Sept. IS, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



631 



Several of the members pave some disadvantages of 

 such a package. The main one was that it was too high, 

 and that it was too often thrown down on its side, when 

 the contents would leak out. Any package that is too high 

 is thrown over in rapid handling, and in piling up, as every- 

 body knows too well if they are acquainted with the way 

 the railroad people handle things. 



W. H. Laws told of an instance where he had shipped 

 a case of honey in a 60-lb. can cased singly. He delivered 

 it to the freight agent. About a week afterward he saw the 

 same case lying on its side in the freight depot, and almost 

 all the honey leaked out of the can. Since then, whenever 

 he has to ship out a single can, he simply sends it out in a 

 case that holds two cans, taking out one of them, so that 

 there is not so much danger of the case being turned over. 



Willie Atchley told of a new package for honey that his 

 father, E. J. Atchley, got out recently. It is a square can 

 the same as the old 8-inch screw-top can, but only half as 

 high, and holds 25 pounds. This makes a nice can for 

 honey, and two in a case makes a package of about 60 

 pounds with the case. It is a flat package, and is easily 

 handled. The cans are not so deep, and therefore it is a 

 good all-around can for the bee-keeper. The cost is low, 

 too. 



The Texas Honey-Producers' Association has had a 

 great deal of experience in this line, and they say that a <)0- 

 Ib. package is in the greatest demand with them ; that there 

 is a call for one can of 60 pounds of honey, or a single can, 

 and if shipped out in a case by itself it was unsatisfactory. 

 They could get any amount of orders for single 60-1-b. cans, 

 and that they have thought it best to have part of the honey 

 in one-can cases, and some in two-can cases of the 60-lb. 

 cans. 



He said that there was no place for the 121b. cans, as 

 those who sometimes ordered them and were told that they 

 had none of them would order the 61b. cans, every time. 

 Therefore, the bee-keepers will strive toward having none 

 but the 3 and 6 pound friction-top cans in 60-lb. packages, 

 and the 60 lb. cans in one and two case sizes until they can 

 get a better size of the large cans. 



(Continued next week.) 



c 



Contributed Articles 





Queen-Excluders and Their Use. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



MR. DADANT :— I have read with interest your article 

 regarding queen-excluders, but with my 8 and 10 

 frame hives I am obliged to differ from you. I began 

 a few days ago to extract, but found the honey, in part, not 

 ripe enough to suit me, therefore I gave it up again. I am 

 now putting the fourth hive-bodies (or third supers) on most 

 of my colonies. But let me tell in what condition I find 

 part of my hives. I suspect the majority are in that con- 

 dition. 



First, the body or brood-chamber is mostly filled with 

 pollen ; some have some brood, some have none. The sec- 

 ond body, or first super, is largely filled with brood ; third 

 body, or second super, has some brood in most of the center 

 combs. I have a few hives with queen-excluder on an 8- 

 frame body ; these hives have two supers nearly filled with 

 honey. (When I speak about supers here they are full- 

 depth extracting supers, the same as the brood-chamber). 



With your large hives the queens may stay down ; with 

 my 8 and 10 frame hives they will move up. It seems the 

 bees crowd the brood-chamber full of pollen, and then move 

 up, but then again some have plenty of empty cells below, 

 and still the brood is above. 



Excuse this letter, but I felt like writing a few lines in 

 reply to your article, as my bees work so differently from 

 yours. RoBT. A. Hoi,Ekamp. 



St. Louis Co., Mo., Aug. 20. 



I have just received the above letter. I have also lately 

 received similar information from a bee-keeper located only 

 about 12 miles from us, a Mr. Null, who also uses the 10- 

 frame Langstroth hive. This illustrates the necessity of 

 never dictating any special method of culture to different 

 people located in different spots, and using different imple- 

 ments. It is very evident to me that the difference in re- 

 sults is due to the hives used. We are in the habit of say- 

 ing that the advantages of the movable-frame hive reside 

 entirely in the manipulations that the hive permits, but 

 there is certainly something also in the size and shape of a 

 hive, not only for wintering but in many other instances. 



The hive we use, and have been using for years, is 

 similar to the regular Langstroth in every respect, except 

 the length and depth of the frames, and I believe I can show 

 why the bees behave differently in these. 



Queens do not like to lay eggs in a small comb, but 

 they like still less to go over an empty space, or a space 

 covered with wood, while laying. Those of my readers who 

 have tried frames divided horizontally or vertically in the 

 middle by a slat, have noticed that in numerous instances 

 the queens will breed on one side of the dividing slat and 

 not on the other. That is how I explain the reluctance of 

 the queen to leave the brood-combs. She will more readily 

 cross over from one comb to the other than step over a bee- 

 space and two wooden slats to ascend or descend from one 

 story to another. So if the combs are large and spacious it 

 will not be difficult to keep the queen in the breeding apart- 

 ment without excluders. 



But if the frames are not sufficiently numerous, or the 

 combs are not large enough to accommodate the queen to 

 the fullest of her laying capacity, she will leave the story 

 she occupies, and if she finds another of equal size, as to 

 the capacity of the brood-combs, she will there elect her 

 domicile permanently. There is no probability of her leav- 

 ing the upper story after she has once moved there, until 

 this upper story again becomes crowded with honey. As 

 the bees always put their honey above them, or between 

 them and the roof, as far away from the entrance as pos- 

 sible, the queen will sooner or later be crowded back, unless 

 the space occupied is too large for their needs. 



With a very capacious brood-chamber, capable of accom- 

 modating the most prolific queens, and supers of shallower 

 depth, such as we use, we avoid the difficulties mentioned. 

 The queen has usually sufficient room below for breeding, 

 and when she goes to the upper story she finds there a shal- 

 lower frame, which does not permit her to lay her eggs in a 

 large circle such as she prefers. She, therefore, is less 

 prone to remain. 



As to the great gathering and storing of pollen in the 

 brood-combs, this is only a temporary occurrence, due to the 

 peculiar season we are having in this part of the country. 

 The flowers have bloomed uninterruptedly from May till 

 August, and while there has been occasion for the bees to 

 gather as much pollen as they wished right along, the 

 honey harvest has been very intermittent. A good flow of 

 honey would cause the bees to gather less pollen, and the 

 surplus of it would be consumed. But it behooves the bee- 

 keeper to make sure of what the brood-combs contain for 

 winter. 



If I were in the place of the above-mentioned bee-keep- 

 ers, I would take up those lower stories and place them at 

 the top, thus doing away with the pollen-combs for the 

 time. It would also be necessary to crowd the bees some 

 for room, that is, give them less room that if all was in a 

 normal condition. The colony would thus crowd more 



