May, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
13 
The hive was set out on the lawn in the rear of the lot on which 
my dwelling stood, but I was assured that any favorable location 
in an orchard, or even out in the sun would be satisfactory, if I 
were careful not to place them where they would be too close to 
the house or the stable — fifty feet away will be a good average. 
When placed upon its bottom-board, the hive was tiered up 
with three of the storage chambers that accompanied it and let 
severely alone in order that the bees might readjust their house¬ 
keeping, which on account of their enforced detention in the hive 
had become more or less demoralized. 
By morning everything was normal, and with sentinels posted 
at the hive entrance, and with bees going and coming, the incom¬ 
ing ones laden with pollen and honey, things were working as 
nicely as though the colony had not taken a 100-mile journey by 
express. 
The hive proper was nearly square, made of clear white pine 
nicely painted white, and on the upper inside ends of it was nailed 
an iron cleat from which hung the brood frames, ten of which 
filled the hive. 
These frames were made self-spacing by a device on the ends 
so that when placed 
their combs would 
be just the right dis¬ 
tance apart. Thev 
were about 19 inches 
long and about 10 
inches deep; each 
was filled with a per¬ 
fect comb of the pre¬ 
vious season’s build¬ 
ing in the hands of 
their former owner, 
and in the cells of 
these combs was 
brood in all stages 
of development from 
the tiny white egg a 
day old, on through 
the more advanced 
larvae or brood, that 
looked like so many 
big grub worms, to 
the brood that was 
capped over and 
ready to hatch. 
There was a lib- 
e r a 1 allowance of 
cells capped and 
filled with ripe honey, with a sprinkling here and there of cells 
filled with pollen which the adult bees mix with honey as a food 
for the growing grubs, and this condition was characteristic of 
the entire ten frames with possibly the exception of the frames at 
the sides of the hive. These two frames showed a preponderance 
of honey rather than brood and pollen. 
The outside appearance of the hive was similar to that of a 
square box well put together and nicely painted, with a separable 
bottom board and lid. All of the parts of the empty hive to be 
used for hiving prospective swarms were interchangeable with 
the other. 
One of the brood frames as it appears while 
the bees are building their brood cells 
The storage chambers were only about half the depth of the 
, hive body proper, and hanging from its inside end cleats were 
holding-frames in which were placed little wooden sections or 
boxes 4x5 inches. These had little strips of wax in the tops of 
each to tempt the bees to work in them. As soon as each of 
I these little boxes was filled with a nice comb of honey it was re- 
j moved, and other empty boxes were placed in the same spaces to 
I fill the vacancy made by the removal of the completed ones. 
The super is removed and with a soft brush the bees are swept off for 
examining the frames 
When the storage chambers were in place the lid of the hive 
was placed on top of the whole and the bees left to themselves to 
carry on their work. 
Occasionally (every few days) I would lift up the lid and, puff¬ 
ing a little smoke down to quiet the swarm, I would peep in, to 
see how they were getting along, as I was quite anxious to pro¬ 
duce a crop of honey. About June 20th I was rewarded to find 
that ahmost all the chambers were full of honey that almost uni¬ 
formly weighed a pound for each box. 
I noticed that for several days many of the bees were in the 
habit of clustering about the entrance of the hive, and in fact a 
great ball of them about the size of a large cocoanut persisted in 
staying out there over night. Upon referring to the beekeeping 
books I learned that this was their method of notifying me that 
they were about to swarm, and I must confess that I was greatly 
excited at the prospect, for up to this time I had never seen a 
swarm come out, and I read everything on the subject of properly 
{Continued .011 page 68) 
The beekeeper’s outfit includes the veil fastened to his hat, the gloves, 
and the smoker. This view shows a spacing of the frames 
