346 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUBE. 



May 



There is in the A B C a very good explanation, 

 with engravings, of the causes why bees raise less 

 brood in the Gallup than in the Langstroth combs, 

 so we can easily understand why Messrs. Doolittle 

 and Gravenhorst think that a good queen can not 

 lay more than 2300 eggs daily, while I have often 

 noticed some laying over 4000 eggs for weeks. 



The opinion of Berlepsch on this matter, as given 

 by Mr. Gravenhorst, is of very small account, for 

 the frames of the Berlepsch hive are of about the 

 same size as those of Mr. Gravenhorst. I may add, 

 that a great many comparisons have been made 

 in Europe between the 11-Quiuby-frame hives and 

 the Berlepsch, and the results were always wonder- 

 fully in favor of the large Quinby; in fact, they 

 showed from two to three times as much honey per 

 colony in the Quinby, in the same apiaries. No 

 doubt Mr. W. P. Root, your translator, has noticed 

 these reports in the Revue Internationale of Switzer- 

 land, and in the Apieoltorc of Milan, Italy. The jour- 

 nal of the Marches, Italy, I Api e i Fiori (The Bees 

 and the Flowers), was founded in view of spreading 

 the wide hive under the name of arnia march igiann. 

 But some bee-keepers, in this country, object to 

 large hives for comb honey. My first comparisons 

 were begun about 23 years ago. At that time I 

 used slatted honey-boards, on which my glassed 

 honey-boxes were placed; but after noticing that 

 bees were slow to ascend in the boxes, I dispensed 

 with honey-boards by inventing T supports made of 

 plasterers' laths, under the edge of which I nailed 

 tin strips above, 2 inches wide, to support my 

 boxes directly above the brood-frames. 



When — twenty years ago — Adair invented his 

 sectional honey-box he sent me one for a pattern, 

 and I discarded the square glassed boxes. I had 

 an extractor; but as the people were reluctant to 

 buy extracted honey I produced more especially 

 comb honey till a part of the prejudice was over- 

 come. The size of my hives was far from being a 

 hindrance, for I took sometimes 150 lbs. of spring 

 comb honey from my best colonies, although our 

 spring crop is gathered on the white clover exclu- 

 sively, since we have very few lindens around 

 here. 



As our queens have room to hiy from 60,000 to 

 80,000 eggs in 21 days, the population is so large 

 that we do not need to contract the brood-ehamber, 

 the workers being too happy to find their room en- 

 larged. We have had swarms containing 60,000 

 bees or more, if we estimate them by their weight, 

 while Mr. Gravenhorst speaks of uniting two of his 

 swarms to get 44,000 bees. 



Our experiments are still continuing on the three 

 kinds— 11-frame Quinby, 10-frame Langstroth, and 

 14-frame American; not on two or three of each 

 kind, but on 5H or more. When we extract we be- 

 gin with one kind; and when it is done we figure 

 the result, dividing it b} r the number of colonies. 

 We do the same for the other kind, placed side by 

 side in the same apiary. Then when we say that 

 our large Quinby gives us better results we know 

 there is no mistake. To sum up the above we will 

 say that, according to our quarter-century's expe- 

 rience— 



1. In a large hive the queen, in spring, begins to 

 lay earlier, and lays more than in a small one, 

 since the population wintered is larger. 



2. At the beginning of the spring crop, the num- 

 ber of bees is so large that, as soon as the surplus 



boxes are placed, the bees ascend into them with- 

 out needing contraction. 



3. As the queen finds sufficient room to lay, she 

 goes upstairs so seldom that we dispense with 

 queen-excluders. 



4. If the boxes are furnished with combs and 

 comb foundation, and more room is added before 

 being needed, all swarming will be prevented, ex- 

 cept when the bees replace their queens during the 

 honey crop. As we do not get more than two or 

 three per cent of swarms, we dispense with watch- 

 ing our bees closely. 



5. As bees swarm but little in well conducted 

 large hives, not only the time and work of the bee- 

 keeper are spared, but the day of swarming is 

 more profitably used by bees in going to the fields 

 and getting, according to circumstances, from 5 to 

 20 lbs. more honey per colony. 



6. The few swarms obtained are so large that 

 they need hives of full capacity, and one or two 

 surplus boxes, in which we sometimes harvested 

 1011 lbs. of honey or more. 



7. As all the queens have a sufficient space to lay 

 to their utmost capacity, it is an easy matter to 

 breed from the most prolific, prolificuess being the 

 first qualification of a good queen. 



8. As we leave about all the honey stored in the 

 brood-chamber, our bees have some spring honey 

 left for winter; and as this honey is of the be6t 

 quality they winter better on it, while we dispense 

 with the work of feeding. 



9. As the laying of our queen is never restricted, 

 her large population has the best chances to reach 

 spring strong and healthy. 



We desire to add, that none of the bee-keepers 

 who oppose large hives have ever tried them, and 

 act under the influence of preconceived ideas; 

 while ire speak with the authority that a long ex- 

 perience can give, and are backed by hundreds of 

 European and American bee-keepers who have 

 made the same comparisons that we did. 



Hamilton, 111 , April, 1889. Chas. Dadant. 



There, friends, we have a valuable article. 

 Now, although it should not seem prudent 

 for us all to adopt the large Quinby frame, I 

 do think it behooves us to think well before 

 we choose a smaller frame than the old 

 standard Langstroth. I have for years been 

 well satisfied that we could raise more bees 

 with a frame larger than Langstrotrfs, for 

 the reasons that Dadant has given ; but 

 when other things are taken into considera- 

 tion, especially the matter of securing comb 

 honey, and getting sections close to the 

 heart of the brood-nest, I think I would use 

 a frame a little shallower than would other- 

 wise be needed ; and then when we reflect 

 that most of us have the Langstroth frame 

 already, it seems to me very good policy to 

 let well enough alone. By the way, one can 

 not well avoid the conclusion that friend 

 Dadant has some extra-prolific queens, es- 

 pecially those that lay 4000 eggs in 24 hours, 

 and keep it up for weeks. I do not know 

 where he gets his stock to raise queens 

 from at present ; but I am inclined to think 

 that it was imported from Italy, not very 

 long ago. Will he please tell us about it? 

 I presume that it will, of course, be of no 

 use to have such large hives unless we also 

 have queens to match. 



