1887 



(tLeanings in bee culturk. 



307 



I give up, frieiid Miller; you are rif>ht. 

 Your explanation. I tliiuk, clearly shows 

 that the hive-cover, or something very simi- 

 lar, is simply a matter of necessity. These 

 little minutes in the height of tiie honey- 

 flow are too costly to lose, when a little ad- 

 ditional expense of ten or fifteen cents pos- 

 sibly might save them. 



CONTRACTION, AND HOW TO MAN- 

 AGE IT. 



ALSO SOME VALUABLE THOUGHTS ANU SUOUKSTIONS 

 IN REGARD TO THE VITAL QUESTIONS BEFOKE US. 



fKIENI) ROOT:— Gleanings tor March 1.5tli is 

 at band, and is so brimful ol g'ood and timely 

 ideas that I am constrained to write and ex- 

 press my satisfaction. We are all much 

 pleased with the glimpse you give us of 

 your "great hive "filled with busy, earnest work- 

 ers, and heartily wisli you continued success and 

 prosperity at the Home of the Honey-Bees. 



In regard to taking bees from the cellar too early, 

 Dr. Miller comes forward with a hit of his ripe and 

 rich experience that ought to be well heeded. He 

 is right in saying, " Better too late than too early." 

 Surely if we have control of our cellar tempera- 

 ture, as we ought, the bees ai-e much better there 

 than outside, until settled warm weather. By the 

 way, I am much gratified to see Dr. Miller and 

 others leading you out of the woods on the comb- 

 honey-super question; but I fear .> ou are hardly 

 clear of the shadows, so long as you cling to the 

 10-frame brood-chamber with super to match, and 

 use an outside cover over the comb-honey arrange- 

 ment. Are you not aware of the fact, that the 

 great majority of our leading practical and pro- 

 gressive apiarists are altandoning the large brood- 

 chambers of ten and twenty years ago. and using 

 eight, and even less, L. frames for both comb and 

 extracted honeyy It behooves the editor of so 

 spicy a .iournal as Gleanings to lead and not 

 follow, in this progressive march. 



Allow me to assure Dr. Miller, that the principle 

 of contraction i'8 permanent. It has " come to 

 stay," but we have learned that we must have hrottd 

 under the whole comb-honey super, and so we con- 

 tract horizontally -the only true and logical meth- 

 od. I left over .50 colonies on tive L. frames the en- 

 tire season, from April to October, last year, and 

 never had better or larger swarms, or got better 

 results, than I did from these contracted hives. 

 When put into winter quarters they were much 

 stronger in bees than 1 care to have them. Now 

 that you have Indorsed and adopted the slatted 

 honey-board, the bee-space above sections, and the 

 plain board cover with square butting .ioints, you 

 are traveling in the right direction, and will surely 

 go the whole distance before you stop. Where 

 hives are left unprotected in the sun, the outside 

 cover is right and proper; but when a largo shade- 

 board, with air-space between it and cover, is used, 

 the thin single-walled cases arc cooler and better. 

 Remember, that it is largely the inside heat of the 

 hive that we want to escape, in hot weather. 



Adam Grimm, you know, thought it necessary to 

 slip supers by each other to provide this ventila- 

 tion. A properly made square butting joint will 

 not admit wind or rain, and, as Prof. Cook says, 

 j8 the proper wa,v to construct these joints. I could 



not now be persuade*! to again use a telescopic 

 joint. 



Friend Heddon has been five or more years ahead 

 of us in this matter. 1 use the Heddon non-separa- 

 tor case, and tlnd it cheap, strong, and neat. 1 al- 

 so have some :J()0 of bis new invertible wide-frame 

 supers. These latter have many advantages over 

 others, but are rather costly and complicated. 1 

 never did like wide frames, you know. It seems to 

 me there Is a great future for the tin T super. 1 

 shall try a few of them this season, and, if desira- 

 ble, will use them largely hereafter; if not, T will 

 return to the old-style Heddon ease, which is hard 

 to beat. 



Terry's book on the winter care of horses, and 

 the A B C of Potato ('nlture, ought to be in the 

 hands of every beekeeper and farmer, and we (jwe 

 you a vote of thanks for placing them within our 

 grasp. My 1.50 colonies are wintering nicely in 

 the cellar, and loss will be slight. D. Ft;nNESs. 



St. Louis. Mo., March, 1887. 



Thank you, friend F.. for your kind words 

 and kind suggestions. I am afraid we have 

 been getting a little in the shadow since we 

 stopped raising honey and confined our at- 

 tention solely to raising bees and (jueens. 

 There is considerable difference of opinion, 

 even in this matter of contraction; but if 

 we can cut our colonies down to half space 

 in the brood-chamber, just before we work 

 for comb honey, very likely a half brood- 

 chamber, or something on the style of Hed- 

 I (lon"s latest hive, may be what is needed. F 

 j have recently had considerable talk with 

 Prof. Cook and VV^ Z. Hutchinson in regard 

 I to the inalter. Your large shade-board, with 

 ! an air-space between it and the cover, is all 

 1 right to keep off the sun's heat: but when 

 j we wish to protect the comb-builders during 

 ! cool nights, my experiments indicated that 

 the outer shell was very valuable. As Dr. 

 ! Miller is witii us just now. he answers a part 

 j of your letter as follows : 



{ Friend Furuess, as I happen to be at the "Home 

 i of the Houey-Bees," Mr. Root has kindly shown me 

 your letter, and allows me a word of reply. Vou 

 have put a thought, almost new, into my head. It 

 is, that it is better to continue the bees quite late in 

 the cellar, where we shall be certain about them, 

 than to take them out where it will be uncertain, 

 balancing between two possibilities— one, that they 

 may be somewhat better off; the other, that they 

 may be much worse. 



As to the size of the brood-chambers, there is so 

 much to be considered that it may be well to be 

 a little careful about making changes. You may 

 be right and you may be wrong about the matter of 

 contraction; but I nuist confess that, from what I 

 have read and from what I have experimented, 

 there is much unceriainty in my mind on the whole 

 subject. For those of us who use the regular Lang- 

 stroth size of frame, or any thing near it, if we 

 practice eontractiug we certainly do not need room 

 for 10 frames during the time of contraction; but 

 at other times it so often happens that I need 

 more room that I am not sure ! care to have my 

 hives less than 10 frames. It is convenient, many 

 times, to put an extra frame or two in the side of a 

 hive where the bees may care for it. Then if only 

 eight frames or less are in the hive, it makes it 

 practically a side-opening hive; and whilst I could 

 not tolerate a side-openiug hive. I am glad to have 



