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ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
 EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS 
 BEEKEEPING LIBRARY 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARV 
 
 3 1924 
 
 053 968 123 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924053968123 
 
The ToAvnsend 
 Bee Book 
 
 OR 
 
 How to Make a Start in Bees 
 
 By 
 
 E. D. Townsend 
 
 Remus, Mich. 
 
 Price 50 Cents :< , 
 
 Published by 
 THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY 
 Medina, Ohio 
 
 EV- 
 
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE 
 
 In beekeeping, as in all pursuits, there are always many 
 people just starting in the business, and one of the oft recurring 
 questions that are asked has been, ' ' How can I make a start with 
 bees? " To answer this question properly we engaged Mr. E. D. 
 Townsend, one of the best authorities in bee culture, and who 
 produces honey by the carload, to write a special series of articles 
 having to do primarily with the problems that beset every person 
 who starts this most fascinating of nature studies. These duly 
 appeared in our journal, GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. As 
 they were received with such wide-spread enthusiasm, we decided 
 to ineorpprate them in book form. 
 
 Mr. Townsend is peculiarly fitted for giving instructions along 
 these lines, since he himself learned, by dear experience, how to 
 avoid the common mistakes of an amateur, and, with practically 
 nothing to start with, built up what is probably the most extensive 
 business in connection with bees in the great State of Michigan. 
 Moreover, he has never been carried away, so to speak, by fads 
 and fancies; his advice always bristles with practical common 
 sense. 
 
 It is hoped that by compiling these articles in book form we 
 are going to " fill a long-felt want." 
 
 THE A. I. ROOT COMPANY. 
 
 June 1, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I — How I Became a Successful Manager of Bees 
 
 on a Large Scale .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II— What Hive to Adopt .... 6 
 
 CHAPTER III— How to Buy Bees .... 12 
 
 CHAPTER IV— Folding Sections and Putting in Foundation 15 
 
 CHAPTER V— What to Do Just Preceding the Honey-flow 30 
 
 CHAPTER VI — Strong vs. Medium Colonies at the Opening 
 
 of the Harvest . . . . .34 
 
 CHAPTER VII— How to Take Care of Swarms . . 37 
 
 CHAPTER VIII— Management Previous to the Honey-flow 
 
 to Prevent Swarms .... 42 
 
 CHAPTER IX— The Honey-flow 47 
 
 CHAPTER X— Spring Management .... 69 
 
 CHAPTER XI— Making Up Winter Losses . . .75 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 How I Became a Successful Manager of Bees on a Large Scale. 
 
 One day in June, 1876, my younger brother and sister coming 
 from school saw a swarm of bees fly overhead. I can remember it 
 as well as though it were yesterday, how I found fault with them 
 for not telling me until after the swarm was out of sight. Prob- 
 ably fifteen or twenty minutes had elapsed after the bees had 
 passed over the road; and since colonies in movable-frame hives 
 were worth $10.00 in those days, and since I had had the bee fever 
 for some two years, I made up my mind to locate that swarm. I 
 was shown where it crossed the road and the direction it took. 
 Before I had gone into the woods ten rods I heard the bees entering 
 a tree, and I soon saw them, for many were still on the outside, 
 while others were circling around making a great noise. They 
 entered a limb well up toward the top of a large elm. 
 
 That night I asked a beekeeper when it would be best to 
 transfer the bees from the tree to a frame hive, and he told me 
 that I could do no better than to do it immediately, for the reason 
 that, if the tree were felled before the bees had time to build any 
 comb they could be hived like a natural swarm, without the incon- 
 venience of transferring sticky combs, etc. A third of a century 
 has elapsed since this took place ; and if I were asked to-day how 
 to manage in such a case I would give the same answer that this 
 beekeeper gave me. Well, the tree was cut while the bees were 
 flying during the next day ; and although their entrance had been 
 60 feet from the ground not a bee was lost ; for as soon as those in 
 the tree started into the new hive, all of the bees heard the ' ' hom- 
 ing hum ' ' and entered the new hive with the rest. 
 
 As soon as the tree was down, and before the bees got over 
 being demoralized, the beekeeper who was helping me ran toward 
 the top of the tree ; and as soon as he could locate the entrance he 
 smoked the bees so that they could be handled without fear of 
 stings. By sawing in on each side of the entrance, and splitting 
 off a portion of the limb, we opened the cavity where the bees 
 were. The hive was then placed with the entrance as near as. 
 
2 The Tovmsend Bee Book 
 
 possible to the part where most of the bees were, and with a tin 
 dipper the greater part of them were dipped up and emptied at 
 the hive entrance. By the time we had most of the bees dipped 
 out of the tree in front of the new hive there was this loud ' ' hom- 
 ing ' ' call as the bees commenced running in. At this point of the 
 procedure the few bees that were left in the tree were smoked 
 imtil they took wing, and then we stepped back so as to be out of 
 the way. All of the flying bees, attracted by the loud hum, soon 
 entered the new hive, which was moved home that night when all 
 flying was over for the day. 
 
 It occurs to me to mention here the fact that any beginner 
 noticing a swarm issuing should not rush off to a neighbor for a 
 hive, leaving the swarm clustered, for, as likely as not, the bees 
 will be gone on his return. The better way is to hive them in a 
 soap-box or anything else, for that matter, that can be used tem- 
 porarily, and, when hived, the box should be set on the stand 
 where it is to remain until the new hive can be brought. Then, as 
 soon as the new hive is obtained, he should go to the swarm in the 
 box and blow some smoke in at the entrance in order to avoid 
 stings. (A beginner should wear a veil until he is thoroughly 
 acquainted with the bees, simply so that he will not be nervous.) 
 
 As soon as the new hive is ready the box should be removed 
 from the stand and the empty hive set in its place, with a board 
 slanting up from the ground to the entrance. Now the swarm may 
 be hived just as though it still hung on the tree or limb where it 
 clustered at first. By carefully lifting the box off the bottom- 
 board, and carrying it to the new hive, most of the bees can be 
 shaken out on to the alighting-board with a quick jerk, and they 
 will run in just as though they had been shaken from a limb. 
 
 To return to my swarm taken out of the tree, I will simply 
 say that it was divided that season, both colonies gathering suffi- 
 cient honey to winter well. My next step after getting the bees 
 home was to subscribe for Gleanings. It began coming in July, 
 and has been coming regularly ever since. 
 
 HOW MANY COLONIES TO START WITH 
 
 The first things to decide upon are the number of colonies 
 to buy, the size of hives, and the season of the year when the start 
 should be made. When I began beekeeping, many of the colonies 
 around me were in hives of a size and style not to my liking; in 
 fact, there was no standard frame in use then as there is now and 
 the beginner simply followed some one of the leading honey-pro- 
 ducers, adopting his hive and frame. All these things are now 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 3 
 
 changed, and the beginner will have no trouble in finding bees in 
 hives containing regular Langstroth frames. This frame has more 
 points in its favor than any other at the present time, and I would 
 advise the beginner to adopt it. 
 
 There is a great diversity of opinion as to the proper number 
 of frames to use in a hive. The majority use eight frames ; but 
 quite a number use ten frames to the hive, and a few think that 
 twelve frames are none too many for the best results. It is not the 
 intention of this article to go into the discussion of the hive ques- 
 tion ; but if the beginner will take my advice he will adopt the ten- 
 frame hive for the production of comb honey, but especially for 
 extracted honey. 
 
 After deciding on the size of hive it is important to get the 
 right number of colonies to start with. Beginners should under- 
 stand from the first that there is much to learn, and that the first 
 few years will be largely experimental, so that not much money 
 wil be made at first. The experience can be acquired about as well 
 with a few colonies as with a large number, and the expense is 
 much less. When starting on a small scale, the increase of bees 
 and experience go together. 
 
 It is noticeable that those who have gone into the bee business 
 on a large scale from the very first, without making an effort to 
 get the necessary experience, have usually turned their attention 
 to something else in a few years, usually going back to what they 
 did before. This is the natural thing ; for since they knew nothing 
 about the producing of a paying crop of honey the venture proves 
 a failure. 
 
 I would recommend at the start from two to four colonies, 
 whether the beginner has much capital or not. I do not think that 
 one without experience can go into this business and depend upon 
 hired experienced help to do the work, for he must know the 
 details himself before he can manage others in such a way as to 
 make a financial success of his plans. 
 
 WHEN TO START 
 
 An experienced beekeeper need not hesitate to buy bees any 
 •season of the year. Some of the best bargains are found in the 
 fall, for it is then much easier to buy bees than in May, when the 
 prospect of a honey crop is near at hand. However, for one with- 
 out experience. May is the best month to purchase bees, for he will 
 be sure of having them through one surplus season at least before 
 he has the wintering problem to contend with, and this much 
 experience will help him in the solving of the wintering problem. 
 
4 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 NOT NECESSARY TO BUY OLD HIVES 
 
 When buying bees, see that the combs are in good modern 
 frames of Langstroth size. The hive is of secondary importance ; 
 for if the combs are of the worker size, and straight and true, they 
 can be transferred to frames in new hives. This is the way most 
 of our buying is done ; for after the bees are transferred the old 
 hives are returned, for we do not want them. If the beginner were 
 to buy three or four old hives, and use them in connection with 
 new ones, they would never be satisfactory. It usually happens 
 that bees can be bought enough cheaper without the hives to make 
 it more economical all around to buy new hives outright. 
 
 THE SELECTION OP THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT 
 
 I would recommend that the beginner commence his bee- 
 keeping career with the production of comb honey, and that all 
 increase be made by natural swarms. Gradually the production 
 of extracted honey can be taken up. I know it is generally con- 
 sidered that extracted-honey production is more easily learned 
 than comb-honey production; and I admit that, if the beginner 
 were to commence the season with half of his colonies worked for 
 comb honey and half for extracted, the half worked for extracted 
 honey would probably be the more profitable that season; but 
 there are many pitfalls in the production of extracted honey not 
 found in the production of comb, and the beginner might be the 
 loser in the end if he produced extracted honey from the start. A 
 part of the danger lies in the fact that, in producing extracted 
 honey, much of the increase has to be made artificially. Besides 
 this, one not entirely familiar with the business might allow more 
 extracted-honey colonies to starve than he would comb-honey 
 colonies, for the latter will have a good stock of the early or better 
 quality of honey for winter stores. In the case of colonies run for 
 extracted honey, on the other hand, the early and better honey is 
 more likely to be placed in the upper story, which usually contains 
 an abundance of comb room. It is true that sugar syrup could be 
 fed to make up this deficit ; but this would only add another bur- 
 den, which the beginner had better avoid at the start. 
 
 All artificial-swarming methods should be avoided for the 
 first few years until the beginner has more experience, and until 
 some of the known principles are learned. After this, these other 
 principles of beekeeping can be taken up. 
 
 If more comb honey than extracted is to be produced the first 
 season, it will be necessary to buy rather more supplies. I assume 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 5 
 
 that either the eight or ten frame hive will be adopted, containing 
 frames of Langstroth dimensions. The hive that we would order 
 is the regular dovetailed hive for comb-honey production, having 
 a reversible bottom-board made of %-inch material. These bot- 
 tom-boards are much superior to some that have been on the mar- 
 ket in former years. We have used very similar one for the past 
 twelve years, and know that they are good. The super of this 
 hive should contain 4^ x 4^ x l^^-inch plain sections and fence 
 separators. In my opinion, there is no better section on the mar- 
 ket to-day than the 4% square plain section. 
 
 If four good colonies of bees are bought the first season, and 
 these colonies and the increase are to be put into new hives, about 
 ten hives will be needed. There should be ten hive-bodies, ten 
 covers, ten bottom-boards, and twenty supers ; and all the inside 
 furnishings should be included. The frame should be pierced, 
 and the wire should be sent for wiring them. 
 
 If the supers are used as we use ours, extracting-frames will 
 replace the outside section-holders in each super. These frames 
 are made the same size as the section-holders, but they have a top- 
 bar. Both top and bottom bars are % inch wide, the top-bar being 
 % inch thick, and provided with a beveled groove and wedge for 
 fastening the foundation. These extracting-frames should be 
 pierced for two wires, and full sheets of thin super foundation 
 should be used in them. 
 
 As the supers, as ordered, do not include sections, 1000 4^4 x 
 41/4 x li/^-inch plain sections should be ordered. One would prob- 
 ably not use a thousand the first year; but during a good year 
 more than 500 would be necessary, and it is well to order sections 
 in full packages. 
 
 For supplying these sections with full sheets of foundation, 
 about eight pounds of the extra-thin super foundation will be 
 needed. 
 
 Brood-frames should all be pierced for wiring. The piercing 
 and the wire for wiring the frames costs about ten cents extra per 
 hundred frames. Full sheets of medium brood foundation should 
 be used, and it will take thirteen or fourteen pounds to fill one 
 hundred frames. The use of starters in brood-frames is very poor 
 economy. I have tried both starters and full sheets. 
 
 There is no better uncapping-knife than the Improved Bing- 
 ham. "We order them made one inch longer than the regular size, 
 but very good work can be done with the knives of ordinary 
 length. A Coggshall brush is very essential for freeing the combs 
 of bees when extracting or at any other time. 
 
6 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 It might be well to have two or three extra stories the same as 
 the hive-bodies, for there are sometimes combs that are undesiT- 
 able for use in the brood-nest, but which would be all right for 
 extraeting-frames. In this way, even if no particular pains are 
 taken for producing extracted honey, some may be secured the 
 first season. The second season, all extra combs from dead or 
 queenless colonies should be used for extraeting-combs. Then if 
 shallow extracting-combs are used in the comb-honey supers, as 
 I have recommended, by the second year, at least, quite an amount 
 of extracted honey may be produced. In this way the beginner 
 may be gradually drawn into the production of both comb and 
 extracted honey until, before long, half of the yard may be 
 worked for each. The amount of extracted honey can be regulat- 
 ed, however, for if more empty combs accumulate than are needed 
 for extracted honey the swarms could be hived on them. 
 
 CHAPER II. 
 
 What Hive to Adopt 
 
 A DISCUSSION OF THE MERITS OF THE DIFFERENT HIVES, 
 
 TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE MAN, 
 
 THE METHODS, AND THE LOCALITY 
 
 The proper hive to use is a question that confronts every 
 beginner. The kind, size, and shape of the hive best adapted for 
 the purpose must be taken into consideration, and these depend 
 upon whether comb or extracted honey is produced ; whether the 
 colonies are all in one yard or in several outyards, etc. 
 
 In reading the current literature on the subject, much confu- 
 sion of ideas is noticeable ; for in some locations, where conditions 
 ought to be the same, one beekeeper will use a large hive and the 
 other a small one, each being successful with his own preferred 
 size. This reminds me of a little incident that came up in our 
 convention at Saginaw. Mr. W. J. Manley, of Sandusky, told of 
 buying about 60 colonies of bees, one of which was in a soap-box. 
 This soap-box colony was inverted, an upper story put on and 
 although the colony was handled the same as the others, several 
 more pounds of honey were extracted from it than from any other 
 individual colony in the yard. This only goes to show that bees 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 7 
 
 will store honey in almost any kind of hive ; and, further, that a 
 hive poorly proportioned can be so manipulated as to yield fair 
 results in the production of honey. But in this case it is, of course, 
 the man and not the hive that should get the credit. In this arti- 
 cle I propose to fit the man to the hive, the hive to the man, and 
 both to the location. 
 
 It has been my fortune (or perhaps misfortune) to be the 
 owner of almost all kinds and sizes of hives, including the ten- 
 frame Gallup and the ten-frame Quinby — hives varying in size 
 from 1000 to 1800 square inches of brood-comb space. I have also 
 had the eight, ten, and twelve frame Langstroth hive ; and many 
 times different sizes and styles of hives were in the same yard. 
 My experience with such has extended over many seasons, so that 
 I am ia condition to know which size and style are best adapted 
 to my locality and to my partictilar system of management, etc. 
 
 Probably two-thirds of the colonies in this State are in eight- 
 frame Langstroth hives, or in hives similar in size and shape. In 
 general we may say that, the further north the beekeeper is locat- 
 ed, the shorter his honey season. A short season requires a small 
 hive for the best results in the production of honey ; and a small 
 hive requires the more constant care. A large hive will stand 
 more neglect. 
 
 Our location is one where the surplus flow is early and quite 
 short, it being mainly from clover and raspberry. This flow 
 usually begins about 60 days after the first natural pollen is 
 brought in. The best flow is apt to come after a rigorous winter, 
 and then the skill of the expert is needed to bring the bees through 
 in good condition, and tide them over the ever-changing days of 
 spring. All admit that an eight-frame Langstroth hive is large 
 enough to allow a colony of bees to build up to a normal size 
 during this time when circumstances are favorable. Now, if it 
 takes all the skill of the experienced beekeeper to manage his bees 
 so they will come through the winter and spring in the best condi- 
 tion and take care of the surplus honey in general, what can be 
 expected of the inexperienced, careless, or indifferent beekeeper ? 
 It is evident that the eight-frame brood-nest is ample for such, as 
 there is no object in having more frames if the beekeeper is not 
 able to get the colony built up safely to occupy them. The eight- 
 frame is ample for the beginner ; but when the knack of successful 
 management is acquired, so that at least half of the colonies, by 
 the time the honey-flow begins, fill their hives to overflowing with 
 bees, a larger hive — ^that is, a ten-frame size — must be used. If 
 the beginner were to start with a twelve-frame hive it would be 
 
8 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 my opinion that he had begun at the top of the ladder instead of 
 the bottom, and his failure would be almost certain. The change 
 from the ten-frame size to the twelve-frame size may be advisable 
 whenever one has mastered the situation, so that the ten-frame 
 hive has become too small to hold his colonies at the opening of 
 the flow. The location must always be considered in this connec- 
 tion ; for if the main honey-flow began only 90 days from the time 
 the first natural pollen is gathered, a hive with at least two more 
 Langstroth-sized frames could be used than would be advisable 
 if the main honey-flow began only 60 days after the first pollen 
 was gathered in our location here. 
 
 Mr. S. D. Chapman, of Mancelona, Mich., is one of the most 
 successful beekeepers in Michigan, as he has beekeeping " under 
 his thumb." He winters his bees in four cellars, and brings them 
 through the winter and spring very strong, so that, long before 
 the 60-days breeding season is ended, he is obliged to allow addi- 
 tional room for the queen to lay, and also for clustering space in 
 order to keep the bees from swarming before the honey-fiow. Two 
 of Mr. Chapman's cellars are under his dwelling house, a third is 
 an elaborate special repository, and the fourth is one not so ex- 
 pensive. One of the cellars under the dwelling house is under a 
 part of the house where a fire is kept going most of the time ; and 
 these colonies must be set out in the spring earlier than any of 
 the others. All of this shows that the man and not the cellar 
 should have the credit where the colonies are successfully wintered 
 in four cellars of different design and construction, necessitating 
 different methods of handling, etc. 
 
 Good wintering in the Northern States is one of the supreme 
 tests of a successful beekeeper ; and the inability of many of the 
 northern men to winter their colonies so they will breed up and 
 fill large hives in the short period between the breeding season in 
 spring and the main flow in June is the reason that most of them 
 prefer a small hive. 
 
 For 18 years I had 50 ten-frame Quinby hives in use. These 
 were chaff hives with the regular thickness of packing around the 
 sides, top, and bottom in winter; but the best I could do was to 
 get the colonies in these large hives in condition for the honey-flow 
 about July 1, when in our locality the white-clover flow would be 
 nearly over. At the same time I was having good success with 
 the thirteen-frame Gallup hive, and so I took out the two outside 
 frames of the Quinby hive, redueiag it to the eight-frame size, 
 which equaled in space the thirteen-frame Gallup hive, except 
 that the frames ran the other way. These two hives gave good 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 9 
 
 results, and I patterned after this same size when I adopted the 
 ten-frame Langstroth hive. 
 
 I do not mean in any of the above that I prefer the eight- 
 frame hive. It is true that I said that the eight-frame Langstroth 
 hive is large enough, and some may wonder why I use the ten- 
 frame hive. I will try to explain the reason. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that we do not see our colonies from the time they are taken 
 out of the ' ' clamps ' ' until it is time to put on supers, and in such 
 a case all must be fed enough in the fall to make a total of from 
 25 to 30 pounds of stores, to make sure that none starve during 
 the spring when we do little if any feeding. Our colonies use from 
 20 to 25 lbs. of stores from October till the main honey-flow in 
 June. At the time of the main honey-flow, there will be from 5 
 to 10 lbs. of stores left in the hives which have contained 30 lbs. in 
 the fall, and from nothing to 5 lbs. in those hives which contained 
 25 lbs. in the fall, the calculations being based on good average 
 colonies — weak colonies consuming less. Now, a Langstroth 
 brood-comb contains 5 lbs. of honey and bee-bread when sealed; 
 and 30 lbs. of stores will, therefore, fill six brood-combs spaced 1% 
 from center to center ; so that in an eight-frame hive there will be 
 only two empty combs left in the fall. A colony wintered fairly 
 well in such a hive will become honey-bound before the main flow 
 the following June. It would have been in better condition at this 
 time if there had been a comb or so of stores left. On the other 
 hand, the ten-frame hive with 30 lbs. of stores would have four 
 empty combs in the fall; which combs, together with those from 
 which the honey is used during the winter, would make ample 
 room for the queen to lay and still allow a ' ' reserve fund ' ' con- 
 sisting of a comb or more of honey at the beginning of the honey- 
 flow in June. For this reason, therefore, we prefer ten-frame hives. 
 
 The size of a hive is much more important than the shape. A 
 well-shaped hive is important only because it is more convenient 
 for the apiarist. In outyards every hive should be the same, for 
 a variety of sizes and shapes is an abomination. I have had ex- 
 perience with different sizes ; but every one of my extracted-honey 
 colonies is now in a ten-frame factory-made dovetailed hive, and 
 every super is the same as the lower story or body, so that all are 
 interchangeable. I use ten Hoffman fraines in the bodies, and 
 eight loose hanging frames in the upper stories, the eight frames 
 in the ten-frame super making 1%-inch spacing, so that all combs 
 are bulged. 
 
