774 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one knows better or appreciates more 

 highly than their old friend who still 

 survives to honor their memories, 

 how much their various labors con- 

 tributed to the splendid success of the 

 movable-frame principle in America. 

 L. L. Langstkoth. 

 Oxford, 9 O., Nov. 10, 1885. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Small Hives vs. Large Hives. 



Chas. dadant. 



In his reply to my article on page 

 66:i, Mr. Ilutchinson, on page 714, 

 insists upon the idea that " success 

 depends upon producing the largest 

 amount of honey with the least ex- 

 penditure of capital and labor." Of 

 course every bee-keeper will accept 

 this maxim. But Mr. Ilutchinson 

 adds : " One man wiih few hives and 

 many nianipulations (labor) may 

 secure 1,U00 poundsof honey ; another 

 man, with twice as many hives, and 

 with less labor, may secure only the 

 same amount of honey, and yet make 

 more protit." This liriugs me back 

 to my computations, which iSlr. 

 Hutchinson seems to have lorgotteu. 

 The bee-keeper with 60 hives has 

 more capital engaged than the man 

 with 4U. Tliis Mr. Ilutchinson will 

 not deny. But the bee-keeper with 

 (iO small hives will have 100 per cent, 

 of swai ms, and will need at least (JO 

 more hives in which to hive his 

 swarms ; while tlie bee-keeper with 

 40 large hives will need oidy 10 more 

 hives at nifist. If the 60 hives are 

 valued at $:i.-50each, and the 10 large 

 ones at §3 each, the bee-keeper with 

 small hives will have to disburse SI20 

 more than the man with large hives. 

 As to the manipulations(labor) : The 

 bee-keeper with 60 hives will luxve 180 

 surplus cases to give his colonies, 

 while the apiarist with 40 large hives 

 will have but 120 large cases, or one- 

 thiid less work. 



Mr. Ilutchinson says that my cal- 

 culations on the number of bees 

 crowded on every comb, is not right ; 

 since I did not notice tliat he places 

 surplus cases on his hives. But does 

 he think that we neglect to do the 

 sanie'r' Therefore the bees are 

 crowded in the same ratio, on our 12 

 combs, as are his bees on his 8 combs. 



His bees swarm after tilling a case 

 and the third of another; but, as 

 there are not enough bees remaining 

 in the old colony to fill these cases, 

 he removes them and gives them to 

 the swarm. Is not tliat an increase 

 of woi k ? 



Our bees, in large hives, do not 

 swaim as miuh. and we are spared 

 the time fif hiving the swarms, and 

 of transfeiring the cases from one 

 hive to other. Besides, a colony which 

 swarms loses tiuje in preparations, in 

 hanging on the tree, etc. There is 

 about one day of work lost in the best 

 season for harvest. We have to put 

 that in the account, for there is a loss 

 of honey. Mr. iJoolittle, on page 709. 

 says that his bees gathered 10 pounds 

 per day last season. 



But, says Mr. Ilutchinson, although 

 our bees have 10 combs after swarm- 



ing instead of 8, we contract " so far 

 as the egg-producing power is con- 

 cerned. We now have two queens." 

 Let us see. The honey harvest gen- 

 erally does not last more than 3, 4, 5, 

 and occasionally 6 weeks, or 42 days. 

 After the bees of Mr. Hutchinson's 

 swarm, have filled a case and the third 

 of another, or after about 3 weeks of 

 harvesting, the young queen will be- 

 gin to lay about 12 days, on the aver- 

 erage, after the swarming; then if 

 the harvest Lasts 42 days, she has only 

 9 days to lay before the harvesting is 

 done ; but as the hive has remained 

 without a laying queen for 12 days, 

 the new queen is not crowded at all, 

 since 2,000 bees have hatched every 

 day during these 12 days ; or if she is 

 crowded by the honey harvested, 

 there is comparatively more honey in 

 the brood-chamber of Mr. IPs hive 

 than in ours. 



After conceding that 00 hives cost 

 more than 40. Mr. Hutchinson adds : 

 " To save this triliing ex|)ense, we 

 must incur the risk of having 5 to 20 

 pounds of the choicest honey stored 

 in the brood-nest." It seems that 

 Mr. Hutchinson's bees do not act like 

 ours, for we have noticed that during 

 the honey harvest, as soon as a bee has 

 left her cell by hatching, the workers 

 hasten to put honey in it. Then the 

 poor queen, although traveling all 

 over the combs, is compelled to lose her 

 eggs, since she is unable to find empty 

 cells to receive them. Of course there 

 will be more honey stored in our 12- 

 frame hive than in Mr. Hutchinson's 

 8-fiame hive ; but both kinds of hives 

 will be filled with honey in about the 

 same ratio. If each one of his 8- 

 frame hives contains 14 pounds of 

 honey, or for 60 hives, 840 pounds, our 

 12-fiarae hives will contain about 21 

 pounds each, or for 40 hives, 840 

 pounds ; or the same amount in both 

 apiaries. 



