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Chair Hive§ vs.tlic Siiiglc-Wallcd 

 Hives to Secure Honey. 



Written tor the American Bee Journal 



Query 680.— My boes iire in chuff liives. 

 Thuy have stored very little surplus honey, 

 thoufc'li the brood-eliiiiiil>ers are well Ulleil. 

 My neighbors claim that my shortaffc of sur- 

 plus is charseahio to the chaff hive. They say 

 that the hives l<eep the bees too cool, heucetho 

 bees will not sttirt so early in the morning, 

 etc. 1. Is this not all "chaff 'i" If not, I wish 

 to change my hives. I cannot afford to keep 

 bees for fun'. I would lilte lo hear from those 

 who have had experience. I have persuaded 

 one of my neishbors to try chaff liives, and 

 made two for him. He says that the colonies 

 in those hives g-ave no surplus, while he took 

 an average of 100 pounds from each of the 

 others in single-walled hives. 2. Will bees 

 work better in single-walled hives? If so, 

 why ?— Michigan. 



I have had no experience with chaff 

 hives. — J. M. Hambahuu. 



1. I think not. 3. No. My most produc- 

 tive colony is in a double-walled hive. — M. 

 Mahin. 



1. Yes, it is " all chaff," as I know by ex- 

 perience. 2. No. 1. prefer chaff hives for 

 surplus comb honey. — Gr. M. Doolittle. 



During the working season, keep the bees 

 in single-walled hives ; or give more sun- 

 shine, if kept in chaff hives.— J.P.H.Browx. 



1. I do not think that the lack of surplus 

 is owing to the hive, but to the bees, pas- 

 turage, or management. 2. I think not, 

 but I would not want to use any other. — R. 

 L. Taylor. 



1. I believe it is. The bees in a chaff 

 hive are certainly warmer on a cool morn- 

 ing, or day, than those iu a single-waUed 

 hive, and also cooler on a warm day. The 

 chaff hive equalizes the temperature. — A. 



B. Mason. 



I never owned a chaff hive, so I cannot 

 speak from experience. If I lived in a 

 warmer place, I think that I would try 

 them. A trial of two, or three, does not 

 prove much. If 25 or 50 of each kind are 

 tried side by side, you can tell better. — C. 



C. MiLLEK. 



I have used chaff hives with little suc- 

 cess. I always obtained much more honey 

 from single-walled hives, than from the 

 chaff -packed ones, in the same yard ; but 

 locality has very much to do with it. — H. D. 

 Cutting. 



1. I think that it is "all chaff." 2. I 

 think that after the cold days of spring are 

 past, there is little advantage of either hive 

 over the other, as far as the honey-yield is 

 concerned. We have had them side by 

 side for years, and this is the verdict. — A. 

 J. Cook. 



There is something in what is said by 

 your neighbors, though we do not believe 

 that it would make a very great difference 

 in the yield. At any rate.'we are not in 

 favor of chaff hives. We have tried 80 of 

 them, have quite a number in use yet, and 

 do not want any more. — Dadan't & Son. 



1. I do not think that the trouble is in 

 "chaff hives." 2. I think that bees will 

 work as well in one hive of the same size 

 brood-chamber, as in another. The fault, 

 if any, must be in the season, or general 

 management. It is said that chaff hives 

 ■winter bees better than others, but I have 

 not found such to be the case.-J. E. Pond. 



We have never used chaff hives, though 

 we have frequently left chaff cushions on 

 many hives until late in the season ; and we 



thought that it was beneficial. It is pos- 

 sible that in some sea.sons (cool ones), if 

 your hives stand in the shade, chalf 

 walls might be a detriment; but if your 

 hives face the east, and stand where the 

 morning sun will strike them, \vc should 

 consider chaff walls au advantage. There 

 are other i-easons, probably, that are not 

 mentioned, that cause the difference you 

 speak of. — Mus. L. Harrison. 



I live in Michigan, and I do not believe 

 that chaff hives are too cool in summer, but 

 I do know that their bulk and weight will 

 surely ruin such a system of bee keeping as 

 is now necessary to make the business pay, 

 at the present price of honey. — James Heu- 



DON. 



1. Yes, it is "all chaff." When the ther- 

 mometer registers 80 to 90 degrees outside 

 the hive, is it likely to be any cooler in so 

 small a house ( While I think that chaff 

 hives are unnecessary, and an expensive 

 luxurj', I do not believe the charges of your 

 neighbor are sustained by experience. 2. 

 I do not believe that it makes any differ- 

 ence, except in early spring, when chaff 

 may beof some advantage. — Eugene Secor. 



