THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



103 



comb, while }'ou look on one side, is a 

 big help in finding queens. These bright 

 little eyes are very quick to see the 

 queen. 



EQUAI.IZIXG COLONIES. 

 Next, I try to equalize the stock so that 

 all of the colonies will come up to the 

 honey harvest in about equal strength, 

 as this simplifies the work — allowing us 

 to treat all colonies the same way at the 

 same time, and brings the swarming all 

 in a bunch. 



ADVANTAGES OF BAIT-SECTIOXS. 



I aim to get on the supers about a week 

 before the opening of the main harvest; 

 and prefer to have at least two rows of 

 sections filled with bait combs. I con- 

 sider the bait-combs very important, as 

 they get the bees started in the sections 

 much earlier. 



GIVE PLENTY OF SURPLUS ROOM. 



Give plenty of surplns room, after the 

 bees are once well to work in the sections . 

 Your sections may not be quite so well 

 filled, and there may be more unfinished 

 sections at the end of the season, but 

 there will be less swarming and more 

 honey in the aggregate. 



PROVIDE SHADE. 

 Provide shade for the hives. All these 

 things help to keep down swarming. I 

 have been able in this way to keep 



swarming down to 25 per cent., and 

 sometimes less. 



I visit each yard each alternate day; 

 and aim to get there early, so as to hive 

 any swarms that may issue. Any swarms 

 that come out when we are not there re- 

 turn, as the queens are clipped. Such 

 swarms ususlly come out the next day 

 when we are there. 



At this time of the year, about all there 

 is to do is to hive the swarms, and see 

 that all colonies have the proper super 

 room. As all of the supers have been 

 filled with sections and foundation 

 the work is not heavy. A man and a 15- 

 year-old boy can take care of 400 colonies, 

 by alternating places each visit. My 

 j-ards are so located that we can drive 

 past one of them in going to another 

 yard. One can stop off at the first yard, 

 and the other go on to the next one. 



UTILIZING A WHOLE FAMILY. 



A whole family can be used in the 

 management of out-apiaries. This is 

 what I am doing: As fast as a boy or girl 

 becomes old enough to manage an out- 

 apiary, another one is started. 



The above plan is the one I have used 

 for the past three years. I have secured 

 an average crop with very little vexation 

 or bother. 



MaquokETa, Iowa. Oct. 28, 1901. 



QUEENS. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



Losses of Queens Attributed to Clipping when Clipping 

 Simply Marks them so we Know it. 



Fate urged the shears and cut the sylph in twain— pope. 



N the November Review, Arthur C. 

 Miller says he abandoned the practice 

 of clipping queens wings because he found 

 it advantageous to do so in spite of losses. 

 .\fter 20 years' experience in clipping 

 queens, I cannot imagine any advantage 

 to be derived from abandoning this prac- 



tice; and, as I have never had any loss of 

 queens from clipping, I can but think 

 that these losses are due to some other 

 cause besides clipping. 



Every queen is superseded some time 

 or other, and these supersedures are more 

 noticable where the queen is marked for 



