1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



551 



ABOUT HIVES. 



"What kind of hive are you using, Mr. 

 Doolittle?" 



"A hive which holds the regular Lang- 

 stroth frame. It would probably be called 

 the Langstroth hive, but it is simply made of 

 four plain boards, nailed together with square 

 ends, just the same as an ordinary box would 

 be made." 



"But you used to 'bank' on the Gallup 

 hive, did you not?" 



"Yes. I used to think that the Langstroth 

 idea, as embodied into a hive by Gallup, was 

 all that could be desired." 



"Did you ever try any other?" 



"No. Have you tried others, Mr. Smith?" 



" Yes. I have used the Weeks, Champion, 

 Kretchmer's, Root's Simplicity, Quinby, 

 Gallup, Langstroth, and American; and I 

 came over to-day to ask you if you thought 

 the so and so would not be better than any 

 of those I have used." 



"Whew! You almost take my breath 

 away. Such a list as that! I should say that 

 it was enough to satisfy any reasonable per- 

 son that there is very little virtue in a hive 

 as a means of securing a large yield of hon- 

 ey, to say nothing about adding another to 

 the list." 



"What do you mean? Does not the hive 

 have a whole lot to do with the crop of hon- 

 ey we secure?" 



"It may have much to do with the market- 

 able shape in which we secure our honey; 

 but so far as the amount obtstined by a colo- 

 ny of bees is concerned, the hive plays no 

 very important part. Gallup told us, nearly 

 or quite forty years ago, that, if of sufiicient 

 capacity, bees would store as much honey in 

 a nail-keg as anywhere, and no man has 

 been able to contradict the statement success- 

 fully. Hives do not make honey, and there 

 is no virtue in any hive as a honey-maker." 



"Well, then, what about hives, anyway?" 



"Simply this; and this was just the thing 

 I hoped you had learned by using so many 

 diflferent ones: That hive is the best whose 

 brood- chamber conforms the nearest to the 

 natural habits and wants of the bee, and al- 

 so to the wants of the bee-keeper, so as to 

 enable him to take what surplus honey the 

 bees may store, in the ynost marketable sha])e. 

 That is all there is of it." 



"And you now think that the Langstroth 

 will meet those requirements as well as any?" 



"I certainly do, or I would not be using 

 it altogether." 



"Well, I am surprised. You may be right. 

 But there is another thing I want to know 

 about. What color is it best to use in paint- 



ing hives? I painted one black, and this 

 was the worst to cast swarms of any I ever 

 had. Then I have had many that were paint- 

 ed red, but they seemed to get too hot in 

 warm weather, and cause swarming." 



"But don't you know that black or red 

 hives will not draw too much heat if allowed 

 to stand in the shade from 8 in the morning 

 to 4:30 in the afternoon, as they should in all 

 well-regulated apiaries, after they become 

 nearly filled with bees and brood?" 



"But mine stood in the sun." 



"Then if your hives stood in the sun they 

 should have been painted white, because 

 that is the only kind of paint that will allow 

 the hives to stand without great discom- 

 fort to the bees during hot weather. But 

 you do not say how you found matters 

 in the hives that were left unpainted. If 

 your colonies were in unpainted hives, and 

 your locality similar to mine, I think you 

 would have noticed that colonies in unpaint- 

 ed hives did the best. If there is a single 

 good reason that can be advanced for paint- 

 ing hives at all, except for looks, I have 

 never seen it; and as I believe there is no 

 such reason, and not being naturally proud, 

 or greatly concerned about looks, I have for 

 more than 32 years left all of my single-wall- 

 ed hives unpainted." 



"Do you paint double-walled hives?" 



" Yes. With double- walled hives the case 

 is different, for then the bees are practically 

 in an unpainted hive, even if the outer shell 

 is painted." 



"But we are told that it is economy to 

 paint hives, are we not?" 



"Most bee-keepers talk that way; but I be- 

 lieve this is a mistake; for if cost of paint, 

 time of putting it on, etc., be taken into ac- 

 count, said cost will more than renew the 

 hives as often as those unpainted become 

 unfit for use. But I think the economy is 

 the other way. If any man would give me 

 $1.00 a hive for the privilege of painting my 

 single-walled hives he could not thus buy 

 the privilege, for I should consider that I lost 

 $2.00 in honey, because in painted hives there 

 is not so great an efficiency toward brood- 

 rearing early in the season, and this efficiency 

 applies mightily along the doUar-and-cent 

 line, where the tiowers which yield honey 

 bloom early in the season, as does white clo- 

 ver." 



"But you would paint the top or cover?" 



"No. All hives need a shade-board to 

 protect them from the fierce rays of the sun 

 from 8 A.M. to 4 p.m.; and as this shade- board 

 not only protects from the sun, but from the 

 rain as well, the covers and hives need no 

 further protection, as it is rare that the sun 

 warps the boards or the water enters or 

 stands on any part of the hive." 



"My hives are under trees." 



"But the bees want the sun, morning and 

 evening, to do their best, and the trees do 

 not allow this. With me, colonies under 

 trees do not do nearly so well as those out 

 in the sun, but having a shade just over the 

 hive during the middle of the day. I have 

 often wished they did, for in extreme hot 