 Mr. J. N. Harris, of St. Louis, Mich., has two or three out- 
 yards in the northern part of the State. A part of the colonies 
 
10 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 are in eight-frame hives, and the rest in twelve-frame, these 
 twelve-frame hives being the only ones I know of in the locality. 
 Mr. Harris is an old veteran at the business, and he is very thor- 
 ough in his work with his bees. For instance, every comb that he 
 has is built from wired foundation ; and if it happens there are too 
 many drone-cells in any one comb, that comb is replaced with a 
 full sheet of worker foundation. Now, if he goes to this trouble 
 to keep his combs in good condition, it is evident that all the other 
 work around the bees must be done in the same thorough manner. 
 Since he winters the eight and twelve-frame colonies in the same 
 cellar, and manages them through the season as nearly alike as 
 possible, Mr. Harris is in position to tell which hive is the best to 
 adopt with his system of management in his locality, especially as 
 he has only one object in view — ^the securing of the most extract- 
 ed honey with the least expenditure of labor and expense. 
 
 Mr. Harris says that colonies in the twelve-frame hives go 
 into winter quarters with more bees than those in the eight-frame 
 hives, and also that they come out much stronger in the spring. 
 He has found that he can count on having about eight combs of 
 brood in the twelve-frame hives, and only six in the eight-frame ; 
 so that the twelve-frame colonies have about 25 per cent more 
 brood than the eight-frame. I wish Mr. Harris could have tested 
 the ten-frame hive in connection with the eight and twelve frame, 
 for it would seem to me that if he got 25 per cent more brood in 
 the twelve-frame colonies than in the eight-frame, then the ten- 
 frame hive with the same management should give him only one 
 comb of brood less than the twelve-frame, and one more than the 
 eight-frame. The best point in favor of the twelve-frame hive is 
 that it is so large that he does not need to do so much " fussing " 
 with them as with those in the smaller hive, and he is able to 
 attend to more colonies, getting more honey per colony. He keeps 
 all the colonies he can attend to himself, instead of depending on 
 any help to care for a larger number. Mr. Harris has used fifteen 
 and sixteen frame hives; but he could not see that they offered 
 any advantage over the twelve-frame size, while they had many 
 disadvantages. 
 
 Twenty-four combs filled with honey and brood will cost the 
 same, whether coming from two twelve-frame hives or from three 
 eight-frame hives ; and there is not very much difference between 
 the cost of the two twelve-frame hives and the three eight-frame 
 hives. Mr. Harris says that he secures the same amount of surplus 
 honey from three eight-frame colonies, which, at a given time 
 previous to the honey-flow, have five combs of brood each, that he 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 11 
 
 secures from two twelve-frame colonies each having eight combs 
 of brood at the same time before the honey-flow. Now, as he has. 
 said that he can produce six combs of brood in the eight-frame 
 hive to eight in the twelve-frame, it will be seen that the eight- 
 frame hive is still ahead, taking into consideration the number of 
 frames in the hive. In other words, it would take fewer bees to 
 gather the honey in a given locality in the eight-frame hive than 
 in a twelve-frame. If I were selling bees I would ask about the 
 same money for 60 or 65 colonies in twelve-frame hives that I 
 would for 90 colonies in eight-frame hives ; and the surplus-recep- 
 tacles for each lot would probably sell for about the same. 
 
 The Langstroth frame being the standard, I think that eight 
 Langstroth frames make a small hive ; twelve make a large hive, 
 and ten a medium one. Other things being equal, a two-frame 
 nucleus in proportion to the number of combs it contains will store 
 just as much honey as a colony in an eight-frame hive, and con- 
 siderably more honey than a colony in a ten-frame hive, and, of 
 course, much more yet than a colony in a twelve-frame hive. This 
 comparison is based on the ability of the queen to keep the differ- 
 ent sizes of hives stocked with eggs, and on the disposition of 
 the workers to take care of the eggs and brood afterward. An 
 ordinary queen will fill a ten- frame hive with brood ; but it is rare 
 that a queen will use all of the room in a twelve-frame hive. Bees 
 on ten frames of brood will store the same amount of honey wheth- 
 er the brood is all in one hive or divided into two parts and in two 
 hives. It will be seen by this that the number of combs of brood 
 and bees we have at the beginning of the surplus-honey flow 
 determines the amount of honey that will be brought in, regard- 
 less of the size of the hive. Generally speaking, the smaller the 
 hive the more honey will be placed in the super. 
 
 After satisfying myself that the eight-frame hive was large 
 enough for the average queen, I made up my mind to use the ten- 
 frame hive, the two additional frames being principally for honey. 
 Although these two extra frames may contain brood in some cases, 
 they were usually flUed with honey and comb — a reserve fund, so 
 to speak ; and with this reserve on hand our colonies will not have 
 to be watched as closely in regard to stores, and are thus better 
 equipped for outyard service, where they may be left by them- 
 selves at quite long intervals at times. 
 
 It is possible for the expert honey-producer to make a fair 
 success with almost any size or shape of hive, and in almost any 
 location ; but it is very convenient to have the hive conform to the 
 system that is best for the special location. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 How to Buy Bees 
 
 HOW TO SELECT THE STRONGEST AND BEST COLONIES IN A 
 
 YARD; HOW TO DETERMINE THE CONDITION OP A 
 
 COLONY BY A GLANCE AT THE FLYING BEES 
 
 AT THE ENTRANCE 
 
 In looking for colonies to buy it is well to select them from 
 yards in the vicinity of the place where we expect to establish an 
 apiary, if such can be found, for in this way no more bees are 
 brought into the locality. This is a strictly business proposition, 
 and the amount that one can afford to pay extra for colonies that 
 are already within perhaps a mile of the proposed apiary is a little 
 hard to tell. The number of colonies a location will support, and 
 the number already there, are determining factors. If the begin- 
 ner has any doubts as to whether the location will warrant its 
 bringing in new colonies, he should buy them near home, even if 
 the price is twice what it would be at a more distant point. 
 
 During my early experience in beekeeping there were a good 
 many small apiaries around me, isolated from other yards, so that 
 the bees had unlimited pasturage; and these few colonies in a 
 place always gathered more surplus honey than those in the main 
 yards where perhaps a hundred colonies were kept. The fewer 
 bees in a given location, the larger the crop of honey, other things 
 being equal. 
 
 In May of my second year with bees four more colonies were 
 bought, which, with my two taken from the tree, made six at the 
 beginning of the second season. These were increased to eighteen 
 during that summer, though but very little honey was secured. 
 If I were to chronicle all the mistakes I made that season I would 
 fill Gleanings several times. 
 
 In the first place, when I had but the two colonies, a party 
 was found who had bees for sale in Metcalfe hives, and, by return- 
 ing the hives after the bees were transferred, the four colonies 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 13 
 
 were bought for $20.00 — about twice what they would cost now. 
 These were transferred to Gallup hives immediately after moving 
 them home, which was during fruit-bloom in May, 1877. 
 
 A beginner, after finding bees for sale, would do well to have 
 some experienced beekeeper go with him to select the colonies. 
 This may not be convenient, and in many cases, perhaps, he will 
 have to depend on his own judgment. It seems a natural thing 
 for an inexperienced person to look for colonies heavy with honey, 
 selecting them usually by lifting the hives or looking down be- 
 tween the combs. This, in connection with a good cluster of bees, 
 would be the proper thing to look for if one were buying bees in 
 the fall, when a long winter is ahead necessitating 25 or 30 pounds 
 of honey to carry the bees over until the next honey-flow in June. 
 However, in the spring, during fruit-bloom, when the main honey- 
 flow is only three or four weeks away, it is not honey that one 
 should look for, but large clusters of bees, and combs at least two- 
 thirds full of brood. There should be, of course, about ten pounds 
 of honey to last the bees until the opening of the main honey-flow 
 the next month. 
 
 In a yard containing as many as 25 colonies one may find 
 them in all conditions, from a mere handful of bees to those very 
 strong. These latter are the ones that will do the work in the 
 supers, the smaller ones doing nothing, perhaps, but building up 
 in shape to wiater again by the next fall. Then there are queen- 
 less colonies that no one wants at any price. How to select these 
 rousing colonies instead of the small ones is worth considering. 
 Experienced beekeepers can tell by the indications at the entrance 
 which colonies are strong, which medium, and which are weak. 
 
 HOW TO SELECT GOOD COLONIES "WHEN BUYING FROM 
 EXAMINATION AT THE ENTRANCE 
 
 To select the colonies, go into the yard during a good day for 
 the bees to fly, and walk down past the hives, noting the flight of 
 the bees. During fruit-bloom is a good time to buy, for the strong 
 colonies will then have a good flying force, and the bottom-boards 
 will be free from obstru-ctions, showing that the hive contains a 
 large number of strong workers that are through house-cleaning 
 for the spring. 
 
 One of the very best indications of a good thrifty colony at 
 this season is the amount of pollen the bees are carrying in. This 
 is carried on the legs of the workers, and can be readily seen as 
 they enter the hive. I have talked with people who believed this 
 pollen to be the wax that the bees use in building comb, and that 
 
14 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 they had gathered it somewhere for this purpose. Pollen is the 
 dust, or fertilizing agency, produced by the flowers. It is mixed 
 with honey by the bees, making a doughy substance called bee- 
 bread, which is used for feeding young bees stiU in the cells ; and 
 with the hive full of only young bees to feed, much pollen is need- 
 ed. It goes without saying, that the hives into which bees are 
 carrying lots of pollen contain colonies strong in bees and heavy 
 with brood. 
 
 Queenless colonies can be told by their lack of energy at the 
 entrance. The bees have no brood to feed, and no pollen to speak 
 of is needed ; and although an occasional bee will be seen loaded 
 with pollen, it will be noticed that something is vsrrong, for they 
 all lack the energy of the bees belonging to colonies ia a normal 
 condition. Fortunately there are but few queenless colonies in 
 this condition at this season of the year. They usually die earlier 
 in the season. 
 
 After deciding from the entrance indications which are the 
 desirable colonies to buy, the combs should be examined to see 
 that they are straight in the frames, and that there is a good 
 percentage of worker cells. At this time, also, one can make sure 
 that the colonies are strong in brood and bees, for it will not do 
 to depend entirely upon the entrance indications, although in this 
 way one can save the time taken in looking through a great lot of 
 weak colonies before finding the more desirable ones. 
 
 Many beekeepers, nowadays, hive their swarms upon full sheets 
 of foundation ; and if any can be found having combs built in this 
 way, it would be a good plan to buy all such; for, by so doing, 
 good straight worker comb can be secured. Those who profess to 
 be beekeepers at all, use at least a strip of foundation in the top 
 of the brood-frame to start the bees building the combs true in 
 each frame. If starters are used in the frames of the hanging 
 type, the combs containing a large percentage of drone-cells can 
 be taken out and replaced with new frames containing full sheets 
 of foundation. 
 
 MOVING BEES HOME 
 
 After buying the bees they will have to be moved home: 
 and if the moving is done with a team, bolster springs should be 
 used in the wagon ; but if these can not be had, some straw in the 
 bottom of the regular wagon-box will do to set the hives on, this 
 straw to take ofE some of the jar caused by the wheels moving 
 over stones or rough places. Last summer we moved 160 colonies 
 without springs or straw, and we crossed two railroads where the 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 15 
 
 road was very rough, but not a comb was broken. If colonies have 
 been in the hives two or three years, so that the combs are old and 
 tough, such combs will stand a great amount of hard usage with- 
 out breaking. After one has moved colonies by rail, and learned 
 how much knocking combs stand without breaking, he will not 
 be so worried about breaking them when moving with a team. 
 
 To prepare strong colonies for moving, nail wire cloth over 
 the entire top of the hive ; fasten the screen on with pieces of lath ; 
 nail a strip of lath also over the entrance, as the bees will have all 
 the ventilation they need through the top for so short a haul. If 
 the hive has a loose bottom-board, this should be nailed securely. 
 We go early enough in the afternoon to the yard to be moved to 
 nail on bottoms and screens while the bees are still flying. Then 
 toward night, after the flying is over for the day, a piece of lath 
 is nailed over the entrance. The hives are then loaded on the 
 wagon and drawn home in the night. After placing them on the 
 stands that they are to occupy permanently, the entrance-blocks 
 are removed immediately. Never keep bees confined in the hives a 
 minute longer than is really necessary. There are many reasons 
 for this that can not be given here. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Folding Sections and Putting in Foundation 
 
 When folding sections, if any noise is heard, as of the wood 
 breaking at the V groove, the section is too dry, and the whole 
 stock sholud be dampened before more of them are folded. Even 
 if the wood is not dry enough to break entirely at the V groove, 
 it is weakened if this crackling noise is heard, and will always be 
 fragile. 
 
 When the wood is in just the right condition the section 
 should fold without a particle of breaking at the point where the 
 V groove cuts nearly through. If the work is done during the 
 wet season or early spring, especially if the sections were kept in 
 a room where there was no fire, it is probable that no dampening 
 will be necessary. If this wood is not in the right condition, how- 
 ever, all of the sections must be dampened to prevent breakage or 
 frail corners. 
 
 There is quite a knack in dampening sections so that they 
 will be perfectly square when folded. It is very necessary that 
 
16 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 the section, when folded, shall be square on account of the full 
 sheets of foundation to be put into them, as will be explained later. 
 At one time we poured hot water from a tea-kettle into the V 
 grooves of the sections before removing them from the crate. We 
 placed the crate on edge and removed the side in order to expose 
 all of the V grooves so that the hot water from the kettle could 
 follow clear through all of the five hundred sections. We found 
 that this method caused the sections to sweU to such an extent 
 that they could hardly be bent around sufficiently to get the 
 notched ends together. 
 
 HOW TO DAMPEN SECTIONS SO THEY WILL FOLD PROPERLY 
 
 If the weather is dry, as it is likely to be in summer, or if 
 there was a fire in the room where the sections were stored, the 
 folding can not be properly done unless these sections are damp- 
 ened. To do this, remove enough of the crating to expose all the 
 V grooves in the outside layer of sections, and then group the 
 crates together and cover them with a wet blanket, which has 
 been wrimg out so that no water can drip from it. The next morn- 
 ing the sections will be in first-class shape to fold. 
 
 The above method is the one to follow during a very dry time 
 in summer, or whenever the sections for any cause are bone-dry. 
 Very frequently sections need but little dampening to be in good 
 condition; and in such cases a little water should be sprinkled 
 upon a dry blanket, using judgment as to the amount needed. A 
 little experience along this line will make everything work nicely. 
 
 FOLDING SECTIONS 
 
 To be sure that the sections will be square after they are 
 folded, a section-press is essential. This device forces the notched 
 ends of the section together while every corner is held true and 
 square. Properly made sections put together with a press of some 
 good make will give very little trouble about being diamond- 
 shaped, etc., especially if the directions for dampening, as given 
 above, are closely followed. 
 
 The folding of the sections and the putting in of the founda- 
 tion determine to a great extent the quality of the honey that is 
 to be produced. There is entirely too much of the ordinary kind 
 of comb honey on the market, and the price is so low that there 
 is absolutely no profit in producing it. Extra good comb honey 
 should be produced, and then a good fair price asked for it. Dur- 
 ing the season of 1906 the writer produced comb honey that re- 
 tailed at 33 cents a pound, and at the same time there was con- 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 17 
 
 siderable comb honey on the market that could be bought for one- 
 third this price. It did not cost very much more per pound to 
 produce the better grade, and it therefore is plainly evident which 
 was the more profitable — ^the 11-cent or the 33-cent grade. 
 
 PUTTING IN PULL SHEETS OE EOUNDATION 
 
 A diamond-shaped sheet of foundation will not fit a square 
 section. The piece should be cut with the corners perfectly square, 
 and wide enough so that it will slip into the section without 
 crowding. The piece should not be so deep as to come nearer 
 than a plump quarter of an inch from the bottom of the section 
 when fastened in. The piece must hang true in the center of the 
 section, or the best results can not be attained. The test comes 
 when the section is squared up when placed in the super ; for if it 
 is diamond-shaped the foundation wiU be thrown over against one 
 side when the sections are squared up, for one edge of the founda- 
 tion striking the side of the section will throw the other lower 
 corner against the separator. The section does not have to be 
 very much out of true for this to take place, and such a section is 
 a complete failure so far as comb honey is concerned, for it will 
 never be salable when full. This is, perhaps, an extreme example, 
 but nevertheless many sections are given to the bees in just this 
 condition. 
 
 One of my acquaintances kept a pair of shears near by; and 
 when he found a full sheet of foimdation striking the wood near 
 the bottom he sprang the piece out far enough to clip off enough 
 so that it could hang straight. This will prevent irregular combs, 
 but it is a makeshift, and should be adopted only until one acquires 
 the knack of putting up the sections and full sheets of foundation 
 so that they are square in the first place. 
 
 A section can not be filled too full of foundation at the sides, 
 and good results will always be attained providing the sheet does 
 not touch the wood. However, as mentioned before, there should 
 be at least a ^-inch space between the bottom of the foundation 
 and the bottom of the section. This is to allow for the sagging of 
 the extra-thin foundation used. Foundation must not sag enough 
 to touch the bottom of the section until quite well drawn out by 
 the bees, or there will probably be trouble because of buckling, 
 and buckling is just as bad as the condition which makes the 
 foundation swing over to one side against the separator. 
 
 If the beginner will bear in mind the fact that the foundation 
 must hang true in the center of the section, no matter whether 
 fastened by a hot plate or by melted wax, much of his trouble in 
 
18 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 putting in foundation will disappear. With either method the 
 foundation can be made to hang in the center providing time 
 enough is spent on the work. 
 
 THE MELTED-WAX PLAN OF FASTENING FOUNDATION 
 
 I am very sure of one thing, and that is, that better work can 
 be done with the melted-wax plan of fastening foundation into 
 sections than with the hot-plate machines. One bad feature about 
 the melted-wax plan, however, is having the melted wax around. 
 We have never put in enough foundation on the melted-wax plan 
 to acquire the dexterity that we should. I presume some will 
 always use one plan and others the other. 
 
 Last summer we put in some foundation on the Yoder plan 
 described in the April 1st issue of 1908. As will be remembered, 
 the Yoder plan consists in fastening the foundation with melted 
 wax, not only across the top of the section but also one-third of 
 the way down the sides from the top. Every section put up in 
 this way produced a perfect section of honey so far as the founda- 
 tion was concerned. With foundation fastened one-third of the 
 way down the side of the section, most of it is apt to be a little 
 curved, due to the expansion when it is warmed up by the bees. 
 Some of the sheets were curved perhaps half an inch; but when 
 the honey was finished there was nothing to indicate that the 
 foundation had not been in the center of the section. Somehow I 
 can not help thinking that there would have been a little more 
 work done in the supers if the foundation could have been kept 
 true in the center. 
 
 About the only tools needed for putting in foundation on the 
 Yoder plan is a wax-tube. There should be a square block a trifle 
 less than half the thickness of the section, and just large enough 
 to fit inside. This block should be perfectly square, as the section 
 must be held square when putting in the foundation. The block 
 should be nailed to a thin board a little larger, and, for conveni- 
 ence, a handle should be nailed to the back of it. The foundation 
 must be accurately cut just the size of the inside of the section, 
 less the i/4-inch space at the bottom. To put in the foundation, 
 the section should be placed over the block before mentioned, and 
 the sheet of foundation put in place pushed close to the top. The 
 block should be held in such position as to form a trough made 
 by the sheet of foundation and the side of the section, and then 
 some melted wax dropped at a point one-third of the distance 
 from the top of the section now held at the bottom. By turning 
 the block around, the wax can be made to run down and around 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 19 
 
 to the other side, and finally to a point one-third of the distance 
 from the top. To work to good advantage, two or three of these 
 hlocks are necessary, as the wax should cool before the sections 
 are removed. 
 
 PUTTING HIVE PARTS TOGETHER 
 
 Some time previous to the surplus-honey flow, hives and 
 supers should be nailed and painted, sections folded, filled with 
 foundation, and arranged in the supers ready to be put on the 
 hives when the time comes. Everything should be in readiness, 
 as a little delay in giving room, when it is needed, may be the 
 means of cutting the surplus-honey crop in two. 
 
 NAILING HIVES 
 
 Hives and supers, as they come from the factory, are pro- 
 vided with nails, etc., and in putting them together the only tools 
 required are a hammer and a square. A carpenter would prob- 
 ably have a wooden mallet to use in driving the dovetailed corners 
 together, but a hammer can be used for this purpose, although 
 the planed surface of the wood should never be struck, as it would 
 be marred. A piece of tough wood should be secured that will not 
 split easily, and this placed on the corner to take the blow from 
 the hammer. Before nailing the hives they should be squared; 
 for if they are not made square before nailing, they will never 
 keep so afterward. 
 
 HOW TO ASSEMBLE HOFFMAN FRAMES 
 
 While instructions usually go with each shipment of hives, 
 many do not understand putting together Hoffman frames. The 
 beginner should take particular notice of the directions that go 
 with each crate of frames, and see that the V edge and the square 
 edge of the end-bai-s are on opposite sides. As the frame is held 
 up, as one would hold it when looking for a queen, the square edge 
 should be at the right end of the frame and the V edge at the left. 
 Frames so assembled will go into the hives either way; in fact, 
 they can not be put in wrong. 
 
 Two years ago I bought a lot of colonies in hives in which the 
 frames were nailed wrong; that is, many of the frames had the 
 V edges of the end-bars on the same side. This meant that the V 
 edges would come together in the hives and the end-bars would 
 often slip by each other, making the space too narrow between 
 those two particular frames. 
 
20 
 
 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 WIRING FRAMES 
 
 After the brood or extracting frames are nailed, they are 
 ready to wire. We always order our frames pierced and the wire 
 included. We wind this wire on a board three inches longer than 
 half the length of wire that we want to use. The wire is then tied 
 in about four places with a good stout string and cut at one end 
 of the board with a pair of tinner 's snips. Each piece of wire will 
 then be about six inches longer than necessary for the frame, the 
 extra length being for convenience in handling. The strings keep 
 the wire from snarling, and yet allow one wire to be drawn out 
 without disturbing the others. 
 
 To wire the frame, we drive in the end-bar two of the little 
 %-inch nails that come with the frames, one near the upper hole 
 and the other nearer the lower one. These are driven only half 
 way in. One end of the wire should now be run through the 
 second hole from the top of the frame across the frame to the 
 corresponding hole in the opposite end-bar, then up to the upper 
 hole in that end-bar, and back to the upper hole in the first end- 
 bar. This end of the wire is now wound around the nail, and 
 the nail driven home. This completes the wiring of the upper half 
 of the frame. The other end of the wire should now be threaded 
 through the lower sets of holes in the same way ; but before the 
 end is finally fastened the slack should be taken out of the wire. 
 
