742 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1918 



c 



^^ A D VAN- 



/-\tages of 

 Large 

 Hives," by C. 

 P . Dadant, i n 

 November 

 ' ' American Bee 

 Journal, ' ' is an 

 article of much 

 interest. It is 



there stated that Charles Dadant began 

 supporting the large hives in 1868 when he 

 found a box-hive beekeeper who had a colo- 

 ny he had kept for more than 30 years. The 

 colony was remarkably large and the hive 

 had a capacity of about two bushels. In 

 studving the matter, Charles Dadant learn- 

 ed that there had already been three ad- 

 vocates of the large hive, Debeauvoys, 

 Langstroth, and Quinby. He found this 

 striking statement by Langstroth: ' ' A good 

 swarm of bees put, in a good season, into a 

 diminutive hive, may be compared to a 

 powerful team of horses harnessed to a baby- 

 wagon, or a noble fall of water wasted in 

 turning a petty water-wheel." Soon coming 

 to see that the prolificness of the queen 

 should determine the hive size, Charles Da- 

 dant began experimenting on the necessary 

 capacity of a suitable brood-chamber. These 

 experiments he also reinforced by calcula- 

 tions. Finding that a good queen could lay 

 an average of 3,500 eggs daily in the active 

 season, and considering that a good hive 

 should accommodate the breeding of a good 

 queen for 21 days at least, he estimated that 

 75,500 cells would be needed for brood in the 

 breeding season. Also 20 per cent of the 

 breeding room would be needed for stores 

 of honey and pollen, thus making requisite 

 90,000 cells. For several years following 

 1815, there was much discussion concerning 

 large hives, and in about 1900 the A. I. 

 Eoot Co. put out the ten-frame Jumbo hive, 

 the frames being the same length as the 

 Langstroth and the same depth as the Quin- 

 by, and having a capacity of over 95,000 

 worker-cells. This in our country was called 

 the ' ' Jumbo ' ' hive and in Europe the ' ' Da- 

 dant-Eoot" hive. To the above review we 

 are pleased to add that considerable credit 

 is certainly due the Dadants for so long 

 holding before the public the value of large 



hives. 



* * * 



INTENSIVE BEEKEEPING. 



"Trial of an Intensive System of Bee- 

 keeping," by F. W. L. Sladen, C. E. F., Ot- 

 tawa, appears in the Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist and Beekeeper for October. This last 

 season he tried the plan of dividing his ten- 

 frame brood-chambers into two parts, each 

 containing five combs. He did this by means 

 of a thin frame covered on both sides with 

 wire cloth, giving a queen-cell to each part. 

 A portico fixed to the front of the hive pro- 

 vided the two sides with separate entrances 

 nine inches apart. He continues as follows: 



Two weak colonies in a ten-frame hive separated 

 by the wire-cloth divi.sion were wintered in the 



:i 



THE BEST FROM OTHERS 



lona Fowls 



cellar in 1917-'18. 

 They were found to 

 cover 2 V2 and 3 

 combs respectively 

 on April 25. The 

 last week in May, 

 about the middle of 

 the honey flow from 

 dandelion, the 

 stronger one was 

 transferred to a 

 separate hive. 

 Both colonies built up strong in time for the 

 clover flow which commenced on June 25. The 

 weaker one was fed a pound of thin syrup a day 

 during the honey dearth that followed the dande- 

 lion flow. This colony, treated as explained below, 

 gave 220 pounds of honey and an increase of one 

 colony. The other colony was not fed at this time, 

 and gave 260 pounds of honey with no increase. 

 The total yield of the double colony was, therefore, 

 480 pounds. The first colony was helped by the 

 feeding; the second by the fact that they wera hy- 

 brids. The average yield of the other colonies in the 

 apiary was 176 pounds. 



This system supplies a method of increasing bees 

 without sacrificing the honey crop, each colony be- 

 coming two. Where no increase is desired, one of 

 these colonies may be placed over the other at the 

 beginning of the honey flow. A larger crop will 

 result. It also provides a surplus of young fertile 

 queens without the trouble of forming nuclei, and, 

 if desired, without eveiu raising the queens artificial- 

 ly, because excellent queens may be raised from 

 two-day-old larvre that may be found in swarm-cells 

 at the time the queen is caged. Indeed, it has been 

 found advantageous to delay treating a colony until 

 its preparations for swarming have advanced to 

 about this stage, ascertained by weekly examina- 

 tions. 



In the same article he tells of making 

 spring increase in the following manner: 



A strong colony covering six combs on April 25 

 was removed to a new stand on May 20 and a 

 purchased fertile queen introduced to the bees that 

 returned to a new hive placed on the old stand in 

 which one of the combs of brood with the adhering 

 bees had been put. The result was 356 pounds of 

 surplus honey and an increase of two colonies, in- 

 cluding the division made. 



This plan of increase has been also re- 

 ported by others, the last being Ira D. 

 Bartlett, who lately made us a visit at Me- 

 dina. He has used this method for fall in- 

 crease, but inserted no brood in the hive, 

 and considered it quite unnecessary. The 

 colonies built up well; but peculiar condi- 

 tions in his locality caused him finally to 

 discard the plan. On cold days great num- 

 bers of the bees, young as well as old, fly 

 from their hives never to return. One fall 

 in three days he thus lost almost one-half 

 of his bees. He believes, however, that in 

 many localities this plan, even in the fall, 



would be quite successful. 



* * » 



APIARV BOUNDARIES IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Trouble has arisen in New Zealand con- 

 cerning the question of apiary boundaries, 

 700 colonies having been recently located 

 in the Thames and Te Aroha districts in dif- 

 ferent spots, some within half a mile of oth- 

 er apiaries. The editor of the New Zealand 

 Beekeepers' Journal, October, while he de- 

 plores this condition, feels it is useless to 

 ask for legislation on the subject. He claims 



