June, 1908. 



^ American ^Bee Journal 



In Europe, in the French - speaking 

 countries, the comparison was made with 

 the Burki-Jecker hive (Swiss) which 

 under the same reckoning required at 

 least 12 frames, and the Layens hive 

 which required 10, to get each hive to 

 the adequate size in the brood-cliamber 

 for the accommodation of the most pro- 

 lific queens. Not only have these figures 

 been almost universally accepted as cor- 

 rect, but many of those who used the 

 8-frame Langstroth hive went farther 

 and doubled the size of their brood- 

 chamber by adding another body, mak- 

 ing the room altogether too large. They 

 have now in some places changed to the 

 2 - story Danzenbaker 10 - frame hive, 

 which though much nearer correct than 

 the double-story Langstroth, is still a lit- 

 tle too large when used in double stories, 

 to accoinmodate queens and not get too 

 much surplus honey in the brood-combs. 



The comparison made in our apiaries 

 between different systems was all carried 

 upon a large scale. We had two apiaries 

 in the seventies devoted to lo-frame 

 Langstroth hives, which were positively 

 recognized as too small in single stories, 

 the other 4 apiaries run by us under 

 the same management with large hives 

 always giving better results, even when 

 the location was changed from one place 

 to another. Meanwhile some apiarists 

 were proclaiming the 8-frame Langstroth 

 hive as still too large for them, and 

 some were talking of reducing it to 6 

 frames. They had never found out 

 what queens could do, and they under- 

 estimated them. 



There are still many people who be- 

 lieve a small hive best, because they 

 look through the wrong end of the tele- 

 scope. For instance, we have neighbors 

 who use 8-frame Langstroth hives and 

 have early swarms every year. Their 

 hives become overcrowded by May isth, 

 about the time of fruit-bloom; the bees 

 cast small swarms, and the owner re- 

 joices in imagining that his colonies are 

 considerably better than ours, since we 

 have very few swarms, and no early 

 ones at all. The fact is that our bees 

 are still comfortable, and the queens 

 still have room to lay and increase the 

 strength of the colony when their bees 

 are "at the end of the string" and must 

 either defer breeding, or swarm. Re- 

 sult : many small swarms and little hon- 

 ey. When the harvest comes, our pow- 

 erful colonies leave everything else in 

 the shade, and the same men who have 

 had such early swarms wonder how 

 we could harvest so much honey. It 

 is very simple. The queens have not 

 been detained in their laying, the bees 

 have not suffered for want of space, 

 the colony is in the very best condition, 

 and if supplied with ample supers in 

 time brings the very best results. A 

 large brood-chamber (not too large) 

 and plenty of stores is the cause, other 

 conditions l)eing equal, of course. 



The above gives the results of years 

 of expcrienr.- with brood-chambers con- 

 sidered too larije by many practical nicn 

 who condemned those large hives with- 

 out having ever tried them. 



Mr. J. E. Hand, on page 144, inti- 

 mates that I do not understand thq 

 methods of today, and flatly calls our 

 methods " slow-going," and the man 

 who practices them "a back number." 

 if Mr. Hand could be with us a little 



while he would find that we do not 

 practice "handling, brushing and inter- 

 changing" as much as he thinks, and that 

 the speed of manipulations of which 

 he boasts may be on our side rather 

 than on his. Last year, in a discussion 

 brought about in Gleanings, when 

 Messrs. Hand and Chambers attacked 

 my methods, I spoke of their not hav- 

 ing tried the methods I advocate. To 

 this Mr. Chambers replied that he had 

 near him an apiary of Dadant hives 

 which proved very inferior as breeding 

 hives. A later investigation revealed the 

 fact that those were not Dadant hives 

 at all, but ordmary Tri-State lo-frame 

 Langstroth hives ordered from us by the 

 party in question. The lo-frame Langs- 

 troth hive is the most spread of all the 

 hives in America ; but I repeat it, that 

 hive is too small in my estimation for 

 good production. It is very clear to 

 me that Mr. Danzenbaker realized this 

 when he invented the hive which bears 

 his name, for he has made a hive which 

 is more than ample when used in 2 

 stories. 



Mr. Hand is not the first man to call 

 "back numbers" those who do not ac- 

 cept of insufficiently tried methods. 

 When the "reversing hive" craze struck 

 the United States some 25 or 30 years 

 ago, every other man had a pet hive 

 and theory on reversing, and the re- 

 sults which were extraordinary in some 

 instances made everybody wonder as .to 

 the outcome. 



