1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



345 



at all times not more (aor less) than a 3^ inch 

 bee-space between the two or more sets of 

 frames. For the brood -nest I no longer wish 

 the comb^ buill solid to the bottom-bars. I am 

 convinced that a frame hive with the combs 

 built solid to all parts of the frames, and the 

 frames spaced 1% from center to center, does 

 not give clustering -room enough for the bees in 

 either summer or winter. The hive is cut into 

 many small rooms only 1-4 inch in width, where 

 the bees must cluster in small bodies, entirely 

 cut off from their neighbors in the next room; 

 and I know the outside clusters suffer greatly 

 from cold as soon as frosty nights come in the 

 fall, and some harm is done in winter and in 

 spring ; and I believe that such contracted 

 quarters are detrimental in the honey season, 

 and have a tendency to stimulate swarming, 

 and to crowd the bees outside the hive In hot 

 weather. The acknowledged superiority of box 

 hives in many respects is in remedying the evils 

 named. 



There is another serious harm that comes to 

 brood-combs from being built solid in the 

 frames. There is no place on their edges for 

 queen-cells, and the cells have to be made on 

 the face of the combs. There will be from six 

 to twenty such cells built every time the bees 

 prepare to swarm; and each of these cells, when 

 cut down after swarming, will leave a hard 

 knot of wax, and each cell will spoil one square 

 inch of brood-combs; and this will in a few years 

 spoil the brood-combs (especially in small hives, 

 where we must maintain worker comb in per- 

 fection) most seriously for extracting-combs. 

 Where brood is not allowed, solid combs are a 

 great convenience. In my " Handy " brood- 

 hives, as now used, the slotted top-bar gives a 

 free passage through the center of the hive 

 when used double, and the combs have a half- 

 inch space between the lower edge and bottom- 

 bars. This gives a place for a considerable 

 quantity of bees to cluster around the queen- 

 cells, which with me, in a two story hive, are 

 sure to be located on the lower edge of the 

 combs in the top hive, where I can reach them 

 without opening the lower hive. I am surpris- 

 ed at the talk about queens not going readily 

 into a second story. I have never experienced 

 any trouble in that way; but my combs are 

 shallow — the deepest being but 7}o inches; and 

 the large and free passage in the center of the 

 hives, and where a quantity of bees are always 

 present to invite the queen above, may have 

 something to do with my success. It may be 

 that, in a hive with deep combs, whose top 

 might not be covered at all times with bees, the 

 case might be different. I have used many 

 hundreds of two-story hives with combs from 

 4}4 to 10 inches in depth, and all of them with 

 fair success; and I am not certain now just 

 what depth is best; but I am quite certain that 

 very deep combs are not suitable for a two-sto- 



ry hive, and that most bee-keepers who are and 

 have been condemning two-story hives have 

 never given them a trial with proper hives, nor 

 used a system suited to get the advantages of 

 two small hives instead of one large one, in pro- 

 ducing surplus honey on a large scale. Expe- 

 rience has convinced me that man is very prone 

 to speak and act upon nearly all questions from 

 the standpoint of supersitition and prejudice, 

 rather than from experience and reason. 



What I have said in this article in favor of 

 small hives has the merit of at least being the 

 result of long experience in the use of such 

 hives as well as the large single-story hives so 

 earnestly advocated by some leading bee-keep- 

 ers; and if any new light has been cast upon 

 the question, the writer will have gained his 

 purpose. 



Porestville, Minn., Jan. 17. 



[I had said that the hive discussion was to be 

 closed; but Mr. Taylor, not having seen this, 

 sent the article above. It is long, but so good 

 that I decidi^d to use it after all. It covers 

 many valuable points, and I am sure it will 

 pay our readers to read it clear through. — Ed.] 



ONE OF THE CALIFORNIA APIARIES SHADED 

 BY LIVE-OAKS. 



a. W. I.ECHLER & SOX'S APIARY, NEWHALL. 



Mr. Root: — When you were at my place you 

 requested, if I had a picture of my apiary, to 

 send you one; and as I have had some taken I 

 now do so. 



The prospect for a honey-flow this year is very 

 poor. I do not think we shall get an extract- 

 ing. I extracted about 20 tons last season, and 

 sold it at 4 cts. I have parties who take all our 

 honey at a fair price. San Diego parties broke 

 the record last season on prices. 



Newhall, Cal., Mar. 25. G. W. Lechler. 



[After friend Reasoner and I had been follow- 

 ing after his bigstouicolt hitched to a sulky, as 

 I have told you about in our back volumes, up 

 the mountain canyons, through the dried-up 

 creeks, and even over the mountain-peaks, we 

 suddenly came upon friend Lechler's apiary, as 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. You 

 know that, away back in old times, I used to 

 discourse to you through Gleanings about 

 having the apiary free of weeds, and leveled off 

 like a brickyard. Then I said the ground in 

 front of the hives and at the entrances should 

 be covered with white sand, so that each hive 

 might have a little space, at least around the 

 doorway, so clean that, if a young queen were 

 thrown out during the night, the apiarist could 

 see at a glance what was up. Well, at friend 

 Lechler's I found my ideal apiary. The artist 

 has succeeded in reproducing the beautiful live- 

 oak-trees, but he has not been able to catch the 

 beautiful clean painted hives, the level ground, 

 and the clean sandy surface all around them. 

 We have had him try twice, but he had to give 

 it up. There was too much shade under the 

 trees. 



Now, the funny feature of this beautiful api- 

 ary is that it is mostly nature's work. You 

 would suppose, of course, that friend Lechler 

 planted the trees that stand so regular they 



