56 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



five combs to such an extent that I get as 

 much brood in them as in any seven comb?- 

 where the whole eight are used. The five 

 combs become five sheets of nearly solid 

 brood, and where they are reversible, quite 

 all brood. Certain it is that this contraction 

 in no way tends to increase the amount of 

 honey stored, but to a great exte nt tends to 

 increase the amount stored as surplxs, and 

 decrease the quantity stored in the brood- 

 chamber. 



This contraction also keeps much bee- 

 bread out of the hive, leaving it in the field, 

 which is by far the best and most economi- 

 cal reservoir for it, in this locality. With 

 this treatment, a prime swarm commences 

 work in the cases at once ; I usually place 

 one case on the hive when hiving a swarm. 

 A second swarm usually commences in the 

 surplus cases in two or three days after be- 

 ing hived. 



In autumn, when the honey harvest is over, 

 the little brood-chamber contains but little 

 honey and pollen (almost none at all if the 

 bees are German). I now have much honey 

 in the supers that, without contraction, 

 would have been in the hive, and I am now 

 ready to feed the colony sugar syrup for 

 winter. When fed, the bees are in a condi- 

 tion where all their stores are accessible, and 

 to winter with almost absolute certainty, if 

 they are kept warm enough. Whether the 

 brood-chambers are almost honeyless, or 

 partially stored, depends upon the nature 

 and duration of the honey-flow, and the 

 blood of the bees. Most bee-keepers are 

 aware of the fact that Italians are more 

 prone to load the brood-chamber, regardless 

 of the surplus department, both early and 

 late in the season, than are the German bees. 



W^hile the system is so nearly perfected 

 that with any bees I bring nearly all of the 

 colonies out at the close of the season, so as 

 to take one-half or more of their winter and 

 sxjring stores through the feeder, I have it 

 complete as far as Germans and most hybrid 

 colonies are concerned. I am now at work 

 with assurance of perfecting the system, so 

 as to bring out all brood-chambers, with any 

 bees, in a perfect stai-vation condition ; our 

 honey all gone into the market, and our 

 colonies all ready to receive the winter food 

 prepared by the bee-master, as their whole 

 winter and spring stores. I believe that 

 sugar syrup is better than honey as spring 

 stores, till the weather is quite warm, and 

 till the bees can fly daily. 



I keep the bees on these five combs, after 

 placing them on the summer stands, until 

 the spreading of the brood and the advance 

 of the sun north of the equator calls for more 

 room, when I remove the contractors, replac- 

 ing three combs which are put in the posi- 

 tions occupied by the contractors, or among 

 the combs of brood, spreading them, accord- 

 ing to the weather and force of the colony. 

 When this colony swarms, I hive its swarm 

 on five combs, as above described, and then 

 on the twentieth day after swarming, I go to 

 the old hive and find, as a rule, a young, 

 fertile queen, eggs in the centre combs, and 

 three or more combs with considerable honey 

 and no brood, which I remove, replacing 

 them with the contractors. This old colony 



is soon in the supers, having a five-comb 

 brood-chamber tilled solid with brood. 



1 have had colonies, after casting three 

 swarms, at work in the supers within five 

 days after contracting. I think that the ad- 

 vantages of this contracting system will be 

 seen ; or it may be called an enlarging sys- 

 tem ; that is, enlarging the brood-chamber 

 for about six weeks during the time that the 

 queen is not only the most prolific, but when 

 such prolificness gives us bees to become 

 field-workers, just when we most need them. 

 I think that it will also be seen, too. with 

 what advantage reversible frames may be 

 added to this system. I make the contrac- 

 tors by making a wide frame just the same 

 width all around, and just the size of the 

 standard Langstroth brood-frame. It is no 

 division-board, as it has all the same bee- 

 spaces as has the brood-frames, and thus 

 manipulates very easily. When the frame is 

 made, I nail a ^s inch board ui)on each side, 

 and in the middle I place a little cubic block, 

 a little smaller than the width of the frame ; 

 by nailing each side to this block, they will 

 be just a little concave. 



'Through all the summer days' the con- 

 tractors are kept at the same distance from 

 the sides of the hive and adjacent combs, as 

 the combs are kept from each other ; but in 

 winter I move them back close to the sides 

 of the hive, thus aiding as non-conductors, 

 and giving a little more wintering room; 

 these two points I consider non-essentials, 

 however. 



Some of the contractors I fill with chaff, 

 some with sawdust, and I also have oUO made 

 of solid wood, but these are only 7-8 of an 

 inch thick, and each i)air replaces but two 

 combs, leaving six instead of five. When six 

 are used the spaces of the honey-board ex- 

 actly break joints with the spaces below, as 

 with eight combs; but with five combs I 

 move the honey-board sidewise as much as 

 it will go and still rest solid on the hive, and 

 then I leave the break-joint featvire of the 

 honey-board perfect as before. It was by the 

 use of this five-comb system that I first got 

 my best test of the great value of the break- 

 joint feature of the honey- board. I never 

 knew how much more, queens and comb 

 would get up through where they ought not 

 to, till after I i)laced a lot of honey-boards 

 on some contracted hives, and in such a 

 manner that the slots corresponded vertically 

 instead of breaking joiiits v\itli each other. 



My first thought was to have these con- 

 tractors, broad-frames tilled with sections, 

 but experiencr taught me, first, that we did 

 xrot need any more surplus room with a 

 Langstroth hive and complete 'tiering-up' 

 system; second, it adds complication to have 

 storing in sections going on in the brood- 

 chamber ; and third, the honey stored there 

 is not fit for market, at least none that I 

 have ever seen comes np to my standard. If 

 it were only started there, and finished in a 

 better place, it might do, but as such a sys- 

 tem complicates labor still more, why should 

 we use the place, when we have all the room 

 we want without it, and in a far better and 

 handiei position? I have not been troubled 

 with the queen entering the sections, when I 

 used the honey-boards in proper position, 



