SEPTEMBER 15, 1913 



Apiary of J. L. Strong, Clariiida, Iowa. The apiary house and south part of the yard are not shown. 

 There are four rows of hives, twenty-five in a row. The small hives shown are twin mating hives. 



THE BROOD-SURFACE IN DIFFERENT-SIZED 

 HIVES 



How Different Conditions have a Bearing on the 

 Problem 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



Brock uses ten-frame hives. Oppenheim- 

 er uses twelves, and Old Man Pbiletus uses 

 eights; and each one is cocksure that he has 

 the right size, and that the other two are 

 wrong. Perhaps each is right. What do 

 you think? 



" Location," did you say? " Location be 

 lianged! No, you needn't get huify, but 

 just listen and cool off. 



Brock uses a standard ten-frame body in 

 which the frames, after a little swelling and 

 propolizing, fit so snugly that the outer sur- 

 faces of the outer combs are so close to the 

 hive sides that they rarelj^ have any brood 

 put in them, and hence not much on the 

 otlier sui'face. So he really has but little 

 more than eight combs available for brood. 



Oppenlieimer's twelve combs fit about as 

 do Brock's ten, so he loses nearly two, leav- 

 ing him with but about ten for brood. 



Old Man Philetus' hives are standard 

 eights, with ample room for the frames 

 which are kept away from the hive sides so 

 that the outer surfaces of the outer combs 

 are occupied with brood. 



Didn't realize how nearly alike the differ- 

 ent brood-nests were, eh? Well, they are 

 nearer than that; and, what is more, Old 



Man Philetus actually has more brood in 

 his hives than either of the others. 



We will do some measuring and counting, 

 not because you like to fiddle with figures, 

 but because they are good for your mental 

 digestion. 



A standard L. frame with inch-thick top- 

 bar has an internal area of 134 square inch- 

 es. Figuring 25 cells to the square inch, 

 and doubling it for the two surfaces, such 

 an area would have 6700 worker-cells; by- 

 count it is 6800. Those are the figures pro- 

 vided the combs are built on foundation 

 and fill the frames. But how many combs 

 approach that condition? Let us go to the 

 different yards and see. 



0. M. P.'s combs fill the frames solid 

 from top-bar to bottom-bar, and from end 

 to end, and all worker comb — that is, all 

 but the lower half of one comb in each liive, 

 and that is drone comb, and all the drone 

 brood is there. Wise Old Man Philetus! 

 His combs are beautifully filled with brood, 

 even regular sheets of it, and only a narrow 

 line of honey and pollen next the toj^-bar. 



Deducting the half-comb of drone and 

 the total area used for pollen and honey in 

 the eight combs, we find that there are about 

 45,000 cells of worker brood. (Not nearly 

 enough for a good queen and best results, 

 as 0. M. P. has learned, and he is changing 

 to larger hives.) 



Brock has good combs built on founda- 

 tion in wired frames but the combs do not 

 touch the bottom-bar, and are rounded off 



