662 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 





Explanatory.— The Dgures before the 

 names indicate the number of j-ears that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the j'ear may require. 



This marli © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; 9 south ; Ot east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; N3 northwest; 

 o^southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Small Hives vs. large Hives. 



CHAS. DADANT. 



The arguments of Mr. Ilutchiuson, 

 in favor of small hives, on page 631, 

 can be thus condensed : 



1. Success depends on securing the 

 largest possible quantity of honey 

 with the least possible expenditure of 

 capital and labor. 2. Having bees at 

 the right time is one grand secret of 

 success, and after having gotten tlie 

 bees, it is better to compel them to 

 store the honey in the sections by 

 contracting the uroodchamber. 3. It 

 is of no importance whether honey is 

 stored in 10 or lUU hives. 



Let me remark tirst that this last 

 proposition is contradictory to the 

 lirst, for it is more expensive to pro- 

 vide bees with lUO than with 10 hives. 



I do not think that Mr. Hutchinson 

 will c'eiiy that in a good season most 

 queens can lay 3,000 eggs per day, on 

 the average. In our 10 and 11 fraiue 

 Qiiinby hives, ottering to tbe queens 

 the surface of about 13 Langstrotb 

 frames, we have seen, in good seasons, 

 in nearly every hive, nearly all the 

 combs tilled with brood; therefore, a 

 12-frame Langstrotli hive can have 

 7.5,000 workers at the beginning of the 

 crop, while an S-frame hive will have 

 only .50,000 bees; tlie laying of the 

 queen in the last hive having been 

 shortened by lack of room. If vve 

 reckon these ligures on 40 colonies, 

 wetindthat the lli- frame hives will 

 have 3.000,000 workers, and the 8- 

 frame ones only 2,000,000; or, in other 

 terms, it will take (iO s-frame hives to 

 contain as many workers as can be 

 reared in 40 l^frame hives. But 60 

 small hives will be more expensive 

 than 40 large ones. 



Yet that is not all. The queens and 

 bees in the large hives will be satis- 

 tied, and will show it by remaining 

 in their hives ; while the queens and 

 bees in the small hives will manifest 

 their dissatisfaction by swarming. 

 Then the owner of the 40 large hives, 

 if he provides them with surplus 

 comb or comb foundalion in time, 

 will need only .5 C)r V surplus hives, to 

 bouse a few occasional swarms ; while 

 the owner of the (iO small hives will 

 liave to prepare about (iO other hives 

 to receive his numerous swarms ; for 



very often colonies in small hives give 

 100 per cent, of swarms. Which 

 method is the more expensive V In 

 both, the large and the small hives, 

 the bees will cover the frames in the 

 same ratio, each comb, in both liives, 

 being covered with about 0,500 bees. 



Generally, when a swarm issues, it 

 takes out of the parent colony about 

 two-thirds of its bees; therefore, the 

 swarm from a hive containing .50,000 

 bees will number about 33,300 bees. 

 The supporters of the so-called con- 

 tracting method will hive this swarm 

 on five combs. If we divide 33,300 

 (the number of bees of the swarm) by 

 •5, the number of the combs on which 

 the swarm is hived, we tind that every 

 one of these -5 combs will be covered, 

 on the average, by 0,660 bees. 



In the parent colony, before swarm- 

 ing, the bees were spread on the aver- 

 age at the ratio of about 6,.50O on each 

 comb; the same bees, in the new 

 hive, are now spread on each comb at 

 the ratio of 6,666, or, in other terms, 

 the contraction method has crowded 

 only 166 bees more on every comb. 

 But as in the new colony there is no 

 brood to replace the daily mortality 

 of the bees, and as the life of a worker 

 bee is very short in the honey season, 

 the very next day the number of bees 

 on every comb of the new colony will 

 be reduced below the ratio on the 

 combs of the colony in the 12-frame 

 hives, which has not swarmed, and 

 every day after the number of bees in 

 the liew colony will decrease until it 

 is increased again by the bees that 

 tlie Ileddon method takes from the 

 parent colony 8 days atter to prevent 

 after- swarming. 



Let us return to the parent colony. 

