ii8 



THE liluC-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Here is a matter for you to try in your 

 apiaries. It is the system to be used with 

 shallow divisible-brood-chamber hives. 

 You have eitjht-frame hives. Take two 

 of these for a brood-chamber through the 

 spring. INIanageso as to have the brood 

 as much as you can in one of the cham- 

 bers, say b}- having the brood-nest in the 

 upper one, and spread it and manipulate 

 to get these coml)s solid full of brood. 

 The success does not depend on this get- 

 ting the one set of combs solid full of 

 brood, though to obtain best results it 

 will pay to do this. With this double 

 brood-chamber there is so much room 

 vou keep down the swarming fever, and 

 i think the room to spread, especially 

 downward, gives a greater vigor of work 

 than a crowded hive. 



Ten days before the flow begins, put 

 vour queen in the lower chamber with a 

 little brood — one comb with any amount 

 of brood will be plenty; an excluder on 

 this, and the rest of the brood on top. 

 At the end of ten days, when the flow is 

 just starting, take to a new stand the low- 

 er hive with the queen, and put the top 

 chamber on the old stand with nothing 

 but its sealed brood and no queen, but 

 give a virgin queen or ripe protected cell, 

 or wait two or three days and give a queen 

 or cell. Give only a cell or a virgin queen, 

 because the brood is all sealed that is left 

 on the old stand; and while the virgin is 

 mating, and getting ready to la}', the 

 brood is hatching; so when she does be- 

 gin laying, the last of the brood is about 

 ready to emerge, and your colony is just 

 in the condition of a colony that has 

 swarmed naturally, and their young 

 queen just ready to lay, except that you 

 have kept the strength of the colony on 

 the old stand, and have been getting sec- 

 tion work. .\s the brood hatched, brood- 

 combs were filled with honey; but as that 

 young queen begins to lay. that honey 

 goes up to the .sections out of her way, 

 and you have no swarming either. 



This svstem anticipates quite a contract- 

 ed brood-chamber left on the old stand, 

 which would be the result with one sec- 

 tion of a divisible-chamber hive, hence 

 there would not be any great amount of 

 honev stored in it during the lime the 

 queen was not laying. Tc make the best 

 test with the eight-frame hives, I suggest 

 that you use but six to the body, using 

 a dummy at each side; thus you have a 

 twelve-frame hive before the separation 

 at the start of the flow, and six left when 

 divided. 



The whole plan contemplates a big 

 hive up till the flow, then a very small 

 one on the old .stand, and vet all swarm- 

 ing effectually controlled, the force of 



fielders right where they will do the 

 most good. The old queen never stops 

 laying, and goes right on and builds up a 

 good colon}' in her new location. 



This is no idle dream, and I ask that 

 you have it tried in your apiaries this 

 season, to be written up later after trial. 

 I have for years been studying the plan, 

 and, to some extent, experimenting. I 

 think I am the pioneer in it. although 

 another man, and a good apiarist, in this 

 State, has also used the principle, com- 

 ing at it independently of me. If I have 

 the success I anticipate for it, it will V)e 

 the system with divisible-brood-chamber 

 hives. 



Upon the foregoing Mr. Root comment- 

 ed as follows: — 



Our readers will remember that about 

 two years ago I advocated a plan very 

 similar to this— that is, I practiced run- 

 ning two eight-frame brood -chambers for 

 the purpose of getting powerful colonies 

 for the production ot comb honey; then 

 when the honey-flow was fairlv upon us 

 I crowded this colony all into one brood- 

 chamber and one or two supers contain- 

 ing sections and foundat'on. Sometimes 

 I gave such colonies a shallow extracting- 

 super, an<I after the bees had got them 

 well started I took them off and substitut- 

 ed the comb-honey supers. There were 

 a few of our readers who condemned the 

 plan as impracticable and unorthodo-x; 

 but I know that for some seasons at least, 

 it is all right. Mr. .\i kin's plan is, per- 

 haps, an improvement on mine, and I 

 •wish a good many of our readers might 

 try it and report at the end of the season. 



r.ETTING RID OF FOUL BROOD. 



Editor Root Endorses the Plan of Shaking 



the Bees from all of the Coml>s in 



the -Apiary. 



Mr. Chalon Fowls of Ohio read in the 

 Review the plan of ridding an apiary of 

 foul brood by .shaking off the bees from 

 all of the combs, as advised and describ- 

 ed by the Rocky Mountain Bee Journal, 

 aud, like many another Eastern bee- 

 keeper, feared that it inight not be prac- 

 tical here in the East. He wrote to the 

 editor of Gleanings, asking him for his 

 opinion upon the matter. Gleanings 