 For many years we threaded the wire into the frame right 
 from the spool, carrying one end through all of the holes in the 
 frame, but the method given above is much the better of the two 
 ways. 
 
 HORIZONTAL WIRING DOES NOT PREVENT FOUNDATION 
 FROM SAGGING 
 
 After wiring thousands of frames horizontally, some with the 
 wires drawn tight and some loose, we have found that the founda- 
 tion sags about so much any way ; and if no provision is made for 
 this sagging it " buckles," making the irregular combs that all 
 are familiar with who use full sheets of foundation. The heavier 
 the foundation, the less sagging; so that I now use the medium 
 brood in brood-frames, although the light brood is all right in 
 extracting-frames. As the weight of the foundation must be 
 relied upon to prevent sagging, our frames are now wired loosely 
 in order to hold the foundation in the center of the frame without 
 the buckling that is more likely to be found in tightly wired 
 frames. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 21 
 
 PUTTING FOUNDATION INTO THE FRAMES 
 
 This work should always be done in a warm room or where 
 the temperature is high enough so that the foundation will be 
 pliable and not easily broken in handling. Our brood-frames are 
 all ordered with the double groove and wedge for securing the 
 foundation in the top-bar. The full sheet of foundation should 
 be laid on the wires, worked into the center groove, and then the 
 wedge inserted in the other groove. Eight here is where so many 
 fail, for they do not crowd this wedge in far enough. This is quite 
 important, for a little carelessness in doing this will mean that the 
 foundation will fall out of the frames and make a complete failure 
 of one of the best means of securing it ever devised. 
 
 IMBEDDING WIRES INTO FOUNDATION 
 
 We use a smooth planed board, % inch thick, and the size of 
 the inside of the brood-frames. We lay this board on the founda- 
 tion now in the frame, and turn the frame (board and all) the 
 other side up. The wires will then be on top of the foundation, 
 and the board on the under side. We have never tried anything 
 that equals the Easterday imbedder. It is not quite as rapid as 
 the spur-wheel imbedder, but, unlike the latter tool, it leaves the 
 foundation smooth instead of creasing it and making a weak 
 place. After the wire has been crowded down into the foundation 
 a few drops of wax near the ends will help to keep it in place. 
 
 The lower edge of the foundation should be trimmed off in 
 order to leave about a half-inch space just above the bottom-bar 
 of the frame. We take a narrow board the length of the inside of 
 the frame and % inch thick. We use this board as a guide for 
 trimming off this lower edge of the foundation. We stand it on 
 edge next to the bottom-bar, and with a thin sharp knife cut off 
 that portion of the foundation by means of the straight edge thus 
 afforded. If the space between the foundation and the bottom-bar 
 is much less than half an inch the foundation is likely to sag ; and 
 when this happens it tips over to one side (buckles), and makes 
 one of the most undesirable combs imaginable. 
 
 PAINTING HIVES AND SUPERS 
 
 In the spring, after most of the freezing weather is over, we 
 do our painting. We have had a long experience with lead and 
 oil, and also with prepared paint; but we use only the prepared 
 paint now. A new hand can do good work by using prepared 
 paint, while the mixing of lead and oil is a trade in itself. Even 
 the prepared paint, however, should be thoroughly stirred before 
 
22 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 it is used. We use nothing but white paint on our hives and su 
 pers, and we make sure that the paint contains nothing but pun 
 lead and oil, although some of ours has a little zinc added also, t( 
 be used as a last coat to give a hard glossy finish. "We buy th( 
 paint in one-gallon pails, and then use an extra two-gallon pai 
 besides. The paint is well stirred, and poured from one pail to th( 
 other until it is thoroughly mixed. For the priming coat two oi 
 more quarts of oil can be added to the gallon of paint, before 
 stirring, to thin it. Buy paint marked for outside use, and thin the 
 first coat with raw oil. 
 
 There is a knack in applying the paint, for it should be rubbed 
 well into the wood. Apply several thin coats rather than fewer 
 thick ones. The same amount of paint is much better applied in 
 three thin coats than in two thicker ones. For the second and 
 third coat not much oil will be required in thinning the paint usu- 
 ally found on the market ; but if it appears rather heavy a little oil 
 should be used, especially when the pail becomes nearly empty. 
 Each coat should be allowed to get thoroughly dry, of course, 
 before another is applied. 
 
 HOW TO HANDLE BEES WITHOUT BEING STUNG; THE USE 
 or SMOKEES; TRANSFERRING 
 
 The beginner is likely to use too much smoke or else not 
 enough, for the different dispositions of colonies are often con- 
 fusing, and the amoimt of smoke needed to subdue one colony will 
 often drive a more sensitive lot of bees out of the hive. More 
 smoke is necessary during a honey-dearth than during a bountiful 
 flow ; but this additional amount of smoke must be given in smaller 
 though more frequent doses. After removing the cover from 
 the hive, and smoking the bees so that most of them run down 
 between the combs, the first frame may stick in the hive so that 
 it is finally lifted out with a snap or jerk, causing some of the 
 bees to fly at the hands as if they would sting. In this case a more 
 experienced beekeeper would have noticed that the bees were 
 ready to sting before any of them had taken wing, and he would 
 have given them just a little smoke. The wiaoke should never be 
 blown clear down into the hive, causing the^whole colony to stam- 
 pede, for it is then much more inconvenient to do the necessary 
 work. There should be just enough smoke to drive down those 
 bees that are on the tops of the frames ; then at any time when a 
 bee is seen about ready to take wing, as if to sting, a very little 
 smoke is needed again. In time one learns to use the smoker just 
 before there are any bees in the air. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 23 
 
 The careless handling of bees causes many stings. There is 
 rarely a season but that we have some inexperienced help in our 
 yards; and the first advice we give a beginner is that, if there 
 should be an accident, such as the dropping of a frame of bees, or 
 if in any way the bees get the best of the situation, he should 
 retreat until they are quieted down. Then with a smoker well 
 going he is to go to the hive and subdue them. In such cases, 
 where there has been an accident, and bees killed or combs broken, 
 the work becomes more complicated, for many of the bees are 
 likely to take wing when smoked, and be in a stinging mood while 
 in the air. Under these circumstances we alternate between 
 smoking the bees in the air and those in the hive until most of the 
 flying ones have settled down; then the work proceeds where it 
 left off. It is a little humiliating to run from a colony of bees that 
 one is handling; but beginners often have trouble, so that I am 
 obliged to tell them to go into the honey-house until the colony 
 becomes quiet. 
 
 One of the most serious accidents that ever occurred in our 
 yards was when honey was being removed. Our new helper, not 
 having had much experience, did not make sure that the frames 
 in the lower story were cut loose from those in the super, so when 
 he attempted to lift off this super two of the lower frames were 
 lifted up with it. Not knowing what was the trouble, the super 
 was lowered on the hive and a second attempt made to lift it off 
 without giving any more smoke. By this time many bees had 
 been killed, and there is nothing that will so enrage bees as this. 
 We noticed the predicament and ordered a retreat, otherwise there 
 would have been a ease of hard stinging. An experienced bee- 
 keeper, after lowering the super back on the hive, would have 
 smoked the bees well and then have made sure that the two sets of 
 frames were entirely separate before a second attempt was made. 
 
 A beekeeper who does not know how to use smoke, or who 
 does not take the precaution to work carefully, will always have 
 cross bees. I have been in yards where the bees were so cross that 
 it was almost impossible to stay there a minute without having 
 protection for the head and hands. In other yards of bees of the 
 same strain, and under the same circumstances, one could work 
 all day with no protection whatever, and still receive no stings. 
 The difference is all in the intelligent use of smoke and in the 
 careful handling of the bees. 
 
 HOW TO TRANSFER 
 
 I have told of buying four colonies of bees in Metcalfe hives. 
 Ordinary Jumbo frames would be similar to those in these Met- 
 
24 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 ealfe hives if they stood on end. In other words, the top-bars 
 were shorter than the end-bars. The combs were fairly straight 
 in the frames so that they were much easier to transfer than if 
 they had been built in box hives, or crisscross, as they sometimes 
 are in frame hives if no starters are provided at the top of the 
 frames for guides. When ready to transfer a table should be 
 secured, preferably in a honey-house away from robber bees. A 
 bottom-board should be in readiness also to lay the combs on that 
 are to be transferred to new frames. Blow a little smoke into 
 the entrance of the hive to be transferred, and remove the cover, 
 giving a little smoke also over the tops of the frames. As the 
 work progresses, there is apt to be more or less jarring of the 
 hive, and more smoke will be needed, so the smoker should be 
 kept in good condition and in a convenient place where it can be 
 had at a moment 's notice. 
 
 As it is a frame hive that is being transferred, pry the frames 
 apart so that the first comb may be easily removed, and then shake 
 most of the bees from it in front of the hive, brushing off, with a 
 Coggshall bee-brush, the few that remain. In the case of box hives 
 it is usually necessary to pry off one side of the hive and then cut 
 out the combs to be transferred. Since the combs are not usually 
 attached to the bottom of a box hive it is well to turn it upside 
 down and remove the bottom-board. Then with a long knife cut 
 the combs loose from one side of the hive and remove that side. 
 When the combs are built in cornerwise I remove two sides of the 
 box so that they can be taken out easily. 
 
 When the combs are free from bees, place them, one at a time, 
 on the board in the honey-house and lay the new frame on top of 
 it in order to get the exact size. A thin case-knife is the best tool 
 for trimming the combs. They should be cut just a little larger 
 than the iaside of the frames so that they can be crowded in. The 
 frame containing the comb may then be turned on edge by tilting 
 up the board (frame and all) to keep the comb from falling out 
 until the frame is vertical. Then wrap comb and frame with fine 
 wire ; and when the bees have the comb well fastened in the frame, 
 some time afterward, this wire may be cut along the top-bar and 
 pulled out without removing any of the frames. 
 
 As soon as one new frame is filled with old comb it is placed 
 in the new hive, which should now stand where the old one did, 
 the old hive being moved a rod or so to one side. Prom this time 
 on, aU of the bees should be brushed into the new hive ; and when 
 all the combs are transferred, the bees that are left in the old hive 
 can be dumped before the entrance of the new one. One will 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 25 
 
 usually get from four to six worker combs from an old hive, and 
 the rest of the space in the new hive should be filled with frames 
 containing full sheets of foundation. It would not do to use 
 frames with starters only, for the bees would build drone comb, 
 as will be explained in a further article. 
 
 The above plan was the orthodox method of transferring at 
 the time I began beekeeping. Since then we have used other and 
 better methods. 
 
 A MODEEN WAY OF TEANSFEREING WITHOUT CUTTING 
 
 COMBS 
 
 In modern methods of transferring bees from box hives, or 
 from any undesirable hives, for that matter, none of the old combs 
 are used in the new hive. With a good press, nearly all the wax 
 can be obtained from the old combs, so that full sheets of foun- 
 dation may be substituted in the new hives; and, of course, the 
 combs drawn from such full sheets of foundation are vastly better 
 than old patched-up pieces of combs taken from old hives. 
 
 During late years we have done none of our transferring 
 until the beginning of the clover-honey flow in June. Mr. A. H. 
 Guernsey, of Ionia, Mich., has successfully practiced for several 
 years the following plan : 
 
 At the opening of this clover-honey flow, or as fast thereafter 
 as the colonies to be transferred get strong and have their hives 
 full of honey and brood, the cover is removed from a colony to be 
 transferred, and a full set of good combs placed in a hive-body 
 and set on top. The next step is to go to a colony that has brood 
 in all stages, and select a comb, perhaps half full of brood. This 
 comb should be one that the queen is laying in, and also one on 
 which cells are started, but not yet occupied with eggs. The bees 
 should be shaken off this comb, care being taken to see that the 
 queen is left in her own hive. This comb may now be exchanged 
 for one of the central combs in the new body that has just been 
 set over the hive containing the colony to be transferred. After 
 about three days, in the warmest part of the day, carefully remove 
 this comb of brood before mentioned and look for the queen. If 
 she is not found, look every day until she is found, and then place 
 a queen-excluder between the two bodies, the queen being in the 
 upper story. In 21 days the lower body can be removed free from 
 brood, the sides knocked off, and the honey and wax saved. 
 
 PuU sheets of comb foundation might be substituted for the 
 combs in the new hive, as mentioned above, but the bees would 
 
26 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 be slower in going up into the new body if this were done, and 
 more honey would be left in the hive below. If the cover to the 
 old hive is found nailed on when preparations are being made for 
 transferring, the whole hive can be inverted and the new body 
 containing the combs placed over it. 
 
 This transferring may set the colony back a little, but not 
 very much after all, and it is necessary to watch the transferred 
 colony with the rest and give super room when needed. 
 
 With the plan that I practice myself, I secure a full crop of 
 comb honey, although the transferred colony may need some help 
 along the line of winter stores. My plan is as follows : A super is 
 placed on the hive to be transferred, just as on any other hive 
 (if the old hive has the cover nailed on, it is inverted). The colony 
 is then left until it casts a swarm, which is hived on the old stand 
 where the old box hive formerly stood, and the supers of sections, 
 shifted to the new hive. The old box hive may then be carried 
 away to another part of the yard. The actual transferring in this 
 case is done 17 days later, at which time the parent colony should 
 have a laying queen; and, since the queen before the colony 
 swarmed did not lay very much during the last four days before 
 the swarm issued, there will not be much brood but what is 
 hatched at the end of these 17 days. By this time it is, very likely, 
 near the close of the season, so that it does not pay to wait for the 
 few bees that might yet hatch from the combs ; and it is better to 
 allow the young bees already hatched to get to work in their new 
 quarters. A new hive filled with combs of full sheets of founda- 
 tion is placed where the old box hive last stood, and the side of 
 the box pried off, the combs cut out, and the bees brushed in front 
 of the new hive. 
 
 Last season some of the old combs left in the box hive were 
 run through a capping-melter, and the honey and wax separated 
 much more quickly than we ever did it before. 
 
 Colonies transferred so late, or late swarms of any kind,, 
 ought to be hived on empty combs when possible ; but if there are 
 no combs, so that one must use foundation, no more frames should 
 be given than the bees can finish before the close of the flow. 
 There was a reason for not leaving the foundation in the hive 
 during a dearth of honey, for the bees, having nothing else to do, 
 seem to take delight in gnawing it, for to them it is unnatural. 
 After a sheet of foundation has been in the hive three weeks dur- 
 ing a dearth of honey it is almost ruined. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 27 
 
 THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH BEES BUILD STRAIGHT" 
 WORKER COMB FROM STARTERS 
 
 Although we use and recommend full sheets of foundation in 
 wired frames, it may be well to consider how and when one can 
 get along with starters only in brood-frames, as some may not 
 want to use full sheets. 
 
 Bees build two sizes of cells in their comb-building. The 
 larger size run about four to the inch, and are used for rearing 
 drones and sometimes for storing honey. The smaller cells run 
 about five to the inch, and are used for rearing workers and for 
 storage. The beekeeper should strive to get all-worker combs 
 built; for, in spite of all the care that can be taken, more than 
 enough drone comb usually appears. Of course, in case of an 
 extra-fine colony that one desires to breed from, a solid drone 
 comb can be given in order that there may be plenty of drones 
 of this desirable stock in the yard. 
 
 It is a fact that bees under certain conditions build almost all 
 worker comb ; and it is also true that, under other conditions, a 
 great deal of undesirable drone comb is built. For instance, a new 
 medium-sized swarm, placed in a hive of a size that may be filled 
 with combs and brood in about 23 days or less, ought to build 
 worker comb mainly, although some of the last combs built may 
 contain a few drone-cells. The secret seems to be in having just 
 the right number of workers and just the right amount of honey 
 coming in, so that the bees will draw out the combs no faster than 
 the queen can occupy them with brood. As long as this condition 
 lasts we should expect the bees to build worker combs. From this 
 we see that, in order to get good results in comb-building from 
 a natural swarm, this swarm should be of just the right size, and 
 there should be a honey-flow of, say, three or four pounds a day. 
 
 We will suppose a large swarm is hived during a period when 
 honey is coming in freely. At this time there is too much honey 
 coming in for the best results in comb-building in the brood-nest, 
 if the whole force of workers is compelled to do all their work in 
 the brood-nest. The remedy is to put most of the workers at work 
 in the supers. Most beginners fail in doing this ; but the principle 
 is to make the surplus receptacles more inviting to the workers 
 than the brood-nest, and the bees will immediately go up into the 
 supers on being hived. Our comb-honey super with extracting- 
 combs at the sides makes an ideal arrangement for this very thing. 
 
 It is plain to see that, if most of the honey being carried in is 
 placed in sections, where it should be, the queen will not be 
 
28 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 hurried to keep pace with the workers, consequently nearly all- 
 worker comb will be built. The brood-nest should be filled with 
 comb during the first 23 days after the swarm is hived, for the 
 queen must keep up with the workers and lay in nearly every cell 
 as fast as it is drawn out, or the bees will begin to store honey in 
 the cells. When this condition arrives, the bees, on the supposition 
 that the queen has reached her limit, and that the rest of the 
 combs will be used for storing honey, begin to build the storage 
 size or the drone-cells in the brood-nest. This is likely to occur in 
 about 23 days after the swarm is hived ; for by this time the brood 
 is beginning to hatch out in that part of the hive where the laying 
 began. From this time on, the queen has nearly all she can do to 
 keep the cells filled with eggs where the young bees are hatching. 
 This means that the comb-building part of the hive is neglected, 
 and that the bees build store or drone comb to a great extent until 
 the hive is filled. 
 
 It sometimes happens that a very late swarm will issue ; and 
 since the season is nearing its close, it is not possible for such a 
 swarm to build more than five combs before the honey ceases 
 coming in. "We hive such swarms as usual, and in about two days 
 five of the frames having the least combs built are removed and a 
 division-board placed up against the remaining five frames, this 
 five having been shoved over to one side of the hive. If a super 
 is given such a swarm at the time of hiving, it must be a nearly 
 finished one, as the bees will need most of their time to finish up 
 the five combs in the brood-nest. If one has two of such five-comb 
 colonies they can be united at the close of the season, so that there 
 will be none but full-sized colonies to winter. A better plan than 
 this for late swarms, or for any small after-swarms that one may 
 have, is to hive them on full sets of combs taken, possibly, from 
 hives in which colonies died the previous winter. This is a very 
 good way to get such combs filled with bees, but some swarms 
 hived in this way may need feeding for winter. 
 
 There are artificial ways of handling bees so that they will 
 build good worker combs. I refer to the plan of shaking the bees 
 into an empty hive, in the same way that a swarm is hived. If a 
 colony is divided into nuclei of, say, two or three combs each, and 
 each nucleus given a young queen reared the same year, such little 
 colonies will build very nice worker combs ; but the beginner will 
 not be interested in this artificial way of making increase, for he 
 should stick to the natural-swarming plan for his increase until 
 such time as he has had experience and made a success of getting 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 29 
 
 a crop of honey. In fact, there are many things to be learned be- 
 fore a beginner should take up artificial way§ of making increase. 
 It is just a question in my mind whether there is a better or 
 more profitable way of making increase in the production of comb 
 honey than the natural-swarming method. In extracted-honey 
 production, when the bees will not swarm enough to make up the 
 winter loss, then artificial swarming must be resorted to. 
 
 SOME CONDITIONS WHERE BEES BUILD MOSTLY DRONE 
 
 COMB 
 
 Any colony found rearing drone brood in the brood-nest will, 
 if a comb is removed and an empty frame put in its place, build 
 drone comb. It can be depended upon, moreover, that a colony 
 of bees wintered over, containing a queen reared the season before, 
 or one older, will build drone comb until the time it swarms. By 
 this it can be seen that it is necessary to replace any combs, re- 
 moved from a colony before it swarms in the sprmg or early sum- 
 mer, with an empty comb or with a frame containing a full sheet 
 of foundation, or else drone comb will be the result. To be sure 
 that a colony will build a large per cent of worker comb it is 
 necessary to remove all the brood and to cause the bees of that 
 colony to begin all over again, as in the ease of natural swarming; 
 or, as mentioned before, the colony can be broken up into nuclei, 
 each nucleus containing a yoimg queen. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 What to Do Just Preceding the Honey-flow 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OE HAVING PLENTY OE STORES TO LAST 
 UNTIL THE MAIN HONEY-FLOW BEGINS 
 
 Immediately following fruit-bloom there is an interval of 
 about three weeks before the clover-flow, when there will probably 
 be no honey coming in in the Northern States ; and at the begin- 
 ning of this interval, providing the weather has been favorable, 
 so that the bees could work on the fruit-bloom, the hives are heavy 
 with brood. If the beginner will remember that, during the three 
 weeks preceding the honey-flow from clover, there will be more 
 brood in the combs than at any other time in the year, and that 
 nearly the whole force of workers that gather the surplus-honey 
 crop are reared during the six weeks preceding the clover season, 
 he will better understand what I shall have to say a little later. 
 
 The conditions favorable to brood-rearing during the six 
 weeks preceding the clover-flow are very important; but I think 
 I am safe in saying that not half the colonies in the country are 
 provided with these favorable conditions. Every good colony 
 should have at least 12 pounds of honey in the frames for breeding 
 purposes at the end of fruit-bloom. Colonies medium in size, that 
 is, those light in bees and brood, may need less. To tell how much 
 honey there is, there is no sure way other than to lift out the 
 combs and make an examination. It can be depended upon that 
 a brood-comb spaced 1% inches from center to center will contain, 
 when sealed, fully 5 pounds of stores. A part of these stores will 
 consist of bee-bread, so if there are three combs of stores in the 
 hives containing the best colonies at the close of fruit-bloom, such 
 colonies will be in the ideal condition that we so much desire, and 
 there will be nothing further to do with them until the time arrives 
 for putting on the supers. One comb of stores may carry a weak 
 colony over this period, and two combs will be sufficient for 
 medium colonies. The ten-frame hives prove to be of advantage 
 here; for, although there is room for plenty of stores, enough 
 space is left for brood-rearing besides. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 31 
 
 It is probably true that, in a colony of bees in normal condi- 
 tion, the workers do not become field bees until they are seventeen 
 days old. By ' ' normal condition ' ' here is meant a colony having 
 enough field bees to keep the nurse bees (those under seventeen 
 days old) , busy taking care of the nectar that is brought in, build- 
 ing comb, etc. If often happens in the clover belt, especially in 
 the Northern States, that the honey season begins before many of 
 the colonies reach this normal condition, especially if the v^inter 
 was long and severe. In such cases many of the bees must go to 
 the field in search of nectar long before they are seventeen days 
 old ; and as soon as the colonies get started in earnest they become 
 normal, because enough of the bees have been forced into the 
 field through necessity to make a balanced force, so to speak. 
 
