160 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



those holes, and they think there are too many 

 empty cells to swarm. 



" Bees will winter better in the cellar, if in 

 chaff hives, than they will in single-walled 

 hives, providing they are fixed as they should 

 be in the cellar." Each hive is raised three or 

 four inches from the bottom -board, and its cap 

 Is taken off. The bees eat less, and hence are 

 healthier. So says Doolittle. 



Neak the close of the main honey-flow, 

 put ripe queen-cells in supers or extracting- 

 stories, and in four cases out of five your old 

 queen will be superseded.— iJ. F. Quigley, in 

 Revierv. I tried a lot in that way, and all fail- 

 ed. But I did it at the beginning of the honey- 

 flow. 



" Do the five-handed Italians average bet- 

 ter than the three-handed or worse? " To this 

 question in A. B. J., Doolittle replies, " Equally 

 good or better during 1894." Dr. Tinker thinks 

 favorably of them, while the rest either think 

 there is no difference, or that they are not so 

 good. 



This joke is on mc. T. P. Andrews sends a 

 postal: "Why don't you look in the Standard 

 dictionary when you want to know what a 

 word like lysol means?" Looking, I find, 

 " Lysol. A saponified product of coal-tar, con- 

 taining cresol: used as a disinfectant." So 

 that's the new foul-brood cure. But, say; isn't 

 there a law against writing "sassy " things on 

 a postal ? 



Dadant, in the Review, takes the ground 

 that the greater or less ductility of foundation 

 is not due to the manner in which it is melted, 

 but to the tnanipuLation that it undergoes 

 when cold; that rolled foundation is like 

 wrought iron, and Given or cast foundation is 

 like cast iron; and, moreover, that, " founda- 

 tion which has been standing a long time be- 

 comes more and more brittle, so that, at the 

 end of a couple of years, a piece of molded foun- 

 dation is about as brittle as a piece of fresh 

 Given foundation." [We are now working on 

 a set of rolls to make Given foundation. In 

 comparing the article from the press, I found 

 that its distinctive feature was thick and heavy 

 side walls, and these can be made on rolls as 

 well as on the press. Our Mr. Washburn, from 

 a sample of Given, made a punch to emboss the 

 rolls that I expect will duplicate the side walls 

 of Given foundation made by Mr. Taylor on 

 his press. We made some experiments in this 

 line last summer, and the results were exceed- 

 ingly gratifying. This time we propose to go 

 one step further, and make an exact duplicate 

 of Given on rolls. Now, then, we confidently 

 expect that this wax will have all the good 

 qualities of both the rolled and the Given foun- 

 dation. Well, now, do not go and send in or- 

 ders; because, as soon as the wax is ready, due 

 announcement will be made, so that all can 

 lest it who desire.— Ed. J 



ms^^mm 



LARGE HIVES. 



WHY THEY ARE MOKE PROFITABLE; EGG-LAY- 

 ING CAPACITY OF QUEENS, AND ITS 

 RELATION TO THE SIZE OF 

 THE BROOD-NEST. 



By C. Dadant & San. 



Friend Root:— Your little editorial on large 

 hives, page 101, was duly perused; and the 

 taunt that it contained, viz., " Now that there 

 are more bee-keepers on their side, perhaps 

 they can set forth their views with more as- 

 surance," had the desired effect; for we were 

 preparing an article in reply when we received 

 your letter calling our attention to this matter. 

 Indeed, after all we said on the subject, in 

 Langstroth Revised, especially pages 150 to 153 

 (see note at bottom of page 152), and after all 

 the articles we have written from time to time 

 in different bee-journals, what do you expect 

 us to do to get the bee-keepers to try large 

 hives? Must we adopt the plan of the train- 

 robbers, who ask for your money or your life, 

 and demand of you and others " lanie hives or 

 your life" f Would that be setting forth our 

 views with " assurance enough " to suit you ? 



We have never lost an opportunity of setting 

 forth our preference for the large hive and for 

 the large frame; nor is it a whimsical fancy 

 that led us to this preference, but a protracted 

 experience with three kinds of hives— the ten- 

 frame Langstroth, the eleven-frame Quinby, 

 and the fourteen-frame American. We began 

 with a nine-frame hive here, in 1864 or '65. the 

 frames of which were about like the American 

 frame, and increased these hives to 14 frames 

 in the course of a few years. We have had for 

 30 years from 10, at the beginning, to 60 hives 

 of this style in use. We still have about 60 of 

 them. We then tried the eight-frame Quinby; 

 and afterward, in 1868-'69, made these hives 

 with from 10 to 14 frames, finally settling on 

 the eleven-frame as the best size for us. Then, 

 as we were selling bees in hives in large num- 

 bers, in 1872-'76, we concluded that we had 

 best keep the then most popular hive, the ten- 

 frame Langstroth, and we made 100 of them. 

 These, with a few eight-frame Quinby hives, 

 were kept first in a separate apiary, and later 

 were divided in equal numbers with larger 

 Quinby hives in two different apiaries. In 

 spite of the meager returns of those small ten- 

 frame Langstroth hives, we kept a number of 

 them until three or four years ago, for the rea- 

 son that, when a colony of bees was purchased 

 of us, it was usually wanted in a Langstroth 

 hive; the bee-keepers who bought such colo- 

 nies having their apiaries already stocked with 

 this style of frame. But as we found, again 



