iii 



February, 1914. 



American Vae Journal 



in sprineor early summer, even if alt avail 

 able space may have been well filled. That 

 may make little or no difference if tlie care- 

 ful beekeeper be right on his job to supply 

 the deficiency. With the inexperienced or 

 careless beekeeper it may make the differ- 

 ence between success and failure. But even 

 the careful beekeeper could feel a little 

 more easy in mind with the larger hive. If 

 the bees be left to their own devices, a col- 

 ony in a 10 frame hive is likely to be stronger 

 than one in a smaller hive, when the time 

 for the harvest arrives. Taking all these 

 things into consideration, it would seem 

 that the larger hive is the safer to tie to. 



Now it would be just like you to turn on 

 me and ask why 1 use 8-frame hives. Well. 

 I have them, and it would be Quite a job lo 

 change all my hives and supers. I am used 

 to the extra management needed for an 8- 

 frame hive, and that makes it less objection- 

 able than it would be for a beginner. A lo- 

 frame hive feels a good deal heavier to me 

 now than it did 30 or 40 years ago, so that the 

 matter of weight is a stronger factor with 

 me than it is with the average beekeeper. 

 Yet I sometimes dream that I'd like yet to 

 have a few lo-framers so I could compare 

 them with the smaller hives, and so I could 

 have the fun of feeling easier about the bees 

 running out of stores in winter and spring. 



Does Presence of Moisture Mean Imperfect 

 Wintering? 



I am wintering my bees out-of-doors in the 

 following manner: Take off cover, place 

 piece of burlap over frames, place empty 

 comb-honey super on top of this, till with 

 chaff, put cover on top raised one-sixteenth 

 of an inch. I do this to prevent moisture 

 from collecting inside. This does prevent 

 it to a great extent, but even with this pro- 

 tection, when we have a spell of weather 

 with the thermometer down to zero every 

 morning for a week, some frost will collect 

 on the walls and outside frames of hives, 

 and there will be some ice inside around the 

 entrance; but the clusters are apparently 

 dry and comfortable. Do you think this 

 much moisture will keep the bees from win- 

 tering perfectly ? I have tried packing out- 

 side on top of the cover. It didn't do much 

 good. Montana. 



Answer. — When you go out in very cold 

 weather on a long drive, you often find frost 

 and ice collecting on the wrappings about 

 your face. That is no proof that you are not 

 wintering all right. Same with the bees. 

 They are breathing out moisture all the 

 time, and when it's cold enough you will find 

 tliat moisture condensing into frost and ice. 

 even though the bees be wintering all right. 



of the top of the hive covered with wire 

 cloth, which frame you will fasten upon the 

 top of thu hive with four wood screws. You 

 will put the hives in the car with the frames 

 running in the same direction as the rails of 

 the railroad, nailing strips on the bottom of 

 the car so the lower tier of hives cannot 

 shuck about. You must not set the upper 

 tiers of hives piled up directly upon one an- 



other, for that would stop ventilation; but 

 over the lower tiers you will put 2x2 or 2x4 

 scantling, running across the car, on which 

 to rest the upper tiers, thus leaving a space 

 for ventilation. You will probably use a cat- 

 tle-car, which favors ventilation; and you 

 will see to it that you can get at all the hives 

 to spray the bees with water when they be- 

 come excited and heated. 



Good Report from Michigan 



V\'ith eitVL-n culoiiiess 9 good ones and 2 

 very weak ones 1 produced ;i,l)00 one pound 

 sections of salable comb honey and increased • 

 to thirty-eight colonies, all strong and in good 

 condition for winter and only had to feed 

 two. Most of my honey was clover and was 

 sold at home at an average of ISJac per lb. 



I use eight or nine frame hives and run 

 on the double deck plan, setting off upper 

 decks for increase as fast as I get six 

 combs (four of brood and two empty combs 

 and two full sheets of foundation). I give 

 them one or two supers — bees and all — from 

 the old colony. 



L. & H. APIARIES, 

 Clarkston, Mich. 

 Dec. 15, 1913. 



Split Frames and Sections 



If a frame instead of being gruoved with 

 a wedge was split in the center and a sheet 

 of foundation laid between the two halves and 

 then nailed together well, would it not be a 

 much more substantial job? 



If the honey sections were split through the 

 center and the super frame laid down on a 

 flat surface, four of the half sections placed 

 in it. then a sheet of foundation of proper 

 size laid on it, then four more halves laid 

 on that and pressed down tight, the whole 

 thing picked up and placed in the super and 

 a separator put in and another frame filled 

 as before and so one until the super is full 

 and then wedge up tight, it seems to me it 

 would be less trouble and a better job. The 

 foundation would certainly be in solid and 

 full. I think the large frames should have 

 the two lower corners clipiied off for an open- 

 ing around the sheet of comb and a hole about 

 ]':. or 2 inches made in the middle, just 



ai ovc the center so that the l)ees could pass 

 through in winter without having to crawl 

 around the outside of the frame. What do you 

 think of the scheme? Uf course, if it is 

 worth doing, the frames and honey sections 

 should be made in halves at the factory as 

 one could not do a good job after they are 

 already made. 

 Silvis, 111. C CORBIN. 



The section splitting scheme has been in use 

 for years in England and is also used in this 

 country. Mr. Aaron Coppin of Wenona, Illi- 

 nois, produces all his section honey in that 

 way. Why it is not used more by comb 

 honey producers I am unable to say, utiless it 

 is because the outside of the split section 

 does not look quite so neat. 



As to the splitting of the frames, it would 

 have a great fault, that of making the end 

 shoulders too weak after they were split. We 

 find no trouble in putting in the foundation 

 with the wedge. We believe that after prac- 

 tice a man can put it in faster than he could 

 nail the frame together. 



Cutting openings in the combs, as you sug- 

 gest, would be of no use, for the bees almost 

 invariably fill those openings again. We tried 

 it years ago to our heart's content. , 



EDITOR. 



Praise for Hybrids 



I am enclosing three views of my apiaries. 

 Ko. 1 is my Hybrid yard. This yard has no 

 pure Italian's in it and it is my finest yard; 



Shipping Bees 1500 Miles by Railroad 



1. How many a-frame dovetailed hives with 

 extracting supers will it take to make a 

 20.000 pound carload ? 



2. How about fixing bees in the hives to be 

 shipped 1500 miles by rail? How shall I go 

 about it to do a good job so there will be no 

 bees getting out. and how should they sit in 

 the car— lengthwise ? Oregon. 



Answers. — i. That depends upon the 

 weight of the hives and upon the capacity of 

 the car. Of course a loframe hive ought to 

 weigh more than an 4-frame one. and a hive 

 with iTiuch honey should weigh more than 

 one with very little; also there is quite a 

 difference in the capacity of cars. Kind the 

 average weight of your hives with their con- 

 tents and outfit, and see how many limes 

 that is contained in the amount you want for 

 the load. That will give you the number to 

 make the carload. 



2. To make a good job of it is something of 

 an undertaking. In brief, you will use wire- 

 cloth for ventilation, having the entrance 

 closed with it. and having a frame the size 



iNo i-Mr G. K. Jones' home apiary up in the Blue Kidge Mountains from which he 

 never gets surplus. It is kept near home for experiments. 



