242 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



experience, I made each compartment 2% inches wide. Years 

 afterward I made another nucleus hive; and, smiling at my 

 former ignorance and congratulating myself upon the superior 

 knowledge I had gained with the passing years, I made the 

 compartments more nearly in accord with the usual space 03- 

 capied by each frame in a hive, making each compartment — 

 I'm not sure whether it was 1% or 1%. At any rate, the bees 

 swarmed out of these limited quarters to such an extent that 

 I could not use them, whereas they had not swarmed out of the 

 21/4 compartments; neither have they swarmed out of these 

 later ones. Having so much room in these central compart- 

 ments, the bees sometimes build pieces of comb on the sides 

 which I must clean away, but that is better than to have them 

 swarm out. 



CONTENTS OP NUCLEUS HIVES. 



A nucleus hive is tenanted by a two-frame nucleus on each 

 side and a one-frame nucleus in the middle. Care is taken to 

 choose one of the best frames of brood for the middle nucleus, 

 and perhaps a few extra bees are brushed in. A third comb 

 may be put in each of the side compartments, or a dummy, the 

 same as the dummies used in the regular hives. 



MAKING THE BEES STAY. 



When populated, the entrances of the nuclei are plugged 

 up with green leaves. These are generally taken away twenty- 

 four hours later, after the hives are pounded to stir up the 

 bees, but if they are neglected the leaves will dry and shrink so 

 the bees can make their way out. It is better to form nuclei 

 with queenless bees, for they are not so much inclined as others 

 to go back to their old place. 



BABY NUCLEI. 



There has been much interest in the matter of having 

 queens fertilized in small nuclei containing only 200 bees or 

 so. About the year 1863 I had seen miniature nuclei in the 

 apiaries of Adam Grimm, but they had not so few bees as the 

 so-called baby nuclei of today. Of course, I had a number of 

 queens fertilized in baby nuclei, but I did BQt go to the trouble 