An inventor of "invertible hives" sent 

 his foreman to us to explaiii to us what 

 could be obtained by inverting with his 

 method, and forcing the bees to trans- 

 port their honey from the bottom of the 

 brood-chamber — where inverting placed 

 it — to the super. It increased their ac- 

 tivity, made them fill the combs more 

 fully with brood, secured the best honey, 

 etc. And it reallv did. This was all 

 true. But in the long run all this was 

 found not practical, and more trouble 

 than profit, and not one man in a thou- 

 sand today practices inversion, although 

 the inversion people called us "back 

 numbers" then. 



I venture to predict that unless Mr. 

 Hand, or some other man, manages iii a 

 way to change entirely the natural in- 

 stinct of the bees in regard to keeping 

 more than one queen in a hive; unless 

 they manage to secure a method by 

 which they may keep 2 or more queens 

 in the hive during the entire year, very 

 few people will accept this method of 

 dividing colonies in the fall to reunite 

 them in the spring, and the new sys- 

 tem which goes contrary to the natural 

 instinct of the insect. 



I do not wish, however, to be under- 

 stood as attempting to dissuade apiarists 

 from experimenting on those new meth- 

 ods. On the contrary, there can be noth- 

 ing but profit in experiments, but I be- 

 lieve in going slowly in matters that 

 conflict with the natural instincts of the 

 bees. 



"Keep more bees !" Yes, keep- more 

 bees and do not waste so much time 

 in manipulations. We handle neither 

 hive-bodies nor frames half as much as 

 those who want short cuts in bee-cul- 

 ture and call us "back numbers." But 

 when we do have to handle brood- 

 frames we have only 9 to handle in- 

 stead of 20, while at the same time we 



supply our bees with a spacious brood 

 chamber. 



Our hives are not 

 lifted every few days, 

 no need for a lifting 

 such as I have seen 

 or three places as one 

 of the new system of 



Hamilton, 111. 



carried about and 

 therefore we have 

 device or derrick, 

 described in two 

 of the implements 

 "short cuts." 



Apiarian Rights of Priority 



BY C. A. WORTH. 



In answer to Dr. Miller's article on 

 the question whether it would be prac- 

 tical and also legitimate to have protec- 

 tion from the Government, for the right 

 of apiarian locations, I will say that I 

 cannot see where there would be any 

 justice in such legislation, except where 

 there are large forest reserves or other 

 government territory. I cannot under- 

 stand how the Doctor expects the Gov- 

 ernment to protect him for a small 

 amount of taxes, and secure him in the 

 privilege and rights to keep bees that 

 will gather nectar from the fields and 

 premises of other parties. In 'my opin- 

 ion, the proposition is just this: 



Two farmers live side by side. A has 

 a fine, large pasturage of 50 or 60 acres, 

 but no stock of any kind to consume the 

 grass ; therefore, B must be protected 

 because he pays a tax on his cattle, and 

 is entitled to let his cattle run on A's 

 pasturage, and still B is not benefited, 

 except in getting rid of the grass, and by 

 what fertilizer is left behind the stock. 

 That is about all the bee-keeper has to 

 propose to his neighbor when the neigh- 

 Ijor gets "up in the air" over the bee- 

 keepej-'s bees bothering his horses at the 

 watermg-tank — they are fertilizers of the 

 fruit. (Of course I mean the bees). 



But as I read the Doctor's side of the 

 question, I see where he has occasion to 

 be alarmed on account of the promis- 

 cuous spreading of foul brood and other 

 diseases of the bees, but to overcome 

 that, I suggest that we all work toward 

 the end of securing protection of the 

 State in guarding against the spread of 

 bee-diseases. I would suggest that we 

 see that proper laws are enacted, and 

 then do our utmost to secure their en- 

 forcement. A law with a sufficient pen- 

 alty attached will stop the spreading of 

 the disease, as far as the moving of 

 farmers with 20 or 40 colonies^ with 

 foul brood is concerned. Make it $10 

 fine for any one to move bees more than 

 5 miles, or whatever is thought to be 

 sufficient, without first having the bees 

 examined by the bee-inspector of the 

 county or district. In case the bees 

 are found to be diseased, make it $250 

 to move them, even into a locality 

 known to have the disease. If this kind 

 of restrictions be placed upon the pos- 

 sessors of bees, there will soon cease 

 the spreading^of foul brood. 



The Doctor takes his stand with the 

 early settlers of the United States. Pro- 

 tection of the white man was accorded 

 on every hand. He was protected for 

 taking without even haying to pay for 

 the protection, except in the way the 

 poor, ignorant, uncivilized Indians re- 

 taliated by massacres, etc. I suppose 

 there is not an American Init who is 

 proud of his nativity. Still the un- 

 christian manner in which the people 



