THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST AND BEEKEEPER

Can you count them? A hot summer's day in
the apiary of R. J. Fuller, Pickering, Ont.
extract more particularly from each end.
I had two chaff division boards, one each
end, and during the honey season,
queen excluding division boards to con-
fine the queen to the centre frames. I
worked both comb and extracted honey.
This was mostly done by having a comb
honey super over the centre, and I was
free to extract from the frames at the
ends. For a time I gave the queen
access to all the frames, but I found for
this locality it did not work. If there
was one thing that the late G. M.
Doolittle emphasized more than another,
it was the importance of having a large
force of bees just in time for the honey
flow, not too early nor yet too late. I
could never agree with him about the
early part, but we can all understand
why not too late, for as a rule those
that were too late for the honey were too
soon to be of value for the winter, and so
although these large hives gave us bees
in abundance, they were too frequently
not worth the good clover honey it took
to mature them. Sixteen to eighteen
frames, all containing some brood,
meant as many good frames of honey
we are told to prepare them for the work
of honey gathering. One could avoid
that by confining the queen by the
queen excluding division boards I have
already referred to, but the principle is
all wrong. Bees will store honey at the
sides of the brood, but never much by
choice, whereas they delight to store it
above. Notice for yourself the first
honey they draw upon as the cold
weather approaches is by preference
from the sides, and if you are ever in
doubt as to the position of the outside
frame in the hive you may know that
the side next the outside or end of the
hive is that which has the least honey in
it, so we conclude if given their choice
they put it there la t.

The Long Idea Hive was advocated
long ago by the late 0. 0. Poppolton,
and every now and then has its advo-
cates. It appeals to those also who want
to keep bees on the "let alone" plan. I
cannot see, however, that by the tiering
up system, provided you allow the
queen to go where she pleases, that you
cannot accomplish the same results with
less frames containing brood, as, before
she may go above, the first super may be
well started, if not well filled with honey.
So much for the long idea hive system
as it pertained to the Jones' hive. The
Jones' hive had nothing to recommend
it, and I was going to say that his frame
has lure yet. It was recognized, how-
ever, as a good wintering frame, but the
very thing that made it good for this
made it bad for the tiering up plan. It
was a good wintering frame for the rea-
son it was deep in proportion to its width.
The hive was twelve inches wide and
fifteen inches deep, inside measure.
The comb measure of the frame
was about ten and a half inches
wide and about thirteen and three-
quarter inches deep. The tendency of
the bees with this depth of frame was to
store considerable honey above the
brood. The bees when clustered for

winter would probably cover or extend
to eight frames.W Now with a hive only
twelve inches wide, and the bees occupy-
ing the lower part of these deep frames,
and plenty of honey above and around
them, made itlan idealtplace for the
cluster. With such alwinter nest there
was no danger of the bees (unless weak in
numbers) of getting so far away from the
honey at one end as to lose sight of it
entirely, as is frequently done with the
long Langstroth frame. But we want
more in a frame than this to recommend
it. With a frame so deep there is a ten-
dency for the bees to store honey above
the brood. Now this is the very thing
we want to avoid, whether working for
comb or extracted honey, but especially
when   producing   section  honey.  I
have known strong colonies to hang out
in clusters in front of the hive with
oceans of super room above, simply be-
cause of their aversion to travelling far
over capped honey above the brood in
the brood nest. We can control this to a
certain extent as I will explain later on,
but the deeper the frame the more diffi-
cult it is to do, but apart from this give
me as deep a frame as is compatible with
good wintering and little danger of a
honey-clogged brood nest.

Practical Advice on Queen Rearing
S. B. Bisbee, Canfield

WHEN talking of Queens, at the
recent Convention of Ontario
Beekeepers, held in Toronto, a
member asked, "Have you ever noticed
that the largest and best looking Queen
cells do not hatch, and why ? "
From the discussion following I was
led to believe that several others present
have been having the same trouble.
This has not been my experience, and at
the moment I was unable to think of
any reason. However, after taking my
seat, it occurred to me that there was
some little thing that was being done
that was the cause of the trouble, and I
took the opportunity of having a talk
with the party who had asked the
question.
Our conversation revealed the fact
that the cells were sometimes carried
around the yard with the small end
upwards. Also that in turning the
combs when looking for cells the combs
were swung over, instead of being care-
fully turned on end, thereby again turn-
ing the cells upside down and the quick
motion dislodging the larvae and causing
it to die. The largest and best cells
were more easily destroyed than the
smaller ones because more room had
been left by the bees in the larger cells,
for the growth of the larvae, and the
larve being heavier was more easily
separated from the royal jelly.
It cannot be too strongly impressed
upon all who attempt to rear queens

that "after the cells are sealed over, they
must not be turned upside down and
they must not receive a jar."
It would be better not to attempt to
handle them or give them to the colonies
to be re-queened until they are just
about to hatch.
A correspondent writes : "How do
you control swarming ?"
It is as natural for bees to swarm as it
is for the birds to lay and incubate their
eggs. It is nature's provision for the
survival of the race.
Before we look for the cure let us first
find the cause. Bees swarm for a num-
ber of reasons. The queen may be
getting old and the colony reluctant to
trust their very existence to the ability
of the queen to carry them through
another winter. These are supersedure
conditions, queen cells are drawn out,
and the young queens when they emerge
may lead out a swarm. Re-queen often.
A young and very prolific queen will
lay eggs so fast that very soon the
colony has a large quantity of young
bees hatching daily, with the result that
the hive soon becomes over populated,
and unless care is taken overcrowded.
They are forced to seek new quarters, as
otherwise they have no place to store
the honey that usually starts to come in
about this time. In this event cells are
started and about the time they are
sealed the old queen leads out a swarm,
which is called the prime swarm. About

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March, 1919.