 Since the old bees that winter over die off in April and May, 
 a large number of young bees must be reared during the spring 
 months to replace this loss. This is the reason why there must be 
 an abundance of stores at all times during this heavy breeding 
 season. The ideal way is to feed all colonies that are short of 
 stores in the fall, and if, for any reason, some of the colonies be- 
 come short of stores during the spring months, combs of honey 
 saved for this purpose should be given. If no such combs of 
 honey are available, the Doolittle or Alexander feeders may be 
 used. For spring feeding the grade of honey is not so important, 
 and it should be mixed with an equal amount of water by weight 
 to make the syrup. For the fall feeding, only granulated sugar 
 should be used, and the syrup should consist of two parts of sugar 
 to one of water by weight. "With plenty of stores in the hives, as 
 mentioned first, no spring stimulative feeding will be found nec- 
 essary. The beginner especially should avoid conditions which 
 make it necessary to feed for stimulative purposes or even the 
 exchanging of combs to equalize the stores. Such spring "fussing" 
 should not be attempted by the novice, and it is a question 
 whether even the old hand at the business will gain much by such 
 management, or whether the colonies will be in better condition 
 than they would be if provided with plenty of stores in the fall 
 to last until the opening of the main honey-fiow the following 
 season. 
 
 THE DANGER OF ROBBING IN THE SPRING; HOW TO STOP IT 
 AND HOW NOT TO STOP IT 
 
 The danger of robbing is enough to discourage any one from 
 opening the hives during the spring months except when it is 
 absolutely necessary during that part of the year. The apiarist 
 
32 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 himself is responsible for nine-tenths of the robbing. In the first 
 place, poor methods of wintering result in weak colonies which 
 are not able to defend themselves against the stronger ones. Be- 
 ginners, not knowing about this, are apt to handle colonies indis- 
 criminatingly during the spring months; and if the ever ready 
 robbers get a taste of the stores of honey, robbing will be started. 
 The weak colony that was being handled is in poor condition to 
 defend the stores, even if the bees had a disposition to do so. Our 
 beginner may not have noticed that the colony was being robbed 
 until there was a great uproar at the entrance of that particular 
 hive; and at this point he is likely to do the most unwise thing 
 possible ; that is, to move the colony to a cellar or honey-house 
 with the idea of saving it. It would have been much better to let 
 the robbing go on until night, when all would be quiet, and then 
 the robbed colony could be set over a moderately strong one, 
 which would be abundantly able to defend the stores. There is 
 apt to be trouble with the robbers, even when this is done, as 
 many of them will stay over night in the hive that was being 
 robbed, and will try to make an attack the next morning. If this 
 weak colony had been placed over another weak one, the prob- 
 ability is that both would be robbed the next morning, and for this 
 reason it should be placed over a fairly good colony, as stated 
 before. 
 
 After the weak colony has been placed over a strong one, an 
 empty hive-body, as near like it as possible, should be set on the 
 old bottom-board, and the cover that formerly was on the weak 
 colony put over it. Most of the robbers will be attracted to this 
 place the next morning, and they will rush into the empty hive 
 instead of attacking some nearby colony, thus starting the robbing 
 all over again. 
 
 With a good deal of satisfaction we sometimes exchange the 
 places of the two colonies — ^that is, the one doing the robbing and 
 the one being robbed ; but the plan does not always work. Only 
 last spring we tried this with two of our colonies. The one that 
 was being robbed had enough bees so they should have defended 
 themselves, but for some reason they did not. We exchanged the 
 places of the two colonies, but it was not long before the bees of 
 the strong colony found out the change and began carrying the 
 honey from the weak colony back to their own hive now on the 
 new stand. The beginner should not attempt to adopt this plan 
 of stopping robbing, for often those with considerable experience 
 can not distinguish which colony is doing the mischief. 
 
xne Townsend Bee Booh 33 
 
 It is a good plan to contract the entrances in the spring to 
 conform to the size of the colonies. In this way, not only the heat 
 is retained but the bees in the weak colonies are usually able to 
 defend themselves. When the entrance-blocks have been thus 
 adjusted they should not be disturbed until some of the strong 
 colonies need larger openings. 
 
 If the beginner would go into a beeyard and find robbing 
 going on, his first thought would be to contract the entrances of 
 the weak colonies. This might be the wise thing to do ; but rob- 
 bers are in the air that have secured a taste of honey from some 
 source, and they are watching for a chance to secure more. If 
 any one were to light a smoker and go into the yard with the air 
 full of robbers, such robbers would very likely be attracted, espe- 
 cially if the guards at the entrances, of the weak colonies were 
 smoked so that the blocks could be adjusted. Therefore, if any 
 change must be made with such weak colonies it should be made 
 at night, when the bees are through flying for the day, so that all 
 will be quiet the next morning. 
 
 Of course, when the honey season opens later on, such trouble 
 with robbing quickly disappears, for bees do not rob each other 
 to any extent when they can get nectar from natural sources. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Strong versus Medium Colonies at the Opening of the Harvest 
 
 HOW A COLONY MAY REACH MATURITY TOO EARLY FOR THE 
 HARVEST, AND THUS DEVELOP THE LOAFING AND 
 SWARMING MANIA; THE DOUBLE-STORY TEN- 
 ERAME HIVE FOR THE PREVENTION OF . 
 ; SWARMING, AND THE BUSY MAN WHO 
 
 , . HASN'T THE TIME TO EQUALIZE 
 
 1 BROOD 
 
 ["The ideal colony must not be over-populous. A hive is over- populous when its 
 working force is too great in comparison to the dimension of the hive and to the number 
 of wax-building bees. 
 
 " Such a condition is intolerable to the bees and they try to help themselves by loaf- 
 ing. Their instinct teaches them to begin this loafing e-^en before the hive is over-popu- 
 lous. The bees seem to see the combs are filled and capped, that the bees are daily hatch- 
 ing, and that they will soon be crowded. A colony in such a condition will never perforin 
 the wonders in gathering honey that we expect from one less populous. Such a colony 
 feels instinctively that its abode "will soon be too small, and the swarming fever sets in ; 
 and we know that when this is awakened, the bees will continue to loaf. At the most, 
 only as much honey will be gathered as is needed for making the swarming preparations, 
 A colony with the swarming fever is of little value as a honey-gatherer. — Gbavenhoest.] 
 
 It is rarely that one finds so much in so few words as is 
 expressed in the above quotation. The thought comes in here, 
 that there is a condition involved that is hard for the average 
 beekeeper to comprehend — that is, if a colony of bees comes to its 
 best or full working strength just two or three days before the 
 honey-flow is on, that swarm is very likely not to store more than 
 one-half as much surplus as one that comes to maturity just with 
 the flow. This, of course, is with the supposition that neither one 
 should cast a swarm. 
 
 The other, or medium-sized colony, may not have wintered 
 quite as well as the other, but had a good queen that kept what 
 workers there were in the colony just hustling to take care of 
 what eggs she supplied, coupled with all the other work of the 
 hive, so that there was not a single minute but that every bee in 
 the hive had all it could do, and many times more. Such a colony 
 is ready for the harvest when the season does open up. 
 
 Let us look inside of the other hive — the one that was ready 
 before the harvest was on. They have come to maturity a few 
 days too early for the season. Although they may not have any 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 35 
 
 queen-cells started during this time, if you look down between the 
 combs you will find little clusters of bees hanging together ; and 
 if the weather is warm, perhaps some may be seen crowding out at 
 the entrance. These bees that have clustered in this hive have 
 learned the art of shirking, and there is nothing to do but let them 
 swarm, because that alone will bring back that energy and hustle 
 they had before coming to this stage of stagnation that I have 
 explained above. 
 
 The case cited above is, perhaps, an extreme one, but I assure 
 you that bees do not have to come to this stage of development to 
 be worth only half a colony from a surplus-honey view-point. 
 
 Some take brood from the strong to build up the weak, doing 
 this previous to the honey-flow, with the express purpose of pre- 
 venting this stagnation on the part of the strong, and at the same 
 time building up the weak. Such procedure, if practiced in an 
 intelligent manner, so that the weak and the strong shall be 
 equalized, will produce good results, because none will be too 
 strong too soon. When this is properly done they will all work 
 with the energy of a newly hived swarm; then if there are still 
 left more weak colonies than can be built up into colonies in time 
 to take advantage of the honey-flow, such colonies can be allowed 
 to build up into colonies of their own will, or they can be used in 
 an almost unlimited number of ways at the option of the apiarist. 
 
 The shifting of brood by the experienced, for any reason 
 whatever, should be done on a small scale, and for experimental 
 purposes only. 
 
 Since I have been in the business more extensively, a different 
 system of management has been found necessary; namely, a 
 scheme for using double-story ten-frame hives. A system that is 
 all right, and which works well with one home yard of bees, may 
 not work at all with an outyard or with extensive beekeeping 
 where more bees are kept than the apiarist himself can care for, 
 necessitating the work being done by others, and these, many 
 times, perhaps of small experience. 
 
 It is a fact that a very large hive containing an amount of 
 honey in excess of that needed to carry the colony through spring, 
 with an abundance of comb room, will not swarm nor acquire the 
 swarming fever, until the honey season is on, when the bees, as- 
 sisted by the queen, get the hive nearly full of brood and honey. 
 
 A ten-frame Langstroth hive, two stories high, is ample in 
 size to hold back the swarming fever until the white-honey season 
 is on in June. Colonies in such a hive, that are good to strong, 
 during the period of warm weather previous to the honey-flow, 
 
36 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 usually commence to store honey in this location about May 20. 
 "With so much clustering room, such as these hives afford, no 
 swarming fever will be induced. 
 
 "When the warm weather of the last part of May arrives, an 
 upper story is given our medium to strong colonies, either with or 
 without a queen-excluder, depending on whether it is a yard 
 where excluders are used or not. Our honey season usually com- 
 mences during the second or third week of June, in this location. 
 As there is no honey-flow previous to the main clover flow in June, 
 sufficient to cause bees to contract the swarming fever, the ten- 
 frame hive used two-story during practically all of the hot weather 
 previous to the honey-flow, keeps our bees practically free from 
 the swarming fever, and without handling a single brood-comb. 
 
 This system is well adapted to the eight-frame hive or smaller 
 hives, only the second story should be of worker comb, and the 
 queen allowed full sway through both stories. Later on, after the 
 bees get to work in dead earnst, if one likes, the queen can be put 
 down into the lower story, and an excluder placed on the lower 
 story, since the bees have now almost forgotten there is such a 
 thing as swarming, being so intent on the securing of the abun- 
 dance of honey that ought to be coming at this time. Moreover, 
 with the Italian bee this is the season of the year, or the season 
 has now shaped itself so that one eight-frame story is all (and 
 usually more than) the queen will occupy with the brood, because 
 the bees are so intent on storing honey. 
 
 This same principle of giving abundance of comb room during 
 hot weather, previous to the main honey-flow, with the idea of 
 preventing the bees from thinking about swarming, is carried out 
 with our comb-honey as well as with our extracting colonies. 
 
 In the case of the comb-honey bees, any empty brood-nests 
 are used for the purpose of this extra room. Then we have pro- 
 vided about half as many sets of shallow extracting-combs as we 
 have colonies of bees in the yard, which are used to finish up the 
 season in the production of comb honey, and also to give cluster- 
 ing room previous to the season, as I have explained above. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 How to Take Care of Swarms 
 
 SOME TIMELY HINTS ON MANAGEMENT DURING THE OPEN- 
 ING OF THE SUEPLUS-HONEY SEASON 
 
 It is time to put on the supers (the parts of the hive that 
 contain the surplus honey) by the time the first clover-bloom is 
 seen. Five days later, on opening the hives we may find that the 
 bees have done nothing in the sections, and we wonder whether 
 they will ever start. In three more days we possibly find that 
 they have still done no work in the sections, so a super is lifted oflE 
 and a comb of brood lifted out. If we do this we perhaps find that 
 the bees are beginning to draw out the cells near the brood, and 
 that they are placing new honey in these elongated cells. A be- 
 ginner, on seeing these, might think that the bees were going to 
 fill the brood-combs before working in the sections; but in two 
 more days we shall probably find that they have begun storing in 
 the bait-section. This bait-section is one carried over from the 
 previous season, placed in the center of the super to get the bees 
 to work in the sections. The new sections look nice and clean 
 beside this old dirty one ; and no one would thiak of using such an 
 old piece of comb were it not for the fact that the bees without 
 such bait are too slow to enter the supers. 
 
 It is several years since I used bait-sections in my comb-honey 
 supers. Instead of these I use an extracting-comb ia place of 
 each outside row of sections. These extracting-combs are much 
 superior to the bait-sections, for there is not usually enough of 
 these left-over sections to provide as much of a bait as these two 
 extracting-combs supply. The main reason for putting extracting- 
 combs at the outside is to start the bees working on that part of 
 the super that is usually finished last; namely, the outsides and 
 the corners. In this way the whole super is finished nearly at 
 once, and the experienced beekeeper knows that this means comb 
 honey of superior quality. The editor says there is a growing 
 
38 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 demand for comb-honey supers equipped with some extracting- 
 combs, and I have never known of a ease where this plan was 
 tried and abandoned. It prevents much of the swarming so prev- 
 alent in comb-honey production, and this means, of course, much 
 more surplus honey. I have managed a yard of about one hun- 
 dred colonies for the last two years, and by following this plan I 
 have had less than twenty per cent of swarms. 
 
 The second reason for placing extracting-combs, which are to 
 act as the bait-combs, at the sides of the super is that the queen 
 rarely goes to the outside combs to lay eggs ; and this means that 
 these extracting-combs can be kept white and clean so they will 
 not darken the cappings of the sections next to them. I use sep- 
 arators between all of the sections, and also between the extract- 
 ing-combs and the sections nearest them. 
 
 HANDLING SWARMS 
 
 The beginner is likely to have so many swarms, due to the 
 usual method of working for comb honey and to his inexperience, 
 that but little surplus honey will be secured. Generally speaking, 
 the more swarms there are, the smaller the surplus-honey crop 
 will be. 
 
 The first step in preventing swarms is to put the supers on a 
 week or so before the honey-flow opens, as mentioned before — ^not 
 because the bees actually need the extra room, but to keep them 
 from becoming crowded so that they get the swarming fever. 
 
 The next step is to give more super room before the first 
 supers are full. An empty super ought to be given when the first 
 one is not more than half full. This second super can be set on 
 top, or the first one may be lifted up and the empty one placed 
 next the hive. We set the empty supers on top of the ones given 
 at first ; and when the bees get nicely at work in them we change 
 places and put the second super under the first one. This means 
 a little more work, but, in return, rather better-filled sections are 
 secured. 
 
 The beginner is usually anxious to have all the natural swarms 
 possible in order to increase the size of his apiary. A neighbor of 
 mine, who was too busy a farmer to take care of bees, once had a 
 dozen colonies at the beginning of the season, and before he knew 
 what was happening a swarm issued from first one colony and then 
 another. The result was that his bees swarmed so much that prac- 
 tically no surplus honey was secured. He hived every swarm, good 
 or bad ; and, since the season was only an ordinary one, some of the 
 later swarms starved before the next spring. Finally, when the 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 39 
 
 honey-flow began the following year there were only about as 
 many colonies as there were the year before, and the amount of 
 honey secured was very small besides. It is better to make haste 
 slowly, when increasing an apiary ; for a live colony in the spring 
 is worth many dead ones. 
 
 The plan that I shall here outline will enable the beginner to 
 get a fair crop of surplus honey in connection with a pretty good 
 increase besides. After the clover honey has been coming in for a 
 few days, some of the colonies will cast swarms. No after-swarms 
 should be tolerated, so when the prime swarm (that is, the first 
 swarm) is in the air, the hive which it came from should be carried 
 to a new location at least 30 feet from the old stand. However, if 
 it is desirable to set this old hive near where it stood before, it 
 should be carried away just the same, and then, at night, after the 
 new swarm is hived, the old hive can be moved near this new 
 swarm if desired. If this old hive had been placed only a few feet 
 from where it formerly stood, many of the bees would have found 
 it and would have gone back to it again, strengthening the parent 
 colony enough, possibly, to cause an after-swarm. It is desirable 
 to have all the flying bees with the new swarm, for it will do prac- 
 tically all the work for the next few weeks, there being no working 
 force left in the old hive. 
 
 As soon as the swarm in the air begins to cluster, a new hive 
 should be set on the old stand, and the sections from the old hive 
 put on it whether they are partly filled or not. It is not necessary 
 shaking them in front of the new hive ; for, even if a few are left, 
 to wait until all of the bees have clustered before getting them and 
 they would have no place to go to but back to the old location, on 
 which, in this case, the new hive stands. Now, if the supers are 
 given at the proper time, etc., the bees of this swarm should not 
 swarm again during the honey-flow. 
 
 HOW TO GET SWARMS THAT ARE CLUSTERED IN 
 INACCESSIBLE PLACES 
 
 If a swarm clusters on a small limb of a tree where it can be 
 shaken into a Manum swarm-catcher and carried to the hive, 
 almost any one, even without experience, can get along very well ; 
 but if it clusters on the trunk of a tree, on a fence-post, or on the 
 ground, it is rather difficult for one to get it who does not know 
 how. We will suppose that the cluster has formed on a fence-post. 
 Set the Manum swarm-catcher near the post (a couple of feet high- 
 er is all the better), and then with a long-handled tin dipper dip 
 most of the bees from the post, and empty them into the swarm- 
 
40 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 catcher. Now smoke the rest of the bees off the post and they will 
 soon alight on the basket. In this way the whole swarm can be 
 carried to the hive and run in. 
 
 HOW TO GET A SWAEM INTO A HIVE 
 
 The whole cluster of bees in the swarm-cateher should not be 
 dumped ia front of the hive at once, for a large number of them 
 will take wing. About a quart of bees should be dislodged from 
 the catcher and shaken near the entrance of the hive ; and when 
 these bees set up that " homing hum " every bee in the catcher 
 will hear it, so that, when they are dumped in front of the hive, 
 instead of many of them taking wing, some of them, perhaps, 
 going back to the original clustering-place, all will stay on the 
 alighting-board, and everything will be quiet. It is quite impor- 
 tant to have the bees enter the hive as soon and as quietly as possi- 
 ble ; for if another swarm should issue soon after the first one is 
 hived, the bees of this second swarm would be attracted to the 
 first, and would be likely to enter with the rest. 
 
 It often happens that another swarm issues about the time 
 that the first one is nicely clustered on the swarm-cateher ; and in 
 this case, if the first swarm be hived immediately, the bees of the 
 swarm in the air would unite with it, so that there would be the 
 two swarms in one hive. While this would do no serious harm, I 
 usually prefer to have each swarm hived by itself ; for by so doing 
 about as much honey is secured, and I have the extra colony be- 
 sides. In such a case, therefore, the proper way would be to carry 
 the first swarm, already on the swarm-catcher, into a cellar, or set 
 it aside in the shade, with a sheet over it, so the bees of the swarm 
 in the air will not find it. While this is being done it is quite likely 
 that the other swarm will cluster in the place just vacated by the 
 first swarm. It may then be shaken into a second swarm-catcher 
 and hived in the usual way ; and when everything in the yard is 
 quiet the first swarm left covered with a sheet can be hived as 
 usual. 
 
 WHAT TO DO WHEN MORE THAN ONE SWARM COMES OUT 
 
 AT A TIME 
 
 It sometimes happens that two or more swarms emerge at 
 about the same time, and there is no way of keeping them from 
 going together. This is a more serious matter, and the beginner 
 will hardly know which way to turn. He will very likely get all 
 the bees into one hive, as this is apparently the easiest way out of 
 the difficulty. We will suppose that two swarms have issued and 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 41 
 
 clustered together. The hives containing the parent colonies 
 should be removed just as in the case of a single swarm, and empty 
 hives put on the old stands. Partly filled supers from the old hives 
 should be put on the new hives, and entrance-guards fastened over 
 the entrances. It is best to do this at once, for the bees of the 
 newly hived swarm should not be disturbed for three or four days, 
 or else they may decide that their new quarters are not just right, 
 and that they had better leave. When nearly all the bees of the 
 two swarms have clustered, about half of them should be shaken 
 into the swarm-catcher and taken to one of the new hives. A 
 queen-cage should be provided, for one of the queens will have to 
 be found and caged temporarily. Before shaking, a wide board 
 should be leaned up against the front of the hive for an alighting- 
 board. As before, a few of the bees should now be emptied on this 
 board; and, since there is a queen-excluding guard over the en- 
 trance, only the workers can get in. As soon as the few bees set 
 up the " call " the rest should be dumped on the board, a little 
 further from the hive than before, in order to give more of a 
 chance for finding the queens as they run up. When this first lot 
 of bees is run in, whether the queen is found or not, the other por- 
 tion of the swarm should be secured and dumped in front of the 
 other hive similarly arranged. During this process, usually both 
 queens are found, and I have never failed to find at least one of 
 them. If both are found, one is run into each hive, and then the 
 amount of bees equalized (if not already so), and everything will 
 be well. If only one queen is found, she should be caged and kept 
 in the shade where nothing can harm her, and the entrance- guards 
 removed. In fifteen or twenty minutes the bees of the queenless 
 colony vpill make a demonstration, and, if left long enough with- 
 out their queen, wiU come out and mix with bees of the adjoining 
 hives. Before this can take place the caged queen should be al- 
 lowed to run in as soon as possible. A welcome hum will greet her 
 as she enters. 
 
