330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



I am only a beginner, but I can not see for 

 the life of me how one can counsel both the 

 eight-frame Dovetailed and the ten-frame Jum- 

 bo for the production of comb honey. It 

 seems to me that they are so wide apart that 

 one or the other must be wrong. 



My experience with queens satisfies me if I 

 can get one to fill eight Langstroth frames 

 with brood. I know that, if I succeed in do- 

 ing it at the right time, I get the honey if 

 there is any to be had. I winter on summer 

 stands, but use a winter-case. Perhaps dou- 

 ble-walled hives would be better. 



In regard to covers, I am sorry to say that I 

 have not seen any thing yet as good as the old 

 telescope covers. I have never had one sent 

 yet but would get out of shape and leave a 

 crack. 



Wayland, N. Y., Jan. 3. 



[Dr. Miller, to whom the foregoing was 

 sent, replies :] 



You are very wise not to wait until you have 

 a large number of hives on hand before set- 

 tling down upon the one you wish to use ex- 

 clusively ; and it would have been still better 

 if you had been trying something else, even 

 while having only five or ten hives, if you 

 think the kind you now have are not most 

 suitable. 



The same latitude does not necessarily make 

 two places alike for bees, nor even the same 

 temperature. The winds make a big differ- 

 ence, and I suspect your winters in York 

 State are not so severe as out on these prairies. 



It may be worth while, seeing the trouble 

 you have with propolis, for you to do with 

 your Hoffman frames as I have done with 

 some of mine — cut away the parts that trou- 

 ble, and space with nails or staples. To avoid 

 trouble with propolis, one must have frames 

 that have the smallest possible points of con- 

 tact. The frames that are spaced with sta- 

 ples come well under this head. For my own 

 use I prefer a frame a little heavier than that 

 furnished with the Dovetailed hive, having 

 top-bars, end-bars, and bottom-bar all the 

 same width, ly^g, spaced sidewise with nails 

 and endwise with staples. The spacing end- 

 wise is important to avoid propolis. A very se- 

 rious objection to this frame is that it is not at 

 all standard, being made only to order, which 

 is in and of itself an argument in the line of 

 showing that it would not be liked by others 

 as well as by myself. It is quite possible that 

 you might like the regular frame with all sta- 

 ple spacers better. One good thing is that all 

 three of the frames so far mentioned may be 

 used in the same Dovetailed hive. 



From your experience you are well satisfied 

 if a queen fills eight L. frames with brood. I 

 take it that you are using eight-frame Dove- 

 tailed hives, and my experience coincides with 

 yours. Very few queens will have the whole 

 eight frames filled. Some will have seven 

 filled, and perhaps the greater number will 

 have very little if any brood in either of the 

 outside frames. But it would not be a very 

 safe thing to conclude that, because only six 

 frames are filled with brood, therefore a six- 

 frame hive is large enough. The queen that 



has only six frames filled in an eight-frame 

 hive will not have as many as six in a five- 

 frame hive. For some reason the bees do not 

 seem to fill with brood the two outside frames. 

 One reason is that pollen takes up a good deal 

 of room, and the outside frames are the favor- 

 ite places for a store of pollen. 



So it will not do to argue that, because your 

 best queens fill only eight frames, and others 

 fill less, therefore an eight-frame hive is large 

 enough. Take one of your colonies in an 

 eight-frame having eight frames filled with 

 brood. Now, how do you know that the same 

 colony would not occupy more room if they 

 had it? You may, however, say, "But the 

 number that now fills eight frames is very 

 small, and I don't care to have hives for the 

 exceptional ones, but something about aver- 

 age." That does look plausible ; but here's a 

 better way : Have hives with room enough for 

 the very best queen ; encourage a large amount 

 of brood by giving all the room that can pos- 

 sibly be used, and then by careful selection in 

 breeding bring all colonies up to that stan- 

 dard. It is quite possible that, by confining 

 your bees for a series of j-ears to five-frame 

 hives, you would finally have a strain of five- 

 frame bees ; and it is just as possible that, by 

 giving abundant room, and making careful se- 

 lection in breeding, you may increase the 

 amount of room needed for your average 

 colony. 



Turning aside from theory, let us refer to 

 actual facts. Here is what I have found : 



When I have kept a colony in a hive with 

 only eight frames, the eight frames have not 

 always been filled ; and in no case has such a 

 colony filled more than the eight frames — 

 never, in a single case. When I have given a 

 colony two stories with sixteen frames, it has 

 filled eight, ten, twelve, and in some cases 

 fourteen and fifteen frames. It is possible 

 that your bees would do as well ; and in any 

 case it is possible for you to have bees that 

 will do as well. 



When it comes to the direct question as to 

 what is the best hive, I confess I don't know. 

 After trying a good many others I had still 

 not lost hopefulness, and expected a good deal 

 from the Draper barn, or Jumbo, as you now 

 call it, with its ten large frames. To me it is 

 a stirring sight to see one of those frames 

 filled with brood. The great thing that I ex- 

 pected from these hives with room equivalent 

 to more than twelve L. frames was that there 

 would be very little swarming. I am very 

 sorry to say that in this I have been disap- 

 pointed. The past season was not very bad 

 for swarming, but the very first swarm came 

 from a Jumbo, and one of the other two would 

 have swarmed if I had not prevented. Even 

 if I couldn't get as much surplus from them, 

 if they were non-swarmers I would stick to 

 them. But in respect to swarming they were 

 a disappointment. 



I expected, however, that after colonies be- 

 came well established in them they would 

 yield harvests above the average. I'm sorry 

 to say they have been disappointing in this 

 regard. I don't know why. Last spring the 

 three hives contained rousing colonies ; but 



