468 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



better satisfaction, that it more tlian pays for the extra stores consumed. We find 

 a man occasionally who says he winters his bees on the summer stands witho ut any 

 protection — not even a cushion over the frames ; but I prefer to winter them on the 

 summer stands with an outside case, packed with chaff, and a chaff cushion over 

 the frames. Bees wintered in this way, having proper care the previous fall, have, 

 in my experience and observation, been no other than satisfactory. 



As has already been said, what would be a good practice in one part of the 

 country would not be good in another ; and I will further say, that a method suc- 

 cessful with one might not be with another. 



This subject of hives, in my estimation, is a very important one, as our success 

 largely depends on a good hive ; and it behooves us to use the best that can be ob- 

 tained for the particular locality in which we live; also that we may have our 

 frames of a uniform size, so that there may be no call for altering and fitting frames. 



Of course, some who are acquainted with my not very ripe age (as I have but 

 few gray hairs) and short experience, will undoubtedly say : "0 he is only a young 

 fellow with but little experience, and his views are not to be compared with older 

 heads in the business !" Or, perhaps some may say, as they have of Ben There, 

 " Young man, that's all right for a tenderfoot." But have we younger members of 

 the craft not a right to express our ideas, as well as the older ones ? Some one, 

 however, may convert us to using such hives, and to thinking as they do. 



Omaha, Nebr. 



ONE-POriVO OR XW^O-POUND SECTIONS. 



BY CHAS. DADANT. 



The query was lately in the Amebian Bee Journal : " Which colony will store 

 the more surplus honey, the one provided with one-pound sections, or the one having 

 two-pound sections ? 



The answers to this query were almost unanimously in favor of the two-pound 

 sections, although everybody agreed that when it came to selling the honey, it was 

 much better to have it in one-pound sections. 



To the farmer who keeps but a few colonies, and who wishes to produce honey, 

 especially for his private family use, the question of sale is but secondary, and he 

 desires, above all things, to get as much product as possible from the few colonies 

 of bees that he keeps. It is, therefore, important for him to know whether there 

 is really an advantage in using large honey-sections. It is my intention, in this 

 article, to explain why bees prefer large receptacles. 



Bees, in a state of nature, lodge themselves in the hollow of trees, principally. 

 They store honey in provision of future needs, especially for food during the cold 

 season. Their instinct leads them to place the honey at the upper part of their hive 

 above the brood, and far from the entrance, so that the cluster of bees being placed 

 between their stores and the entrance, they can better defend these against in- 

 truders. They also want the honey in a place easily accessible during cold weather, 

 and therefore as near the brood-nest as possible. 



When we give our bees an empty box above their breeding-room, we act accord- 

 ing to their requirements, but when the box is cut up into small compartments they 

 readily perceive that some parts of this surplus room may become of difficult access 

 to them during the cold weather, and they work in them much more reluctantly. 



The first step taken for the securing of surplus honey, after the invention of 

 the movable-frame hive, was the invention of a small box, glassed on four sides, 

 and holding about four pounds of honey. The bees had access to this small box 



