1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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[When Mr. Holtermann jirepared this ar- 

 ticle he had not seen the editorial on p. 241 

 of April 15th issue showing the undoubted 

 tendency of bee-keepers toward the ten- 

 frame rather than eight-frame hive; neither 

 had we seen his article. 



While a twelve-frame-hive capacity may 

 be all right, it does not fit standard covers, 

 bottom-boards, comb-honey supers, nor ex- 

 tracting -supers already on the market. 

 Strong arguments can b6 built up in favor 

 of the same capacity of hive with ten frames, 

 two inches deeper than the regular standard 

 Langstroth, sometimes called the Jumbo. 

 As the Dadants have pointed out, these 

 large frames of Quinby dimensions are splen- 

 did for the rearing of brood. In our judg- 

 ment it is far more important to have a hive 

 that will fit standard supers, covers, and 

 bottom-boards, than one that will fit some 

 standard frame. One can adopt the .Jumbo 

 hive and still keep on using the standard 

 Langstroth ten-frame hives and supers. He 

 can use Langstroth frames in .Jumbo hive- 

 bodies, but, of course, he could not tier up 

 very well using such frames, nor would it be 

 necessary for him to do so. If a big hive is a 

 honey and a money getter, if it is a non- 

 swarmer, or practically so when operated for 

 extracted honey, then all the arguments that 

 our correspondent has made in favor of the 

 twelve -frame Langstroth will apply with 

 equal force, and more, to the .Jumbo, which 

 is, to all intents and purposes, the modern 

 Quinby frame. The .Jumbo frame is nothing 

 more nor less than the Quinby having Lang- 

 stroth length of top-bar and bottom-bar, but 

 Quinby end-bars. In favor of the .Jumbo we 

 might say further that the Quinby Jumbo 

 hive, having larger comb capacity per frame, 

 requires less frame-handling. We are not 

 quite prepared to admit that a queen will not 

 go readily up into a second story of a sectional 

 brood-chamber. If a colony is strong enough, 

 if the queen is cramped for laying room in 

 the lower section of a sectional hive, she will 

 have no hesitancy, according to our experi- 

 ence, in going into the next story. 



Taking it all in all, one should study his 

 locality very carefully before deciding on a 

 larger brood-nest than a ten-frame standard 

 Langstroth. If extracted honey is the ob- 

 ject we fail to see that enough would be gain- 

 ed to offset all the inconvenience of being 

 out of tune with the rest of the bee-keeping 

 world, to say nothing of the added expense 

 of extra-wide sui)ers, covers, and bottoms. If 

 tliat capacity is better, adopt the Jumbo 

 size of hive that will fit standard Lang- 

 stroth ten-frame supers, covers, bottoms, 

 honey-boards, hive-stands, winter-cases, and 

 drone-traps. 



The Jumbo is a standard hive, obtaina- 

 ble, we believe, from most dealers; while 

 the twelve-frame Langstroth is sold no- 

 where, and would have to be treated as an 

 odd-sized hive. This would necessitate in 

 the height of tlie season delay, and an add- 

 ed cost because it is odd-sized. One should 

 codsider the matter in all its bearings. See 

 editorial on page 307 this issue. — Ed.] 



DIRECT INTRODUCTION BY THE FAST- 

 ING METHOD. 



Laying Queens or Virgins Allowed to Run Di- 

 rectly into the Hive. 



BY J. M. BUCHANAN. 



As the time approaches for requeening, 

 the bee-keeper looks about for the best 

 method of introduction. It is commonly 

 conceded that the plans in general use are 

 not satisfactory. Dr. Miller asks for a safe 

 method, and is told that there is no abso- 

 lutely sure plan. As there is nothing about 

 the business of bee-keeping that is absolute- 

 ly sure, that is perhaps true. During the 

 past winter several new methods, or varia- 

 tions of old methods, have been exploited 

 in the bee-journals, all of which were more 

 or less fussy, and none of which gave prom- 

 ise of mucli improvement over the plans in 

 general use. For several years I have been 

 using- a plan which is at once easy, quick^ 

 and sure. As I have tested it thoroughly I 

 can recommend it to the bee-keeping pub- 

 lic as something of real merit. Mr. N. O. 

 Walker, President of the Tennessee Bee- 

 keepers' Association, and a bee-keeper of 

 forty years' experience, says of it, "Tliis 

 plan is far ahead of any other I have ever 

 used." 



Now for actual results: Out of 250 queens' 

 introduced by this method during the past 

 three years I have lost only three, and those 

 were given to laying- worker colonies; while 

 during the same time, and under practical- 

 ly the same conditions, I have had about 

 twenty per cent of failures by the ordinary 

 cage-and-candy plan. 



Here is the direct method, as practiced in 

 my own apiary: About the middle of the 

 day the old queen is removed; or if the col- 

 ony has been queenless for more than twelve 

 hours the combs are closely examined, and 

 all queen-cells cut out. This is important. 

 Now get a piece of wire cloth about three 

 inches square. Roll this into the form of a 

 cylinder % inch in diameter. Tie a string 

 around it, and insert a cork in each end. 

 This is our "introducing cage.'' Just be- 

 fore sundown place the new queen, alone, 

 and without food, in the introducing-cage, 

 and place this out of the reach of any bees, 

 and let it remain thus for three-quarters of 

 an hour. Now the hive-cover is partly re- 

 moved so as to expose one or two frames, 

 and a very little smoke blown in to drive 

 back the bees. Take out one of the corks of 

 the cage, and let the queen run down be- 

 tween the frames. Blow in another whifif 

 of smoke and close up the hive, and the op- 

 eration is done. 



It seems that the scent of the queen has 

 less to do with her acceptance by the colony 

 than her behavior on being released; if she 

 is frightened, or acts in a haughty or inso- 

 lent manner, the bees recognize her as a 

 stranger, and promptly sting or worry her 

 to death. If, however, she is lonesome and 

 hungry, as is the case when introduced by 

 this method, instead of running as if fright- 



