TH® itm^niQKn beu jauRNSLr. 



428 



have openings correspomling with tlie 

 openings between the sectiims. Strips 

 the thickness of a bee-space are laid 

 across these slats for the ends of the 

 sections to rest on ; but the openings 

 between the slats and between tlie 

 sections, while corresponding in si/e 

 and sliape, are not one over the other, 

 bnt the joints are broken. Tliere is 

 thus a double bee-space, a la Hcddon. 

 The plan works well every WAy. — M. 

 Mahin. 



Bee-spaces should be at the top to 

 prevent the crushing of bees, in all 

 hives, cases, supers, etc., then there is 

 a bee-space between each. — The 

 Epitor. 



HIVES. 



The " Coming " Hive — Preven- 

 tion of Swarming. 



Written Jor the American Bee Journal 



BY GEO. F. ROBBINS. 



Mr. J. E. Pond, on page 377, refers 

 to Mr. Teflt's article on page 346, on 

 the " Coining Hive," and proceeds to 

 argue that the "coming hive" "is 

 here." This hive he claims to be the 

 " ordinary Langstroth," made 14J 

 inches wide, to take a frame holding — 

 in length I suppose — four 4J^x-4} sec- 

 tions. 



Suppose that we agree that the hive 

 is here, in the shape of the " ordinary- 

 Langstroth " — that hive does not con- 

 tain ten frames. The ten-frame hive 

 men arc in the minority in this day of 

 apicultural prcigre.ss. It has, it seems 

 to me, been demonstrated quite often 

 enough, that eight Langstroth frames 

 are suflicicnt to accommodate an}- 

 queen. Seven frames will usuallj', if 

 not always, be all that a queen can fill 

 in 21 days. We add one extra frame 

 for pollen and honey, which, with the 

 upper corners of the other seven 

 frames, is ample. To give more room 

 than that, is to liave honej' stored be- 

 low, that should go above. 



Mr. Pond has, himself, somewhere 

 in the Ajiehican Bee Joukkal, argued 

 that to get bees into sections, tlie 

 brood-frames should be close eaougli 

 together to keep the combs only about 

 J of an inch in thickness, without cap- 

 pings, so that they would be tilled with 

 brood ()uite up to the top-bars. I think 

 tliat I am safe in saying that Ijees will 

 never fill the combs of a ten-frame 

 hive up to the top-bar. If there is 

 room to spread the brood horizontally, 

 tliej" will fill the upper part of the 

 frame with honey. 



I have used eight and ten frame 

 hives, side b}' side in my apiary for 

 five years, and I would exchange all I 

 have of the latter kind for the former, 

 and pay 25 per cent. •' to boot," 

 quickly. They can be contracted and 

 expanded at will, that is true ; I am 

 doing that all the time, and I know 

 how it goes. I seldom can use a brood- 

 chamber of a ten-frame hive to its full 

 capacity. I generally have two dum- 

 mies below ; then when I put on sur- 

 plus arrangements I must have divi- 

 sion-boards, or boards to cover a part 

 of the surface of the lower story, as 

 the case may be. 



I have hail in the two stories, six 

 dummies, with a lot of moth-cocoons 

 wedged in the crevices, and a mou.se- 

 nestin the bargain. Dummies, honey- 

 boards, supers, covers, chafi'-cushions, 

 dummies — over and over, again and 

 again. I am sick and tired of so 

 much lumber. Dummies ! Why I have 

 stacks of them, puking them here, 

 tossing them yonder, "toting" them 

 in and "toting" them out. With the 

 hive I have, I could not do without 

 them, perhaps never altogether ; but 

 witli a hive of the right size — llj 

 inches wide — the need of them would 

 be reduced more than one-half. 