Then the increase of profit, that 

 Mr. Hutchinson estimates to get from 

 the narrowness of his hive, is quite 

 imaginary. Yes ! we place great 

 stress upon the advantage to be 

 gained by allowing each one of our 

 queens to lay to her utmost capacity. 

 For twenty years our large hives have 

 given us belter results than our small 

 ones ; and the sume results were 

 always obtained where large hives 

 have been tested side by side with 

 small ones. I have the Bulletin 

 cVApiculture for October, and I find in 

 it twelve selections from letters com- 

 ing from Switzerland, Belgium, France 

 and Spain, |)raising ihe large hives, 

 called the "Layen" hives and the 

 "Dadant" hives, showing by com- 

 parison that they are more profitable 

 than smaller ones. 



But there is another point that I 

 wish to place before tlie minds of the 

 bee-keepers. The improving of ani- 

 mals is now considered as one of the 

 aims of a good and profitable hus- 

 bandry. IIow can you improve your 

 bees, if you do not know tlie prolitic- 

 ness of your queens V How will you 

 select the best brood from which to 

 rear queens if you allow all your 

 colonies to swarm naturally V Those 

 who use large hives know which 

 queens are the most prolific ; which 



bees are the most peaceful ; the best 

 honey-gatherers; the colonies which 

 work sooner in the morning and later 

 in the evening ; and which bees know 

 better how to find the honey resources, 

 etc., as their bees do not swarm very 

 much. (We have an apiary on the 

 farm " Champeau of Sonora," which, 

 with between 60 and 75 colonies, gave 

 but one swarm in two years.) As our 

 bees do not swarm very much, we 

 take all the brood to rear queens from 

 our best colonies, and we continually 

 improve our stock of bees. 



Ttiose who employ small hives do 

 not know their most prolific queens ; 

 and the improving of their stock is 

 out of the question, unlessil isdoneby 

 the replacing of tlie queens ; there- 

 fore by a large increase of work. Is 

 thiit not true V 



Ilamilton,K5 Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Ventilation of Winter Repositories. 



JA3IES HEDDON. 



It will be remembered that some 

 months ago 1 requested reports re- 

 garding the least amount of air with 

 which bees had been known to pass 

 their winter conhnement in perfect 

 health. I am sorry to say that I was 

 not able to report on the responses as 

 soon as I should and wished to, and 

 further, that most of those who re- 

 sponded did not seem to understand 

 the request. I had no reference to the 

 ventilation of hives, but to the ven- 

 tilation of repositories. Many of the 

 letters which were filed in a special 

 box, were inadvertently re- tiled by a 

 clerk, and so could not be found with- 

 out very great trouble. Among those 

 that were preserved, and bear directly 

 upon the subject, is one from Mr. 

 Dwight Furness, of Furnessville, 

 Ind., which relates the case of a 

 neiglibor who buried some colonies 

 in the giound, with the hive-covers 

 tightly glued, the hive-entrances 

 blocked tightly, and the earth piled 

 about the liives solidly. They were 

 left until spring, and wintered in fine 

 condition. 



Mr. Levi Fatzinger, of Janesville, 

 Wis., gives his very successful experi- 

 ence in keeping his bees in a cellar, 

 winter after winter, and never sriving 

 that cellar any ventilation. He lost 

 a part of his bees last winter for the 

 first time, which he credits to the 

 temperature falling to 34'^. I also 

 think that was the indirect cause. He 

 had 69 colonies in a cellar about 15x20 

 feet in size. 



Mr. S. J. Youngman, of Cato,Mich., 

 reports an instance where a neighbor 

 dug a hole in the ground about a foot 

 deep, placed a hive over it with a hole 

 in its bottom-board about 4 inches 

 square, adjusted a rough box over all, 

 and packed the space between the 

 liive and box solidly and tightly all 

 around, and the colony, though a 

 light one, wintered perfectly, with no 

 loss of individual bees. He says that 

 they were in a Langstroth hive, and 

 not opened until April 3. The box 

 admitted of no egress or ingress of 

 the bees, and had no entrance. This 