 The clipped-queen plan for handling swarms is too compli- 
 cated for a beginner, no matter how good it looks on paper. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Management Previous to the Honey-flow to Prevent Swarms 
 
 INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF BROOD PRODUCED JUST 
 BEFORE AND DURING THE WHITE-HONEY FLOW 
 
 THE CHAPMAN PLAN 
 
 For preventing swarming and for increasing the amount of 
 brood produced previous to and during the fore part of the white- 
 honey flow, Mr. S. D. Chapman, of Mancelona, Michigan, has a 
 system of his own. He uses eight-frame hives, and the system is 
 about as follows : At the approach of the warm period, which is 
 usually near May 20, in this locality, he shakes the bees from two 
 frames of brood, placing these two brood-frames without the bees 
 in an upper story, taking out two empty combs from the upper 
 story to replace those just removed from the lower story. He now 
 puts a queen-excluder on the first story and the second story over 
 it. This gives the queen in the lower story two extra combs to use 
 for breeding purposes; and if there is young brood in the two 
 combs placed in the upper story, this extra space in the two combs 
 amounts to considerable. In a week or two, two more frames of 
 brood are lifted up into another or third upper story, making a 
 three-story hive. This method of lifting brood from the brood-nest 
 into upper stories is continued until it is desirable to curtail brood 
 production on account of the bees not maturing in time to be hon- 
 ey-gatherers. 
 
 During 1906 Mr. Chapman lifted brood according to this plan 
 in three-fourths of an outyard, when it turned cold and a strong 
 northwest wind came up. On the colonies in the remaining fourth 
 of the yard he put on the upper stories, but placed in them no 
 brood. These last colonies were as good as the average of the 
 yard. Shortly after the beginning of the raspberry flow he found 
 that those colonies in the three-fourths of the yard, where brood 
 had been placed in the upper stories, had from fifteen to twenty 
 pounds of honey to their credit, and this gain remained throughout 
 the season. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 43 
 
 By following this plan, whole yards of bees have been worked 
 for extracted honey through the whole season, without a single 
 swarm issuing. It can be seen that powerful colonies need more 
 room during the period just before and during the fore part of the 
 white-honey flow than is provided in the ordinary hive in use to- 
 day, and the above plan shows at least one method that may be 
 employed with regular hives to provide this extra room at a time 
 when it is necessary. Of course, when this time is past, the hive 
 is brought back again to its normal size. 
 
 In the fall of the year 1906, during the early part of the buck- 
 wheat flow, our Pine Lake yard of 100 colonies was left without 
 upper stories until the hiv^s were crammed full of this early buck- 
 wheat honey for winter stores. At this time some of the most 
 advanced colonies built comb and stored honey on the outside of 
 the hives, and some of them must have had as much as 35 pounds 
 of honey in the hive when they went into winter quarters. This 
 was more honey then we were in the habit of leaving, and was even 
 more than a ten-frame hive could hold and still leave room for the 
 colony to breed up in the spring. The consequences were that, 
 when the upper stories were given in May, 1907, before the honey 
 season opened, these bees in the Pine Lake yard carried a few 
 pounds of this buckwheat honey in the brood-nest into the upper 
 story to make room for the queen below, with the result that, when 
 the honey was extracted, it was amber in color and had to be sold 
 for one cent a pound less than the rest, which contained no dark 
 honey. This is the only case of the kind that has come to my 
 notice, and even this would not have happened under normal cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 When I first began to produce extracted honey the plan then 
 in vogue was to lift a frame of brood into the upper story to start 
 the bees to work there immediately. While this was successful 
 so far as getting the bees to work in the supers was concerned, yet 
 it was a noticeable fact that the honey produced by this plan was 
 never quite as good in color as when no brood was lifted above. 
 I soon learned that it is not necessary to lift brood above to get 
 the bees to working in the supers, drawn combs being found suf- 
 ficient. Now, in lifting this frame of brood into the upper story 
 there was always more or less honey from the previous season 
 lifted with it, which honey was often gathered from buckwheat. 
 This brought about the same result as that outlined above, and 
 the off grade of honey being not to my liking the system was aban- 
 doned. This is the worst feature about the Chapman system, for 
 the old honey that is likely to be lifted up with the brood causes all 
 
44 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 the honey to be of a somewhat darker color and perhaps of a poor- 
 er quality. 
 
 THE COVEYOU PLAN 
 
 Mr. E. E. Coveyou, of Petoskey, Michigan, has a very good 
 plan for handling his bees during the fore part of the honey-flow. 
 He uses ten-frame hives, and before the honey-flow he gives the 
 colonies another story of combs without putting an excluder be- 
 tween. The cells of these combs should be of the worker size, for 
 the queen is allowed full sway through this story until the colony 
 needs a first one. At the time this third story is given, the queen is 
 placed below in the first story, a queen-excluder is put on, and then 
 the third story of empty combs put over it. Finally, on top of all, 
 the second story partly full of honey and brood is added. This 
 plan has the advantage of giving the colony an abundance of comb 
 room and also an unlimited amount of breeding-space for the 
 queen during the critical swarming period previous to the honey- 
 flow. This is one of the best systems I have heard of to be used 
 for this purpose in connection with the queen-excluder, for, aside 
 from the advantage gained by allowing the queen unlimited breed- 
 ing-room during the early part of the season, aU of the advantages 
 of the excluder are secured in extracting-time, for the brood lifted 
 above with the second story will all be hatched and the combs 
 filled with honey long before extracting-time, for Mr. Coveyou 
 does not extract until late in August — perhaps 30 days after the 
 close of the raspberry flow. 
 
 Before putting on any upper stories Mr. Coveyou clips his 
 queens, for he works three yards practically alone with the excep- 
 tion of extra help made use of at extracting-time, or when some 
 extra work is to be done. By having his queens clipped, and by 
 being with the bees every day during the swarming or honey sea- 
 son, he can hive any swarms that may issue. It is obvious that, if 
 the queens had not been clipped, the swarms would have gone to 
 the woods and been lost. If a swarm should issue when he is work- 
 ing at some other yard, and returns to the hive, he is very likely to 
 reach this yard by the next day ; and when they come out again, 
 as they almost assuredly will, he can hive them. 
 
 PUTTING ON EXTRA SUPERS 
 
 Knowing by experience that bees will enter upper stories 
 
 without any hesitancy when placed on top of the hive or on top 
 
 of any story that may be already on the hive, and as our extracting 
 
 is not done imtil after the white-honey season is over, we have no 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 45 
 
 lifting of full stories except at extraeting-time. "We put on the 
 third story, when the second one is about two-thirds full, or at 
 least before all the empty comb-room is used. However, no set 
 rule can be given as to the proper time for putting on extra supers, 
 as there is a difference in the colonies in this respect. Some bees 
 will work in a few combs and begin to cap those started first, while 
 those combs at the outside of the super will not be in use at all. 
 In such a case it would be folly to put on another super as long as 
 this condition continues. Other colonies will fill every available 
 cell with honey before commencing to draw out the combs or to 
 cap the cells. Such a colony will need more extra comb-room than 
 the one first mentioned, for in the first case the bees seem to be 
 more adapted to working wax and drawing out combs. It is well 
 to humor these dispositions, and not compel the bees mentioned 
 in the last case to draw out the combs to the full capacity of the 
 space allowed. They should, instead, be given additional comb- 
 room as they are able to use it, and they will store much more 
 honey than if compelled against their will to draw out cells to the 
 full depth at once. 
 
 At extracting-time, if one wishes to make two grades of his 
 extracted honey all of the partly filled and unsealed combs will be 
 in the top stories if the plan just outlined is followed, and these 
 can then be taken off and extracted by themselves. I believe this 
 to be the ideal way, for the first-given supers are filled out more 
 fully and capped more evenly than if they were lifted up and the 
 empty one placed beneath them next to the brood-chamber. Then 
 with this latter plan of lifting the full supers up and putting the 
 empty supers next to the hive one is likely to give additional room 
 faster than the bees really need it, with the result that the honey 
 is capped over when the combs are thin, and even when some of 
 the outside combs may not be entirely finished. 
 
 Putting empty stories on top is probably the only practical 
 way to manage when a queen-excluder is not used between the 
 hive and the supers. If the extra supers are added intelligently 
 when the season is near the end, by giving the colony only what 
 storage room it will need, the queen will thus be crowded down 
 into the hive below, leaving the supers nearly free from brood. 
 In order to follow this method one should bear in mind that it is 
 part of the system, in that the amount of brood in the upper story 
 is to be curtailed toward the close of the season, as explained, and 
 then the honey left on the hive a week or two after the close of the 
 season, to allow it to cure thoroughly. Incidentally, the brood that 
 
*6 The Towmend Bee Book 
 
 may be left in the upper stories has thus hatched out before ex- 
 tracting. 
 
 The old orthodox plan of placing the empty super above the 
 queen-excluder and under the partly filled one is still practiced 
 by the majority of Michigan beekeepers; and when the first one 
 is about two-thirds full it is lifted up and an empty one placed 
 beneath. This plan is continued clear through the season, the 
 advantage claimed for this system of extra work being that, by 
 lifting up the full stories and placing the empty ones next to the 
 brood-chamber, the bees are stimulated to greater activity by this 
 dividing of the hive when placing the empty combs next to the 
 brood-chamber. Now, while I admit that it may be advisable to 
 put an empty comb-honey super next to the brood-chamber, after 
 a long experience I fail to see where the advantage is in the pro- 
 duction of extracted honey, and where there is any gain in lifting 
 up heavy upper stories during the honey season, especially when 
 the extracting is all done at one time. 
 
 THE USE OF AN EXCLUDER TO PREVENT BROOD IN THE 
 
 SUPERS, AND HOW BY THEM A WHITER HONEY IS 
 
 SECURED 
 
 Before leaving this subject I would say that, if one does much 
 extracting during the honey-flow, or in the ease of a beginner who 
 has had but little experience, I would advise the use of an exclud- 
 er, for there must be no unsealed brood in the extracting-eombs 
 or the honey obtained will not be of good quality. The very sight 
 of these young grubs floating on top of the honey would be enough 
 to condemn the plan of trying to manage without an excluder. 
 If a visitor should happen to come in, those grubs would, of 
 course, be called worms, and it would not help the sale if it should 
 get out that the honey is " wormy." Then there is the food pro- 
 vided for the larvee, some of which is thrown out with the honey, 
 and this surely makes the honey of a poorer quality. My advice, 
 therefore, is to use an excluder under such circumstances until you 
 learn a better way. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Honey-flow 
 
 THE VALUE OF KNOWING THE LOCAL CONDITIONS ; PUTTING 
 
 ON AND TAKING OFF SUPERS; FULL SHEETS OF 
 
 EXTRA THIN FOUNDATION RECOMMENDED 
 
 FOR SECTIONS 
 
 There are some beekeepers who do not seem to know that 
 there is a period during which the great share of the surplus honey- 
 is gathered. In the Northern States there may be two such periods ; 
 but most of the locations in those States have only one main flow, 
 and this from white clover, although in some places this is followed 
 by a basswood flow. The period of white honey varies from a very 
 short flow in a poor year to one extending over as much as six 
 we.eks in an extra good year. 
 
 The time of the commencement and ending of the season is 
 also a little uncertain. In some seasons clover begins to bloom the 
 first of June, and produces honey a week or ten days later; then 
 in other seasons it does not produce honey before the 20th of June. 
 We figure that a late season means a short one, and our guess has 
 usually been about right, along these lines. 
 
 The basswood is even more uncertain as to the time of bloom 
 and duration of the honey-flow. It blossoms with us as early as 
 the 1st of July in some years, and as late as the 10th in others ; but 
 an average date is from the 4th to the 7th. About this time clover 
 is through yielding; and so, usually, the basswood laps on and 
 makes a continuous flow of white honey until the season closes, 
 which is rarely later than July 15. Where there is no basswood 
 the flow from clover usually ends about July 8, and the novice can 
 figure on his crop of white comb honey being ready to remove from 
 the hives about the middle of July. 
 
 These calculations are based on the supposition that there is 
 to be an ordinary flow of honey. Of course, there are seasons of 
 failure and seasons like the last, where only half a crop was har- 
 vested ; and, once in a while, an extra good season when the flow 
 may be somewhat longer than usual. 
 
*^ The Towmend Bee Book 
 
 It is of vital importance to know the location well, so as to be 
 able to tell very nearly when to expect he main surplus flow to 
 begin and to close, for in no other way can comb honey be pro- 
 duced intelligently. If the beginner does not know his location it 
 would be well to visit and " pump " some old " vet " in the busi- 
 ness. 
 
 PUTTING ON THE SUPERS 
 
 A very good rule is to put on the sections when the first bees 
 are seen on clover ; then when they have worked three, or, perhaps, 
 four weeks they can not be expected to work much more. In a 
 basswood location, if the trees should appear full of blossoms, and 
 the weather is suitable for the bees to gather honey, the honey-flow 
 may be lengthened out a few days. With favorable conditions 
 basswood is the freest yielder we have in Michigan; but since it 
 happens that these conditions are rarely right we do not put much 
 dependence on basswood, especially as it is being cut so fast for 
 lumber. 
 
 I use, and advise that beginners use, full sheets of extra thin 
 foundation in the sections, and I think that these sections should 
 be built between separators. To do this it is absolutely necessary 
 to know the location in order to tell when the main flow begins, 
 and thus get the sections on at this time. 
 
 "When the season is over — ^that is, a week after the flow stops 
 — and the bees are through capping their white honey, every super 
 should be removed from the hive, no matter whether full or not. 
 If there is a fall flow, the supers should be put on again when this 
 commences, but not before. Many leave their partly filled supers 
 (left over from the white honey-flow) on the hive during the 
 dearth of honey between the white-honey flow and the buckwheat 
 flow. During this time the bees tear out a great share of the 
 unused foundation in the sections. This is the worst time of the 
 year for the bees to propolize, and this and the mutilated founda- 
 tion leave the sections in anything but a desirable condition for 
 the buckwheat flow. 
 
 TAKING OFF SUPERS 
 
 This is the kind of honey we have to compete against when 
 we ship our honey to market. If only the people who produce this 
 stuff were hurt there would be less reason to complain ; but every 
 one who produces honey for sale is affected ; one has only to look 
 at the honey quotations to see how things are going, for the quota- 
 tions usually read, " Market overstocked with low-grade honey." 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 49 
 
 I have told you heretofore that bees would bring up honey 
 from below, and cap and finish sections for a week after the honey 
 has ceased coming in from the field. Taking advantage of this 
 fact we leave our comb honey on the hive until the end of this 
 period. If this is the end of the first (or white) honey-flow, escape- 
 boards are put in under every super in the yard; and when free 
 from bees the supers are removed to the honey-house, and sorted. 
 Those that are fit for the market are cased up, and the rest either 
 " fed back " to be finished or the honey extracted. In the latter 
 case these partly filled sections can be used for baits for the fall 
 flow if there is a fall flow ; if not, they are stored away until the 
 next season, when they are used. 
 
 I hate to be compelled to record the fact that three-fourths of 
 the comb-honey producers practice the slovenly way of leaving 
 their comb-honey supers on the hive clear through the season — 
 that is, those partly filled supers at the end of the white-honey flow 
 are left on the hive to be finished up with buckwheat honey. This 
 makes a bad mess. The white-honey part of the section will be 
 travel-stained, and covered with propolis. Then sections contain- 
 ing two kinds of honey are never satisfactory. This practice is 
 especially undesirable when there is an interval of three or four 
 weeks between flows, as with the light and dark honey-flow in the 
 Northern States. 
 
 It is necessary that the comb-honey producer should have an 
 extractor. It need not be so elaborate an affair as the extracted- 
 honey producer would require ; but, nevertheless, good comb honey 
 can not be produced without one. Each kind of honey should be 
 produced by itself as much as possible. The bees should never be 
 allowed to commence a certain honey-flow unless all the honey of 
 a previous flow has been extracted from the sections so they can 
 commence anew and do good work. It is impossible for the bees 
 to fix over an old job and make a satisfactory new one. 
 
 If this class of beekeepers would only eat all the dirty honey 
 they produce there would be no particular occasion for writing on 
 this subject, for then they would hurt no one 's business but their 
 own ; but this is not the ease, for no one can deny that such honey 
 finds its way on the market. 
 
 EXTEACTING-TOOLS; HOW TO PREVENT ROBBING WHEN THE 
 EXTRACTING IS DONE DURING A HONEY-DEARTH 
 
 The tools for the yard work in harvesting a crop of extracted 
 honey consist of a Daisy wheelbarrow, two empty hive-bodies, two 
 Coggshall bee-brushes, one of the latest four-inch smokers, and 
 
50 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 three robber-cloths. The last named are nothing more nor less 
 than cloths two or three inches larger than the top of a hive with 
 sticks nailed on each long side. One of these cloths is laid over 
 the hive after the cover is removed, to keep out the robbers ; and 
 as it is quickly rolled up far enough to take out a frame, and then 
 rolled back, the whole top of the hive is never exposed at one time. 
 The cleats for the two long sides of the cloth are made of pieces 
 of lath 20 inches long. One edge of the cloth is wrapped entirely 
 around one of the pieces, when a second one is laid on top of the 
 wrapped lath, and nailed. The cloth now comes out between the 
 two pieces of lath, and is thus firmly secured. Two more pieces 
 are nailed on the other side of the cloth, which makes it complete. 
 The sticks must, of course, be on the long side of the cloth rather 
 than on the ends, so that they will be parallel with the top-bars. 
 In this way it is very easy to roll the cloth back just far enough 
 to lift out a frame. 
 
 In removing the honey from the hives the row furthest from 
 the extracting-house should be begun on first, so that it will not 
 be necessary to work at any time in front of the disturbed colonies ; 
 for if the work is done when there is no honey coming in from the 
 field, robbers are always troublesome. Place the wheelbarrow 
 back of the hive and put one of the empty hive-bodies on it length- 
 wise so the frames may hang parallel with the barrow to prevent 
 unnecessary swinging and shaking. The other hive-body should 
 be placed at one side of the colony, leaving a space between for 
 the operator. When the hive is to be opened, the smoker should 
 be working well; and as soon as the cover is removed the bees 
 should be given a gentle puff of smoke. If too much is given, bees 
 become demoralized, some flying out and others running across 
 the combs, so that the results are not at all satisfactory. There 
 should be no smoke blown down between the combs, therefore, 
 until most of the bees have run off the top-bars of the frames, and 
 started down toward the lower part. When bees are once started 
 properly, there is no trouble in keeping them going, especially if 
 the honey is all capped (as it should be), for the idea is to keep 
 the bees ahead of the smoke as much as possible. When about 
 three-fourths or more of the bees are smoked out of the upper 
 story this should be quickly lifted off and set on the empty body 
 that has been placed near by for the purpose. It is important to 
 be quick about this, so that none of the bees may have time to run 
 back. If there are more stories to be taken off, repeat the whole 
 operation, setting additional stories on top of the one first re- 
 moved. When the first story is taken off, quickly cover one of the 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 51 
 
 hives with one of the robber-cloths, as the bees will soon " boil 
 over, ' ' when there will be trouble in putting on the cover without 
 killing the bees. Having the bees nearly all smoked out, a comb 
 should be lifted with both hands and then held over the entrance 
 of the hive. In that position it may be held with the left hand in 
 the original position while the right hand holds the brush. A 
 slight turn of the wrist exposes either one side of the comb or the 
 
 other to the brush Two sweeps of the brush on either 
 
 side of the comb are usually sufficient to remove the bees with the 
 exception of a few stragglers next to the bottom-bar, which are 
 allowed to pass out through the bee-escape on the honey-house 
 windows later. As fast as the combs are brushed they are put into 
 the hive-body on a wheelbarrow. If the first three combs are 
 placed at the furthest side of the bodies, the further edge of the 
 robber-cloth can be lifted up to get them in ; but it is best to put 
 the five other combs in from the front by lifting the front edge of 
 the cloth. As a full upper story will yield about 50 lbs. of extract- 
 ed honey, we wheel in only two at a load. 
 
 One great secret of success in extracting when there is no 
 honey coming in from the field is to keep all honey away from 
 the bees while it is being handled in the yard. Another secret is 
 to avoid giving combs wet with honey back to the bees while the 
 extracting is going on. 
 
 If it is desirable to return these combs to the bees for any 
 purpose, they should be given just at night, when they will all be 
 cleaned up by morning so that there will be no commotion. 
 
 The honey should be extracted almost immediately, so that it 
 will not have time to get cold. In order to work to the best advan- 
 tage there should be two operators in the extracting-house, and 
 one to take off the honey and wheel it in. All honey to be extracted 
 should be piled up near the uncapping-tank. "While one person 
 does the uncapping, the other turns the extractor and handles the 
 honey, although sometimes the uncapper has time to help a little 
 in some other work. 
 
 When uncapping, the end-bar of the comb should be rested on 
 the pivot or point in the cross-piece of the uncapping-tank. It is 
 best to use a long uncapping-knife, commencing at the lower end 
 of the comb, and cutting deep — down even with the wood — with 
 a drawing motion. As the knife reaches the middle of the frame 
 it will be necessary to hold the comb nearly vertical to prevent the 
 cappings from falling back on the comb instead of directly into 
 the capping-box below from the outer edge of the knife. If the 
 
52 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 work is done well, the cappings, many times, fall down in ont 
 whole sheet. 
 
 While it does not take any great skill to operate the extractor 
 one should be careful, especially when the combs vary greatly ir 
 weight, to put them into the baskets in such a way that the reel wil: 
 be as nearly balanced as possible. "Where there are several combs 
 to select from, one can usually pick out the ones that will balance 
 the best, and, after the first two or three turns, the weight will be 
 so equalized that the reel will run almost as evenly as if the combs 
 were of the same weight in the first place. 
 
 HOW TO TAKE CARE OP THE HONEY AS IT RUNS FROM THl 
 
 EXTRACTOR; HOW TO PREVENT IT FROM RUNNING 
 
 OVER ON THE FLOOR 
 
 For our honey-house in Charlevoix County, a frame dwelling- 
 house 18 X 26 feet was bought. The partitions were removed and 
 the ceiling raised until the room was about 9 feet high. The win- 
 dows were removed on both sides, and 6-ft. shop windows substi- 
 tuted and covered with wire screen on the outside. Board shutters 
 for each window were made to fit on the inside to keep out the 
 storm. The whole interior of the building was covered with tarred 
 paper to prevent robber bees from getting in. 
 
