1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



163 



expression of features, inflection, and gesture 

 are all lost; and what would be very easily un- 

 derstood in the way the speaker intended when 

 standing face to face, becomes a mystery when 

 reduced to the dead level of cold type. He 

 must be a master indeed who can express his 

 opinions and ideas as well with the pen as 

 with the voice. 



While I think none have willfully misinter- 

 preted my articles on the eight and ten frame 

 question, many have ascribed ideas and opin- 

 ions to me that I never held, and that have 

 been furthest from my thoughts while pen- 

 ning the articles; so I shall have to lay the 

 cause to one of two reasons — either my povcnuy 

 of expression is so great that I have failed to 

 say what I wanted to, or their discernment has 

 been so keen that they have read between the 

 lines things that were never there. 



My time is so taken up at present that I can 

 not hunt up each specific case, but must gen- 

 eralize somewhat. 



DO I BELIEVE IN AND PRACTICE TIERING UP? 



Most assuredly, I do: and yet some seem to 

 think that I advocate only side storage and the 

 "Long-Idea" hive, simply because I think 

 bees will increase faster, and get stronger by 

 the beginning of the honey harvest, if a hive is 

 used large enough to keep the queen laying up 

 to her capacity, without putting another hive 

 over it. After the harvest commences, tier up 

 as high as you like — one, two, or three supers, 

 as the strength of the colony will require. I do 

 not remember of ever having a colony require 

 more than three full-sized hives on top, to give 

 all the room needed, but have had any amount 

 of them that require four hives, in all 34 frames, 

 to accommodate them. 



UUEEN GOING DOWN OIJ UP. 



I have never had any trouble from the queen 

 going down afler putting another story on, if 

 the top hive is allcnved to get full; but this fill- 

 ing of the top hive with brood is (tlwdys at 

 the expense of emptying frames in the lower 

 hive, for I never had a queen that would keep 

 both hives full of eggs; and if she is crowded 

 down for lack of room above, it is two or three 

 days before she will go, and hence so much lost 

 time at the most critical time, just before the 

 harvest begins. Therefore I'd rather have a 

 hive up to her fullest capacity, and have her 

 doing her best at all times. 



E. France asks if I would call a queen that 

 could keep only eight framc^s full a " boomer." 

 Yes. indeed, I would; but when I say " full," I 

 mean full and kept so. 



AVHERE THE QUEEN SHOULD BE KEPT. 



After the honey harvest has commenced, and 

 all has been done to get your force ready for 

 onslaught of field and forest, it is of but small 

 concern of mine where the queen is, or that 

 they have a queen at all. In practice, no at- 

 tention is paid to that part of the hive— i. e.. 



the lower story; the main thing is to keep plen- 

 ty of empty combs over the brood-nest. 



THAT BEE -TREE PROBLEM. 



The facts as to the condition of the combs 

 and colony living in the tree, as described by 

 Mr. P>ance, are, first, the cavity occupied by 

 them was largest in the middle, and tapered 

 toward each end, being six feet long by 232 feet 

 in the middle, and all the brood at the lower 

 part, and two feet or more below the entrance. 

 I infer that all the top part of the hollow was 

 filled with honey, although Mr. F. does not say 

 so; but as he says a tubful was taken from the 

 two trees, and only two dishpanfuls from the 

 other, the last must have had a washtubful, 

 less the aforesaid two panfuls; as, of course, 

 there was not much room, if any, for brood ex- 

 cept at the lower end of the hive, or just heloiv 

 the honey, where I should expect to find it. 

 Now let me answer Mr. F. by asking him a few 

 questions, like any other Yankee. 1. Was not 

 this at the close of or after the honey harvest? 

 and was not the queen crowded down by the 

 honey stored in the combs above? or had not 

 she arranged things for consumption rather 

 than for production? Eemember, it is be/o?'c 

 the harvest I have been talking about, not 

 after, when instinct teaches the bees to ar- 

 range their brood-nest for winter convenience 

 and accessibility of stores. 2. Were the condi- 

 tions, aside from time of year, the same where 

 there was a continuous comb from top to bot- 

 tom, and two hives, one over the other, with 

 two strips of wood, and a bee-space varying all 

 the way from .^4 down to M inch? I do not pre- 

 sume there is one really essential thing that 

 ray good friend France would disagree about 

 under like conditions. Our fields vary some- 

 what, and so require different management to 

 meet those conditions; and this question of 

 management answers many seeming differences 

 of opinions. But this is leading into another 

 field, and I shall have to leave this question for 

 some other, so I can tell how I get along with- 

 out the disadvantage of lifting my ten-frame 

 hives much, and yet get all their advantages. 



Ithaca, Wis.. Feb. U. 



[I suppose, friend Hatch, you have myself in 

 mind, as well as Dr. Miller and others who 

 have been on the other side of the fence. I for 

 one had not intended to misconstrue you. but 

 perliaps I did so. In any event. I do not think 

 your position can be misunderstood as above 

 given. In the second place, you have the satis^ 

 faction of knowing that you started this discus- 

 sion, and have brought io your assistance njore 

 bee keepers who are ready to support your 

 views, wholly or in part, than you or any of us 

 were aware of. 



I am afraid that some of our readers will not 

 be able to decide this question for themselves. 

 For instance, they will read Mr. Boardman's 

 and Mr. Doolittle's articles in the last issue, 

 and then read your own and Mr. Dadant's ar- 

 ticle above. All four are men of sterling iur 

 tegrity. and bee-keepers of large experience 

 and ability. Then how shall we get at the 

 truth ? Locality seems to me to offer the only 



