236 AUSTRALASIAN 



which I have recommended as being preferable to racks. 

 Much closer attention to ventilation and supplying extra room 

 in the surplus boxes is needed to keep down swarming when 

 working for comb than for extracted honey. 



REVERSING FRAMES. 



A. system of reversing frames — which at present bids fair to 

 become generally adopted — has within the past year or two 

 been tried by a number of prominent bee-keepers in America. 

 The objects sought to be accomplished by the system are, first, 

 to ensure the frames being perfectly filled with comb and 

 fastened all round, and second, to prevent the combs in the 

 brood-chamber being clogged with honey, or, as Mr. Heddon 

 puts it, " an aid in supplying a brood-chamber for breeding 

 purposes only, and the surplus arrangement above to possess 

 nearly all the honey." Should these results be obtained — and 

 late reports leave little room for doubt — it will be a great step 

 in advance in the practice of apiculture. 



A large proportion of combs are not built down to the bottom 

 bars of the frames, neither are they fastened the whole of their 

 depth down the end bars — consequently there is both a waste 

 of room and a want of strength in the combs. If the frames 

 are reversed, that is, turned upside-down after the combs have 

 been built in the first place, the bees, for their own safety, are 

 compelled to attach them securely both to the end bars and 

 what were formerly the bottom bars, thus filling the frames 

 solid. The next advantage, and which more nearly concerns 

 us here, is the storing of the surplus honey in the surplus 

 boxes ; it is claimed that by the proper use of the system the 

 bees may be induced to enter the surplus boxes more readily, 

 and even in a manner be compelled to transfer the honey from 

 the brood-chamber to the surplus receptacles. As a rule, the 

 brood-combs are about one-third filled with honey, which is 

 always stored along the upper part, next to the top bar, with 

 the brood in the centre and lower part. When the top boxes 

 are about to be put on, if the frames are reversed, the honey 

 and brood being in an unnatural position with regard to each 

 other, the bees, to rectify matters, will remove the honey, with 

 a view to storing it above, and as the upper parts of the combs 

 now contain brood, there is no alternative but to store it in the 

 surplus boxes, and thus more breeding space is secured below. 



