THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
71 
chamber may be. we have rarely seen its combs 
more than two-thirds or one-fourth of each frame — 
above and around the brood — are invariably 
assigned to stores of unsealed honey and pollen, 
during the breeding season, and this arrangement 
we have never been able to prevent. The doctor’s 
contention, therefore, that 40,000 workers can be 
raised every 21 days from the brood-chamber of 
830 cubic inches of comb, is likely to prove a 
fallacy, even if we allow (for the sake of argument) 
the possibility of preventing a large and prosperous 
colony, treated on the swarming system, from 
building drone-cells. 
With the chief points of his scheme we are fully 
in accord, but when he gets it into full working, 
further experience will, we think, prove the 
necessity of allowing a brood-chamber of the 
capacity of from 1000 to 1100 cubic inches of comb, 
or. in other words, to 10 British Standard, or 10 
Tinker-Langstroth frames, each of which contains 
about 1080 cubic inches of comb. The comb 
capacity of the old ten-frame Woodbury hive was 
940 cubic inches, which was found too small for 
a storifying hive. 
(2.) Queen-excluding honey boards. — We are 
told that the invention of the honey-board marks 
an era in the progress of apiculture, creates pos- 
sibilities heretofore unknown, and goes far 
towards solving the problem of “ How to obtain 
the product from our bees." Not only the largest 
quantity, but also • the finest quality of comb or 
extracted honey,’ might have been added. The j 
honey-board recommended consists of wood and 1 
zinc, each zinc slide, or slip, to have two rows of ; 
perforations, which are said to afford sufficient 
ventilation to supers — so necessary to rapid 
ripening of the honey, and free passage to the 
working bees, which are neither obstructed in 
their work, nor in the production of honey limited 
thereby in the slightest degree. The use of such 
a honey-board limits the brood space to the actual 
requirements of the brood, and it ample room is 
given in the supers there is no trouble with 
excessive swarming or carrying of pollen into the 
supers. 
(3 ) The indulgence of the siuarming instinct 
•without producing increase of colonies. — The im- 
proved system of management begins with swarm- 
ing. all colonies having been built up to full 
strength before that time arrives. It is a well- 
known fact that colonies which divide their work- 
ing forces by swarming do not collect so much 
surplus as those which do not swarm, therefore a ; 
system of management which prevents division, 
without checking the working vim , must give the 
largest returns. All colonies are brought up to | 
full strength by the commencement of the honey 
flow, and receive supers. If a swarm issues from 
any colony, it is hived on the old stand, and the 
supers are transferred from the old to the new 
hive, the new brood-chamber receiving empty re- 
served combs, or frames filled, or partly filled with 
foundation, or both combined. The bees remain- 
ing on the combs in the old brood-chamber arc 
shaken off and allowed to run into the new hive 
together with the swarm, and these combs, full 
of hatching and immature brood, are placed in an 
empty hive upon an excluding honey-board, and 
set upon the brood-chamber of another colony 
j which has not swarmed, but which is sufficiently 
strong to be able to take charge of this additional 
brood, and at the same time the supers, together 
| with the honey-board of this latter colony, are 
placed over the newly added brood. The queen- 
cells in the transferred brood may either be cut 
out or allowed to remain. Placing the brood with 
its queen-cells upon another colony does not cause 
it to swarm, because the old queen below is not 
aware of the existence of the queen-cells above. 
By this plan surplus brood-combs accumulate 
after a time, and on them future swarms may be 
hived. A supply of virgin queens may also be 
provided with the minimum of trouble and expense 
if the queen-cells are allowed to remain in the 
comb transferred after swarming. But on the 
management of queen-cells, virgin queens, and 
drones, Dr. Tinker promises another article. He 
further states, ‘ For years I have sought a remedy 
for the many braced combs which bees often build 
between the brood-frames and honey-board and 
supers. It is at last found in this new system of 
management. In all cases of large swarms, and 
where brood is placed over other colonies, there 
are no brace combs built anywhere, so that all 
pirts of the hive are easily separable.' The Doctor 
also states ‘ a remarkable fact, never before made 
public,' when he says “ My improved honey-board 
has never yet been passed by a queen, either 
laying or virgin, so that virgin queens that may 
hatch in brood-combs above laying queens cannot 
pass down to destroy the laying queen as they 
are sure to do if they have a chance, for no queen- 
cells in combs placed above the honey-board are 
ever destroyed by the bees of other colonies to 
which they may be given. Thus all depends on 
the perfect working of the honey-board." 
(4. ) Comb an t extracted honey can be produced 
in larger quantities by this than by any other 
system —This goes without saying if all that is 
predicted of the system be trustworthy. Since all 
the bees of every colony are kept together, and 
yet the swarming instinct is indulged, while the 
laying powers of the queen are stimulated to the 
utmost, it follows that the working energies of the 
bees will be as great as possible. Hence we may 
fairly expect the largest possible storage of honey. 
Judging from our own practice aud experience, 
we are favourably disposed towards Dr. Tinker's 
method. Indeed the plan, minus the honey- 
board, is the one we have always found most 
productive of the finest quality of honey whether 
in the form of comb or extracted. For the pro- 
duction of the latter we decidedly recommend the 
shallow-framed supers over the brood-chambers, 
and the invariable use of the improved queen- 
excluding honey-boards. We hope that some of 
our readers will give the plan a trial in the forth- 
coming season, as we ourselves intend to do. 
For several days the church clock at Hafpenden 
refused to work. On an inspection being made it 
was found that a swarm of bees had taken up 
their abode among the works. 
It is said that bees do not like dark clothing, 
and that a person dressed in white is less likely to 
be attacked. It is worthy of further observation. 