1. I do not think that the difference can 

 be charged to the chaff hive. I have used 

 chaff Lives extensively, having 'had in use 

 250 at one time; they always gave me 

 good results. Nothing is more important 

 in bee-keeping, than a good bee-keeper. 2. 

 Bees will not work better in single-walled 

 hives than in double-walled hives. — J. M. 

 Shuck. 



I once had a chaff hive nearly as " big as 

 a barn," and the result was very much as 

 you state your case. I had bees in that 

 hive for several years, but got but little 

 honey from the colony. I made it for the 

 "Boss" out-door wintering hive, but the 

 bees succumbed in the winter of 1880-81. 

 A hive, to give the best results, should be 

 small, and rather shallow, so that the bees 

 cannot store the entire honey crop in the 

 body of the hive.— C. H. Dibeeen. 



In the comparatively moderate climate 

 of Kentucky, taking everything into con- 

 sideration, bees succeed best in single- 

 walled hives. In this limited department, 

 I cannot enter into the particulars account- 

 ing for this fact. In my apiary of from 50 

 to 120 'colonies. I experimented with 14 

 chaff hives, and about 10 double-walled, 

 "dead-air-space" hives, for five or six 

 years; the rest of my bees being in slngle- 

 w-alled hives. The latter have given much 

 better results than the chaff, etc., hives. 

 But I attribute the superiority of the single- 

 walled hives, to their better adaptability to 

 skillful management in " tiering up," with- 

 out which the best results are unattainable. 

 — G. W. Demaree. 



This query opens up a large subject that 

 can only lightly be touched upon here. It 

 involves the whole question of the out-door 

 care and protection of bees in winter and 

 spring. A chaff hive with damp walls, 

 packing and combs, will not winter and 

 spring bees as well as a single-walled hive. 

 To succeed with chaff hives, the packing 

 must be kept dry throughout the winter 

 and spring, and that is difficult to do with 

 cliitff as packing, for it is apt to become 

 danip, and then the effect is to keep the 

 bees " too cool," as alleged. Still, with 

 proper management, we can succeed better 

 with the chaff hive than any single-walled 

 hive in existence, and not only for winter- 

 ing, but for obtaining large crops of honey. 

 —G. L. Tinker. 



The pasturage, climate and surroundings 

 control the honey crop— the hive has but 

 very little to do with it. Your neighbor 

 was " chaffing " you at a good rate. Much 

 observation has determined that there is 

 but little difference from the use of double 

 or single walled hives. — ^The Editor. 



FIRST PRIZE. 



Extracted Honey — Production, 

 €are, and CJencral tse. 



Written for the American Dee Journal 



BY W. T. F. PETTY. 



Extracted lioney is tlio only pure 

 natural sweet. It is honey in its purest 

 condition, exactly as gatlici-ed and 

 ripened by tlie bees, without tlic ad- 

 mixture of any foreign matter what- 

 ever. 



In this latter particular it differs 

 from the "strained" honey of a few- 

 years ago, which was obtained by 

 crushing combs — some, possibly, con- 

 taining dead larvas, pollen, mashed 

 bees, etc., forming a conglomerate 

 gummy mess — into a vessel, slightly 

 heated, and then squeezed out by the 

 hands, or by less effective means. The 

 product was a honey rank in flavor, 

 and disgusting to the sight, as parti- 

 cles of pollen, bees' wings and legs, 

 and comb were visible ; and these as- 

 associations made it anything but 

 toothsome to the consumer. 



But thanks to the inventive genius 

 of progressive apiarists, for the mov- 

 able-comb hive and the extractor. By 

 means of these inventions, bee-keeping 

 has been revolutionized ; in place of 

 the " strained " honey of our fathers, 

 we behold a product that stands with- 

 out a rival as a sweet ; a product that 

 is no longer a luxury — to be had only 

 by the rich — but it is within the reach 

 of all, and to-day, the yet infant in- 

 dustry of honey-production bids fair 

 to unfetter the masses — when they 

 learn the merits of extracted honej' — ■ 

 from one villainous monopoly — the 

 sugar trust, that now has its iron heel 

 of tyranny upon our throats. 



The application of these inventions 

 to the production of extracted honey, 

 though differing in some of the minor 

 details with different apiarists, is about 

 as follows : 



The bees are obliged to build their 

 combs in movable frames, which may 

 be removed from the hive without in- 

 jury to combs or bees. These combs, 

 when filled with honey, and sealed 

 over by the bees, are taken from the 

 hive, the adhering bees brushed off, 

 and the combs taken to the extracting- 

 rooni. For this room, the necessary 

 appliances are, an extractor, au un- 

 capping-knife, uncapping-table, can 

 for pouring the newly extracted honey 

 into, and, lastly, the receptacles in 

 which it is to be placed upon the 

 market. 