 At one end of the building toward the bee-yard, a 3-ft. dooi 
 was placed a little to one side of the middle of the end-wall. A1 
 one side of the door at the front of the building a space of flooring 
 4 X 7 ft. was removed, and the soil dug out to the desired depth 
 We used this pit for handling the honey in a manner similar t( 
 that described by Mr. Hanson, only our honey ran from the ex 
 tractor into a strainer-tank with a gate near the bottom. Fron 
 this gate it ran into 60-pound cans, which cans, one by one, wer( 
 set on a Coveyou automatic scale that weighed the honey, shut of 
 the gate when the can was full, and rang an electric bell until some 
 one removed the full can and put an empty one in its place. 
 
 I bought a yard of bees 25 years ago, which was fitted up foi 
 extracted-honey production. Before this I had always run fo] 
 comb honey ; and when I bought this yard I worked the coloniei 
 in the same way that they had been worked before for extractec 
 honey by another party. During extracting, the honey was ruj 
 from the extractor into tin sap-buckets and allowed to stand ovei 
 night. In the morning it was skimmed with a large spoon, ane 
 then emptied into a 600-pound tank which had a gate near thi 
 bottom. There were two of these tanks. The following momini 
 the honey in the tank was skimmed and drawn out into 60-poiui( 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 53 
 
 cans. The buckets were used one season, but at the end of this, 
 time we concluded that the honey had been handled more than 
 necessary. For a good many years after that we emptied the 
 honey from the pails directly into the large tank and allowed it to 
 stand over night, then skimmed it and ran it into cans. This saved 
 one handling, and we found the honey was equal in every respect 
 to that which had been handled twice by means of the sap-buckets. 
 Since that time our honey has been handled as previously 
 explained, but put into the cans as fast as extracted. This does 
 away with a good deal of the labor. I admit that pails for handling 
 the honey from the extractor are not very satisfactory; but I 
 presume that four-fifths of the extracted honey is still handled in 
 that way. Allow the extractor to fill with honey until the revolv- 
 ing baskets begin to swim in the honey. Then set the pail under 
 the gate, lift the handle of the gate and hold it up until the pail is 
 full. "With the large gates now put on extractors, and with warm 
 honey a pail will fill in about one-fourth of a minute. Now empty 
 the pail into the tank, leaving it turned upside down to drain imtil 
 the extractor needs emptying again. We have been all through 
 the troubles which follow when the extractor is run with the gate 
 open all the time. It is a poor and expensive way simply to close 
 the gate when a full pail is exchanged for an empty one. The 
 other way is much better. 
 
 THE TOWNSEND UNCAPPING-BOX ; THE ARRANGEMENT OP 
 
 THE rURNITUEE IN THE HONEY-HOUSE 
 
 At our honey-houses at the extracting-yards we have a four- 
 frame automatic extractor, a Townsend uncapping-box, a honey- 
 tank provided with a strainer and a gate at the bottom, and plat- 
 form scales with an electric bell attached to give warning when a 
 can is full. Since we put in cans all of our honey as fast as it is; 
 extracted, we have on hand also a stock of 60-pound cans. Minor 
 tools are necessary, such as uncapping-knives, pails, wash-dishes,, 
 towels, etc. 
 
 Our extractors are the automatic four-frame machines, none 
 older than the 1907 model. We disposed of all our small extract- 
 ors, and also of the old four-frame Cowan machines, for we wished 
 to have nothing but the most up-to-date tools to work with. 
 
 Our Townsend uncapping-box is made of galvanized steel, 
 and is 4 ft. long, 2 ft. high, 2 ft. wide, as shown in the engraving, 
 p. 54. The slatted framework at the bottom is made smaller than 
 the can so that it may be easily removed to be washed. As there 
 is only a ll/^-inch space under this frame for honey storage, we 
 
54 
 
 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 leave the gate open all the time so that nearly all of the room in 
 the tank is available for the storage of eappings, as it should he. 
 The engraving does not show the frame at the top correctly, 
 for the long side-pieces should be close enough together so that 
 the frames can hang between them as though they were in the 
 hives. After the honey is extracted, the combs may be placed back 
 in this rack ; but the principal value of the arrangement consists 
 in providing a place where the uncapped combs may be hung to 
 drip before they are extracted, for in this way no extra apparatus 
 is needed. 
 
 The Townsend Uncapping Box 
 
 The two short pieces of the framework at the top should be 
 nailed on the bottom of the long side-pieces about 1% inches from 
 either side. It can be seen that, when the long side-pieces rest on 
 top of the tank, the short cross-pieces fit just inside, keeping the 
 framework from sliding either way, and yet allowing it to be 
 easily removed when the eappings are taken out. The metal pieces 
 containing nail-points can be tacked on in any position to suit the 
 convenience of the operator. 
 
 We have used many different designs of uncapping-boxes, but 
 none seem to me quite so convenient as this Townsend box. It will 
 hold all of the eappings from one extracting in a yard of ordinary 
 size. We use a six-tined short-handled fork for handling the eap- 
 pings, and each morning the dry eappings from the day before are 
 pitched up toward one end of the tank, and in this way the honey 
 from the new eappings does not have to drain through the dry ones 
 over and over again as it would if we were to imcap on top of the 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 55 
 
 cappings left from the day before. In one instance we had more 
 cappings than we could keep in the tank, and a sugar-barrel with 
 a perforated bottom was set over a galvanized steel washtub, and 
 the dry cappings pitched into it. In this way the capacity of the 
 tank may be said to be unlimited. The advantage of the large 
 area of the bottom is that the honey drains out of the cappings 
 much better if they are spread out in a thin layer than it could in 
 a deep tank where the bottom is comparatively small. 
 
 The cost of the tank alone is about $4.00, the freight making 
 it perhaps $5.00. "We use the Perfection 1%-ineh gate, which costs 
 75 cts. If the woodwork should cost $2.00, the entire expense of 
 the tank complete would be about $7.75, and we think we have a 
 much better and cheaper arrangement than a wooden box. 
 
 The honey as it comes from the extractor is drawn off into a 
 14:-quart pail. "We never make the mistake of leaving the extract- 
 or-gate open all of the time, for it is too easy to forget and allow 
 the pail to run over, making a big mess on the floor. In order to 
 avoid this waste of honey we at one time went to the expense of 
 having shallow pans made to catch the overflow in case we forgot. 
 We now allow the pail to remain inverted over the strainer until 
 the reel of the extractor begins to " swim " in the honey in the 
 bottom of the extractor. We then draw off a pail of honey with- 
 out letting go of the gate ; for when the honey is warm it does not 
 take one-fourth of a minute to fill the pail through the large gate, 
 and there is no risk of running the pail over. There is also the 
 advantage that the pail may be draining during the time when 
 another pailful is being extracted. 
 
 The strainer tank is of galvanized steel, and holds 15 or 20 
 gallons of honey. A heavy wire selvage is put around the top to 
 stiffen it ; and as this wire is on the outside it is easy to fasten on 
 the cheese-cloth strainer, which is held in place with a small rope 
 drawn tight by being twisted with a stick. This cloth strainer 
 must, of course, be fastened very firmly or it will go down into the 
 can when a pail of honey is emptied on to it. At the bottom of the 
 strainer-tank is a l^/^-inch Perfection gate through which the 
 honey always runs in a round stream which is just right for filling 
 the 60-pound screw-cap cans. Most of the other gates throw the 
 stream to one side during the time they are being opened or closed, 
 and some of the honey is, therefore, daubed over the side of the 
 3an. All this is avoided by using the Perfection gate, which throws 
 a round stream, no matter how wide it is opened. 
 
 The strainer-can is elevated in order to run the honey from 
 the gate into a 60-pound can set on the scales. The gate is open 
 
56 
 
 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 all the time except when the cans are changed. An electrica 
 alarm, as first described by Mr. Hutchinson, is used to give u 
 warning when the can is full — see Fig. 2. No one should hesitati 
 about trying one of these alarms, for they are very simple. Thi 
 engraving shows the method of connecting the bell to the battery 
 In brief, two wires run from the two posts on the battery to th( 
 two posts on the bell ; but one wire is broken, one of the ends beinj 
 fastened to the scale-beam at the pivot, and the other being locatet 
 
 lllillilll l|!| 
 
 Pig. 2. — E. D. Townsend's arrangement of strainer and scales, illustral 
 ing the Hutchinson Automatic Alarm. 
 
 just above the outside end of the beam. It can be seen that, whe 
 the can is full, the scale-beam rises and the circuit is completed s 
 that the bell rings. It is necessary to have all of the conneetior 
 tight, as the bell may fail to ring if there are any loose contacti 
 We set the scales as usual at the 62i/^-pound mark to allow for th 
 60 pounds of honey and the weight of the can, and then lay a tw( 
 pound weight on top of the can and turn on the honey and go o 
 
TJie Townsend Bee Booh 57 
 
 with our work. It can be seen that, when the scale-beam goes up 
 and rings the bell, there will be 58 pounds of honey in the can. 
 "We then remove the weight and weigh the honey as usual. 
 
 Mr. E. E. Coveyou, of Petoskey, Mich., has made an automatic 
 scale that closes the gate when the can is full. He uses an eight- 
 frame automatic extractor provided with a Holtermann strainer 
 in the bottom. This extractor is located on the platform about 2 
 ft. above the honey-house floor, and a rubber hose from the strain- 
 er in the extractor conveys the honey to the gate on the scales. 
 This rubber hose stops all the vibrations caused by the running of 
 the extractor, and this precaution is really necessary; for if the 
 automatic scales were fastened solid with the extractor the vibra- 
 tion would so affect the flow of honey that some of it would not go 
 into the small openings in the 60-pound cans. 
 
 EXTRACTING HONEY IN COLD WEATHER; LEAVING HONEY 
 
 ON THE HIVES UNTIL FALL, AND EXTRACTING THE 
 
 WHOLE CROP AT ONE TIME BY WARMING IT 
 
 ARTIFICIALLY; USE OF BEE-ESCAPES 
 
 Several beekeepers in this part of the country have out-yards 
 near the home yard, and draw all the honey home to extract. Mr. 
 P. J. Miller, of London, Ont., Can., has a full equipment at his 
 home yard, including a gasoline-engine, to run his extractor, hon- 
 ey-tank in basement, etc. The honey runs by gravity into the tank, 
 and from the tank into the can on the scales. In this way there is 
 no handling of honey, for it is necessary only to lift the full can 
 from the scales and put an empty one in its place. Everything is 
 ■arranged with such complete system that Mr. Miller alone, with 
 his one-horse wagon, draws home and extracts all the honey from 
 500 colonies. 
 
 One of the secrets of his success is in having plenty of empty 
 combs, for he does not extract during the honey season, but on 
 rainy days later, when nothing else can be done. He is thus inde- 
 pendent so far as help is concerned, for if he gets in a " pinch ' ' 
 he can at least give his colonies more room. 
 
 We have drawn home considerable honey to extract, but we 
 found the work a little on the strenuous order since we did not 
 have everything arranged for doing so much at once. With Mr. 
 Miller's system I can see where failure might be turned into 
 success. 
 
 Mr. E. E. Coveyou, of Petoskey, Michigan, has his two main 
 bee-yards located along a railroad. He formerly shipped his eight- 
 frame extractor, gasoline-engine, honey-cans, etc., to these yards 
 
58 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 each spring, and then, after the harvest was over, he shipped tl 
 apparatus and all the honey back to Petoskey vsrhere he bottle 
 the honey for the grocery trade. Since his large bottling-room i 
 Petoskey could just as well be used for an extracting-room als 
 he will now ship all of his honey there to be extracted, and he wil 
 therefore, be able to have everything arranged as conveniently i 
 possible. In the spring the empty combs will be shipped back 1 
 the yards. Of course, there will be a large freight-bill to pay whe 
 following the new plan — possibly there will not be much diffe 
 ence in the expense of transportation between the new plan ar 
 the old ; and experience alone can tell which is the more econom 
 cal. 
 
 It is evident that, if honey is taken from the hive with tl 
 bee-escape, and drawn home, it will be too cold to extract to goo 
 advantage, so it will have to be warmed artificially. The moi 
 feasible way to do this for the average beekeeper is probably 1 
 set up a heating-stove in a small room in order to make mattei 
 more convenient, and also to save fuel. If this stove were set i 
 the center of the room the supers of honey could be piled cris 
 cross around it. Since the hot air ascends, it is well to build a 
 open platform two feet from the floor, on which to pile the hone; 
 for supers placed next to the floor would not get warm, and the 
 would have to be lifted up eventually to a warmer part. "We hai 
 used three benches to good advantage, placed around the stove : 
 the shape of a triangle, though leaving an open place throug 
 which to fire the stove. Of course, it would be possible to get tl 
 room so hot that the honey would be warmed, no matter where 
 might be placed ; but in order to do this the heater should be larj 
 or else the room quite small. 0. H. Townsend, of Otsego, Micl 
 has a plan similar to this, only he goes a step further and ev( 
 cures that part of the honey that was not capped. Concerning thi 
 he writes as follows : 
 
 " For a fall flow of honey, the plan of extracting the hon( 
 after the flow is certainly a good one. If the building is put i 
 properly the work can be handled very easily, and the honey e: 
 tracted just as well in November as in July. 
 
 " One thing must be remembered, however, that the supei 
 when they are stacked up, must not be covered tightly or else t] 
 moisture will not escape ; and any unsealed honey will sour in tv 
 days in such a warm room. In taking off my honey last year 
 found that there were eighteen or twenty Heddon extractin 
 supers that had been put on very late, and these contained prac 
 cally no sealed honey. I left them on the hives so that the be 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 59 
 
 might move the honey down if they would ; but they did not, so I 
 shook the bees from these supers on the ground in front of the 
 hives and set them in my little bee-escape building, which is six 
 feet square inside, with open screened windows. The weather was 
 cool and rainy, so the honey was undoubtedly very thin, although 
 I was not afraid of its souring, because of the cold temperature. I 
 should have put it in my extracting-room ; but as I was busy there 
 I left it outside, where it was more out of the way. After these 
 cases had been exposed to the damp air for five or six days it was 
 set into my honey dry-kiln, where it was left just seven days, when 
 it was extracted. I then found that it had been exposed to the 
 warm air about four days too long, as it was possible to get only 
 a part of the honey out of the combs. This thin watery honey was, 
 therefore, evaporated down to the heaviest-bodied honey I ever 
 saw, in seven days. 
 
 " My building is built well. It is sheeted with planed un- 
 matched boards, then covered with a good firm quality of building- 
 paper, and finally sided over with ordinary beveled siding. The 
 room at the end for warming the honey is ].0 x 14 feet, and is 
 lined on the sides and ceiling with the same kind of paper as that 
 used between the sheeting and siding, this paper being lapped and 
 fastened to the studding with lath, making good tight joints. I 
 find that the paper retains the heat as well as or better than plas- 
 tered walls, and it allows the moisture to pass through it, insuring 
 a dry room. The paper cost 50 cents per roll of 500 square feet. 
 
 ' ' In the center of the room is a box stove with oval sides, the 
 first joint of the stovepipe having a damper. As the fire-door fits 
 tight, the draft can be regulated to perfection, which feature is 
 important, as it allows the heat to be controlled, and prevents the 
 waste of fuel. With wood of fair size the fire can be kept over 
 night if the dampers are properly regulated. 
 
 " "When the extracting is to be done in cold weather I start 
 the fire a day or two beforehand. As mentioned before, three or 
 four days are necessary to ripen thin honey ; and when the evapo- 
 ration has been kept up long enough the covers can be placed 
 tightly on the supers to prevent the further escape of moisture. 
 There is some danger of melting the combs in the upper supers if 
 the covers are tight ; but if one is careful to keep the temperature 
 right, there will be no trouble. I have quite an air-space above the 
 supers of honey in the gable roof, which keeps the temperature of 
 the room more nearly constant. 
 
 " I do not depend upon the warm room for ripening all my 
 honeyy, as it is left on the hives all through the season. However, 
 
60 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 there is generally some that is not sealed, and this is greatly im- 
 proved by the evaporation. ' ' 
 
 When following the plan of extracting the honey late in the 
 year the combs may be freed from bees with the bee-escape or by 
 brushing. At our Kalkaska yard, where both comb and extracted 
 honey are produced in the same super, all supers are taken off with 
 the escape. One day is sufficient to free the bees from a shallow 
 super; but more time will be necessary to get the bees out of a 
 full-depth super. Knowing that the Hutchinsons have had much 
 experience in getting bees out of full-depth supers with the escape- 
 board, I asked Mr. Elmer Hutchinson, of Pioneer, Mich., to tell 
 something of the plan. His letter is as follows : 
 
 ' ' "We put only one full-depth super over an escape-board, for 
 the bees are rather slow in leaving if more than one are put on at 
 once. "We give the bees a few vigorous puffs of smoke, driving 
 down perhaps half of them, and then put on the escapes. If these 
 are put on in the morning of a warm day, from one-half to three- 
 fourths of the supers will be ready to come off by evening, and 
 most of the others will be free of bees by the next morning. I have 
 not noticed any difference in the time it takes, whether the combs 
 are all sealed or only partly sealed ; but a few dozen cells of brood 
 will hold the bees in the supers a long time. 
 
 " There is one thing about which I should like to caution 
 beginners : Be sure the colonies have a queen ; and, no matter how 
 tight the covers are, keep a close watch, for there may be trouble 
 from robbers. Elmer Hutchinson. 
 
 THE LOCATION OE EXTRACTING-YARDS; THE ADVANTAGE 
 
 OF A PROTECTED APIARY; HO"W" TO GET HONEY 
 
 TO THE EXTRACTING-HOUSE "WITH THE 
 
 LEAST EFFORT 
 
 If the bees find as much genuine pleasure in working in a 
 yard where there is good outside protection from prevailing winds 
 as the operator does, then there can be no doubt that this outside 
 protection is a good thing. My boys are always glad when we 
 have finished extracting at one of our yards where there is but 
 little protection ; and they look forward gladly to the work at our 
 Pine Lake yard where there is protection from the wind. In our 
 beekeeping experience I suppose we have had yards in at least 25 
 different places, and in all kinds of locations — some well protected, 
 and others not protected at all from the prevailing winds ; there- 
 fore we think we have learned the value of protection, from actual 
 experience. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 61 
 
 No two of our yards are arranged on the same plan, for the 
 hives are so located as to take advantage of the particular lay of 
 the ground. As far as possible we locate our extracting-houses in 
 the lowest part of the yard to facilitate the wheeling-in of the 
 honey. Wheelbarrow paths are chosen, leading from different 
 parts to the house. At our Pine Lake yard, however, as shown in 
 the engraving, we were obliged to place two of the rows of hives 
 on the ground that was lower than the door of the honey-house. 
 The main path for these two rows is at the upper side of both rows, 
 where the ground is on a level with the honey-house door. In this 
 way, by loading the wheelbarrow at the back of the upper row it 
 is not necessary to run up hill after reaching the path. When the 
 load is taken from the lower row the wheelbarrow is placed so as 
 to be pushed directly up the short hill into the path. We have 
 found that it is easier to push a load up a short steep hill than to 
 push it all the way to the honey-house up a hill that is very much 
 longer, although not nearly so steep. 
 
 On level ground it is not difficult to arrange the yard so that 
 it will be convenient to wheel in the honey from all parts; but 
 where the ground is uneven, a little planning must be done in 
 order to make the work easier. If the ground is very uneven it is 
 not best to try to keep the hives in rows, but to group them to some 
 extent; for the first thing to do is to secure good wheelbarrow 
 paths, of which there should be three or four leading to the honey- 
 house. These paths need not necessarily be straight, for it is many 
 times much easier to travel a little further in order to avoid a 
 grade. 
 
 Having these main paths selected, the yard will thus be 
 divided into three or four groups of hives. I prefer to have the 
 hives placed facing the south or southeast. But in the majority of 
 our yards we can pay but little attention to the direction, and the 
 hives, therefore, face every way except the north. We see no 
 difference in results, and it is possible that the colonies would do as 
 well if the entrances were toward the north ; but we always avoid 
 that direction, perhaps from the force of habit. 
 
 Parallel with the lay of the ground we level pieces of ground 
 20 inches wide and 4 feet long, which is large enough for two hives 
 placed side by side. The 2 x 4's 4 feet long are laid down flat, and 
 leveled. In this way the foundation is made for two hives. The 
 front of the hives should preferably be ^/4 inch lower than the back 
 so that water will run out of the entrance. We formerly laid great 
 stress on having our hives in rows all facing the south ; but we find 
 that this plan, in the majority of instances, was not satisfactory, 
 
62 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 on account of the lay of the ground. Furthermore a greater pei 
 centage of young queens were lost on returning from their mating 
 flight, and the bees themselves mixed up much more. Now th 
 groups may be placed five or six feet apart one way and ten o: 
 twelve the other. On this plan the groups are really in rows whie] 
 are not straight, perhaps, but irregular, to conform to the ground 
 Possibly some might think that this arrangement would not b( 
 pleasing to the eye ; but there is really hardly any other plan tha 
 would look well on rough ground. The wheelbarrow may be rui 
 between each group of hives and also between each row ; and it ii 
 an easy matter to load the honey very close to one of the mait 
 paths leading to the extracting-house. 
 
 In renting ground for bee-yards it is not always possible tc 
 secure a desirable place to set the hives. Our Kalkaska yard, as 
 shown in Gleanings, 1908, p. 1000, is located on a side hill. How- 
 ever, we first made four terraces on which the rows of hives migh1 
 be placed. Since the hill slopes to the southeast, the hives face ii 
 all directions between south and east. The honey-houses were sal 
 about midway at the lower side. A path was made across the ter- 
 races in the middle, dividing the yard in two parts. When ex- 
 tracting we work from the sides of the yard toward the center in 
 order to shorten the distance to the honey-house. If we set this 
 house at one side of the yard it would be necessary to wheel the 
 honey, or at least the greater part of it, twice as far. 
 
 HONEY-HOUSES ; A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OP THE HONEY- 
 HOUSES IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN, AND AN OUT- 
 LINE or THE METHODS USED. 
 
 As our yards are all located on rented ground, so that fre- 
 quent moving is necessary, we build the honey-houses in sections. 
 The floor is in halves ; the sides and ends are separate, and bolted 
 together with two bolts in each corner, and each side of the roof 
 is built independently of the rest of the building so a half can be 
 taken off at a time for moving. 
 
