1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



260 



brood. Xext followed the box hive finished somewhat 

 after the fashion of the gum hive. From the first came 

 the appellation of "bee gum." To introduce a natural 

 swarm in ei.her of these, is most easily done by hiving 

 from above, and not from below as my "illustrious prede- 

 cessors" did. This is readily effected by inverting the 

 hive and placing the open mouth immediately under the 

 swarm and almost in contact v/ith it. If they ha%"e clus- 

 tered neir the ground, place the hive on the ground, and 

 as thj height varies, vary the resting of the hive, say on a 

 1-ench, box, barrel or any object so as to obtain that rela- 

 tive position of bees and hive. If high up on the branch 

 of a valuvble fruit or ornamental tree, draw up the hive 

 and 1-ish it to the branch or some other object to make it 

 secure; then a sudden jar by tapping the limb or other 

 object will precipitate the whole swarm to the lower end 

 of the hi\e. Cover the mouth of the hive ^vlth a board 

 leaving two inches oijen. Immediately upon finding 

 themselves in a dark room, they set up that "happy 

 hum'' indicating delight instead of frixlit, .ind all the 

 bees that hippen to miss the hive will make a rush for it, 

 nij,theycin no': be kept out unless the mouth of the 

 hive is entirely closed up. After a half minute's rest to 

 enable the bees to get a footing, the hive is to be gently 

 raised and placeJ in an upright position, and in five min- 

 utes more it can bo removed to its permanent locality 

 whgre they will begin the cireer of a complete colony. 



If the s ^varm is high up on the body of a tree or an ob- 

 ject not susceptible of the "sudden jar" I lash the hive 

 securely to the tree or limb and with the quill end of a 

 turkey's wing feather, detach as much of the loicer part 

 of the swarm as I can, letting it fall in the open hive as 

 before. I say lower part of the swarm for there the queen 

 is always to be found in a clustered swarm. I then put 

 on the closing b)ard, the roaring is inst.antly started in 

 the hive and then I gently brush all the bees off the tree, 

 not caring where or how they fall as they are sure to go 

 to the sound in the hive. When they cease to return to the 

 tree I lower them down, ui)right the hive and in a short 

 time place them on their parent stand. Upon the same 

 l)rinciple I hive bees in my triangular hives or in movable 

 frame hives, with this dilference ; I do not invert these 

 hives, but I bring the top of the triangular hive in contact 

 with the swarm, and the slots for the honey boxes just 

 underneath them, or I take out the centre frame of such a 

 " hive of any construction and place it as I do the tii;ingu- 

 lar hive ; then with the quill end of said turkey's feather 

 detach aboat one-third the swarm, dropping them in and 

 through the slots or frames as the case may be, gently 

 pushing in all the bees that lodged on top of the hive, 

 with the feather end. In an instant that welcome roai ing 

 is started, when I displace the balance of the swarm 

 which lodging on top of the hive rush to their compan- 

 ions welcome. When the whole energy of t'ae swarm is 

 directed to the inner hive, I close honey slots or replace ' 

 the movable frame and cut off connection through the 

 top. They then make for the entrance callinrr in a'l ab- | 

 sentees, and in a few minutes the new colony is placed in 

 the apiary. It is the simplest process in the world to ■ 

 hive a natural swarm of bees if they are managed with ] 

 patient gentleness and not irritated by rude treatment. 

 Thousands of men think they know how to hive bees, and 

 yet the use of the veil and gloves proves they do not com- 

 prehend the nature of the insect. I can hive a half dozen 

 swarms in the same time required to make an artificial 

 colony. In fact it can be done sooner than described, raid 

 there is no earthly necessity of using veils or ether pro- 

 tective means. With this mode of hiving a natural cwarm 

 or with any ct'eer mode, the most impoytatit pcf) t cfthe 

 whole transaction is to remove the hive as $cc:i c.s the 

 confttsion of hiving is over and the bees quicf, to seme 

 other Iccali'.y in order to avoid the returning scouts whose 



explorations of the forest for a hollow t)-ee, may have been 

 successful. If so, whether they find the swarm in the 

 place they left it, or in a new hive they wiU as surely take 

 the colony off to the woods as effect follows cause in any 

 other operation of their economy. Geo. B. Peters. 



Council Bend, .\rk., Sept. ^^d, 1870. 



NOTES FROM OUR EXCHANGES. 



AirEEICAX BEE JOURXAL. 



THE BEST HIVE FOE AXL PUKPOSES. 



A paper read before the Missouri Valley Bee-Keepers'' 

 Association, 



(l^i'^^3pT-^HAT is the best hive for all purposes?'' In 

 what I shall offer I hope I may be able to 

 throw some light on the other question— 

 "the best mode of obtaining bos honey." I will try and 

 give you a description of the hive that I use, and I begin 

 with the frame, which is the most imi)ortant part of any 

 hive. 



The top bar is a stick of wood ?j inches square, 

 and when used in the hive one comer is uppermost. Mr. 

 Bingham uses them 21 to 22 inches long. I use them 20 

 in. long, but were I to start anew, I would use them 21 

 in. long. The end pieces of the frame are | inch thick, IJ 

 origin, wide, and inches long. There is no bottom 

 piece to the frame. We use from 8 to 12 of these frames 

 in a hive, 10 frames are ample for a very, good swarm. 

 The ends being IJi in. wide stard close together when in 

 the hive, and really make the side of the hive. It will be 

 seen that the bees have ample space to pass between the 

 top bars to the surplus boxes. Having'finished the frames 

 I will proceed to the rest of the hive. I have varied my 

 case from that used by Mr. Bingiiam, and as I prefer it, 

 will describe it. The front board is 2 in. longer 

 than the frames over all, that is if your top bar is 20 in , 

 and your end pieces | in., this would make the frame 20 ?4, 

 so this front board would be 22K long. Strips f in. thick 

 are nailed on top and at each end of bottom board : these 

 strips riise the frames and front board t in. from bottom 

 board, and make the entrance for the bees. The back 

 board is precisely like the front board, so there is r.n en- 

 trance front and rear, but in practice we generally (except 

 in warm weather) close the rear entrance by a spare 

 strip ^awed off the proper length ; a rod of iron with 

 thumb screws at each end holds them together. 



These side boards are G'i in. wile and rabbeted on each 

 edge as represented, and are as long as the bottom board 

 is wide, say 20 or 21 in. Xow this box screwed together 

 with the requisite number of frames makes the hive prop- 

 er. But the ten frames will not ( ccupy all of the bottom 

 board, so that the back board of the hive must be crowd- 

 ed close up to the frames, nr.d by turning the thumb 

 screw will i\ tain iliem as tight as if nailed, but can be 

 instantly loosened by loosening the screws. WHien you 

 do not want boxes on the hive, the cover can be put en 

 and you have a hive complete. I always use a cloth over 

 the frsmes so that the cover does not stick when being re- 

 moved. Xow when you wish to put on honey boxes, re- 

 move the cloth and put them directly on the frames— do 

 not use a honey board. Get your brood and surplus boxes 

 as near together as jiossible, but we have no case for the 

 honey boxes. To have this, put up another box with the 

 rods and screws exactly like the lower one for tlie hive 

 proper, and it mil fit like a glove, the rabbeted edges of 

 the side boards holding it in place, and so on up, aa:j 

 number of stories yon may desire. 



I may not have made my description plain, but I thirk 

 any cf you with p. a:€chanical tiini of mind can get tie 

 idea. Its advantages are that it is simple acd etc Ep. £fc» 

 solutelv free of aimcracks and traps, vet rcssetsit? ill ll.© 



