1S87 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



189 



0ai^ 0wjx Ji?imY. 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST U. HOOT. 



ONK-STORY AND T\V()-8TOUY CHAFF HIVES. 



ip S announced in tlie lieadinj?, I propose 

 » to chat witli our readers in reuard to 

 I the rehitive merits of tlie single-story 

 ^ and tlie two - story cliaff hives. In 

 discussing this matter, I do not wish j 

 to say any thing to detnict from the merits i 

 of tlie old, true, and tried two-story chaff 

 liive — the hive that has given such si)lendid 

 results in wiutering in almost all locations; 

 but I feci ("uistraiued to point out some of 

 the defects which have been named against 

 it. 



In the hist place, wheii the upper story of 

 the large ch;iff hive is tilled with frames, 

 tliere has yet been no feasible means of re- 

 moving the bri.o<l - frames below without 

 taking out singl\ each one of the wide 

 frames. This has been considered one of 

 its most serious defects. 



Seconil, it does u'lt permit tiering up more 

 than two rows of sections high. It is some- 

 times necessary for us. in order to get the 

 full benelit of the honey-flow, to tier up four 

 or live sections high. 



Third, the hive is rather unwieldy, espe- 

 cially for women and others who are not 

 Itlessed with the average amount of physical 

 strength. 



Fourth, it is not interchangeable with the 

 Simplicity hive. It requires a cover, cush- 

 ion, and. in order to get the best advantages, 

 sui)ers ]iecnliar to itself. However, it takes 

 any of the brood-frames m* wide frames tit- 

 ting the Simplicity hives. Considerable 

 tliought has been expended as to how one 

 or more of these defects could be obviated, 

 but nothing really practicable has ever been 

 suguested till the hive below was devised. 



f>NE-STOKY 



CHAFF HTVK. 

 COVKK. 



HALF-STOKV 



The cut represents the single-story hive, 

 which we have made and sold for the past 

 six years ; but as it was so much smaller we 

 feared to recommend it very highly as a 

 substitute for the larger hive. However, 

 since that time the hive has proven itself to 

 be a good one for wintering — at least, in 

 this locality. Perhaps, then, it may not be 

 out of place to mention some of its good fea- 

 tures. You observe, that it is hardly more 

 than a double-walled Simplicity hive, and 

 might very appropriately lie called tlie Sim- 

 plicity chalf hive. It is perfectly inter- 

 changeable with the Simplicity hive and 

 furniture ; i. e., it will take both the flat or 

 halt-story cover, any of the Simplicity crates 

 or supers, and the Simplicity lx»dy. the latter 

 to be used for an uiiper stoiy or for tiering 

 up. When this small chaff liive has a Sim- 

 plicity upper story ou it tilled with frames, 



the brood-cliamber is readily accessible by 

 simply lifting otf the upper story. The hive 

 is also cheajier than the large (me. 



THE ONE-STOnV CHAFF HIVE VOU WINTER- 

 ING. 



1 feel just a little hesitancy in recommend- 

 ing this single-story chaff hive too strongly. 

 If it will winter bees just as well as the two- 

 story chaff hive, for the reasons named 

 above, I should very greatly prefer it. How- 

 ever, in this locality, as far as tried, it has 

 wintered colonies just as well, and in some 

 cases it seemed to do better, than the two- 

 story chatf hive. The style of this hive was 

 devised liy our foreman, Mr. Warner, some 

 six years ago. xV year before they were of- 

 fered for sale, Mr. Warner tried 15 of these 

 single-story chaff hives alongside of an equal 

 number of two-story chaff hives. From the 

 former he lost one colony during the winter. 

 From the latter he lost three. This may 

 have been merely an accident, but at any 

 rate it goes to prove that the single-story 

 chaff hive does just us well. One of our 

 former employes has tried wintering four 

 colonies in these for two or three years, and 

 he reports that they wintered his colonies 

 successfully. One of our sawyers, Mr. Will 

 Turner, tried wintering four colonies in 

 them last year, and he says they all came out 

 in good condition. For the last four years 

 we" have tried wintering one colony in our 

 apiary in this one -story hive, and every 

 year that colony has wintered as well as the 

 rest. Last fall I determined to try tour of 

 these one -story chaff hives under various 

 circumstances. When I went through the 

 apiary a few days ago I could not see that 

 there was any difference in the way their 

 colonies were wiutering compared with the 

 colonies in our two-story chaff hives. I have 

 no doubt but that they will come out in the 

 spring all right. 



Now, there are other incidents I could 

 mention ; but the foregoing will suttice. But 

 plea^ebear in mind, that this is for only one 

 locality; and while they might winter colo- 

 nies successfully here at the Home of the 

 Honey-lJees and vicinity, they might not do 

 as well where the climate is more severe. 



I will say from experience, right here, that 

 these little hives will give better results in 

 wintering if you put the Simplicity body on 

 toi), tilled with chaff, than if you cover tlie 

 brood-nest with a h;ilf-story cover only, in 

 which a chaff cushion fits. 



OUR BEES UP TO DATE. 



One day last week, the weather being 

 favorable, the apiarist and myself examined 

 all of our colonies to see whether any of 

 them might be needing stores, or whether 

 any might need doubling up. Not one of 

 our colonies has died up to date. Not only 

 that, but they are in splendid condition. 

 There were only three colonies in the whole 

 apiary that seemed a little uneasy, but in 

 other respects they appeared to be all right. 

 The remaining colonies were in nice com- 

 pact clusters; and when I pulled up the 

 burlap and peered into them they really 

 seemed stronger than when they were put 

 into winter (piarters last fall; at any rate, 

 we found scarcely a dead bee at the eutrauce 



