204 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



I must come right out square and 

 flat-footed and say I do not agree with 

 my good friend, Greiner, in thinking 

 that the National Association is domi- 

 nated b}', and run in the interests of 

 the few, and those few dealers and edi- 

 tors. Ninety-nine hundredths of the 

 members are producers, pure and sim- 



ple, and, of its 16 officers, three-fourths 

 are producers; and the three or four 

 who are dealers or editors (as well as 

 producers) can easily step down and 

 out if their present position is a bar to 

 Virogress; although some of them have 

 labored long and unselfishly for the 

 good of the Association.] — Ed. Keview. 



Tlie 



H. A. SMITH. 



ITJ FTER a young man has fairly 

 -fl launched into bee-keeping, almost 

 the first thing he does is to invent a 

 hive, which to his mind, conforms to 

 the needs of the bees and himself bet- 

 ter than any other hive. 



If his business expands, however, 

 unless he possesses the necessary ma- 

 chiner}', he has to buy factory-made 

 hives, when, much to his chagrin, but 

 often to his advantage, he is obliged to 

 give up his odd-sized hobby-hive, and 

 adopt the standard. I say often to his 

 advantage, because I know that the 

 standard Langstroth hive is by no 

 means tiie worst hive a man can use. 

 But is it the best for all purposes? 



The first hives I used were too small 

 to get good results in surplus, as there 

 was not sufficient room for brood, and 

 consequently bees, unless two bodies 

 were used for a brood nest, which 

 made the hive too large. I found, how- 

 ever, that the bees wintered excellently 

 in these little hives after they were 

 contracted to one body in the fall. The 

 hive was almost a perfect cube, but its 

 capacity was equal to only 6)^ Lang- 

 stroth frames. I soon adopted the 

 eight-frame Langstroth hive and I 

 found that, although I get better re- 

 sults in surplus, the bees in them did 

 not winter nearly so well as in the 

 former hive. In a warmer climate thSn 



that of Ontario I have no doubt the 

 Langstroth would be an ideal hive. 



But I winter my bees out of doors, 

 and I find that in a cold winter the 

 hive that keeps the bulk of the hone3' 

 over or near the cluster at all times is 

 the hive that winters. I have found 

 colonies dead in Langstroth hives with 

 plenty of honey in the hive but practi- 

 cally out of reach. 



Now, you will observe that the hive I 

 first used was an ideal winterer, but 

 inferior in regard to surplus getting. 

 I have found the Langstroth hive a 

 poor winterer, but when taken care of 

 in thespring, and brood rearing helped 

 by careful feeding, it is an ideal sur- 

 plus hive. Tne thing for me to do was 

 to build a hive which would strike a 

 kind of medium, and I did it, and I am 

 as pleased with my hive as any be- 

 ginner could be over his first venture 

 at building a bee hive. 



I decided first to build a nice-frame 

 hiv«, but I found that by making a ten- 

 frame hive it would be perfectly square. 

 It measures 14 J^ each way and is 

 about 3 inches deeper than the Lang- 

 stroth hive. It preserves the correct 

 capacity for both brood rearing and 

 securing surplus, and I find that col- 

 onies winter in them perfectly, and I 

 believe with less honey, as what they 

 have is mostly over the cluster, or very 



