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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mak 



brood-framos is all that I can tolerate. Those 

 horizontal loaling-halls undoubtedly hinder, 

 and may be the sole cause of their halting be- 

 tween two opinions until necessity or the bee- 

 keeper (by putting the partly filled super on 

 top) compels the bees to reach up overhead and 

 draw themselves through those imported 

 spaces. 



There, now, I've given Dr. Miller another 

 chance to say, "All the same, I want a bee- 

 space between the supers," and probably a 

 majority of bee-keepers will always tolerate 

 the nuisance because of some advantages, and 

 also trouble of making the change in the sur- 

 plus-arrangements. But the specialist, who 

 manipulates not for pleasure, but for the money 

 there is in it, will shut down on those prome- 

 nade-halls, and keep his bees Inside of the sec- 

 tions, where they will be useful, instead of 

 scrubbing and daubing the top of every section. 

 If those who do not enjoy lifting supers off and 

 on again, and those ready to crawl out of that 

 horizontal rut are of sufficient number to war- 

 rant space for a description in Gi-eanings, I 

 will explain how they can test the principle, 

 with but little expense or labor. 



bavanna, 111. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



WHY THE EMPTY SUl'Ell SIIOUI,D BE PUT UN- 

 UEU; THE PHILOSOPHY OF HEAT RIS- 

 ING, ETC. 



In the first place, friend Handel, I don't lift 

 /(caiii/supcrsoff the hive and on again. They're 

 only about half full, and weigh somewhere in 

 the neighborhood of 15 pounds. But I suspect 

 there isn't as much difference in the amount of 

 strength laid out as you suppose, between your 

 way and mine. Let us compare. 



Suppose on the same date you and I have 

 each a hive on which there is a super half filled, 

 ready for an empty super to be added. I go to 

 mine, lift off the half-filled super, put on the 

 empty one, then lift back the half-filled super. 

 You simply put the empty super on top, without 

 touching the half-filled one. Now we'll go 

 again when the first super is ready to take off, 

 the second one being about half full. You lift 

 off the half-lilled super, take off the full one, 

 then put back the half- filled one. I take oft' 

 the full one without touching ihe half-filled 

 one. So you see the labor exactly balances. 

 You do the extra lifting one time, and I do it 

 the other. That's on the supposition that we 

 know, without looking, just when the full one 

 is ready to take off. As a matter of actual fact, 

 we don't know when the full one is ready to 

 take off', and a good many times look at it only 

 to find it not yet ready. At such times you 

 have to lift off' the partly filled one and then 

 lift it back, whereas I have no lifting to do. 

 That makes my way appear to have less lifting 

 than yours, doesn't itV 



So my answer to your question, why I waste 

 my strength "lifting heavy supers off the hive 



and on again," is because I don't know any 

 other way that takes so little lifting. 



Y'ou have proven to your satisfaction that 

 bees commence work just as readily in the 

 second super if it be placed on top as if placed 

 under. Others have proved equally to their 

 satisfaction that bees will commence always as 

 readily, and generally more readily, in a super 

 placed under. So the only thing is for one to 

 practice one way and the other to practice the 

 other way. Only the beginner, until he has 

 had experience of his own, will do well to follow 

 the practice that has been found best by almost 

 all, for, as you say, almost all raise the partly 

 finished super and puD the empty one under. 



You want me to trot out my reasons for 

 creating that unnatural vacuum between the 

 surplus and the brood, if I have any "as good " 

 as yours. All right; I'll produce the best 

 trotting stock I have. But, first, suppose we 

 take a look at the teeth of your trotters. " The 

 heat escaping from the brood-chamber will 

 accumulate in the top of the hive," and so the 

 wax-workers, which need heat, ought to be 

 there. Granted that heat rises, does it accumu- 

 late? Right by where I am now sitting is a 

 small register which lets the heat up from a 

 fire below. When the register is open, allow- 

 ing the hot air to rise through it, the metal be- 

 comes so hot it burns my fingers. Now close 

 the register and let the heat "accumulate." 

 Does the metal get red hot? On the contrary, 

 it becomes quite cool to the touch. Don't take 

 things for granted, but " prove all things," and 

 then you'll not think the second super is warm- 

 er than the one under it. Heat rises from a 

 stove, and it's warmer at the ceiling than down 

 at the floor; but hold your hand directly over 

 the stove at the ceiling, then lower it, and 

 you'll find the heat becoming greater the near- 

 er you approach its source. So, the nearer the 

 brood-nest (the source of the heat) the warmer 

 you will find it. All the heat that's in that 

 upper super must come up through the under 

 one; or, to put it another way, the upper super 

 gets its heat from the one below it, and it is not 

 likely to be warmer than the one from which it 

 gets its heat. 



Now as to that "vacuum" business. My 

 reason " for creating that unnatural vacuum " 

 is that bees, like Nature, "abhor a vacuum," 

 provided the vacuum be between two parts of 

 their work. So when the vacuum is " created " 

 they hustle to get it filled up. But how much 

 less vacuum do you have than I? When an 

 empty super is put on, isn't there just the same 

 vacuum in it whether it be over or under the 

 previous one? — only create your vacuum out- 

 side of the space occupied by the bees, and 

 they'll not go up for the sake of filling the vac- 

 uum, but simply and solely because they are 

 crowded for room. With your plan the bees 

 leave home and friends to commence in a new 

 spot at the top of an empty super; whereas 



