128 



American liee Jonrnal 



April, 1915. 



)>^^ f 



here it is not needed. 



At first Mr. Hand told us that his 

 hive was 20x2(j inches, but now he says 

 20x24, but the latter holds but 14 

 frames at l^i inch spacing, and a heavy 

 dummy. A point apparently over- 

 looked by Mr. Hand is that if one is to 

 use a very large hive, then by all means 

 make it wide enough so two 8-frame 

 hive bodies, side by side, may be used 

 for supers, as in this way good use 

 may be had for tens of thousands of 

 dollars worth of equipment now in the 

 hands of beekeepers. This is a point 

 of almost supreme importance, as 

 beekeepers cannot afford to discard 

 such valuable equipment. 



This would call for a hive 20x27;'4 

 inches, or 20x28 holding 17 frames with 

 I'/i spacing, or 18 frames l)i spacing, 

 allowing for a dummy if the latter 

 spacing is used. Or the hive could be 

 made a little narrower, allowing the 

 8-frame bodies used as supers to pro- 

 ject ^s to yi inch on each side. How- 

 ever, the writer has serious doubts 

 about the 17-frame hive being a comb- 

 honey hive, unless the brood-nest be 

 contracted and the comb honey all 

 produced in the super. We also find 

 that, unless the flow is very good, the 

 plan of alternating extracting combs 

 and wide frames of sections is a fail- 

 ure in producin comb honey. Let us 

 examine the claims originally made for 

 this hive. 



1st. A brood-chamber of a capacity 

 to develop the fertility of queens suffi- 

 ciently to check the swarming impulse 

 and bring the colony on the stage of 

 action with the strongest force of bees 

 possible. True, ihis large hive will 

 tend to df/ay swarming, and in some 

 localities totally to prevent it. And 

 certainly the hive with 16 or 17 frames, 

 as originally described, is large enough 

 to rear a giant force for the flow. 



2d. "Spontaneous prevention of 

 swarming." If I understand Mr. Hand's 

 later articles it is eventually abandoned, 

 but would hold good in many locali- 

 ties, though unfortunately not in this 

 immediate vicinity, 



3d. "A single-wall hive in summer 

 and a double-wall hive in winter, afford- 

 ing ample winter protection without 

 extra equipment." No question about 

 the protection, but the inner case cer- 

 tainly constitutes a little extra equip- 

 ment to be stored away in summer. If 

 to be left packed until late in the spring 

 in this locality, 13 frames would be far 

 better than 8, but in a mild climate like 

 this, we would not use an inner pack- 

 ing case, and would leave 13 frames of 

 stores, which are usually none too 

 much. 



4th. " Horizontal expansion by means 

 of a sliding follower." A good feature 

 surely, though again in this locality the 

 gradual expansion is usually confined 

 to the building up of increase; no need 

 of it with full colonies. 



5th. " A cubical form," etc. Rather 

 immaterial, it seems to me. 



Gth. "It necessitates handling the 

 wintering combs, thereby eliminating 

 the loose practice of guessing at inter- 

 nal conditions." Good point that, 

 though the writer prefers the " loose 

 practice" applied with moderation and 

 an observing eye. 



7. "Its advent will mark the begin- 

 ning of a new era in bee-hives and 

 methods, and sound the death knell of 



expensive paraphernalia for wintering 

 bees and producing comb honey." 

 Claim, in part, often heard befare, but 

 quite possible. I wish I had a yard or 

 two in them. 

 Meridian, Idaho. 



European Foulbrood Pointers 



BY M. G. DADANT. 



OUR experience with this disease is 

 limited to a single year, and to a 

 single apiary, but some points 

 have been so thoroughly fixed in my 

 mind that I think they may prove of 

 value in helping others. 



To begin with, we have, in recent 

 years, not tried to liave pure Italian 

 stock in our out-yards. In fact, we 



had everything from a^oMen to a pure 

 b/ack colony. Our idea was primarily 

 to breed for honey-gathering qualities 

 regardless of race, and we succeeded 

 in getting large crops of honey. 



Thus we had in our Koch apiary last 

 spring !tO colonies of bees ranging 

 very much in color and, I must agree, 

 more or less in temper. Most of these 

 were fairly strong early in spring, and 

 would have been in the best of shape 

 for a honey-flow. Alas, we expected 

 nothing, since our clover was scarce. 

 We were not mistaken; the dry season 

 burnt up what little clover there was, 

 so that it was necessary to feed 

 throughout most of the year. 



Under such adverse circumstances 

 it seems we had everything in favor 

 of foulbrood, and everything against 



TKN OF THE KIFTEEN REPKRSENT.'\TIVES AT THE NATIONAL WHOSE 



HOMES ARE EAST OF COLORADO 



Slandinc left to rit'lit. H. I.athrop. A. G Woodman, F. C. l^ellett. E. J. Baxter.,]. C. Bell. 



Sealed left to rielit. B. N. Gates. H. C. Dadant. F. E. Millen. E, F. Fliillips, 



Rev. Francis Jager in the saddle 



