892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUJ/rUiiE. 



Dec. 15. 



fact, til at tJie mas? of boe-keepers who are 

 kccpiiiiT Viees fof profit demand a cheap, simple, 

 practical hive. Shall this be a single-walled or 

 a cliatl' iiive? is a (juestion not so easy to decide. 

 If th(^ single-walled will do, then we need look 

 no fiirtlier than the Dovetailed; but this must 

 be protected, if wint<>r(Hl outdoors: or, if win- 

 tered in the cellar, spring protection is needed. 

 It has been suggested by Ernest and several 

 otliers, that an outside case be made for winter; 

 l)ut A. I. Root predicts that such cases will 

 never come into general use, and I think he is 

 right. 



Well, what about chatf hives? I think this: 

 The heavy, expensive chaff hive, with walls 

 five and six inches thick, requiring two men to 

 move around, never has been used to any great 

 extent by our large honey-producers, and is too 

 expensive and bulky to ever become popular 

 with the mass of bei^-keepers. It seems to me 

 that such thick walls arc worse than useless, as 

 they prevent the warmth of tlie sun from reach- 

 ing the bees, which I consider quite an advan- 

 tage, especially in the spring, after brood-rear- 

 ing has commenced. I also consider a double 

 bottom useless, for, if the hive stands as near 

 the ground as it should, the packing will be- 

 come damp. 



I have been using a hive several years that I 

 think would suit the class of bee-keepers spoken 

 of on page 697; i. e., those who produce comb 

 honey, and winter on the summer stand. This 

 is an eight-frame chalT hive, arranged for two 

 inches of chaff around the lower story; but I 

 have used the most of these without chaff, and 

 can see no difference in wintering. The hive is 

 made from light lumber; and with a handle on 

 each end it is almost as easy to move as a sin- 

 gle-walled hive. It has a side-opening in the 

 upper story, which is very convenient for taking 

 off surplus or working in the brood-apartment. 

 With thick top-bars and a T-tin super contain- 

 ing a follower to key up the sections, I consider 

 this the most practical, economical, general- 

 purpose hive in use. G. H. Kirkpatkick. 

 Union City, Ind., Nov. 29. 

 Friend K., you strike a chord that affects most 

 of us. We want an all-purpose hive. The reg- 

 ular chaff hive which we have been selling is 

 rather large and cumbersome to move about, 

 and, besides, expensive. What we want, I think, 

 is a single-walled hive so arranged that it can 

 be converted into a winter hive for outdoors 

 with small expense, when so desired. If an 

 outside case will winter bees successfully in 

 most latitudes, then I think its ultimate adop- 

 tion is assured, by the outdoor-wintering class. 

 The one thing in the way has lieen this: If such 

 a case shall require packing, it will make it 

 objectionable. But you say that you can see no 

 difference between hives packed and those not 

 packed, so far as wintering is concerned. That 

 is just the infornuition we are after. Your 

 chaff hive may be small and compact, but it 

 can not be as small and compact as a single- 

 walled hiv^e. For those who desire to winter 

 outd(?ors, they want outside protection of some 

 kind to put around the small hives. Now, then, 

 when they come to move an apiary all tlu^y 

 have got to do is to move the small hives, and, 

 in the fall, cart, in a large hay-rack wagon, say, 

 the large outside cases to the yard. See remarks 

 on this point from R. F. Holtermann, on the 

 next page. E. R. 



BEE-HIVES, LARGE OR SMALL. 



(iOOD ARGUMKNTS FOR I,AKOE HIVES. 



In I'eading the niiigazines devoted to bee- 

 keeping I often meet w ith articles describing 

 experiences with bee-keepers with their liives 

 differing from my own. In 1861 I adopted the 

 Kidder hive. The inside measurement of its 

 frame is 11 by 13 inches. The Kidder is a dou- 

 ble hive — or. rather, two hives in one. Tlu^ in- 

 ner part holds eight frames: and the outer part, 

 when used by itself, holds eleven frames. The 

 same frame tits both, running the longest way 

 in the smaller part, and the shortest way in the 

 larger part. 



I constructed .50 of these hives, and used thern 

 as double hives until they were full of bees. 

 Then I sejiarati'd the hives, using each part a& 

 a hive. The lirst difference between them that 

 I noted was that the small hives sent out the 

 most swarms, and not very large ones. They 

 were slow to work in boxes, and would often 

 swarm a second time liefore doing so. The 

 large hives, on the contrary, would send out 

 much larger swarms, which would go imme- 

 diately into the surplus apartments, and, as a 

 rule, gave much larger returns for the care be- 

 stowed upon them. This comparison I have 

 carried on for twenty-five years; and the re- 

 sult is, that I am now using the small hives for 

 kindling-wood, having destroyed fifty of them 

 for that purpose. 



I have made some changes in the method of 

 using my hive, which can be applied to any 

 hive. I have changed the entrance so that the 

 frames run across it. This enables me to put 

 in one or more frames, and have a nucleus hive, 

 with but one division-board, or adapt the size 

 of the hive to the capacity of the swarm, up to 

 the full hive. With frames running the other 

 way, two division-boards would be required to 

 accomplish this. I like this hive well enough; 

 but if I were going into the business anew I 

 would use the Langstroth or Simplicity, be- 

 cause they are more generally used; and if you 

 wish to sell, they are more likely to suit your 

 customer. I would adapt any hive to "this 

 method of using the division-board. The bees- 

 do not seem to know or cai'e whether they 

 enter the hive at the end of the frames or at 

 the side. They deposit most of the pollen in 

 the frames next to the entrance; and if you do 

 not like the bees to have access to the pollen in 

 the winter, you can easily remove these frames 

 and substitute frames of honey. My largest 

 hives, as a rule, have the most bees, breed fast- 

 er in the spring, put in more surplus honey, 

 swarm less and winter better, than the smaller 

 hives. 



CAGIN(; QUEENS TO I'REVENT SWARMING. 



Some cage their queens during the honey- 

 flow, for fear they will have too many consum- 

 ers to eat the honey after the honey season is 

 over. My experience is, that a large swarm is 

 almost sure to store more hpney than they eat, 

 while a small one might fail in this respect. 

 Then if you have a " giantess " for a queen, a 

 large hive will give her a chance to do for you 

 tlie best she can. A poor queen is of little or no 

 value except to hold the swarm until a better 

 one can be raised. Queens over two years old 

 are. as a rule, not as good as younger ones. 



Give me a good-sized hive and a young and 

 vigorous queen, and I shall expect my share of 

 the honey if there is any in the blossoms. 



L. C. Whiting. 



Saginaw, East Side, Mich., Dec. 1. 



We are very glad indeed to see our old friend 

 Whiting contributing again to Gleanings. 

 His experience with large hives agrees remark- 