 A 32-inch door is put in one end, without screen or glass, for 
 door-screens attract the robbers so that some of them are sure to 
 dodge in when the door is opened. Centrally located on both sides 
 of the building, next to the plate, window-holes are cut, and cov- 
 ered with wire screen nailed on the outside with lath strips to hold 
 it down. These window-holes are boarded up with a framework 
 which slides to one side to let in the light. As all the work at the 
 outyards is done during warm weather, no glass is necessary. 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 63 
 
 The framework above is of 2 x 4 material, planed on all f our 
 sides, while that below the floor is 2 x 6, not planed. The siding 
 is of single boards planed on both sides and nailed up and down ; 
 the roof-boards are the poorest of the same material. See Glean- 
 ings for Oct., 1906, page 1242. 
 
 TAR BUILDING-PAPER TO LINE BEE-PROOF HONEY-HOUSES 
 
 To make our honey-houses bee-tight we have tried several 
 kinds of building-paper, but have decided that tar paper is the 
 best. We put it on with lap, being sure to have it lap weU at the 
 joiats, and to fit the corners perfectly. Wherever there is likely 
 to be a bee-space or opening we are especially careful. We have 
 never yet been able to find a carpenter who would do the work 
 well enough, and we believe that the beekeeper should attend to 
 the papering himself, therefore, whenever possible. 
 
 A honey-house papered April 1st will have lost most of the 
 smell of tar by the time much work is done, so those who do not 
 like the smell need not hesitate, for it is of short duration. 
 
 Bees, mice, and ants dislike tar paper, and hardly ever go near 
 it. The mice never gnaw it and let in bees, as they will do if other 
 kinds of paper are used. Some of our honey-houses have not had a 
 mouse in since tar paper was used; but they make nests of the 
 white building-paper we used to use, and some of the houses had 
 to be repapered each year. The worst mistake we ever make was 
 to paste on the paper. The mice seemed to follow us and eat the 
 paste as fast as we could put it on — of course, tearing the paper 
 meanwhile. When the house is lined with tar paper we never see 
 any ants. 
 
 THE CHAPMAN HONEY-HOUSES 
 
 At his home yard Mr. Chapman has a fine new honey-house 
 and storeroom, with his bee-cellar under it. As this is his head- 
 quarters, much of his material is kept there until wanted at the 
 outyard. While this house has all of the latest appliances to be 
 found in most home-yard houses, I want to talk most about the one 
 at his outyard, which is, perhaps, ten feet square. There is room 
 only for the operator, extractor, tanks, etc., so the team is hitched 
 to the big wagon, and the honey-cans and such things as will be 
 needed for extracting are hauled to this yard in the morning. The 
 honey is taken off the hives, extracted, strained through cheese- 
 cloth, canned up, and set out of doors until the day's work is done, 
 when the bees will have stopped flying. The team may then be 
 driven to the house to get the honey, for it is drawn home each 
 
64 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 night. By this plan the honey is canned as fast as extracted, so all 
 of the aroma and best flavor are retained. Such a plan is a very 
 good one where the outyard is so near that the honey can be drawn 
 home every day. Some of our own yards are worked much on the 
 same plan, although we do not have to draw all the honey home 
 each night, having plenty of room at the house to store it. 
 
 Mr. Chapman, not having room in the house to store the combs 
 after extracting, sets them out for the bees to clean up immedi- 
 ately. A load of the wet combs just extracted is taken out to one 
 side of the yard, and placer criss-cross for the bees to clean. The 
 writer happened on the scene one July day when the extracting 
 was going on; and as the flow from raspberry had ceased,- there 
 was nothing for the bees to do but to carry in this honey from 
 combs. While there seemed to be quite an uproar, the honey was 
 being taken without any sign of robbing. 
 
 "When the season is over, as there is no place in the extraetiag- 
 house to store the tools over winter they are all drawn to the main 
 house at the home yard, as are the empty combs after they are 
 cleaned of the honey that is left on them after extracting. 
 
 THE COVEYOU HONEY-HOUSE 
 
 Mr. E. B. Coveyou, like many of the outyard beekeepers of 
 Michigan, uses some of the abandoned lumber-camp buildings for 
 his honey-houses. He does not try to keep the bees from entering 
 his honey-house, but plans to do the work at a time when the rob- 
 bers are not likely to bother much. The honey is taken off the 
 hives during the day and piled up in the yard, being covered so 
 the bees can not get to it. Then, toward night, after the sun has 
 warmed the honey, it is taken into the honey-house and extracted 
 with his big eight-frame automatic extractor. It does not take 
 long to do this, and the work is done so late in the day that the 
 robbers do not get started much before it is too late for them to fly. 
 After all the honey that was taken off is extracted and canned the 
 combs are piled up and covered so the bees can not get to them. 
 The extractor and capping-box are also closed bee-tight. This is 
 not a very desirable way of handling a crop of honey, and is the 
 only flaw I have been able to find in Mr. Coveyou 's methods. 
 However, I understand that he will abandon this plan next season 
 for another one which I will describe later. 
 
 KIRKPATRICK'S HONEY-HOUSE 
 
 Mr. Geo. H. Kirkpatrick, Rapid City, Mich., who has several 
 yards of bees in the raspberry region, builds all his extracting- 
 
The Tovmsend Bee Book 65 
 
 houses small, and depends on storage room elsewhere for his hon- 
 ey and combs. His honey-houses differ from Mr. Chapman's in 
 that he puts the honey he uses into a large honey-tank, instead of 
 directly into the cans. The houses are built about 12 feet square, 
 bee-proof, and about a third of the floor space at the back end is 
 let down three feet lower than the main floor. In this lower part 
 are located the tank and scales, so arranged that the honey from 
 the extractor runs directly into the tank, and from this tank into 
 the 60-lb. can resting on the scales. The honey is all extracted 
 after the season closes, and is in good condition to can as soon as 
 extracted ; but it is left in this large tank over night, then skimmed 
 and drawn from the bottom. This makes very clear nice-looking 
 honey, and handled this way it is of good quality. While Mr. 
 Kirkpatrick is a convert to the better way of canning the honey 
 direct from the extractor, he has not changed his outfits yet, but 
 probably will do so during the coming season. 
 
 THE HUTCHINSON HONEY-HOUSES 
 
 The Hutchinsons have their outyards near some of the aban- 
 doned lumber-camps, so they build over the camp-buildings for a 
 honey-house. Usually the camp-buildings are much larger than 
 necessary, and partitions are run across to make the bee-proof 
 honey-room. Besides the main exracting-room, there is a small 
 room of suitable size for heating the honey before extracting. This 
 room is lined with paper, to retain the heat from the large oil-stove 
 used to heat the honey. The honey is taken off with escape-boards, 
 and stored in this room where this oil-stove is lighted the night 
 before they intend to extract, with the result that, in the morning, 
 the honey is in much better shape than that just from the hive. 
 Honey just from the hive, especially on cold mornings, does not 
 extract very clean, and requires a long turn of the extractor to 
 get it at all. 
 
 A few times I have warmed the honey to be extracted; and 
 if things are arranged right, there is no other way that is so satis- 
 factory. The honey is just a litlte warmer than that from the hive 
 in the hottest weather, which makes it about as thin as water, and 
 of course it is throAvn out of the combs much easier, and the combs 
 are extracted very dry. 
 
 EXTRACTING IN THE OPEN AIR 
 
 At one time I worked ten swarms of bees on shares, for a 
 neighbor, and I did the extracting out of doors under a shade-tree. 
 Every thing was kept covered up as much as possible to prevent 
 
66 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 robbing ; then a smoker was kept going, and the assistant would 
 keep the smoke where it would do the most good. This yard of 
 bees had not been handled, and the colonies had not learned the 
 robbing habit, so they were not very bad to commence with. 
 
 THE IDEAL HONEY-HOUSE 
 
 The ideal honey-house for a hundred-colony bee-yard would 
 be a building 18 x 24, lathed and plastered on the inside. It should 
 be built at the lower edge of the bee-yard, to facilitate wheeling 
 the honey from the yard. It would be better if the gentle slope 
 of the ground were to the south or southeast. I would build the 
 end of the building toward the bee-yard, with a good wide door 
 at both ends. The ground at the back should be about six feet 
 lower than .the front, to allow a platform wagon to stand with the 
 top on a level with the honey-floor for convenience in loading and 
 unloading honey, supplies, etc. 
 
 Two-thirds of the floor on the end toward the front or bee- 
 yard should be built on a level with the ground at this point for 
 convenience in wheeling in honey ; then the third toward the back 
 end would be built two or three feet lower than the front or main 
 floor. The front floor would be the main workroom where the 
 extractor, uncapping-box and combs are kept. The lower floor 
 would be for the honey-tank, scales, honey-cans, etc., and the dis- 
 tance this lower floor should be below the main floor would be 
 determined by the height of the tank to be flUed ; for the extractor 
 would be set at the edge of this upper floor, with the gate project- 
 ing over so the honey could run direct from the extractor into the 
 tank, then from the tank to the 60-lb. can on scales. The shallower 
 the tank, the less difference there would have to be between the 
 two floors. 
 
 THE PROPER CARE OF EXTRACTING-COMBS ; DOES IT PAY 
 TO GIVE BEES COMBS WET WITH HONEY? 
 
 I formerly practiced spacing our combs after the last extract- 
 ing, and criss-crossing them out of doors for the bees to clean up, 
 as this was the way some advised. In some eases a part of the 
 combs would not be cleaned by the bees as usual. When these 
 were given to the bees to be filled the next season, we never could 
 see any difference in the quality of the honey, whether the combs 
 were cleaned or not. Some of the honey left in the combs candies, 
 while the rest apparently disappears ; at any rate, none shows up 
 in the honey at extracting time. I take the precaution to give 
 combs, from which dark honey has been extracted, to the bees, 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 67 
 
 t)efore the season opens, as I have explained heretofore. I used to 
 think I was doing the bees a favor by giving them these wet combs 
 to clean outdoors; but now I'm very sure it is an actual damage 
 to them rather than a help ; for with their mad scramble for the 
 honey they use up valuable vitality, and this, too, at a vital time 
 late in the season, when all their strength is needed to carry them 
 through the winter. Then I would rather have the honey left in 
 ■the combs than have that dirty purging smeared over the stories 
 and frames. The bees are so eager for the honey that they over- 
 load, thus causing them to purge before taking wing. 
 
 Upper stories set back on the hives are cleaned all right ; but 
 the honey is stored right back in the same combs, so this method 
 is a failure. 
 
 Toward the end of summer, or in this location early in Septem- 
 ber, bees begin to curtail brood-rearing. When this is going on, 
 ■and as the brood-nest begins to grow smaller and smaller each day, 
 instinct teaches the bees that a period of rest is in store for them. 
 At this time they manage the interior of their hive as if they had 
 full knowledge of the rigorous winter that is in store for them, 
 for, as the brood hatches out for the last time in the fall, they busy 
 themselves carrying honey from the outside combs and filling in 
 those cells made vacant by the hatching of the bees. This carry- 
 ing-in process of honey from the outside combs is continued until 
 there is as much as ten pounds of honey placed in these empty cells 
 in the middle of the brood-nest. If the honey in these outside 
 combs is of good quality, all is well; but if it is of an inferior 
 ■quality, and the colony does not winter perfectly, there is likely 
 to be trouble. 
 
 Knowing of these conditions, and of the instinct of the bees, 
 we take advantage of this period to feed all colonies that are short 
 of winter stores. If the honey in these outside combs is of an 
 inferior quality we have fine results by feeding every colony ten 
 pounds of sugar syrup. After the last extracting, the yard is gone 
 over, the colonies " hefted " to see if they have stores enough to 
 last them until the main honey-flow next June. Any colonies fall- 
 ing short of 25 lbs. are marked ' ' short, ' ' and the amount of stores 
 necessary to bring the weight up to 30 lbs. is marked on the hives. 
 In estimating the amount of stores needed, but few colonies are 
 looked into — just enough colonies are looked into to get the run of 
 how they are as to amount of stores. Colonies with very old combs 
 are much heavier than new swarms ; and taking this into consider- 
 ation it does not take long to get on to the knack of estimating 
 very correctly, since all the new colonies are marked. 
 
"8 The Townsend Bee Booh 
 
 FEEDING THICK SYEUP FOR WINTER 
 
 Knowing the amount of stores needed, it is best to buy 15 to 
 20 per cent less of granulated cane sugar than the amount that is 
 to be fed. The thicker we can make the syrup, and get the bees to 
 take it, the less sugar it will take to make up the shortage. While 
 bees will take a sugar syrup thicker than three parts of sugar to 
 two of water, we have had rather better results with this portion 
 of each. This, makes a syrup that weighs in the neighborhood of 
 11 lbs. to the gallon ; and as good honey weighs 12 lbs. to the gal- 
 lon, there is but one pound of moisture to the gallon for the bees 
 to evaporate. Of course, there are other losses, so if the colony 
 needs 20 lbs. of stores, more than they already have (10 lbs.) they 
 should be fed 25 lbs. of the syrup. This would put it in good 
 shape, and it would not need looking after again, in regard to 
 stores, until the white-honey flow the next June. 
 
 In making syrup of granulated sugar we use a boiler large 
 enough to cover the whole top of the stove. This is made of gal- 
 vanized iron, and is what we use to melt four 60-lb. cans of honey 
 at a time. A wash-boiler might do, but would not be so fast. We 
 weigh in the water; then, as the water comes to a boil, add the 
 sugar, keeping the contents of the boiler well stirred, after the 
 sugar is added, to prevent it from burning to the bottom. As soon 
 as all the sugar is melted we empty it into a tank with a gate at 
 the bottom, which is elevated, in order to run the syrup from the 
 tank, to a 60-lb. honey-can on the scales. We set the scales to 
 weigh 55 lbs. net to the can. This will fill the can about the same 
 as 60 lbs. of honey. 
 
 The syrup is drawn to the outyards in these 60-lb. cans, and 
 is not weighed again. We feed in Miller feeders that hold 20 lbs. 
 Four or five tin pails are provided to use in feeding. We weigh 10 
 and 15 lbs. of the syrup in these, and mark the levels on the sides 
 of the pail. The combination of these two weights will make any 
 weight we need, and it is much more convenient than weighing the 
 second time, besides being accurate enough for the purpose. As 
 we do not feed a colony less than 10 lbs., the hives are marked 10 
 lbs., 15 lbs., 20 lbs., 25 lbs., and 35 lbs. short, the latter weight 
 showing that the colony has nothing but empty combs. The colonies 
 marked to be fed from 10 to 20 lbs. are fed all their allowance at 
 once. The few that are marked to be fed 25 to 35 lbs. are given 
 their additional 5 to 15 lbs. as soon as their feeder will hold it. 
 To expedite matters, the colonies that have to be fed most are fed 
 first ; so if any have to wait, it will be those that do not need so 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 69' 
 
 much, and may be fed when the first-mentioned colonies are get- 
 ting their second feed. 
 
 We buy and keep, for the purpose, shallow supers with strips 
 of tin nailed on the lower inside ends for the feeders to rest on. 
 When not in use they pile up to good advantage, and, with a hive- 
 cover on top, are kept away from the dust and flies. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Spring Management 
 
 PROTECTING HIVES WITH PAPER; PREVENTION OE MIXING 
 
 WHEN COLONIES ARE SET OUT OE THE CELLAR; 
 
 FEEDING IN THE SPRING; DOES IT PAY? 
 
 If I were wintering colonies in small hives with sealed covers,, 
 and had a well-protected location, I do not think it would pay me 
 to paper the hives ; but if I were using a hive larger than the ten- 
 frame Langstroth I would paper in all cases, for I do not think 
 that the large hive has as many bees in comparison to the size of 
 the hive as the eight and ten frame hives have. If this is the case, 
 the extra room to warm during the breeding season of spring 
 would, in my estimation, justify the papering. If a yard of bees- 
 is located in a windy place (and I think the majority are) then it 
 will also pay to paper. 
 
 COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF BLACK AND WHITE PAPER 
 
 It is with a good deal of satisfaction that I find Gleanings, 
 showing white paper for protecting colonies during winter and 
 spring. Although I do not winter bees in papered hives I have 
 been almost alone in the use of white-felt building-paper for spring 
 protection; and while the journals have been recommending tarred 
 paper for spring protection I have been using the white with good 
 results. 
 
 The reason that I have " steered clear " of black paper for 
 papering hives is that, several years ago, I had experience with 
 hives painted a dark color, some of which were of the chaff pat- 
 
70 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 tern, but built with a thin front painted a dark color. The results 
 were that these dark-colored hives would absorb the sun heat so 
 as to attract the bees out on many cold days, so that they rarely 
 wintered a colony in good condition. They were, therefore, aban- 
 doned for a better kind. 
 
 Mr. S. D. Chapman, during the spring of 1906, wrapped every 
 other hive in his home yard, consisting of over two hundred colo- 
 nies, with tarred paper. By having half the colonies in the same 
 apiary wrapped with paper and half not wrapped he was able to 
 give the plan a very fair test. All of the colonies were wintered 
 in a cellar, and Mr. Chapman is very particular to have all light 
 colonies fed early in the fall for the purpose of having all the 
 covers sealed down so there will be no chance for a draft through 
 the hives after they are set out of the cellar in the spring. The 
 location where this test was carried on is well protected from the 
 prevailing winds, especially those from the north and west. 
 
 The ones that were covered with the tarred paper absorbed 
 the heat from sun to such an extent the bees were lured from the 
 hives on days that were too cold for them to fly. This meant that 
 the colonies in the papered hives at the beginning of the honey- 
 flow in June were not nearly so far advanced as those in hives 
 that were not protected. In view of this, Mr. Chapman has de- 
 cided that no extra protection is needed if the yard is well shel- 
 tered from the winds, and if the hive-covers can be well sealed the 
 previous fall. 
 
 White paper does not cause the hive to become so excessively 
 hot when the sun shines as the black paper does ; and if it has been 
 well folded down and fastened at the bottom of the hive the bees 
 are kept as warm as is necessary. Colonies so protected went 
 through the severe freeze of May 10, 1906, without the loss of a 
 particle of brood, while many colonies in hives not papered lost 
 heavily, and some of these were so greatly reduced that they were 
 able to gather no surplus honey that season. Generally speaking, 
 night is the time when the extra protection is needed, for the air 
 during the day is warm enough. Since white paper at night is 
 just as good in all respects as the black, it is obvious that it is the 
 better material to use, since it does not absorb the heat of the sun 
 during the day and make the hive too hot. 
 
 I use white-felt building-paper, and it is so cheap that I throw 
 it away and buy new each year. It is true that any sheets that 
 might not be torn could be rolled up and saved; but the new 
 paper folds so much better than the old stiff paper kept over from 
 the year before that I do not think it would be much of a saving 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 71 
 
 to try to use the old. This white-felt paper comes in rolls 36 inches 
 wide, and costs about 65 cts. a roll. One roll of paper this width 
 will cover about 35 hives, and it is not hard to see that, if the paper 
 is of any value at all, the expense of less than two cents per hive 
 can not be considered. The tarred paper is usually but 32 inches 
 wide. While this might do for an eight-frame hive it is not wide 
 enough to suit me for the ten-frame size. 
 
 HOW TO WRAP THE HIVES 
 
 If the hive-cover is sealed down I put the paper over the hive 
 — cover and all ; but if the cover has been loosened, or if there are 
 any openings at the top of the hive, I remove the cover and put 
 the paper next to the bees. The paper can be used most advan- 
 tageously in this way, for it comes down to the bottom of the hive 
 in better shape. Furthermore, it is easier to fold the paper around 
 a hive that has no cover. The best arrangement of all is a hive 
 with a thin super-cover that comes just flush with the outside all 
 around. I remove the outer cover and fold the paper directly over 
 the inner cover, being careful to put it on smooth, so that there 
 are no wrinkles at the sides. I then fold over the ends in such a 
 manner that the water can not possibly run down between the 
 folds. I secure the bottom of the paper with a piece of lath as long 
 as the side of the hive, and fasten it with a nail in the center. 
 These pieces of lath should be tacked at the bottom of the paper, 
 one on each side. 
 
 The lath have the advantage over the string in that the lower 
 edge of the paper is held perfectly tight against the hive at all 
 points, so there is no chance for a circulation of air between the 
 paper and the hive. If nothing is used but a string tied around 
 the bottom of the hive, there is likely to be a loose wrinkled edge 
 where the wind and cold air can get in. If the work has been done 
 well, there is no chance for the heat from the bees to escape except 
 through the entrance of the hive. I believe this to be a very 
 desirable condition. 
 
 We wintered 325 colonies of bees in a cellar in Charlevoix Co. 
 Nearly all of the covers were loosened so that there was some 
 ventilation at the top. 
 
 The yard in which these colonies were placed in the summer 
 was well protected ; and when the hives were set on the summer 
 stands the propolis was cleaned from the upper edge of the hive 
 and from the under side of the cover. A sheet of felt paper the 
 size of the outside of the hive was put on, held down by the cover. 
 A ten-pound stone was finally placed on top ; and it is my opinion 
 
"^^ The Tovmsend Bee Book 
 
 that, since the soft paper fills up any small opening beween the 
 hive and the cover, there is no more chance for draft than in a 
 hive with a sealed cover. However, in all our yards where the 
 wind is likely to be strong the hives will be papered according 
 to the plan given before. 
 
 REMOVING BEES FROM THE CELLAR 
 
 In removing colonies from the cellar, no attempt is made to 
 set them on the stands they occupied the previous season; for I 
 have found that it makes no difference as to the mixing of the bees 
 whether the hives occupy the same stands year after year or not. 
 
 Unless precautions are taken, the bees will drift to one side 
 of the yard when the hives are taken from the cellar, all of them 
 trying, apparently, to enter a very few hives. This means that, 
 in some cases, a hive will be deserted ; and even the queen, thinking 
 she is being left alone, will fly out and join the busy throng, trying 
 to get into the few hives at one side of the yard. I have had this 
 experience two or three times ; and after the mixing is started I 
 have found that it pays to contract the entrances of the strong 
 colonies so that only a few bees can emerge at a time. "When this 
 is done the flying forces of all the colonies are more nearly equal- 
 ized. After this the colonies should be shifted about to some ex- 
 tent ; that is, if a certain hive already has its share of bees, and if 
 more bees keep coming to it so that the prospects are that it will 
 become overcrowded, it should be carried to some part of the yard 
 where the hives are not getting their share. One of the hives light 
 in bees is set in the place occupied by the strong colony. This 
 should be kept up until all the colonies are as near alike in regard 
 to strength as it is possible to get them. After finishing such work, 
 however, it is generally found that the plan is not very satisfac- 
 tory ; hence it is well to prevent such drifting on the part of the 
 bees in the future. 
 
