350 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



SIXTEEN-FRAME HIVES A SUCCESS. 



I commenced using 16-frame hives seven 

 years ago this season. I made only one, as I 

 was afraid. This colony is alive and in good 

 shape yet. Four of the years it has given from 

 140 to 180 lbs. of comb honey. Two years they 

 swarmed, when the parent stock gave about 60 

 lbs. one season, and 90 the other. One year they 

 superseded the old queen, but didn't swarm. 

 After trying this size of hive two years, I made 

 some twelve or fifteen of them; and, as they 

 gave like good results, I continued to add to the 

 number of large ones in the yard, until I have 

 now some thirty of them. I have the eight and 

 ten frame, and have used them for twenty 

 years; but I expect to put all in large hives this 

 spring, as I get an average of nearly, if not 

 quite, double as much from the large hives as 

 from the small ones. Last season my best, in 

 eight-frame hive, gave only about 60 lbs., while 

 my best in the large hive gave 220 1% sections 

 well filled, and 28 sections, same size, of No. 2 

 honey. If it would interest you to know more 

 about these, and how I manage them, I will tell 

 you. 



I have 60-lb. cans ready to ship the honey in. 

 If you should not want this honey, I will send 

 you comb honey in its season. I have got rasp- 

 berry honey off the latter part of June for sev- 

 eral seasons. 



I have just received one of your Cowan two- 

 frame extractors from W. D. Soper. 



Breckenridge, Mich., Apr. 6. N. E. Doane. 



[Although Mr. D. does not sav so in just so 

 many words, I assume that the 16 frames are all 

 in one hive-body. The facts he gives are inter- 

 esting. Can we not have more of them? Of 

 course, we should be glad to hear from Mr. 

 Doane further. Here is another:] 



IN FAVOR OF THE TEN-FRAME HIVE. 



I have 300 colonies on summer stands, some 

 200 with flat covers, and 100 with gable covers, 

 all two-story ten-frame Simplicity hives. I 

 have been very much interested in the eight vs. 

 ten frame hive discussion. I have never used 

 the eight-frame hive; have used the American 

 pattern and discarded it. I think the ten-frame 

 has advantages in this locality over the smaller 

 hives. By their use we can build up to enor- 

 mous colonies, and at the same time keep down 

 swarming to a great extent. The natural 

 swarms in my yards last season were 12 per 

 cent. I use a two-story brood-nest, and often 

 have sixteen frames of brood in the same. I 

 run exclusively for extracted honey, so I have a 

 less number of hives to visit for the same num- 

 ber of frames of honey, which is a great sav- 

 ing in labor. I would rather increase than 

 diminish the size, by tiering up to three stories. 

 I have used throe stories to some extent, and 

 find they give perfect satisfaction in my local- 

 ity. I find that, by using eight frames in the 

 extracting-supers, I am bothered less with 

 brood in them. The cells being so deep, the 



queen doesn't use them for brood unless they 

 are cut down by the bees. My crop for the last 

 season was ten tons of extracted honey from 

 270 colonies, spring count. Z. S. Weaver. 



Courtney, Texas, Feb. 14. 



[And here is still another:] 



You can put me down as being in favor of the 

 large hive. I have about eight in ten-frame 

 hives, and they have, strange to say, done all the 

 swarming, and are the strongest colonies that I 

 have. During my three years' experience with 

 bees I have noticed that the ten-frame hives 

 were ready for the extractor before any other, 

 and after this season I expect to use no other. 



Columbia, Miss^ T. S. Ford. 



THE EIGHT-FRAME LARGE ENOUGH. 



In regard to the size of hives, I will say the 

 eight-frame Dovetail e d hive is large enough 

 for me. In the past five years I have trans- 

 ferred perhaps a hundred colonies from larger 

 as well as smaller hives than the dovetailed, 

 and put them into the latter hive, and all ap- 

 pear to be well satisfied with the change. I 

 find it large enough for an average queen; and 

 when we get at the average, we are then as far 

 as we should go. Jas. Pratt. 



Cumminsville, Neb., March 12. 



[Friend Pratt has hardly a fair show. Who 

 will help him out?— Ed.] 



WINTERING. 



WHY BEES CAN STAND LOWER TEMPERATURES 

 OUTDOORS THAN IN THE CELLAR. 



By Dr. C. C. Miller. 



Dr. Miller:— Having been a reader of Glean- 

 ings for four years, and studied the A B C of 

 Bee Culture for nearly the same length of time, 

 I have a question to ask, something like this: I 

 have several colonies of bees in single-walled 

 Dovetailed hives, and they have been wintered 

 outdoors for three years in Southern Iowa. My 

 plan was to move them up side by side, and 

 about four inches apart, then pack with chaff 

 in between, also put on a Hill device and a 

 chaff cushion on top of that. Now comes the 

 most important part of my question. Bees, even 

 when packed in this shape, will freeze some. 

 Now, why will it hurt if they freeze some in the 

 cellar, providing the bottoms are left on the 

 hives? For the life of me I can not see where 

 the difference comes in. Of course, I presume 

 there is some ditTerence; and if so, please show 

 us where it is. 



I am thinking some of erecting a sod house 

 for my bees next winter. The walls will be two 

 feet thick, with hay for a roof. Now, please 

 tell us what you would think of my sod house. 

 Supposing they get a little cool in it, what 

 worse will they be than if they got a little cool 

 or cold outside? This winter I have moved my 

 bees out to Northern Nebraska, and have 



