TT^H® HMEMi^MK mmm j@^mkhiu. 



299 



became quite warm, I jjlaced them 

 over a tub of cold water to catch the 

 wax tlnit wouhl run over the sides of 

 the molds. Then I ojiencd the molds 

 and poured on the melteil wax. and 

 closed them. But in cold weather the 

 molds would soon get quite cold, and 

 the hot nvax would harden as soon as 

 it touched them ; and as soon as the 

 molds were closed, it could be again 

 opened ; but on account of the wax 

 cooling too quickly in the molds, it 

 woidd be all cracked, and the sheet 

 would have to be again heated. 



Perhaps my molds were too thick, 

 as the sides are J of an inch. Or i)er- 

 haps the wax is not as it should be ; 

 but I used it as it comes from the wax- 

 extract(n- into warm water to settle 

 and cool. 



I can make foundation on the molds 

 quite as nice as that made on the mills, 

 but it is slow work, and the molds 

 must be neitlier too warm nor too cold. 

 If I were to insert the molds into ice- 

 water, the sheets of 'foundation would 

 be so badlj' cracked that they could 

 not be lifted from the molds without 

 being torn into pieces. 



Mr. Doolittle does not say that any- 

 thing except wat»r is used to pi-event 

 the wax from adhering to the molds. 

 He must use wax at a boiling heat, or 

 it would harden as soon as it comes in 

 contact with the ice-cold molds, and 

 the mold would be used more as a 

 press than a mold. Cannot some who 

 have been equally as successful as Mr. 

 D., give us tlieir way of making foun- 

 dation on molds ? 



Taylor Centre, Mich. 



LARG-E HIVES. 



The Large Hives vs. the Small 

 Hive§. 



Written for the American BceJom-nal 



BY W. J. DAVIS. 



I have just re-read mj' article on 

 page 170, also Mr. Dadant's article on 

 page 247, and I confess that I cannot 

 see anything in the former that could 

 in any way remind any one of the ob- 

 jections ma<le 25 years ago, to the 

 movable-comb hive. That such ob- 

 jections were made, I do not doubt, 

 but the connection between those ob- 

 jections, and my own experience with 

 <liflerent sized hives, I fail to see. 



I have had an experience of 40 years, 

 and with several apiaries a part of 

 that time, running from 200 to 350 

 colonies, with almost 28 years with 

 movable-comb hives, and using divi- 

 sion-boards ever since adopting the 

 movable-comb system. If experience 

 is of any value, I at least ought to 



know how it works in this immediate 

 locality. 



While I have no desire to promote 

 any controversy on the question as to 

 the proper size of a bee-hive, pre- 

 ferring that the bee-keeper should use 

 just the kind and size of hive he 

 chooses, I trust that Mr. Dadant will 

 allow me a good laugh, for pronounc- 

 ing me "guilty of a neglect" in not 

 providing division-boards for winter, 

 and then proceeding to prove how bees 

 had wintered, 1 colony for 7 years, and 

 another for 27 years, in a very large 

 hive, when contraction was not thought 

 of. Let us see. How large was that 

 hive ? As large as 10 Langstroth hives 

 — or 2} sugar barrels, or, sa}' 10 bush- 

 els. Now that was a whopper (the 

 hive, I mean). 



I wish to say further, that I have no 

 ax to grind on the hive question ; I 

 make my own hives, and spoke of the 

 smaller hive as I prefer them in my 

 home apiary. In my house apiaries, 

 away from home, I use 12 of the 

 shorter frames per hive in one, and 8 

 standard Langstroth frames in an- 

 other apiary. 



The year 188G was emphatically a 

 swarming year in this part of the 

 countrj', and I ran out of hives. In 

 one of my out apiaries, I instructed 

 the man in charge to procure boxes of 

 any kind to secure the swarms, and I 

 found, among the rest, two that were 

 ouly 10] inches square, by 8i inches 

 deep, or about 892 cubic inches. They 

 appeared heavy for the size of the 

 boxes. They were brought home in 

 the fall, and at the usual time were 

 placed in winter (juarters with others, 

 and winteretl perfectlJ^ The bees in 

 them were transferred in the spring, 

 and were prosperous colonies. Other 

 swarms were hived in large boxes, had 

 double the comb, and more bees, but 

 not half as much honey. My oliserva- 

 tions retluced to words, would be about 

 thus : 



Two swarms of equal strength, hived 

 on the same day, with a honey harvest 

 of 30 pounds each to gather above 

 their daily rations — one is hived in a 

 box of 1,000 cubic inches, and the 

 other in one of 2,000 cubic inches — 

 each will fill its hive with comb, and 

 at the close of the harvest the smaller 

 will have 20 i)ounds of hone}', and the 

 larger but 10 pounds. 

 BackiTard Sprins; In Pennsylvania. 



The spring here is cold and back- 

 ward. The grass in spots begins to 

 show the green. Not a drop of honey 

 or pollen has been taken in yet (April 

 19). I use both the standard Lang- 

 stroth and the shorter frame in my 

 home apiary, liutmj' strongest colonies 

 are in short-frame hives. 



Youngsville, Pa. 



SWARMING OUT. 



The C'aiiKe and Prevention or 

 Bees Swarming Out. 



Wrilten fm the American Bee Journal 

 BY JOHN S. EEESE. 



The time for swarming has arrived 

 here (March 12), and the past few 

 days has att'orded ample opportunity 

 for verifying my belief that I knew the 

 true cause of the abominable freak of 

 " swarming out," and, to give a lucid 

 idea, I will state the facts just as they 

 occured. 



About 2 p.m. on Feb. 21, the sun 

 had so warmed up the hives that my 

 20 colonies of bees all seemed to be 

 enjoying a general flight ; when I ob- 

 served 1 colony (a rather weak one) 

 sending out more bees than any of the 

 others, and some excitement at the en- 

 trance, and on stepping quickly to it I 

 saw the queen running about on the 

 alighting-board in an excited manner. 

 In a few moments she re-entered the 

 hive, and just then I took off the cover 

 and packing, and found the four 

 combs almost deserted of bees, but 

 every thing was sweet, clean and 

 warm, and there was plenty of honey. 

 There was a small patch of brood 

 from the ogg state to that just being 

 sealed over, and no evidence whatever 

 that any bees had hatched so far this 

 year. By this time the Hying bees 

 came tumbling back to their home and 

 queen. 



Now just at this time another weak 

 colony, near by, started to go through 

 the same performance, and I got to- 

 their entrance just in time to catch the 

 queen in the act of taking wing, and 

 an examination of this hive revealed 

 exactly the same state of afl'airs as the 

 first — a small quantity of young brood, 

 but no young bees to remain witti the 

 queen, while the old bees were out for 

 their tirst general flight. 



The remaining 18 colonies are 

 strong enough to have young bees- 

 hatching, and will not " swarm out." 

 We of course know that bees will 

 desert their hives for want of stores and 

 other causes, but what is known as 

 "swarming out" is most likely to oc- 

 cur with weak colonies only, and may 

 be jn-evented by the use of queen-ex- 

 cluding entrance guards, but they 

 should be arranged in such a manner 

 so that the bees cannot clog the en- 

 trance in their efforts at " spring 

 cleaning." 



Winchester, Ky. 



A modern Bee-Farm, and its 



Economic Management ; showing how bee& 

 may be cultivated as a means of livelihood ; 

 as a health-giving pursuit ; and as a source 

 of recreation to the busy man. By S. 

 Simmins. For Sale at this office. Price, $1. 



