1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



179 



produce comb honey, and advised beginners to produce ex- 

 tracted honey instead, I could not see what authority they 

 had to speak for the comb honey producers. In a recent arti- 

 cle by Mr. Chas. Dadant, which appeared in the American 

 Bee Journal, he says that he has tried the large hives by the 

 side of the small ones for comb honey for years, and that the 

 large hives gave best results. For awhile after reading this 

 my position on the fence was not as comfortable as it was be- 

 fore, and I almost tumbled off on the side of the big hives. 



But now comes Mr. Doolittle in the January Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper, with an account of experience, and an array of 

 arguments, that had the effect to make me assume as upright 

 a position on the fence as ever Dr. Miller did. 



Mr. Doolictle's experiments seemed conclusive, that the 

 small brood-chamber hive was best for him. Mr. Dadant's 

 experience seemed equally conclusive that the large brood- 

 chamber hive was best for him. In what position does this 

 leave the rest of us who have not experimented except with 

 bodies perpendicular, the right leg on one side of the fence 

 and the left one on the other ? 



It may be well to observe here that Mr. Doolittle gives the 

 particulars of his experience. It was not an experience of 

 much magnitude. I do not know, but I believe, that Mr. 

 Dadant's experiments were conducted on a much larger scale, 

 and covered a considerable period of time. Will Mr. Dadant 

 please give us the details of his experience ? 



But with Mr. Doolittle's experience I was more favorably 

 impressed than I was with his arguments. I fail to see how 

 necessarily we have "more hands to hoe potatoes in March " 

 and " more hands to hoe potatoes in October" when we use 

 the big brood-ohamber hives than when we use the little ones. 

 I mean more in proportion to the size of brood-chamber. As a 

 matter of fact, I suppose there are more bees in the big hives 

 all the time. That is what we use the big hives for — to have 

 more bees. If we have more all the time, we must necessarily 

 have more during the honey-flow, and why will they not 

 gather more surplus than the smaller number in the smaller 

 hive ? You answer, " Because there is more empty space in 

 the brood-chamber for the bees to fill." But is there any more 

 in proportion to the strength of the colony, when both colonies 

 are as strong as the varying sizes of the hives will permit ? I 

 do not believe there is. I have never noticed any excessive 

 number of bees around these big hives in March, and none too 

 many in October, but always a plenty of them in June, and 

 they went into the extracting supers as early and as readily 

 as the bees in the smaller hives went into the section-cases. 



I have used section-cases on some of these large hives, 

 but not extensively enough to prove anything. Most bee- 

 keepers agree that a large hive is best for extracted honey. 

 Whether Mr. Doolittle is one of these I do not now remember. 

 If there is such an over-abundance of bees in the big hives in 

 March and October, when worked for comb honey, why is 

 there not the same over-abundance when worked for extracted 

 honey ? Is this over-abundance any more detrimental in the 

 one case than in the other ? 



Again, if you have a very prolific queen in one of these 

 large hives, as you ought to have, will she not keep the cells 

 so full of brood in its various stages that there will really be 

 no more room comparatively for storing honey in the brood- 

 chamber than there will be in the smaller hive ? If she will, 

 then the bees are compelled to go above, the same as the 

 others. Mr. Doolittle remarks that enough is as good as a 

 feast. This is one of the cases where a little too much would 

 seem to be just enough. I should very much dislike the job 

 of going over a large apiary to equalize stores. 



One of the standing complaints about small hives is that 

 the apiarist's work is very much augmented if he tries to pre- 

 vent swarming, and that his surplus is likely to be very much 

 reduced if he lets the bees have their own way. When we 

 take into consideration the lessened liability of the bees to 

 swarm when large hives are used, it seems to me that when 

 the brood-chambers are once filled, a given number of colonies 

 in the large hives should in a given time yield a larger amount 

 of surplus than the same number of colonies in the small hives. 

 I believe with Mr. Dadant, that they will do it. Satisfactory 

 evidence that they will is yet to be produced. 



I have this winter made 10 hives, 20 inches long and 12 

 inches deep to take 10 frames. If life is spared, and health 

 permits, I shall keep on making these hives till I have 25 of 

 them. They will be used for comb honey in comparison with 

 25 of the 8-frame dovetailed hives, as soon as I can get the 

 large hives filled with bees and comb. I propose to fight it 

 out on this line if it takes not only all summer, but many sum- 

 mers. It is by such means that a satisfactory solution of the 

 question must be reached, if ever reached at all. 



