THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



73 



the North American attempts to hold more 

 than one meeting annually, such meetings 

 will become strictly local, and the rally from 

 all over the country that we now enjoy an- 

 nually will become a thing of the past. 



•m>''m^)t^^»a*- 



.IOUKNAL8 OF A MISCELLANEOUS OHABAOTEK. 



The American Bee-Kiwper has increased 

 its size by adding a department devoted to 

 miscellany. If this thing keeps on much 

 longer, the Review will be the only journal 

 on this continent that is devoted exclusively 

 to apiculture. 



My idea of class journalism is that each 

 journal attend strictly to its class of litera- 

 ture. I think that a religious journal should 

 discuss religion, and let alone bee-keeping, 

 medicine, etc. Medical journals ought not 

 to, and I believe they don't, meddle with 

 gardening or religion. I believe it better 

 that a bee journal confine itself pretty close- 

 ly to apicultural topics. ( )f course, there are 

 journals that are devoted to agriculture in 

 general, in which there are different depart- 

 ments, such as dairying, horticulture, poul- 

 try, bee-keeping, sheep husbandry, etc., and 

 this is all right, but when a journal steps out 

 and makes a specialty of one of these 

 branches, my idea is that it should stick to 

 its text and let the others alone. I am aware 

 that all do not agree with me, in fact, some 

 of the bee journals are taken, by some, more 

 for the matter that is foreign to bee culture, 

 than for the bee-keeping matter itself. 



But there is no occasion for any quarrel 

 over the matter. There are excellent jour- 

 nals of both classes, and a man can choose 

 the one that he likes best, and let the other 

 fellow do the same. Several times I have 

 sounded the readers of the Review on this 

 subject, and those in favor of letting side 

 issues alone were unmistakably in the ma- 

 jority. But it should be remembered that 

 each journal gathers to itself a class that pre- 

 fers that style of journalism. 



Let no one think that I wish all journals 

 to be like mine : nothing of the kind. I am 

 making a journal according to my ideas, 

 and it attracts readers of similar tastes. 

 Other men are making journals according to 

 their standard, and I am not surprised that 

 they find readers. The world is wide, and 

 there is room for us all. Let each spend hi ; 

 energies in doing his very best as he under- 

 stands it, instead of finding fault with those 

 holding views that differ from his own. 



exxRT^cxeD. 



why Small Hives are the Most Profitable. 



I agree most fully with my editorial broth- 

 er, E. R. Root, in thinking that Mr. H. R. 

 Boardiiian is one of the keenest, brightest, 

 and most intelligent bee-keepers that we 

 have, and Gleanings is to be congratulated 

 upon having secured from him a series of 

 articles of which the following is the first. 



'•I have been discussing the matter in my 

 own mind for some time as to whether any 

 thingmore could be profitably said upon this 

 already thoroughly canvassed subject. I am 

 quite sure, when the arguments are all in, 

 could the vote be taken, no change would be 

 noted in the use of hives. 



It could not be possible that all the bee- 

 keepers in this grand diversified land, from 

 the cold North to the sunny South, could 

 agree upon the same kind of hive, either in 

 size or style. 



Methods must be as various as the climate. 

 This question of hives, then, is largely a 

 matter of locality. I can speak for my own 

 locality only, as to what hives or methods 

 suit me best. I would not presume to dis- 

 cuss with the bee-keeper of the South or 

 West as to what is best for his locality. 



Much depends, too, upon what is sought 

 to be accomplished — whether the apiarist is 

 working for comb or extracted honey, or 

 both together ; whether he wants increase, 

 or wants to prevent increase : whether he 

 wants to secure all possible of the honey 

 gathered, and supply its place by feeding, 

 or depends entirely upon natural sources. 

 It seems to me that, for the production of 

 extracted honey, the tiering-up feature 

 would be indispensable, whether the hive 

 used were large or small : and it also appears 

 to me, that a small hive is better adapted to 

 this purpose than a large one. But I am a 

 specialist in comb honey, and perhaps had 

 better consider the question from that stand- 

 point alone. In order that my prejudices as 

 well as preferences may be more clearly un- 

 derstood I will describe my hive : 



It is an eight-frame hive, taking a frame 

 r2S4xl2-^£ in., inside measure. You will see 

 that this enables me to use a wide frame of 

 sections that holds 9 sections, (i frames to 

 the hive. I have recently, within two or 

 three years, commenced using 9 frames in 

 my eight-frame hive, in a space of 12 in., 

 and the number so used is increasing each 

 year. It eive« some advantages that I will 

 not describe here, only to say it gives very 

 nice combs : so yon may put me on record 

 as favoring the eight-frame hive with 9 

 frames in it. and with the tiering-up feature. 

 Let me say, first and last and all of the time, 

 that, in an experience of 2.5 years. I have 

 found my hive large enough for every time 

 and place. 



There are two principal points which I take 

 into consideration in deciding the proper 



