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the brood-frames, and shutting in the 

 bees by tacking wire-cloth over the en- 

 trances to the liives. 



THE CAUSE, OBSOCKCE, OF HONEY-DEW. 



Heretofore there has been a differ- 

 ence of opinion respecting honey-dew, 

 some maintaining that it falls from the 

 heavens ; others say that it is excre- 

 ment from insects. My observations 

 last year confirm the latter theory, for 

 those trees covered with slugs or lice, 

 and those only, produced the so-called 

 hone3"-dew. 



My wife has a large running-vine in 

 the house, that, at one time, became 

 thickly covered with plant-lice. 

 Wherever thej' gathered in large num- 

 bers, a thick, sweet substance ap- 

 peared, which could not have dropped 

 from the clouds, and it is not honej- 

 dew, either. 



Madison, Keb., April 1, 1890. 



HIVES. 



The Small Hives v§. Large Hives 

 -Wliicli? 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY A. J. FISHER. 



On page 215, Mr. G. M. Doolittle 

 catls attention to this subject, which I 

 think is of considerable importance to 

 the larger mass of bee-keepers. After 

 thirty jears' experience as a bee- 

 keeper, I cannot endorse all he says in 

 regard to this matter. In reference to 

 the large hives not economizing heat 

 as well as the small ones, my experi- 

 ence has been directly to the contrar}', 

 in this way : that is, I claim, and have 

 proven repeatedly, that colonies in the 

 large hives will come through the win- 

 ter much stronger in bees and honey, 

 consequently they are enabled to 

 economize heat in the same proportion 

 as the small ones. 



I have had hives containing 3,500 to 

 to 4.000 cubic inches, that did actually 

 flu up with bees, and would swarm as 

 soon (and often the first to swarm) as 

 those in hives of 1,728 to 2,000 cubic 

 inches, side by side ; and what nice, 

 large swarms these large colonies would 

 cast ! Then we do not have to be 

 continuallj' watching these large hives, 

 and feeding the bees to keep them 

 from starving to death, as we have to 

 di) with the small ones. 



I wish to be understood right here, 

 that I do not vindicate the above to be 

 the correct size — 1 onlj- relate it to 

 show what has occurred in my experi- 

 ence. I believe it is universally ad- 

 mitted that the swarming propensity 

 can be more easily controlled in the 

 larger hives than in the small ones ; 

 and many of us are in great trouble 



about the swarming fever — especially 

 Dr. Miller. 



Again, in reference to those bees 

 that Mr. D. speaks of hatching in tlie 

 large hives at nearly the close of tlie 

 harvest, being only consumers, and no 

 profit to the lice-keeper— surely, are 

 not these very bees the ones that help 

 to lay the foundation for the success- 

 ful wintering of that colony, thereby 

 preparing it for the next harvest ? 



In regard to this contraction busi- 

 ness, putting tlic queen oft' into a small 

 pen, where she cannot breed to her 

 full capacity — I am considerably in 

 doubt about the whole business, and 

 whether it will ever pay the large 

 majority of bee-keepers. This con- 

 tracting the queen into such small 

 space that she cannot exercise her 

 power in full, I look upon with the 

 same consistency as applying the 

 power of a ten-horse power steam-en- 

 gine upon the, work that could be ac- 

 complished with a two-horse power. 1 

 have yet to see the hive that ever had 

 too many bees, the jjroduction of one 

 queen, for profit. 



I will venture to predict that these 

 small hives, with their contracting 

 machinerv, such as ai'e used by spe- 

 ialists, will never be generallj' used by 

 the large masses of bee-keepers. I 

 claim that a hive should be large 

 enough so that the queen maj^ have 

 room enough to develop her powers in 

 full, at all seasons of the yeaj', with 

 the additional room for the storage of 

 pollen, and an abundance of honey, 

 without feeding, to last from the close 

 of one harvest to the beginning of the 

 next; with bees in such a hive, which 

 will have early-gathered honej', that 

 will be well ripened and sealed long 

 before winter, I believe we would not 

 hear of the wholesale losses in winter- 

 ing that we now hear of. 



I will here ask what this size shall 

 be. Quinby says 2,000 cubic inches ; 

 Langslroth says not less than 2,150 

 cubic inches ; Chas. Dadant and J. M. 

 Hambaugh say still larger than either 

 of the above, and I believe them to be 

 good authority. I am well aware that 

 Mr. Doolittle has good authority also 

 on his side of the question, neverthe- 

 less I do not feel that the question is 

 yet full}' settled in favor of the small 

 hive. I consider this an important 

 subject. The small-hive men appear 

 to be pretty numerous, and have 

 spoken their pieces well. I would now 

 ask the large-hive men to come for- 

 ward and speak their piece. It is a 

 subject that needs intelligent and prac- 

 tical discussion. 



Any hive that is not large enough to 

 furnish the queen room enough to 

 breed to her full capacity, with addi- 

 tional room for the storage of an abun- 

 dance of honey to last the year 



through, without resorting to the 



sugar-barrel, I believe will never be 

 generally used by the larger numljcr of 

 bee-keepers. In my experience, these 

 large hives will stand the "tips and 

 downs " of bee-life much belter than 

 the small ones. I aiu well aware that 

 specialists can use a different hive 

 than those who are not ; Ijut we cannot 

 all be specialists. I would like to hear 

 from others. 



East Liverpool, Ohio. 



TRANSFERRING. 



HoAV to Transfer Bees from Box- 

 Hives to inodern Ones. 



WHlttn Jor tlie Ameritan Bee Journal 

 BY JULIUS J. PETTY. 



Query 694, on page 197, asks advice 

 on transferring bees frorn box-hives 

 and re-queening the colonies at the 

 time of taansferring the bees. I have 

 transferred a great many colonies of 

 bees from the box-hives, and I will 

 give my plan of transferring. 



The titiie of transferring is in May, 

 during apple-bloom, here in Kentuck}'. 



I have all the tools convenient for 

 work, consisting of a bee-smoker 

 (Bingham's), hatchet, saw, table, 

 knife (or honey-knife), cold-chisel, a 

 bo.x to place over the hive for the bees 

 to go into, and the new hive. 



I then give the bees a few puff's of 

 smoke at the entrance (to make them 

 fill themselves with honey), and wait 

 a few minutes. Returning to the hive, 

 and giving the bees a few more puff's 

 of smoke, I then invert the hive, place 

 a box over it. just the size of the hive, 

 and commence drumming on the otit- 

 side of the hive, to drive the bees up 

 into the box. i 



Remove the old hive, and put the 

 box on the old stand, so that the out- 

 siders can go in. I then lift the hive 

 to the table, taking the hatchet and 

 cold-chisel to cut the nails so as to 

 take off' one side. I proceed to cut the 

 combs out of the hive, and lay them 

 on the table (on a piece of cloth) ; 

 place the frames over the combs, and 

 cut around the frame just the size of 

 the frame, and let the frame go down 

 over the combs. Now use the trans- 

 ferring clatups, or wrapping-twine, to 

 fasten them in the frames, hang the 

 frames (as yoti tie them) in the hive, 

 using all the combs with brood in 

 them. 



If I have any pieces of comb with 

 brood left, lay them on top of the 

 frame, and let the brood hatch out, 

 (or use the Heddou plan.) Where 

 there is any crooked combs, cut a V- 

 groove along the combs, and then 

 press down on the combs to straighten 

 them. Place them in the frames, and 