Leon, Iowa. 



The Houey-Competitiou Fallacy. 



BY J. H. MAliTIN. 



I notice on page 130, that Dr. Miller uses these words: 

 "Whether the competition of California honey in the North- 

 ern markets is a good thing for Northern bee-keepers, may be 

 questioned." 



I think Dr. Miller, and a great many other well-inten- 

 tioned bee-keepers, use the word " competition " rather loosely 

 when applied to California honey, or honey from any other 

 far western State. 



It is easy to see that there may be competition in the pro- 

 duction and marketing of potatoes or apples, and various 

 other products that are almost universally grown, and are 

 staple articles ; but when we consider that there are over 70,- 

 000,000 of people in the United States, and only a little over 

 63,500,000 pounds of honey produced — less than one pound 

 per capita — it is difficult to see why the cry of competition 

 should arise. I suppose it arises because it is the easiest way 

 to explain, or to account for, low prices. But I believe if we 

 look a little further we will see that California or Arizona 

 honey cannot compete with Northern honey, or vice versa. 

 The one great competition to both California and Northern 

 honey is glucose, when in all of our leading markets glucose 

 is mixed with our honey and sold to the consumers openly, 

 and said consumers, when told that of two samples before 

 them one is honey one-fourth part of which is glucose, the 

 other pure honey, will nearly always take the mixed goods in 

 preference to the other, owing to its lighter color and less- 

 pronounced flavor. 



If glucosed honey is sold in that way, it is a perfectly 

 legitimate business, and, gentlemen bee-keepers, what are you 

 going to do about it? 



Again, if there was competition between California and 

 Northern honey, what would be the result when there is a 

 total failure of the crop in California ? The price surely should 

 run up to a figure to sort of balance the deficiency, but does 

 it ? How much did the price advance in the autumn of 1894, 

 when all of the Eastern markets knew that the crop was a 

 failure here ? The fact did not make any apparent difference 

 in prices. 



I know it sounds discouraging to Northern bee-keepers to 

 see in the market reports, "Market well supplied; several 

 cars of California honey arrived ;" but not a word do you hear 

 about the cars of glucose that have arrived, and be the honey 

 crop great or small, about the same amount of so-called honey 

 will be sold ; but in this case the most of it will be sold as pure 

 honey. Vou have laws in every State, I think, against adul- 

 teration — what are you going to do about it, gentlemen bee- 

 keepers ? And why don't you wake up and do something '? 



Again, let us bring up another point: 70,000,000 of 

 people, and 63,500,000 pounds of honey. Suppose we in- 

 crease our output of honey to two pounds per capita, or 140,- 

 000,000 pounds. Seems to me there is a screw loose now 

 somewhere, if we do not get a good price for our honey. Is it 

 competition ? No, sir ! It is a failure to distribute it in a wise 

 and systematic manner. 



A little further along in his review, the Doctor says : 

 " Possibly the success of those Southern men may be an ex- 

 ample to others, and the markets throughout may be im- 

 proved." That's just it, Doctor. No one would rejoice more 

 than the California bee-keepers to si'e every bee-keeper in our 

 broad land benefitted by our examp'e. But, Doctor, don't put 

 your hands in your pockets and be content to whistle : 

 " 'There's a good time coming;' t'lose California fellows are 

 going to bring it !" You want to get around and organize 

 in every honey-producing State, and then instead of trying to 

 sneak in under the mantle of the Union, the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Association (as I have more fully pointed out in 

 Gleanings) should arise like a Phenix from the dust, and be- 

 come the great central head — the North American Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Exchange. With thorough organization all over the con- 

 tinent, there would be but little chance for adulterators. The 

 glorious time for which we have been longing would arrive, 

 with its attendant benefits. Bloomingtou, Calif. 



^ 



President's Address at the Ontario Convention. 



It rejoices my heart that so many of us are spared to meet 

 in convention, and that so large a number are here, notwith- 

 standing the discouragement of the past season, many of us 

 having had a total failure in honey, and had to feed our colo- 

 nies to carry them through the winter. But truly the apiarist 

 is a hopeful' being, and most of us are nursing our pets with 