Mr. Pond highly commends this 

 thought of Mr. Teli't, viz : "Keep the 

 bees in one strong colony until after 

 the honey harvest," etc. So do I ! It 

 is like many another good thing that 

 we cannot have. I read Mr. Teti't's 

 article about three times. It is a won- 

 derful article. The remark quoted is 

 a sample of much more contained 

 t,herein. His ideal 's a wonderful ideal 

 indeed. I cannot even dream of such 

 an one. Allow me to speak a parable : 



A youth dreams : " If I could have 

 all the raone}' I want, a fine, beautiful 

 estate, the prettiest, smartest, sweetest 

 girl in the world for a wife, no pains, 

 no sickness, no cares, no discontents, 

 no work — everything that heart can 

 wish, and nothing to do but enjoy my 

 lovely wife, and eat ice-cream and 

 cake, and never have dyspepsia — oh, 

 how ha]>py I wouUl be." So would I ! 

 Mr. Tefft so mixes the actual points of 

 his hive and .system with the ideal, that 

 we cannot quite separate the one class 

 from the other ; but that he does not 

 possess all his ideal, is pretty evident. 

 If he or any other man can ever " keep 

 the bees in one strong colony until 

 after the honey harvest," and yet 

 " keep the brood-frames full of brood, 

 and no honey in them during tlu? har- 

 vest," (especially with Mr. Pond's ten- 

 frame hive) as he says in the same 

 sentence ; have reversible frames, 

 brood-cliambcr, cover, dummies, chaft- 

 hive, and no cliatl'-hive, and yet have 

 it simple ; have a double bottom with 

 tarred paper between the boards — and 



everything else that he mentions and 

 wants, and yet have it che.ap — I hope 

 he will teil me. All these are verita- 

 able points of his ideal hive. 



*• HiKfi ns ttio lieavenH '* his " nnme I'll Bhont," 



If he'll Kive lue nil the good, and leave lliu bttd out. 



Seriously, does not every bee-keeper 

 know that to keep honey out of the 

 lirood-chamlier, il must be crowded out ? 

 It cannot be done altogether even by 

 contraction, altlioiigh that will go a 

 long way toward it. If the lower 

 story is large, much of it will be filled 

 with honey and sealed. In anj' ca.se, 

 when honey is flowing in, an old bee 

 comes in laden with honey, spies a cell 

 froiu which a newly-hatched bee has 

 lately emerged, disgorges its load, and 

 returns in haste to the cups of nectar 

 it has left liehind. To be sure, this 

 may be carried up by the younger 

 bees, but the process keeps cells all 

 through the hive pre-occupied a great 

 deal of the time. That is bee-nature, 

 and no hive or system can change it. 



Moreover, just at this juncture — the 

 early part of heavy honcy-liow — the 

 hive is fullest of bees, and bees throng 

 the brood-clianiber in spite of supers 

 above. Indeed, to get bees above, 

 they have to be crowded — pushed — 

 fairly propelled, like water in a foun- 

 tain-pump. Think of that, raj' bee- 

 keeper friends ! Consider that well. 



Talk, plan, work as we will, the 

 lower story will become crowiled, and 

 swarming is the result. The man who 

 works chielly for extracted hont^y, may 

 so manipidate as to keep the bees in 

 one strong colony until the harvest is 

 over ; but he who produces principally 

 comb honey, never can — unless, in- 

 deed, the dreamy future should have 

 such a corresponding reality as a non- 

 swarming bee. 



Mechanicsburg, Ills. 



MINNESOTA. 



A Lady's Experlenec .\uiong the 

 Bcc§. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BV MISS IDA HOUSE. 



I have been a silent resuler of the 

 Ameuican Bee Journal for a num- 

 ber of years, but I have seen very 

 little from bee-keepers of this State, 

 and I often wonder why they stand 

 back, and let the bee-keepers from 

 other States do all the talking. So 

 now I am going to set them an ex- 

 ample, by telling them what our bees 

 are doing. 



I have helped my brother-in-Ia%v, 

 Wm. Lossing, care for his bees for 

 nearly six years. He has often asked 

 me to write .something for publicatioii, 

 and as I have just finished reading the 