 HOW TO PREVENT DRIFTING 
 
 In order to prevent this state of affairs it is necessary, first, 
 to understand what causes the trouble. Improper methods in 
 wintering account for some of it; for, if the bees are "just dying" 
 for a fly, they are more likely to boil out of the hives without care- 
 fully marking their locations. This, of course, means a general 
 mix-up. 
 
 Removing the colonies from the cellar on a very warm day 
 also tends to cause drifting. The disturbance and the warm air 
 together cause the bees to leave the hives in such numbers that they 
 are almost demoralized. A large entrance is detrimental in this 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 73 
 
 case, for it allows the bees to leave the hives too rapidly, so that, 
 in a short space of time, the air is almost full of lost bees. A high 
 wind aggravates matters, for this surging mass of lost bees may- 
 be blown to one side of the yard. It would seem that the leeward 
 side of the yard (the side toward which the wind blows) would 
 get the greatest number of bees ; but such is not the case. I have 
 found that the windward side gets the bees — that is, the side 
 toward the wind. 
 
 Hubbard Bros., of Boyne Falls, Mich., had a peculiar case of 
 drifting last spring. Their yard is located on a ridge, one side of 
 which slopes to the east and the other to the west. The hives were 
 set out of the cellar in the night, and in the morning the sun shone 
 brightly and the bees on the east side were attracted out by the 
 morning sun, and were flying strongly before those on the west 
 side even started to fly. The result was that the bees from the 
 west side were so attracted by the great commotion on the east 
 side that a good share of them went over and mingled with the 
 flying throng so that there were finally entirely too many bees on 
 the side of the yard which got the sunlight first, while the other 
 side had but a few. It seems to me that in such a case I would try 
 shading the east side until the sun is high enough to shine on all 
 the hives at once ; and then when the bees have begun to fly to 
 some extent the shadeboards, or whatever had been used for 
 shade, could be removed. In this way it seems to me the flying 
 of the bees could be regulated, especially if the precaution is taken 
 to contract the entrance down to about % x 2 inches. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the bees from the strong colo- 
 nies are the ones that make the great demonstration at the en- 
 trance, so that bees from other weak colonies are attracted to 
 them. I know of no better way to regulate this than to contract 
 the entrances of the strong colonies as explained above. This 
 means that the bees from such hives can not fly any faster than 
 those from the weaker ones, so that all are flying with about the 
 same force. 
 
 If the hives are removed from the cellar in the early part of 
 the season, before the weather gets too warm, there will be less 
 mixing on the part of the bees when they fly for the first time. 
 This is a good point in favor of removing the bees earlier, for such 
 inixing is quite a serious matter to the honey-producer. 
 
 THE BEST TIME TO REMOVE COLONIES FROM THE CELLAR 
 
 "Whenever the indications are that the next day will be a 
 
 suitable one for the bees to fly I go to one of the clamps and 
 
^^ The Tovmsend Bee Book 
 
 remove all but about two inches of dirt from the straw that cover* 
 the hives. This is left on so that the bees will not try to fly before 
 they are finally uncovered. In the evening, after it is so late that 
 bees would not try to fly from the pit, I remove the rest of the dirt 
 and the straw. When this is done, there is quite a demonstration- 
 among the bees on account of the fresh air which reaches them; 
 but, since it is now so dark that they can not fly, there is no- 
 mixing. By morning the bees will have quieted down, since the 
 nights are usually cool at this time of the year. As soon as it is 
 light in the morning I quietly place the hives on the permanent 
 stands, and hardly a bee will come out. By this time they are so 
 used to the fresh air that they usually fly very moderately, and 
 rarely get mixed up. An ideal day for the first fly would be one 
 when the air is warm but the sky hazy. With these conditions the 
 flying is very moderate and there is no mixing. 
 
 Any colonies that are light in stores are placed in a row by 
 themselves near the honey-house. This saves a good deal of work, 
 and such weak colonies are not so likely to be forgotten as if they 
 were placed in some remote corner of the yard, for they may bfr 
 seen every time the honey-house is entered. On this account they 
 get better care than if they are scattered all over the yard. 
 
 STIMULATIVE FEEDING DURING THE SPEING NOT ADVISED 
 
 For some reason, here in Michigan there do not seem to be- 
 many who practice spring feeding for stimulating. I can not say 
 whether this is on account of the bad weather in the spring, which 
 makes it difficult to get bees to take the feed when they need it 
 most, or whether experience has taught the beekeepers of this 
 locality that a colony with brood-nest made rich with honey the 
 previous fall is in better condition. All indications point to the 
 latter cause. 
 
 There is one beekeeper, however, Mr. E. B. Coveyou, of 
 Petoskey, who thinks it pays him well to feed for stimulative 
 purposes during the spring. I will let him tell his experience in 
 his own words. He says : 
 
 ' ' After the weather in the spring is settled, and the bees have- 
 begun brood-rearing long enough so that young bees are hatching, 
 I aim to keep them breeding as fast as possible. Lest the weather 
 should turn cold, or a frost come as it did last spring, I proceed 
 to feed every colony at once. My experience last spring was quite 
 serious. In one apiary 131 colonies that were fed continuously 
 before and after the frost gave an average of 87 lbs. of honey to 
 the colony. Another apiary, six miles from Petoskey, of 118 colo- 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 75 
 
 nies, was not fed, although it was otherwise in just as good condi- 
 tion, for each colony had a good deal of brood started before the 
 frost. I went to this apiary about a week after the frost, and, to 
 my sorrow, I found that the bees had dragged out the drones, and 
 the conditions seemed to be more like those ia September. This 
 was when the raspberries were just coming into bloom. The yield 
 from this apiary was 30 lbs. of surplus per colony; and if there 
 was any difference in the two locations, this last apiary had the 
 better one. I am sure that I could have obtained 4000 lbs. more 
 honey from this yard if the bees had been fed 500 to 1000 lbs. of 
 sugar syrup in the spring. ' ' 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Making Up Winter Losses 
 
 A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE SUCCESSFUL PLANS FOR 
 MAKING INCREASE 
 
 Comb-honey producers may be striving to keep down increase, 
 but extracted-honey men are more interested in plans for making 
 up winter losses; for if their bees are handled as they should be 
 there will not be enough natural swarms to make up for the loss 
 through the year. Each season, therefore, there will be some 
 artificially made swarms, and the purpose of this article is to show 
 how to do this to the best advantage. 
 
 There is a rule to be observed in the making of artificial 
 increase that is very important. The brood should be left undis- 
 turbed for the first eight days after being made queenless to allow 
 the bees time to cap all the unsealed brood. This rule or principle 
 is observed in the Somerford, Alexander, and Chapman plans, all 
 of which will be considered here ; and if beekeepers would keep 
 this thought in mind, and work out a system of artificial swarming 
 in which no unsealed brood is carried away from the parent 
 colony, much better success could be expected. It is well known 
 that, when bees are carried to a new location in the process of 
 making artificial increase, if the apiarist is not well versed in the 
 
76 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 art of making bees stay where they are put in the different ma 
 ipulations, large quantities of unsealed brood will be lost by t 
 bees deserting the hive in the new quarters and returning to t' 
 parent hive. Let us now consider the 
 
 SOMERrORD PLAN FOE MAKING INCREASE 
 
 This is a good one ; but in order to work this system to t] 
 best advantage, one ought to have a very good stock of bees. Tl 
 idea, in brief, is as follows : During either a natural or artifici 
 flow of honey, the queen is removed from a colony that is ve: 
 strong and in good condition to build queen-cells. In ten daj 
 when the queen-cells are ripe and all the brood sealed, the color 
 is ready to be divided. 
 
 The average beekeeper will have no trouble with the plan v 
 to the time the division is to be made ; but the difficult part com- 
 when the attempt is made to compel the bees to stay in their respe 
 tive places on the new stands. We will suppose that it is early : 
 the season, and that two frames of brood have been selected wil 
 at least one good queen-cell, and that the bees from a third fran 
 have been shaken on to the first two frames. The difficulty no 
 consists in trying to make a good percentage of these bees sta 
 with the brood on the new stand. 
 
 In preparing the hive for these little colonies, a lath is naile 
 over the entrance through which a %-inch hole had previous! 
 been bored, which hole, however, is now corked up. The thii 
 night after the little swarm is made, and after the bees ha^ 
 stopped flying for the day, this cork should be removed from tl 
 %-inch hole at the entrance, when the bees will be found ready 1 
 come out ; for during the confinement they will have been gnawir 
 at every opening where a particle of light could be seen. On th: 
 account, if the entrance were thus opened during the middle ( 
 the day, every bee that could fly would rush out and many of thei 
 would go back to the old stand, for it would be natural that the 
 should prefer the old home to the prison from which they ha\ 
 just escaped. The consequence would be that but a very sma 
 number would be left at this new stand, with about as many be< 
 at the old stand as there were before the division was made. Sue 
 a small swarm or nucleus would have a hard slow pull in order 1 
 get in shape for winter, and many times it would have to be helpe( 
 The small entrance, consisting only of a %-inch hole, and also tli 
 time at which this entrance is opened, makes the plan successfi 
 where it otherwise would be uncertain and perhaps an actu! 
 failure. For instance, if this %-inch entrance were opened laj 
 
The Townsend Bee Book 77 
 
 in the day after the bees had stopped flying, there might be, per- 
 haps, a cupful of bees that would crawl out of the entrance, for 
 they are quick to realize that they are no longer prisoners, and the 
 glad tidings go through the hive like magic. However, since it is 
 so late that the bees will not fly, there will be practically none that 
 will go back to the old stand. By this time the young queen has 
 hatched, and the bees soon begin to carry out dead bees, etc., and 
 to clean house generally. In other words, things have changed 
 suddenly, for the bees that were prisoners, and were thinking of 
 nothing but trying to get out, now begin to think about keeping 
 house, and during the first night of liberty much is done along 
 this line, so that, when morning comes, and the bees take their first 
 flight, they no longer try to go back to the old location, but mark 
 the new one, so that but very few go back. The consequences are 
 that the nucleus will be in good condition, and very thrifty, when 
 it might otherwise have been almost a failure. 
 
 In making nuclei with this Somerford plan we start a few 
 artificial queen-cells at the time of making the divisions, which 
 cells are from our best stock, so that if, for any reason, extra cells 
 are wanted they will be on hand. It sometimes happens that it is 
 convenient to use a colony for increase that we would not care to 
 breed from, and it is less work to make artificial cells than to cut 
 them from one comb and transfer them to another one, as would 
 have to be done if following the Somerford plan, for many times 
 all the desirable cells will be on only one or two combs of brood. 
 Furthermore, only a few of the cells in such colonies will be good 
 enough to use, the Inferior ones being torn out when the division 
 is made. 
 
 HOW THE QUEEN-CELLS ARE PRODUCED 
 
 With the number of colonies that the honey-producer has to 
 select from, there is no trouble in picking out colonies for cell- 
 builders that are especially adapted to the work. I have found 
 that nervous bees are better cell-builders than the more quiet 
 strains, so in selecting the cell-building colonies pick out hybrids 
 or bees that tend toward a darker- colored strain. After making 
 this selection, see that all the cell-building colonies are strong in 
 numbers. Then remove the brood and the queen from each, being 
 sure, however, that there is plenty of honey left. However, it 
 sometimes happens that there is brood in nearly all of the combs 
 so that, when these are taken away from them, there will be almost 
 no honey left, and thus it will be necessary to give two or three 
 frames of stores, filling up the empty space with empty combs with 
 
78 The Townsend See Book 
 
 the exception of one or two in the center of the hive. In this sp 
 in the center, place bars containing empty cell cups, in order t 
 these may be cleaned and made ready by the queenless bees for ■ 
 larvae to be transferred later. The first day after the bees hi 
 been made broodless and queenless they will be anxious to \ 
 brood to start cells with. 
 
 We are now ready to transfer the larvse from some of 1 
 best queens to the cells which have been cleaned out by the quei 
 less bees. A transferring-needle, jelly-spoon, plenty of queen-ce 
 containing royal jelly, etc., will be needed. There is enough roi 
 jelly in an ordinary queen-cell to prepare ten cells for larvae, 
 is important to get the larvae transferred to the jelly in the p: 
 pared cells so nicely that the bees are hardly able to tell it fr( 
 their own work. The cell-bars containing the transferred lar^ 
 are now placed in the queenless colony to be started ; and after th 
 have been accepted, in a day or two they are taken from the quee 
 less colony and placed in the second story of a powerful coloi 
 above a queen-excluder, where they may be finished. Two fram 
 of brood should be lifted up from the lower story, and placed o 
 on each side of the cell-bars in order to make sure that the be 
 do not leave the cells and go below, which might happen on a co 
 night. With the two frames of unsealed brood it is quite eerta 
 that the cells will be well taken care of. I am sure that the woi 
 will succeed better if the cells are started in a queenless colony 
 the way described, rather than in an upper story over an exclude 
 Of course, after the cells are started they can be transferred 
 such an upper story over an excluder to be finished. 
 
 For the honey-producer who raises only the queens that 1 
 needs to make up winter loss and increase, and when the reguli 
 brood-frame is used, no tools except those that I have mentiom 
 will be necessary. These are so few, and thir advantages so grea 
 that no one can afford to be without them. In this way a que* 
 can be supplied any time during the season. 
 
 THE ALEXANDER METHOD OF MAKING INCREASE 
 
 This is a very good system, for, as in the Somerford metho 
 the brood is left with the full force of bees until it is all cappe 
 This, of course, means a saving of all the unsealed brood, and th 
 can not be said of some of the other methods which are being use 
 where the unsealed brood is moved to a new location from whic 
 many of the bees that were taken with it go back to the old loc; 
 tion, leaving the brood to take care of itself. 
 
The townsend See Sook 79 
 
 With the Alexander plan the queen-cells are aU produced 
 artificially, as explained above. By the way, the brood-nest above 
 the excluder is one of the finest places to get cells finished after 
 they have been started in the queenless colony. A ten-day-old cell 
 should be ready to give the brood four days before it is set on the 
 permanent stand. In this way the young queen is ready to fiy the 
 first day after the division is made, and she becomes a laying queen 
 in another week. 
 
 "We made up some winter losses by the Alexander plan of 
 increase just at the commencement of the clover flow. In this ease 
 the brood-nests were all ready, some having honey where the bees 
 had died before it was consumed. The queen and one frame of 
 brood were put in the center of one of these sets of brood-combs, 
 and a queen-excluder was put on top; then the brood and bees 
 were set over this so that all were on the old stand. In one week 
 a ripe cell was given the bees in the upper body, and on the elev- 
 enth day this upper body was set on a stand of its own with a 
 virgin queen ready to fly the first favorable day. This worked 
 well, for all were in good shape for winter, there being no weak 
 inferior colonies likely to be robbed out at any time. There was 
 one objection, however — ^the plan was expensive. It can be seen 
 that a set of brood-combs to be filled with brood and honey is 
 equivalent to a set of frames containing the best clover or rasp- 
 berry honey, and this amount of honey would be worth about 
 $4.50. It is evident that we could go into the market and buy bees 
 for less money than this. 
 
 Our next plan was to wait until near the close of the clover 
 season, when the honey-flow would last but a few days longer, it 
 having already begun to slacken. At this time the plan just de- 
 scribed was carried out, and it worked better, for it gave the 
 advantage of the honey-flow in which to have the cells prepared 
 and introduced, and it allowed also the colonies to get in a little 
 honey so that they would be in very good shape, but of course 
 short of stores, although they usualUy would have enough to last 
 them until the time to feed up with sugar syrup for winter. 
 
 While some of our winter loss is still made up on this last plan 
 we have another plan that we like better. At the commencement 
 of the honey-flow the division is made and the cell is given in four 
 days, and the brood set off on its own stand on the eighth day 
 after the division. At this time the brood is all capped so that 
 there is no loss there. While this method takes three days more 
 of hatching bees away from the colony that is left on the old stand, 
 which is our honey-gatherer, we make two colonies from the brood 
 
80 
 
 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 by dividing it in the middle, giving each half an equal part of the 
 bees, brood, and combs of honey. Each half is also given a ripe 
 queen-cell; and although one of them will have the virgin and 
 will, therefore, destroy the cell, it saves work in the end and is 
 the better way. By making these nuclei of the divided brood 
 early, these breed up rapidly and make just as good colonies for 
 winter as if the brood had not been divided. There is this differ- 
 ence, however ; that is, brood not divided in halves in the way I 
 described might have enough stores for winter, while the two 
 halves of the divided brood would have to be fed some syrup to 
 carry them over to the next season. 
 
 "While this latter plan costs only half as much honey in the 
 first place as does the plan first described under the heading, "The 
 Alexander Plan of Making Increase," yet more sugar has to be 
 fed for winter stores, but not enough more to offset what is gained, 
 and it is, therefore, a very good plan. It will be noticed that, in 
 the plan of making two nuclei from the brood of one colony, only 
 half as many colonies need to be disturbed to make up the winter 
 loss, and in those which are disturbed to make up such loss, the 
 colonies left on the old stand containing the working force are in 
 about the same condition after the brood is removed, as to the 
 amount of honey that would be stored, as a new swarm would be 
 if hived on the old stand. 
 
 THE ALEXANDER PLAN AS WORKED TOR INCREASE 
 
 In making up winter losses I have advised the use of drawn 
 combs. In making increase, frames of wired foundation are used 
 instead. Sometimes it happens that we have both increase and 
 winter loss to make in the same yard, and in such a case a frame 
 of brood containing the queen is placed in a hive containing frames 
 of foundation. A queen-excluder is placed on top of this, and then 
 the brood over the excluder so that all is on the old stand just as 
 usual. On the eighth day the brood is set off on a new location, 
 and is used to make up the winter loss as I have explained. 
 
 The difference lies in the fact that no story of extraeting- 
 eombs is given the colony until the foundation has all been drawn 
 out and filled with honey and brood ; for, were we to give all the 
 comb room the bees would use above, the foundation would be 
 neglected, and probably there would be no colony at all, so to 
 speak, for the bees might not have more than two frames of foun- 
 dation drawn out, nearly the whole force of workers being above. 
 In order to avoid having seven-tenths of the hive below untouched. 
 
The Townsend Bee Booh 81 
 
 therfore, see that this foundation is all drawn out before stories 
 of extracting frames are given. 
 
 In the above discussion I have purposely said nothing about 
 a flow of buckwheat honey, having taken into consideration only 
 the white-honey flow of June and the fore part of July. Here at 
 Remus we get some dark honey from the buckwheat and aster. 
 Some of our winter losses in years past have been made up during 
 this flow. While it is somewhat cheaper than to do it during the 
 white low, I am very sure that such colonies are not worth as 
 much as those made earlier, judging from what the bees are able 
 to accomplish in storing surplus the season following ; and it seems 
 that these little swarms are a little on the order of late natural 
 swarms, for they do not winter as well, and they are, consequently, 
 not as desirable. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that, 
 while it costs more to make our increase early, it is cheaper in the 
 end, and therefore we try to do that at the present time. 
 
 A practical honey-producer can buy bees of less successful 
 beekeepers for much less money than he can produce them him- 
 self, if he can find any for sale that are in a desirable condition. 
 Sometimes we find desirable bees, and in such cases we buy them 
 instead of trying to make our own increase. 
 
 THE CHAPMAN PLAN OP MAKING INCREASE 
 
 Mr. S. D. Chapman has a plan somewhat different from these 
 otLers mentioned. At a period about eight days before the close 
 of the raspberry flow (it would be the same if the flow were from 
 clover or basswood), he hunts out and kills all his queens with 
 the idea of having only young queens with which to go into winter 
 quarters. In ten days, when the queen-cells that have been started 
 come to maturity, half of the bees and brood, including a good 
 queen-cell, is taken out of as many colonies as desired, and put 
 into empty hives, and then both hives are supplied with empty 
 combs from the colonies that died during the winter. As this is 
 about the middle of July, these half-colonies that will soon contain 
 young queens will build up into good colonies for winter, although 
 they will probably need to be fed quite a quantity for winter 
 stores. The bees have eight days of the last of the honey-flow in 
 which to build their cells, which insures the best quality of cells. 
 Furthermore, at this time it is less expensive in the amount of 
 honey it takes to produce the increase; for when one runs for 
 extracted honey, as Mr. Chapman does, this killing of the queens 
 is not likely to cause any loss of honey ; and the smaller amount 
 of brood the bees have to care for may be a gain rather than a loss. 
 
82 The Townsend Bee Book 
 
 Finally, by having young queens to take their flight after the 
 season is over, there is less than one per cent of swarms during 
 that time. "We have tried this plan and found it to be a good one. 
 
 Mr. B. E. Coveyou, of Petoskey, usually has his own way of 
 doing things, and his method of making up winter loss and work- 
 ing for increase is no exception. When he finds cells being built 
 in any of his colonies preparatory to swarming, the colony is shak- 
 en into a hive filled with combs or foundation.* After the bees 
 and queen have been shaken from the combs, the brood is removed 
 to some weak or moderately strong colony, to be taken care of for 
 six or seven days. At the end of this time the brood is placed on 
 a bottom-board beside the before-mentioned medium colony, over 
 which it has been for the previous few days, and both hives are so 
 placed as to get about the same number of flying bees. A new 
 colony will thus be made from the brood. 
 
 If he desires to make two colonies from the brood he divides 
 it and sets the two halves on the old stand so as to catch all of the 
 flying force, the original medium colony of this stand then being 
 moved to some other stand. If there are cells to be saved in the 
 brood, a queen-excluder must be used between the upper story of 
 brood and the medium colony before the division. 
 
 If this brood from the shaken swarm had been set on a stand 
 of its own at the time of shaking, much of the unsealed larvas 
 would have been lost by the bees leaving it and going back to the 
 old stand. 
 
 If Mr. Coveyou finds that more increase is needed than he 
 can get from the colonies having cells, the required number of 
 cells are provided by the plan already described. 
 
 * If one has the fo\iiidation, this is the place to use it, for the combs may be used latir. 
 
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