142 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



filtered by capillary attraction. Trying] 

 always to get close to Nature's ways I built 

 me a watering-place for my bees. A trough 

 of wood 14 iuclies s<iuare and one inch deep 

 was tilled up with clean sand, and a three 



R 



is the description of the plan and of the cir- 

 cumstances that led to its use. 



"Along in the early part of the summer 

 we purchased some twelve or tifteen colonies 

 that we really did not want, but took them 



'ApJztzxsii^s^xrz'^U'^^^ 



half an inch under the sancT. The surround-^ 

 ing sand soon absorbed moisture, and littl 



fc fjthem 

 r ; loose 



we did not really want 

 was because the combs were built in 



t;'^^"^!'t.'^T-^^^;:"' .??,!':- 1 '^"Z 'S^i^i;^-s:!^Sf^ K: 



the water in the jug, as the water in the 

 sand exhausts. By scooping out a little hole 

 in the sand, enough water will gather to 

 furnish the poultry. Put syrup in the vessel, 

 and you will have the best outside feeder I 

 know of, for there is no end to the extent of 

 the sand surface you may use, and the sand 

 does not foul, as water or syrup would if 

 given alone. In order to introduce this to 

 the bees I put a piece of comb honey on the 

 sand. After they had carried off the honey 

 they looked about for more, and, discover- 

 ing the water.have found out that it is a near 

 and good thing. The principle of this water- 

 ing device is well known, but I have not 

 heard of the use of sand in that connection. 

 Please give this a trial, if you have not such 

 in use, for there is nothing new under the 

 sun. To hold up the jug or bottle, bore 

 four holes in the bottom board, and put in 

 pegs, or, better still, nail a half-hoop of tin 

 or strap iron against a wall or board fence, 

 and put the jug mouth down through it. 



AbTHUB T. GOLDSBOliOUGH. 



Washington, D. C, Sept. 1." 



An Easy Method of Transferring and Get- 

 ting the Honey out of the old Combs. 

 No one who has ever transferred bees by 

 cutting out the combs and fastening the 

 crooked, uneven things into frames, fancies 

 the job- It is not only unpleasant, but it is 

 wasteful. Several years ago Mr. Heddon 

 gave a method whereby this might be avoid- 

 ed. It consisted in driving out the bees, or 

 most of them, and hiving them on a set 

 of frames filled with foundation. Three 

 weeks later, when all of the brood had hatch- 

 ed in the old hive, the bees were again 

 driven out, the young queen hunted out and 

 killed and the bees given to the swarm that 

 was first driven out. This left the old combs 

 free of brood, and the honey could be strain- 

 ed or extracted, and the combs melted into 

 wax. Warm weather was necessary for this 

 plan, otherwise the brood in the old hive 

 would be chilled. The editor of Gleanings 

 tells in his journal how he used a modifica- 

 tion of this plan, even carrying it so far as 

 to compel the bees to carry the honey out 

 of the old combs after the brood was hatch- 

 ed out. This plan also has this advantage 

 over the Heddon, it can be put in practice 

 even if the weather is not warm. Here 



dedly crooked, to say nothing of being bulged 

 out of all decent projiortions. The bees 

 purchased were placed at the out-yard, and 

 the boys were instructed to select one of the 

 > best combs of each colony containing un- 

 sealed larva?, and place it in a new hive, to- 

 gether with a full complement of Hoffman 

 frames of wired foundation. Another hive 

 with the old combs was placed on top with a 

 perforated zinc honey-board between. The 

 bees and the queen were then shaken off in 

 front of the entrance, and allow to crawl in. 

 This plan was pursued.with all the colonies. 

 As the queen could not go above, of course 

 no more eggs were laid in the old combs. 

 In two weeks' time we went down and found 

 that the frames of foundation below were 

 being drawn out, particularly next to the 

 frame of brood of old comb. In the mean 

 time the young bees in the upper story were 

 hatching out and coming below to take care 

 of the young larvje in the lower hive. In 

 about a month's time the bees had taken up 

 their quarters more or less below, while the 

 upper combs, crooked and undesiral)le, were 

 emptied of brood, and filled, to a greater or 

 less extent, with honey. The drone brood 

 (and there was a good deal of it) was un- 

 capped at the time the hives were changed. 

 The honey season came on rather before we 

 expected it in the out-yard; and the result 

 was, that most of the crooked combs were 

 filled with honey. These we expected to 

 extract, and melt up the old comb: but cir- 

 cumstances so transpired that we did not; 

 and finally, toward the end of the season, 

 we took ofif such combs and placed in a stack 

 of Dovetailed hives piled six or eight high. 

 The entrance at the bottom hive was con- 

 tracted so that only about two bees could get 

 out or in at a time. Virtually we allowed 

 the bees to rob the honey out; but it was so 

 slow an operation that it made no commo- 

 tion in the apiary. 



With little or no labor we had the bees all 

 transferred on Hoffman frames, filled with 

 nice beautiful worker comb made from 

 foundation on horizontal wires; and all that 

 remained was a lot of crooked combs which 

 were soon converted into wax, the home- 

 made frame stuff making excellent fire- 

 wood for the boiler-furnace. 



Now, there is nothing particularly new in 

 any of this. The plan of transferring is 

 simply a modification of Heddon's short 

 way, mentioned in the ABC book. The 

 scheme of emptying the honey out of old 

 crooked combs was nothing more nor less 

 than what was described by Dr. Miller some 

 two or three years ago. It works so well 

 that we shall never again leave a lot of 

 combs stored here and there with a little 

 honey iu them to tempt robbers.'^ 