 After the departing of the swarm it 

 remains with only 16,000 bees spread 

 on 8 combs, or at the ratio of 2,100 

 bees to the comb, and of course its 

 bees are very far from being crowded ; 

 yet the poor old colony is doomed to 

 be depopulated again S days after. 

 Then IMessrs. Heddon, Hutchinson, 

 and others will reduce the number of 

 its combs to live ! ! ! 



But this contraction method is very 

 strange to my mind. These gentle- 

 men had 50,000 bees on 8 combs ; after 

 swarming, these .50,000 bees were dis- 

 tributed, it is true, on 13 combs, re- 

 duced 8 days after to 10 combs, i.e.. 

 increased from the original 8 combs 

 to 10 ; and they call that the contract- 

 ing method 1 It seems to me that I 

 would have named it the enlarging 

 method. 



While all this interfering of the 

 contracting bee-keeper with his bees 

 (at a time when it is more protitable 

 to let them alone, with the sole pre- 

 caution of furnisliing them with comb 

 or room to store their harvest)— while 

 this interfering goes on let us see 

 what happens in uhe 12 frame hive. 

 The bees are as crowded as those in 

 the contracted hive, and work in the 

 surplus boxes with eagerness. They 

 did not lose a single hour in making 

 preparations to swarm, in swarming, 

 in becoming accustomed to their 

 change of location, etc., and of course 

 their crop is consequently a little 

 larger; for the loss of a single day, 

 during the honey harvest, may cause 



a loss at least of 5 or 10 pounds of 

 honey. 



"Mr. Dadant," my opponent will 

 say," is a producer of extracted honey, 

 and it is for that reason that he does 

 not agree with us on this method of 

 contracting the brood-chamber." As 

 my bees, in their large hives, are as 

 crowded as the bees of Mr. Hutchin- 

 son, in his small hives, were crowded 

 beform swarming, and as his swarms 

 hived on 5 combs are not more 

 crowded, I am unable to see in what 

 particular his small hives and his con- 

 traction method can, in any way, com- 

 pel the bees to store more extracted 

 or comb honey in his hive than in 

 mine. Of course Mr. Hutchinson ob- 

 tains better result by hiving his 

 swarms on 5 combs; but it is a mis- 

 take to think that it is because he 

 gives them a narrower room than 

 they used to have before swarming ; 

 but because he returns them to about 

 the same conditions, as to the quan- 

 tity of bees, proportionally to the 

 space occupied before. 



In the beginning of this article I 

 have proved that bee-keeping is less 

 expensive with large than with small 

 hives, and in the last part I think I 

 have proved also that there is less ex- 

 pense of labor for the same results, or 

 for better results, in large than in 

 small hives ; since we dispense with 

 the work of hiving so many svi'arms, 

 of reducing the hives, and of driving 

 out the bees to avoid after-swarms. 



Hamilton,*o Ills. 



Fur tbe Amennan Hee Journal. 



Southern Illinois Convention. 



The Southern Illinois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in Teague & Harris' 

 Hall, at Uuquoin, Ills., on Oct. 1, ISSo, 

 and was called to order by Vice-Presi- 

 dent (1. M. Dixon, of Parish, Ills. The 

 President being absent, ^Ir. Vfm. 

 Hutchinson, of LSenton, was chosen 

 Chairman pro tern. The minutes of 

 the last meeting were read and ap- 

 proved. 



The question, "Which is the best 

 strain of bees V" was then discussed, 

 and the Italians seemed to have the 

 most friends among the members 

 present. 



The next topics were " The best 

 method of introducing queens," and 

 " The best method of Italianizing an 

 apiary." 



In discussing " The best method of 

 wintering bees," ^Mr. C. ^1. Dixon 

 said that they needed plenty of honey, 

 just enough ventilation, and should 

 be kept warm and be looked after 

 frequently. 



The best way to handle bees with- 

 out stinging, and the best way to 

 keep comb honey, were questions that 

 received considerable attention. 



The following were chosen as of- 

 ficers for the ensuing year: AVm. 

 Hutchinson, President; 0. M. Dixon, 

 Vice-President; F. II. Kennedy, Sec- 

 retary ; and A. C. McElvain, Treas- 

 urer. 



The convention adjourned to meet 

 in Duquoin, Ills., on the second 

 Thursday in April, 1SS6. 



F. II. Kennedy, Sec. 



