Feb. 19, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



of much brood, then go into winter with larg^e stores at: 1 

 few bees, and when a few zero snaps have pinched off tho 

 edges of the little cluster there are not enough bees left to 

 make a start in spring, or, at best, a very late start, too 

 late to be ready for a honey-flow. A very short honey-flow 

 may give the other extreme — little honey and a great hive 

 full of bees. 



Now observe that these varying conditions must always 

 be to contend with. It is true that an 8-frarae hive one 

 year may prove about right because the flow or other con- 

 ditions were such that about the proper combinations of 

 bees and honey existed. But right in the same yard and 

 season will be other colonies that, owing to having been 

 either weaker or stronger when the flow came, will be found 

 in very different condition, going to both extremes. In 

 some cases the hive has been too big, in others too small, 

 and all in a yard of the same stock of bees and the same 

 season. Then what are we to do ? 



Well, there is no one thing that will meet all the diffi- 

 culties, and it is hard at best to avoid the troubles by com- 

 bining all the remedies at our command. The hive, as im- 

 proved from the old box or gum as describid, that is, one of 

 about 12x12x20 or 30 inches, has had for its object the 

 elimination of some phase of the difficulties, putting under 

 man's control more and more all the factors. It happens, 

 however, that we often sacrifice one thing to obtain 

 another ; done sometimes consciously, and sometimes un- 

 consciously. Let me illustrate : 



With the old-fashioned box or gum the apiarist could 

 not so easily control the colonj' to supplant inferior queens, 

 nor take out stores when honey-bound, or put in more when 

 short of stores. Neither could undesirable combs be re- 

 moved. Often it was difficult to get the colony to store in 

 supers, the brood-chamber being stuffed with honey to the 

 death of the colony the next winter. In order to get combs 

 that could be manipulated, and overcome some of these 

 troubles, the movable frame was invented. Then the deep, 

 narrow hive did not give good results in getting super-work 

 done, so the hive was made shallow to get the surplus 

 stored above, and, as compared with the old way, the re- 

 sults were marvelous, and in the craze to get more and more 

 honey the good of the colony was sacrificed so far as future 

 usefulness was concerned. The introduction of the im- 

 proved hive was followed with almost unprecedented winter 

 losses, and even to this day it is a fact that the average 

 apiarist does not comprehend the use of hives, and the shal- 

 lower the hive the greater the losses, and because by the 

 shallow hive once the colony is gotten into condition to do 

 good work, it is worked for all there is in honey and imme- 

 diate profits, to the detriment or extinction of the colony. 

 Then comes the cry that the hive is a failure, and nine 

 times out of ten the real reason the failure comes is because 

 the manipulator either does not know how, or will not sup- 

 ply the necessary manipulation and management. 



All this would imply that a hive must be elastic — be 

 such that it can be accommodated to conditions so as to 

 preserve the equilibrium of conditions, and put the whole 

 thing at the command of the apiarist. I know that there 

 are apiarists that can and do succeed with the 8-frame hive, 

 but it is not proved that that size is the best even with 

 those same apiarists. I am confident that the apiarist who 

 succeeds with the 8-frame can do just as well with a larger 

 hive, and even better. I have used hives as small as 4- 

 frame capacity, and up to 12-frame and larger. 



I am, and have been for more than ten years, using a 

 hive 13 inches square, and with frames 6 inches deep. It is 

 in fact a sectional shallow-frame hive, and each section is 

 about equal to five Langstroth frames. In actual practice 

 two sections of this hive are about equal in working results 

 to 8 or 9 Langstroth frames. But the fact that the hive is 

 in sections makes it elastic, and I can use it any size I may 

 wish, and circumstances require. 



r — I Suppose there is a fine honey-f.ow on, and I wish to get 

 all the honey possible into surplus regardless of preserv- 

 ing the colonies of bees, I can do it by contraction. Sup- 

 pose, again, that I have a quick and full ffow that is fol- 

 lowed by a slow one, or intermittent, I can contract for the 

 good flow and get the surplus when the conditions are 

 favorable for super-work ; then when the slow flow comes, 

 when one can not possibly get good results in comb-honey 

 work, the colony can have the brood-nest enlarged to any 

 size that will allow the storage of all that comes, and at the 

 same time allows of all the breeding the colony wishes to do, 

 and such colonies are the ones that go into winter in prime 

 condition. 



