'rmm mwimmicmT^ mmm j&i3MnRiu. 



325 



Queries % Reflies, 



Sidc-Storin^ir — Enaiiicletl CIolli 

 Over the Frames. 



Wrlttc7ifor tlie American Bee Journal 



QuEHV 707. — I use a home-made Lang- 

 stroth hive holding 9 frames. My locality 

 is not a good one for honey — In pounds per 

 colony is a good average yield, and often 

 10 or 12 pounds is all we get. 1. Would 

 not side-storing be preferable in a case like 

 this, as the expense of supers, honey-boards, 

 and the annoyance of brace-combs would 

 be dispensed with, and two wide frames at 

 the side would hold about all the surplus? 



2. By using enameled cloth over the 

 frames, could these wide frames at the side 

 be manipulated without disturbing the 

 brood-nest ? — Mississippi. 



1. No, never. — Dadant & Son. 



1. I should prefer top-storing, in any 

 ease. 2. Yes. — A. J. Cook. 



1. In your case it will work all right. 3. 

 Yes. — H. D. Clttixg. 



1. 1 am a firm believer in hives with up- 

 ward storing capacity. 3. Yes. — J. M. 

 Hameaugh. 



Perhaps it would, but I do not feel com- 

 petent to advise in such a case. — Eugene 

 Secor. 



1. I think not. 2. The brood-nest need 

 not be much disturbed, as the frames can 

 remain covered. — M. Maiiin. 



1. Perhaps it would. 3. Yes, if rightly 

 managed, either with or without enameled 

 cloth.— R. L. Taylor. 



1. If your average yield is 15 pounds per 

 colony, I should say that your hive is too 

 large, and I should prefer supers to side- 

 storing. 3. Not if there is brood in the 

 combs next to the wide frames. — A. B. 



M.iSON. 



1. Try it. I should, in your case, use 

 top-storing in preference to side-storing. 



3. Yes. A covering of burlap is just as 

 good as the enameled cloth.— J. P. H. 

 Brown. 



I do not know. It would seem that it 

 would hardly pay to keep bees in such a 

 poor locality. But why not experiment, 

 and see. — C. H. Dibbern. 



I should prefer the surplus room on top, 

 but fairly good honey can be secured as 

 you propose. A trial of the two plans will 

 tell you which you like best. — G. M. Doo- 



LITTLE. 



I have never been much in favor of the 

 side-storing plan, and my advice to you is, 

 if you dij try it— go slow. — Will M.Barnujl 



I think that it would be preferable to a 

 case with one-pound sections, honey-board, 

 etc. But why not use the "family box," 

 which is composed of 7 two-pound sections, 

 fastened together with two strips, and 

 glazed at both ends.— Mrs. L. Harrison. 



1. Side-storing may do to start, but I am 

 not sure that any one gets comb honey 

 finished well except on top. 3. It would 

 disturb very little. I think that I should 

 prefer extracting, and then if they did not 

 average more than 15 pounds to the col- 

 ony, I would quit the business. — C. C. 

 Miller. 



1. I do not think that side-storing would 

 be preferable in any case, and the extra 

 labor caused would, I think, more than off- 



set all the claims made here. 2. To some 

 extent, but nut entirely. Such a locality as 

 you descrilie would seem better fitted for 

 extracted honey, than for comb honey. — J. 

 E. Pond. 



The beekeeper who attempts to produce 

 comb honey without resorting to some of 

 the methods of contracting the brood cham- 

 ber while the liees are storing, will meet 

 with partial or complete failure in any 

 locality. The successful producing of 

 comb honey has become a science, and 

 requires not only a properly-constructed 

 hive, but skill in tlie management of it. 

 The place to get comb honey to advantage, 

 is above the brood, always. — G. L. Tinker. 



1 . In answering your question, I would 

 like to know if you fully understand mod- 

 ern bee-culture and honey-producing. From 

 your question, I infer that you do not. It 

 will not pay to keep bees in a locality such 

 as you describe. Side-storing is the poorest 

 of all methods, because bees instinctively 

 store their surplus above their brood. Side- 

 storing will do better if the frames are 

 worked crosswise of the entrance, and the 

 wide frames with sections given a place 

 back of the brood-combs. 2. You can use 

 enameled quilts, and, by folding them for- 

 ward, lift out the wide frames without in- 

 terfering with the brood-nest. But by 

 using a section-case on top of the brood- 

 chamber, no honey-board or excluder is 

 necessary, as in your locality you will need 

 but one case to each hive, and have no 

 tiering to do. — G. W. Demaree. 



