1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



I will assure you that I would uiake some very 

 radical changes in starting again. 



To mend these faults, honey-boards of vari- 

 ous kinds have been introduced. The bracing 

 and strengthening of the frames in various ways 

 to prevent sagging was resorted to. and finally 

 the thick top-bar came to cure a multitude of 

 evils. It certainly is gratifying to note that 

 this improvement is at least a safer extreme 

 than the other. 



It is claimed, as a valuable feature of the 

 long hive, that it furnishes a large amount of 

 surplus room close to the brood-nest. I think 

 it remains to be shown that this is a valuable 

 feature; that there is any advantage in such 

 an arrangement. I am quite sure that this is 

 also a mistaken economy. 



CLUSTEKS IN SQUARE AND LONG HIVE 



A considerable degree of heat is necessary in 

 order to carry on comb-building. How to con- 

 serve and economize this heat in the surplus- 

 chamber to the best advantage is an important 

 question; and especially when the nights are 

 cool, it sometimes becomes difScult and perplex- 

 ing. The best and most satisfactory work in 

 the sections can always be obtained directly 

 over the brood-nest, and in a central compact 

 form tiered up to the capacity desired. Being 

 placed directly over the heat-center, it best 

 conserves and economizes the accumulated heat 

 from the brood-nest within; and, being in a 

 rather compact form, protects from needless 

 surface exposure without. In the square hive 

 the sections are thus tiered up in a compact 

 form over a compact brood-nest. Now if, in- 

 stead of being thus tiered up, these sections 



were disposed in one tier to adjust them to the 

 long hive, so that a greater number would 

 come next to the top of the brood-combs, would 

 it need much argument to demonstrate that we 

 have spread out, or dispersed, the heat over 

 more surface, and at the same time placed a 

 part of the sections farther from the heat-cen- 

 ter? We have also increased the outside sur- 

 face exposure to a considerable extent. I am 

 quite sure that the second or third tier of sec- 

 tions on the square hive is in a more favorable 

 position for good work than are the outside sec- 

 tions on the long hive. What is the testimony 

 of the bees themselves? Have your bees got 

 nicely at work in the sections? Go out into 

 the yard and examine a few cases, and see 

 where they commence their work and how they 

 continue it. This is what I think 

 you will find, if you have the long 

 hive: Work beginning centrally 

 in the cases, and extending toward 

 the outside, finishing in the cen- 

 tral part, may be, before work is 

 much advanced in the extreme 

 outside. If a second case is on, 

 work begun centrally, and well ad- 

 vanced, before the outside of the 

 lower tier is finished— if you do find 

 this, it will, no doubt, suggest to 

 you that the central portion is the 

 preferred part of the case for work. 

 There is one argument yet unan- 

 swered, that stands upon the side of 

 the long hive. It is one which pre- 

 sents a barrier more potent for op- 

 position in the human mind than 

 all the other arguments that reason 

 can array. It is popular; it is in gen- 

 eral use. The beginner inquires, 

 "What hive shall I use?" He is 

 recommended the one in general 

 use, and the question is settled. 

 Any other hive would have been 

 as readily accepted. By far the 

 larger part of the trade in hives has 

 been, and is now, with a class of 

 bee-keepers who know nothing at all of the 

 requirements of a bee-hive. Having once 

 adopted any style of hive, it is by no means 

 an easy matter to make a change to some 

 other kind, nor is it advisable to do so without 

 some very good reasons. Every bee-keeper 

 knows how important it is to start right; but 

 the question after ail is, how to be sure we are 

 getting that right start. 



A tight or fixed bottom to a bee- hive is a fea- 

 ture that I have never been able to appreciate. 

 Its economy or use I have never been able to 

 comprehend. A great deal of my valuable 

 manipulation of hives depends upon the open 

 bottom. The tiering-up feature, perhaps, is the 

 most important, but is not all, by any means. 

 Examination from the bottom, without opening 

 the hive, has for me some decided advantages. 



