1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



349 



hive can be depended on to take the swarming 

 fever altogether too often tor the good of its 

 owner's purse, if he wants a large yield of sur- 

 plus honey. Were I depending on the sale of 

 bees for an income, I would take the smaller 

 hive every time. My largest yields of honey 

 have come, four times out of five, from the large 

 hives. 



For many years I have produced extracted 

 honey; but before the extractor came into gen- 

 eral use I made shallow frames, about five or 

 six inches deep, for supers on the Langstroth 

 hive. These frames had a pair of vertical cen- 

 ter-pieces nailed in. I would remove the filled 

 frames, and saw them apart in the center, thus 

 making a very salable package. Sawing off 

 the top and bottom bar in the middle, leaving 

 the center- piece as an end, I crated about 25 or 

 30 lbs. in a neatly dressed basswood box, and 

 sold at a good figure, wholesale, to the mer- 

 chants in the city, besides supplying many 

 private families. But I digress. Much of this 

 honey was stored in L. hives of 12 and 14 frames 

 each. Our locality was good, and the yield from 

 the large hives noticeably greater than that of 

 some 2.T or 30 hives, ten-frame L. size, but only 

 six inches in depth. 



On the road to one of my out-apiaries, years 

 ago lived a bee-keeper of the old school. His 

 apiary was composed entirely of basswood 

 "gums," worked out thin and raised up from 

 the bottom-board by flat stones about one inch 

 thick. The capacity of these "gums" was, as 

 their owner assured me, "purty nigh a half 

 salt-barrel." To obtain surplus, he bored holes 

 in the cover, and placed another large hollow 

 log over the first, and in this way he often ob- 

 tained large quantities of honey. I purchased 

 ten first swarms of him one year, paying him 

 $60.00 cash for them (remember this was years 

 ago, when bees were very high). They were 

 very large fine swarms; were hived on empty 

 frames (twelve-frame L. hive), yet I sold from 

 these ten colonies over 400 lbs. of surplus honey 

 at 24 cents per lb. 



Some 50 or 60 rods down the stream lived an - 

 other bee-keeper, a widow. Her bees were in 

 box hives, as nearly as I can remember, 10x13 

 inches, and 13 inches deep. I am very certain 

 in regard to the depth, as she assured me that 

 13 was considered an unlucky number; but she 

 did not believe in luck at all— at least, ill luck. 

 I left here 20 hives. Mrs. W. filled them with 

 the swarms that issued in great plenty from 

 her small hives. I paid this bee-lady $80.00 for 

 the 20 swarms, she readily admitting that Mr. 

 K.'s swarms were worth more than hers. In 

 the fall I found two or three of these swarms too 

 light and weak to winter, and one colony had 

 stored a little surplus. 



Now, the net res.ults of my bee operations have 

 been something like the above with variations; 

 and as I look back over the past, I find that 

 with me the large hive, the large colony, and 



the large surplus, have traveled hand in hand 

 irrespective of good or bad location. Two good 

 men can do twice as much work in a day as one; 

 two good teams will accomplish twice as much 

 plowing in a day as one; and a swarm that, 

 when shaken from the tree, will weigh from 18 

 to 38 lbs. will just as certainly gather more 

 honey than one that tips the scale at only half 

 that amount. 



Some ten years ago I concluded I was using 

 hives that were too large, and, moving to a new 

 location (the present one), I made all my new 

 hives to take ten frames 13x12. Of these I now 

 have about 100, bee-spaced, loose bottom-board, 

 flat cleated cover, and a movable side. On 

 these hives I tiered up half-depth bodies, filled 

 with empty honey-combs. I soon found, how- 

 ever, that my ten frames would not do for a 

 twelve or fourteen frame queen, so nearly all 

 my colonies have an extracting-case of ten half- 

 depth combs Tt?ifZer the brood-chamber proper, 

 which I seldom disturb, unless it is to take it, 

 with adhering bees, to build up some weak 

 colony, in which case another empty super 

 takes its place. 



For the edification of those who think that 

 eight L. frames are plenty for a queen to oc- 

 cupy, I will say that I have often found this 

 brood-chamber of ten large and ten small 

 frames well filled with brood in all stages of 

 development, and the queen looking for room t6 

 lay. 



I have no red-clover queens, and, as yet, no 

 five-banders or golden honey queens— just plain, 

 every-day leather-colored Italians and a few 

 hybrids. 



I believe some one said that this kind of high- 

 pressure brood-rearing is a trifle wearing on the 

 queen, and causes her to come to an untimely 

 end. Such may be the case; but when I find 

 one that can't fill more than six or eight frames, 

 I step on her and put a better one in her place. 



I don't believe my bees are the best in the 

 world; but I do believe in breeding from 

 the largest and most prolific, and the best 

 honey-gatherers. I keep a record of each hive; 

 and when I find one that has had as good a 

 chance as the rest, and doesn't make as much 

 honey as it should, that colony gets a new 

 queen. Of course, this is written mostly from 

 an extracted-honey point; but were I producing 

 comb honey, I should want a large colony. 



I must agree with Mr. Boardman (our hives 

 are much alike) in regard to the square hive 

 for practical utility— page 2.50 — for brood -rear- 

 ing and wintering. 



Monroe, Iowa. 



[Say, friend Nash, did you ever try two eight- 

 frames, one on top of the other? You have 

 given some strong points in favor of large 

 hives; now let some other fellow who thinks 

 differently produce counter-evidence if he can; 

 but, hold ! here is another one right in the same 

 strain from Mr. Doane.— Ed.] 