No ; do not use a side-storing hive under 

 any consideration. In such a case as yours, 

 I would quit the business, or move into a 

 better locality. However, if for some rea- 

 son best known to myself, I did not propose 

 to do so, I would make Langstroth hives 

 about 12 frames wide, and extract at the 

 side ; but I would lift the frames out at the 

 top, for very many reasons which space 

 forbids mentioning here. — James Heddon. 



1. Side-storing, except for getting the 

 bees started in the sections, is out of date 

 now. The sections are much more readily 

 finished when placed over the breeding 

 apartment ; in fact it is difficult to get 

 them finished up when on the side of the 

 brood chamber. 3. If there is brood in the 

 frame next to the wide frames, you could 

 not manipulate them without disturbing 

 the bees.— The Editor. 



Woolittle on <(ueen-Rearing;'. 



Queens can be reared in the upper stories 

 of hives used for extracted honey, where a 

 queen-excluding honey-board is used, which 

 are as good, if not superior, to Queens 

 reared by any other process ; and that, too, 

 while the old Queen is doing duty below, 

 just the same as though Queens were not 

 being reared above. This is a fact, though 

 it is not generally known. 



If you desire to know how this can be 

 done — how to have Queens fertilized in up- 

 per stories, while the old Queen is laying 

 below — how you may safely introduce any 

 Queen, at any time of the year when bees 

 cay fly — all about the different races of 

 bees — all about shipping Queens, queen- 

 cages, candy for queen-cages, etc. — all 

 about forming nuclei, multiplying or unit- 

 ing bees, or weak colonies, etc. ; or, in fact 

 everything about the queen-business which 

 you may want to know, send for"Doolit- 

 tle's Scientific Queen-Rearing;'' a book of 

 170 pages, which is nicely bound in cloth, 

 and as interesting as a story. Price, $1.00. 



BEE-HIVES. 



A Coiisidvraliuii or l..art:e Hives 

 VM. Small HivcN. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY CIIAS. DADANT. 



Ill the article written uudcr tlii.s 

 heading, on page 215, Mr. Donlittle 

 .shows that he has never tried the large 

 frames, as he does not know how to 

 manage them. 



When I came to America, 27 years 

 ago,I had already kept bees in France, 

 and I was (piite sure that bees well 

 cared for would give good results. To 

 reach this end, I spared neither work 

 nor experiments. My means were 

 scant, I had a family to support, and 

 I resolved to rely on bees for it. 



Four dift'erent frames were at that 

 time in vogue, viz : The Langstroth, 

 the suspended Quinby (both long hori- 

 zontally) ; the American, and the 

 Gallup (both square), the Gallup being- 

 the smallest of all. Before testing 

 them comparatively,! was prepossessed 

 in favor of the American frame, as the 

 hives which I used in France had their 

 frames of about the same shape and 

 dimensions. Yet, after reading the 

 books of Langstroth and Quinby, I re- 

 solved to try their hives in comparison 

 with my square or American hive. 



Knovving that experiments in bee- 

 culture made on one or two hives, and 

 during one or two years, are not re- 

 liable, for there are many causes 

 which may alter the results, I put one 

 or two scores of each kind side by side 

 in the same apiary, and after giving 

 them the same care, I reached the 

 conclusion that the best results were 

 obtained with the Quinby hive en- 

 larged to 11 frames. 



A little later, I reared queens for 

 sale, and, dissatisfied with the small 

 nuclei with frames 6 inches square, I 

 contrived to make some of my Quinby 

 frames divisible in two, and 1 made 25 

 small hives large enough to hold 11 of 

 these half frames. 



The size of these half frames was not 

 far from the size of the Gallup. As it 

 was an easy matter to give to these 

 nuclei either brood or honey, or both, 

 taken from my large Quinby hives — 

 for I had put in most of them a few of 

 these divisible frames — my nuclei were 

 comparatively strong in the fall, es- 

 pecially as I used to unite with others, 

 those of which I had sold the queens 

 late in the season. 



I had no trouble in wintering these 

 nuclei ; but, in the spring, I was un- 

 able, even with the greatest care, to 



