1372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



is needed to bring the bees through in good con- 

 dition, and tide them over the ever changing 

 days of spring. All admit that an eight-frame 

 Langstroth hive is large enough to allow a colo- 

 ny of bees to build up to a normal size during this 

 time nx'hen circumstances are fanjorable . Now, if 

 it takes all the skill of the experienced bee-keep- 

 er to manage his bees so they will come through 

 the winter and spring in the best condition and 

 take care of the surplus honey in general, what 

 can be expected of the inexperienced, careless, or 

 indifferent bee-keeper.? It is evident that the 

 eight-frame brood-nest is ample for such, as there 

 is no object in having more frames if the bee- 

 keeper is not able to get the colony built up safe- 

 ly to occupy them. The eight-frame is ample 

 for the beginner; but when the knack of success- 

 ful management is acquired, so that at least half 

 of the colpnies, by the time the honey-flow be- 

 gins, fill their hives to overflowing with bees, a 

 larger hive — that is, a ten-frame size — must be 

 used. If the beginner were to start with a twelve- 

 frame hive it would be my opinion that he had 

 begun at the top of the ladder instead of the bot- 

 tom, and his failure would be almost certain. 

 The change from the ten-frame size to the twelve- 

 frame size may be advisable whenever one has 

 mastered the situation, so that the ten-frame hive 

 has become too small to hold his colonies at the 

 opening of the flow. The location must always 

 be considered in this connection; for if the main 

 honey-flow began only 90 days from the time the 

 first natural pollen is gathered,, a hive with at 

 least two more Langstroth- sized frames could be 

 used than would be advisable if the main honey- 

 flow began only 60 days after the first pollen was 

 gathered in our location h<"re. 



Mr. S. D. Chapman, of Mancelona, Mich., is 

 one of the most successful bee-keepers in Michi- 

 gan, as he has bee-keeping "under his thumb." 

 He winters his bees in four cellars, and brings 

 them through the winter and spring very strong, 

 so that, long before the 60 days breeding season 

 is ended, he is obliged to allow additional room 

 for the queen to lay, and also for clustering space 

 in order to keep the bees from swarming before 

 the honey-flow. Two of Mr. Chapman's cellars 

 are under his dwellinghouse, a third is an elabo- 

 rate special repository, and the fourth is one not 

 so expensive. One of the cellars under the dwell- 

 inghouse is under a part of the house where a fire 

 is kept going most of the time; and these colo- 

 nies must be set out in the spring earlier than any 

 of the others. All of this shows that the man 

 and not the cellar should have the credit where 

 the colonies are successfully wintered in four cel- 

 lars of different design and construction, necessi- 

 tating different methods of handling, etc. 



Good wintering in the northern States is one 

 of the supreme tests of a successful bee-keeper; 

 and the inability of many of the northern men to 

 winter their colonies so they will breed up and 

 fill large hives in the short period between the 

 breeding season in spring and the main flow in 

 June is the reason that most of them prefer a small 

 hive." 



For 18 years I had 50 ten-frame Quinby hives 

 in use. These were chaff hives with the regular 

 thickness of packing around the sides, top, and 

 bottom in winter; but the best I could do was to 

 get the colonies in these large hives in condition 



for the honey-flow about July 1, when in our lo- 

 cality the white-clover flow would be nearly over. 

 At the same time I was having good success with 

 the thirteen-frame Gallup hive, and so I took out 

 the two outside frames of the Quinby hive, reduc- 

 ing it to the eight-frame size, which equaled in 

 space the thirteen-frame Gallup hive, except that 

 the frames ran the other way. These two hives 

 gave good results, and I patterned after this same 

 size when I adopted the ten-frame Langstroth hive. 



I do not mean in any of the above that I pre- 

 fer the eight-frame hive. It is true that I said 

 that the eight-frame Langstroth hive is large 

 enough, and that it needs less care, and some may 

 wonder why I use the ten-frame hive. I will try 

 to explain the reason. It sometimes happens that 

 we do not see our colonies from the time they are 

 taken out of the " clamps " until it is time to put 

 on supers, and in such a case all must be fed 

 enough in the fall to make a total of from 25 to 

 30 pounds of stores, to make sure that none starve 

 during the spring when we do little if any feed- 

 ing. Our colonies use from 20 to 25 lbs. of stores 

 from October till the main honey-flow in June. 

 At the time of the main honey-flow, there will 

 be from 5 to 10 lbs. of stores left in the hives 

 which have contained 30 lbs. in the fall, and from 

 nothing to 5 lbs. in those hives which contained 

 25 lbs. in the fall, the calculations being based 

 on good average colonies — weak colonies consum- 

 ing less. Now, a Langstroth brood-comb con- 

 tains 5 lbs. of honey and bee-bread when sealed; 

 and 30 lbs. of stores will, therefore, fill six brood- 

 combs spaced \y% from center to center; so that 

 in an eight-frame hive there will be only two 

 empty combs left in the fall. A colony winter- 

 ed fairly well in such a hive will become honey- 

 bound before the main flow the following June. 

 It would have been in better condition at this 

 time if there had been a comb or so of stores left. 

 On the other hand, the ten-frame hive with 30 

 lbs. of stores would have four empty combs in 

 the fall; which combs, together with those from 

 which the honey is used during the winter, would 

 make ample room for the queen to lay and still 

 allow a " reserve fund " consisting of a comb or 

 more of honey at the beginning of the honey-flow 

 in June. For this reason, therefore, we prefer the 

 ten-frame hives. 



Remus, Michigan. 



To he continued. 



CAN WE DISPENSE WITH SEPARA- 

 TORS? 



Why Many Bee-keepers Prefer to Pro- 

 duce Bulk Comb Honey. 



BY LEO E. GATELEY. 



Unless acquainted with the facts, one might, 

 from all that has appeared upon the subject, be 

 easily led into the error of thinking that the pro- 

 duction of bulk comb honey is a part of bee- 

 keeping confined exclusively within the borders 

 of Texas. From actual conditions nothing could 

 be further from the truth. A large part of the 

 Arkansas crop has always been put upon the mar- 

 ket in this form, and, to a great extent, it will be 

 found very much in evidence throughout the 

 South. 



