

82 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



it would be better. Those men who are 

 always trying something are the men 

 who find out things. 



Mr. Pyles — You know, as I was say- 

 ing this forenoon, everybody likes their 

 own baby, and some people adopt ba- 

 bies, and like them. 



We have a sectional hive, peculiarly 

 built, for our own individual use. I 

 don't care whether you like my hive or 

 not; it suits me. That is 1% spacing, 

 by dropping out one frame. 



Mr. Root — I am in possession of in- 

 formation, and I see Mr. Dadant is in 

 possession of the same thing: There 

 is a vast amount of comb honey being 

 produced this year. If one-third of 

 the comb honey that is now on the 

 market was in the form of extracted, 

 with reduction in the cost to produce 

 it, it would be better for the bee-- 

 keeper. Today it is a hard matter to 

 buy extracted honey at almost any 

 price. 



I think the time is coming, before 

 next year, when the markets will be 

 cleaned of extracted honey, and I do 

 not know what the bottlers are going 

 to do. 



You men who are thinking about the 

 swarming problem — and Mr. Dadant, 

 who is all prepared for extracted — the 

 question is, whether next year you will 

 not want to prepare for that in ad- 

 vance if the trade is running for ex- 

 tracted. You can reduce your swarm- 

 ing according to Mr. Dadant's plan. 



I wish Mr. Dadant would run for 

 comb honey for a little while. 



President Baxter — I have. 



Mr. Root — I would like to know how 

 this works out, with those seven prin- 

 ciples? 



Mr. Dadant — You who raise comb 

 honey, and then your bees will swarm, 

 do you recognize or not the principles 

 I have advocated for the prevention of 

 swarming? If you do, I have won my 

 point. 



I am not proposing to give you a 

 method by which you can prevent 

 swarming, but one that will tend to 

 prevent swarming. It is self-evident 

 that these points are necessary to 

 prevent swarming as much as possi- 

 ble, and I have not only my experience, 

 but the authority of that man Latham, 

 who is really authority. The better I 

 got acquainted with him, the more I 

 thought of him as a capital bee-keeper. 



It is no doubt that plenty of ventila- 

 tion, ample brood chamber for the 

 needs of the colony, use of comb foun- 

 dation in full sheets in the supers 

 when working for comb honey, or of 

 full combs in extracting, young queens, 

 replace the drone comb with worker 

 comb, 1% inch spacing, are preventers 

 of swarming — not altogether, and not 

 so much so in raising comb honey, but 

 there is no dtfubt, if you follow those 

 principles, you will get nearer to the 

 goal you are seeking, the prevention of 

 swarming. 



When 1 see practical bee-keepers, 

 such as I met last summer in the 

 vicinity of Syracuse, New York, report 

 as many as eighteen swarms out, in 

 one apiary, at one time, I felt that 

 something was needed to be done. 

 You may have a great many swarms, 

 but, if you follow the better methods, 

 you will have less swarms in the rais- 

 ing of comb honey. I never had that 

 many swarms in the worst times 

 with us. 



Someone spoke about Mr. Holter- 

 mann. He uses 12 and 13 frame Langs- 

 troth hives. Holtermann was one of 

 our pupils, but he did not want to 

 take that large frame. 



If you are going to use a large hive, 

 I don't want to say to you, use the hive 

 we are using, because we never suc- 

 ceed in getting any one to use it. 

 When a man comes to us and wants 

 hives, I never offer him those Dadant 

 hives; they are too expensive. I know 

 I succeed, and I tell him how, and, 

 if you can overthrow my argument, 

 do so. 



You will have some swarms if you 

 raise comb honey, but you won't have 

 so many if you follow my instructions 

 as I follow them. 



We have proved it a success, as was 

 evidenced this past season. Out of 

 about 525 colonies, spring count, less 

 than 30 swarms were gathered. We 

 harvested over 200 pounds of honey per 

 colony. Twelve swarms were gathered 

 by a neighboor of ours from five colo- 

 nies. He neglected their needs. 



Mr. Kildow — I do not think the 1% 

 inch spacing makes so much difference. 



Mr. Dadant — Eight frames -gives you 

 162 cubic inches additional for the bees 

 to cluster in; one full inch for the en- 

 tire hive. Figure for yourselves; 162 

 cubic inches additional for the bees to 

 cluster in. • : t 



