THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



n 



did not wish to increase the stock, so, two 

 weeks before the basswood opened, we cayed 

 ir)0 (jueeus of the strongest colonies. Excel- 

 lent results were secured. It would have 

 been l)etter if we had caged more queens. 



Now, if the bees have plenty of room to 

 storo honey, a }?ood deal more than the (lueen 

 can fill with brood, or if tlie clover yields a 

 yood crop, so the bees keep one-half of the 

 comljs full with honey, then in that case, they 

 won't yet so strong, and there is no in-ofit in 

 caginy queens. 



\Ve work mostly for extracted honey: and 

 we believe in a large hive. We use the L. 

 hive, three stories high — some of our other 

 hives are larger. 



In looking over the June Review for 1888, 

 I find an article by James Nipe, about a 

 solar honey ripener, which interested me 

 very njuch; as I ha'-'e been thinking very 

 much of building a large green house, to be 

 used during the extracting season, for eva- 

 porating thin honey. I would like the opin- 

 ion of other large extracted honey producers 

 on this subject; for, do the best we can, we 

 will sometimes get honey to thin to keep 

 sweet. Can it be ripened in a green-house? 



Platxeville, Wis. May, 4, 188',). 



Preventing Increase Although the Bees do 

 Swarm. 



JOHN S. BEESE. 



I D. REVIEW.— Your request for my ex- 

 perience on the management and con- 

 trol of increase brings to mind a pri- 

 vate letter from a practical bee keeper 

 of much rei)utation, in which he says, "The 

 greatest developments iind advancements in 

 bee keeping in the near future will be in 

 the manipulation of hives at a proper time 

 to secure the surplus." 'J'his idea must be 

 understood to apply to all manner and 

 kinds of hives, as this friend does not use a 

 divisible brood chamber, but a hive after his 

 own idea. 



My experiments for the past two seasons 

 have been somewhat restricted, owing to the 

 sliort duration of a very jioor honey season ; 

 so I will tell you about some things I diil 

 piuctice, and some I wanted to. 



In hiving swarms on four empty L. frames, 

 with starters and some old combs of honey, 

 I)ollen and brood, I found there was too 

 much drone comb built : and my conclu- 

 sions were that the queen occupied this old 

 comb for her temporary abode, wliile the 

 bees built comb to suit their fancy. No 

 pollen went into the sections when tins comb 

 was present, while with others that were 

 hived on live empty frames, with starters, 

 some little pollen was taken into the sections, 

 but vwry little drone comb was built in the 

 bruod cliamber, and in som'i hives none. 

 This is a great saving of foundation and 

 will be practiced again this setisou. 



My method of management has been 

 something as follows: The oil combs of 

 brood from the hives that swaiined (adhere- 

 iiig bees being shaken off add left witli 

 swarm ) were used in various ways ; some 

 were given to weak colonies, some to form 



nuclei, and others given to some fair condi- 

 tioned colony to care for until after the 

 honey season, when they were needed in the 

 hives they came from to fill out the full 

 number of combs for winter. 



Will try again, this season, hiving swarms 

 on four or five empty L. frames, with start- 

 ers, and confine the queen to these frames 

 with queen excluding division board, and, 

 instead of dummies at the side, will put 

 back frames of brood and pollen— (drone 

 brood, if any)— which ought to catch the 

 pollen that might go into the sections, and 

 enough stores for winter. 



Another plan that I expect great things 

 from is this : Hive the swarm in a shallow 

 extracting case ( I2 depth L. frames with 

 starters) placed under the brood case from 

 which the swarm issued, queen excluding 

 honey board between it and the brood nest, 

 and supers for surplus over all, drone and 

 queen trap adjusted to old brood chamber, 

 just above the queen excluding honey board, 

 to catch the drones and young queens as 

 they attempt to leave the hive^ This will 

 leave the old brood chamber intact and to 

 be loaded with honey after the l)ees hatch. 

 Now as the season of honey fiow begins to 

 wane, the old queen, or a young one if you 

 have done the right thing, is returned to the 

 old brood chamber and the shallow case 

 with its brood is to l)e left, or placed else- 

 where to hatch its bees, when it can be 

 stored for a similar use next seasou. This 

 plan will require very little time and trouble, 

 and was inaugurated in my bee yard in 

 1887 ; but. as I intimated, has not been 

 thoroughly tested. 



My time and space for bee keeping being 

 so very limited has caused me to try many 

 plans to make the whole thing as nearly 

 automatic as possible, and was the cause of 

 my inventing the Automatic bee-escape 

 which does its work so nicely and leaves the 

 surplus free of bees to be removed when 

 convenient. 



WiNCHESTEIi, Ky., 



May 1st, 1889. 



Increase, its Control and Management. 



H. K. BOAKDMAN. 



"^i^N the production of extracted honey 

 flj) there is usually little cause for anxiety 

 ,jjL) about the control or management of 

 increase, as the extractor is the most 

 perfect non-swarming invention in use in 

 the apiary. But in the production of comb 

 honey, on a large scale, where several out- 

 apiaries are employed, the management of 

 increase becomes a very important question, 

 and in these times of low prices for honey, 

 it is a question seriously affecting the pro- 

 duction of honey on a large scale. 



The liome apiary, with extra care, is very 

 strongly indicated as the profitable method 

 of future bee keeping. 



In the management of a singly apiary, 

 with time to care for it, I doubt if there is 

 any better way, unless the apiary is already 

 too large, than that suggested by the instinct 

 of the bees, viz.: let them swarm without 

 let or hindrance the first time. As you sug- 