Just as I have explained before, the colony run in an 

 Sframe hive all the year through (I speak of the brood- 



chamber) will at times have too much honey and too little 

 brood, and vary through every grade to the other extreme. 

 Bees left to their ?weet will in big boxes or hives of IS to 30 

 frame capacity, will winter more successfully and make 

 larger and better colonies — ones that will send out immense 

 swarms, and put up piles of honey — than can possibly be 

 obtained from the small hives with the same effort. 



It is a fact that in most localities where bees are kept, 

 the flow season when the surplus is obtained is of short 

 duration. My present field, but a few years ago, gave 

 almost the whole crop in about three to four weeks in June 

 and July. Then it was important that I have large hives 

 and plenty of stores in the winter and spring before the 

 gathering of surplus, or, if the hive was small, I must re- 

 sort to feeding and constant watchfulness to keep the col- 

 ony in the small hive from getting out of stores. I observe 

 from reading the writings of those in localities where there 

 is a supply of nectar previous to the harvest season — a sup- 

 ply ordinarily to keep breeding at its best — that if there be 

 a cold spell or any kind of weather that shuts off the sup- 

 ply, feeding has to be resorted to, else starvation or other 

 damage. I also gather that after the main flow these same 

 localities often have slow flows, or dark honey, conditions 

 that cause the overloading of the brood-combs and conse- 

 quent reducing of the strength of the colony. I have had 

 such experiences myself, and on no little scale, either ; I 

 know that this is a common difficulty, and usually is not 

 provided against by the apiarist. 



It is right along these lines that come the benefits of 

 an elastic hive. I venture there is not one location out of 

 ten where much benefit could not be had by such a hive. 

 Of course, the apiarist must manipulate at the proper time, 

 and if he will not do so he would better have a large hive 

 all the time. The only use a hive can be is to give advan- 

 tage in manipulation, and the only time a small hive is 

 actually needed is when there is a honey-flow on that we 

 want in surplus ; hence, I desire my colony to have 

 a large hive at all seasons outside of the honey-flow that is 

 my harvest flow, then the colony can spread itself and go 

 right along with little care if for any reason I can not give 

 it the attention. 



Returning again to a consideration of the hive I pro- 

 posed as an illustration in my previous article — a two-story 

 hive of 6 frames each story, a 12-frame hive — such a hive 

 will accommodate almost any colony so far as numbers are 

 concerned, and at the same time will accommodate any 

 queen with breeding- room, and have store-room to hold feed 

 for all the brood she can produce. There would be nothing 

 to prevent such a colony in such a hive from being com- 

 fortable and roomy ; then when the flow came on they 

 could be shut to one chamber of 6 frames for the short time 

 of the harvest, and, as soon as the main flow was over, 

 doubled again on 12 frames, and would take care of them- 

 selves through the fall and fix up a brood-nest better than 

 the master. Larimer Co., Colo. 



(To be continued.) 



Rearing Extra-Large, Long-Lived Queens. 



BY DR. E. G.\LLUP. 



SOME 20 years ago I was stopping at a friend's house on 

 the mesa, where I found 7 colonies of wild bees in squir- 

 rel-holes, badger-holes, and one hanging on a willow tree ; 

 by the appearance of the comb it must have been there 

 three or more years. Six of those colonies were in close 

 quarters. The willow-tree colony had only a small quantity 

 of comb, as they could not build outside of the cluster. But 

 one colony was in a large cavity, and had a very large col- 

 ony, and an extra-large queen. I transferred one hive full 

 of comb, set two extra supers on top, and the bees filled all 

 three, equal to three standard lOframe hives. All the 

 other six colonies had medium and some quite small queens, 

 and a small quantity of bees. This large colony had, no 

 doubt, been there several years, judging by the appearance 

 of the combs, and had superseded and reared queens to suit 

 the capacity of the hive. The cavity was small at the top, 

 and all the comb was worker-comb, and dug out in the sides 

 of a baranca in black adobe soil. Now, Eastern people will 

 perhaps wish to know the meaning of mesa and baranca. 

 They are Spanish or Mexican words. Mesa means an ele- 

 vated flat piece of land; baranca means what you would 

 call a gully, washed out by heavy rainfall. I have seen 

 them SO feet deep, and the wall perfectly perpendicular. 



Our California squirrels live in the ground, and are 



