ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



83 



If one certain spacing is acceptable 

 to the bees, that spacing is all right if 

 it is more suitable for you. You are 

 the ones that manipulate the hives, 

 and, if the bees accept your spacing, 

 choose the one that is best. 



Mr. Dadant — The question of process 

 is sure. Whether you follow it or not, 

 you have got to listen to the argu- 

 ments. - 



With an 8 or 10 frame hive you have, 

 not got enough space in the whole hive 

 for a good prolific queen. The queens 

 don't have room enough below. This 

 queen excluder that you put on is an- 

 other promoter of swarming. When- 

 ever you put something that hinders 

 the bees from traveling back and forth 

 will promote swarming. 



President Baxter — I want to second 

 all that Mr. Dadant has said. I have 

 tried it for the past thirty years, and, 

 as the saying is, "The proof of the 

 pudding is in the eating." I have eaten 

 it, and know what it is. I have fol- 

 lowed their methods; I have been suc- 

 cessful. I have tried the Langstroth 

 hive, and most everything I ever heard 

 of, and I have come down to the 

 Quimby hive, just as Mr. Dadant is 

 using today. 



I remember in the eighties, I think 

 it was the spring of 1881, my father- 

 in-law, Mr. Charles Dadant, made 

 some large Jumbo hives. They were 

 chaff hives, about 3 inches of chaff all 

 around, and about that much on the 

 bottom, too. The bottoms were sta- 

 tionary. I have used those hives ever 

 since that time, and those hives always 

 give me more swarms than any other 

 hive on the place. 



Mr. Dadant saw himself that they 

 were promoters of swarming. He 

 came to my house and bored three 

 holes in the front of those hives. Mr. 

 Dadant did that in 1881; three holes. 

 To prevent the chaff from going out, 

 he put tin tubes in those holes. I 

 opened all three of those veins to give 

 them air. That didn't prevent them 

 from clustering out. I put the super 

 back, gave them % inch spacing on top 

 of the frames, and that worked ad- 

 mirably. 



I had all those hives cut down, the 

 chaff bottoms taken out, a movable 

 bottom made for those hives, and had 

 no more swarms in those than any 

 others. 



These seven points I consider very 



essential; but you must combine 

 them all. 



As soon as I find I have a strong 

 colony, I give them a little ventilation. 

 The bottom ventilation must be enough 

 to allow all the' bees to work. 



As soon as I see they are beginning 



to get pretty well crowded in the brood 



chamber, on goes a super. I have had 



■ built up as high as five supers on one 



hive. 



I believe in manipulation in the early 

 part of the season. After that, there is 

 very little manipulation done. 



This year I lost the only hand that 

 could work with the bees, and had to 

 do everything myself, such as putting 

 on supers, et cetera, et cetera. What 

 is the result? 



During June I had to harvest a large 

 crop of strawberries and market them 

 myself. In addition to that, I had to 

 spras"^ my vineyard of fifteen acres, 

 spray my orchard, and the result was, 

 I sold over 1,800 dollars worth of honey 

 out of 130 colonies, spring count. I had 

 less than 12 natural swarms, and 

 attended to my other work besides. I 

 neglected nothing to the point that it 

 was a loss to me. 



And, in taking care and securing this 

 $1,800 worth of honey, I had less than 

 $100 expense. 



I could not have done that with any 

 other hive or any other method of 

 treatment. I know that this is a good 

 thing and that it will bring results. I 

 do it year after year. 



Now, then, location has a good deal 

 to do, also. I have not the best loca- 

 tion in the world, but more depends 

 upon the bee-keeper. I don't care in 

 what location he is, you may have the 

 best location in the world, if he is not 

 a man up to his business and knows 

 how to take advantage of conditions, 

 he is not going to succeed in bee- 

 keeping or anything else. 



Mr. Dadant — I don't mean to say, as 

 I said before, that we have given you 

 an entire cure for the prevention of 

 swarming. Undoubtedly there are con- 

 ditions that will cause swarming more 

 than others; but that does not deter 

 from the arguments given. We are all 

 working under certain conditions, and, 

 if certain methods succeed better than 

 others under those conditions, let us 

 follow them. There are differences in 

 conditions that cause swarming; there 



