THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL, 
77 
results. The first thing necessary in the 
successful production of extracted honey is a 
good queen to produce hosts of workers to 
gather the harvest. In fact, whether all 
realise it or not, the whole of beekeeping 
centres in the queen. Without the queen it 
wonld be impossible to produce a pound of 
extracted honey, hence it becomes apparent 
that the better the queen is the more honey 
we obtain. When all come to realise the 
great value of really good queens we shall 
have taken a long stride toward successful 
honey production. But good queens are only 
of value when we surround them with 
favorable circumstances, thus getting large 
numbers of eggs laid at the right time and 
causing each egg to be nourished to a perfect 
bee, so that we can have the bees in our 
colonies by the tens of thousands at the right 
time. Failing in this, the flowers will bloom 
in vain as far as filling our surplus combs 
with honey ready for the extractor, is 
concerned. 
But “ what are favorable circumstances ” is 
asked, to which I reply, an abundance of food 
and warmth. The abundance of food is quite 
easily secured in this day of bee-feeders, and 
especially so, if the apiarist has set aside the 
previous season, as he should, combs solid 
with honey which are ready to be set in the 
hive at any time. But the warmth is not so 
easily secured, especially when our honey 
harvest comes early from white clover which 
requires the getting of a large quantity of 
eggs laid.early in the season in order to have 
the bees in time. Several years ago I tried 
artificial heat to help forward things, but 
after numerous experiments, which resulted 
only in harm. I gave it up. 
About this time (187H, I think it was) J. If. 
Townley, a then noted beekeeper of Michigan, 
came out with his chaff packing, claiming 
that there was heat enough generated by an 
ordinary colony of bees to promote safe, early 
breeding if said heat was not lost by radiation. 
He claimed, if I remember rightly, that this 
chaff packing answered the same purpose to 
the bees which bed quilts and coverlids do to a 
man, in which case if a man is “ covered up 
"arm enough,” os the expression goes, lie 
would be as warm in a zero temperature as 
in June. This looked reasonable to me and 
a ‘b‘ r fhat I get my bees when taken from the 
cellar into chuff hives or rough boxes filled in 
with chart, sawdust or cut straw, always 
contracting the hives with chaff division- 
boards, quilts. Ac., to suit tile size of the 
colony. In this way colonies of bees would go 
right on breeding through cold days and 
nights, keeping warm and nice till the combs 
»ould be full of brood down at the bottom 
corners, «hilo those not protected would be 
■ Ineely to keep warm, with very 
little brood, I here give credit to Mr. 
lownley f,, r this plan and think all using it 
should be Willing to do the same. 
As soon as all the combs are filled with 
brood .which were first given them, more are 
added till the hive is full of comb and brood. 
In adding these combs, I prefer to add two at 
a time, using one which is empty and one 
filled with honey such as spoken of above. 
The empty one is placed at the outside and 
the full one in the centre. Before putting in 
the full one I break the cappings of the cells 
by passing a knife over it flatwise, for by this 
means the bees are obliged to remove the 
honey, and in doing so are stimulated to 
apparently greater activity than by any plan 
of feeding with which I am acquainted. As 
the honey is removed over to the outside 
empty comb, the queen fills the emptied comb 
with eggs which when hatched into larv» 
require the honey brought back by the nurse 
bees to feed said larva?, and as the honey is 
now being carried again, activity is still kept 
up and the qneen now goes over and fills this 
comb with eggs also. In this way one hive is 
soon filled with eggs, brood and bees just in 
time for the harvest. 
Having the hive filled as spoken of, and the 
honey harvest at hand or just commenced, if 
we wish no increase from our bees, no time is 
to he lost in putting on the surplus arrange- 
ment, otherwise the bees becoming crowded 
may get the swarming fever. For extracting 
I prefer another hive of the size of the first, 
hut some prefer one of only one-balf the depth. 
As to results there is probably no great 
difference, hut I consider it quite an object to 
have all hives and frames alike in the apiary. 
In putting on this surplus arrangement I 
prefer to use empty combs, if possible, instead 
of comb foundation. I also prefer to use two 
large or wide dummies, one at each side, for a 
few days, so that one-half of the room is taken 
up which leads the bees along gradually 
instead of thrusting a large amount of surplus 
room upon them at once. From experience 
I believe them less liable to swarm where this 
course is taken, for they seem to bend every 
energy to fill this small, additional room, 
while, where a large amount is given at once, 
they are injured should it become cool ; or, if 
warm, they swarm from being loath to enter 
it. As soon as the half of the hive given them is 
partly filled with honey, the dummies are 
taken out, the combs spread apart and frames 
filled with foundation put between them. At 
this stage I would just ns soon have 
foundation as empty comb, for the bees are 
now ready to work upon it, while before they 
were not. The time for taking out the 
dummies is when you see the cells being 
lengthened out with new comb along the tops 
of the combs. 
How you will proceed in the future depends 
upon whether you wish your honey nil ripened 
in the hive till the harvest is over, or ripened 
in a warm room by evaporation. Sometimes 
I think that honey left on the hive through 
the season is of a better quality than that 
