees do 

 nothing invariably," may be taken as 

 an axiom. 



In my own experience I do not find 

 that bees do select a new home before 

 swarming. If they did, there would 

 be no protection wh.atever, in my 

 judgment, against leaving the new 

 hive after being placed therein. My 

 own belief, l)ased on my own experi- 

 ence, is that as soon as the swarm set- 

 tles, pioneers start out to find a new 

 home ; if they succeed in so doing 

 they return and take the swarm with 

 them. For this rea.son, I believe, that 

 all swarms should be hived as soon as 

 they have setth'd, and when this is 

 done, I have no more trouble with 

 their leaving the new hive. 



It is true that no one can determine 

 accurately, when a newly-hived swarm 

 leaves the hive, whether tliey selected 

 the new home liefore or after they 

 swarmed ; but I think that if the rule 

 is followed, of hiving all swarms as 

 soon as they fairly settle, but little 

 trouble will follow. 



My advice to beginners, who de- 

 pend upon natural swarming is, to 

 watch the apiary closely during the 

 swarming season. Keep constantly 

 prepared for issuing swarms, and hive 

 them as soon as they have fairly set- 

 tled. By so doing I believe they will 

 find less trouble than in any other way. 



Rearing Good Queens. 



Much that is written in regard to 

 good queens is misleading to the be- 

 ginner. One bee-keeper writes that 

 " good queens are only reared while 

 the colony is under the swarming im- 

 pulse ;" another, "that it makes no 

 difference whatever, whether they are 

 reared under such an impulse or not." 

 I am on record as urging the rearing 

 of better queens, rather than poorer 

 ones, and I fully lielieve that any 

 method that will bring about this result 

 is to the advantage of all. 



There is no question that good 

 queens can Ije reared in both ways. 

 The evidence is full and complete that 

 this is true. Every breeder of queens 

 knows this, and has proved it time and 

 time again ; and for this reason I be- 

 lieve that we must depend upon the 

 honesty and integrity of the breeder 

 from whom we purchase our queens, 

 rather than upon the matter whether 

 he rears his queens under the swarm- 

 ing impulse or otherwise. All we need 

 to do is to follow nature's law, in a 

 natural way. 



It is natural for a qucenle.ss colony 

 to rear a new queen, and equally nat- 

 ural for it do so, as to rear a queen 

 when the swarming fever seizes the 

 colony. This being the case, who is to 

 say in the face of the existing state of 

 things, that one queen will prove bet- 

 ter than another, simply Ijecause nat- 

 ural laws are followed in one direction 

 rather tluxn in another ? 



My own view of the matter, based 

 on my own experience, is this : If the 

 queen is removed from a full colony, 

 when honey is coming in freely, or if 

 such is not the case, tlie colony is reg- 

 ularlj' fed in small quantities, equally 

 as good queens are produced, as when 

 the swarming impulse causes the 

 queen production ; and I have further 

 found, that by the misname<l " artifi- 

 cial method " of rearing queens, there 

 is far less risk of producing from 10 to 

 13 day queens, than under the swarm- 

 ing fever ; and tliis for tlie reason that 

 we can know positively and absolutely 

 whether our queens are reared from 



