1903 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



263 



Although the bees may be forced to 

 give up all, or practically all, of the 

 fniiLs of their labors, their uaiuro, 

 however, remains the same and will 

 manifest itself iu various ways. The 

 motive that impels their every actiou 

 being necessarily a selfish one, they 

 are very cautious and economical. This 

 trait is evidenced by the queen's fail- 

 ure to readily pass from om; set of shal- 

 low combs to another when the weath- 

 er is cold. Their aversion to sticks 

 and air-spaces, as expressed by the 

 queen in that particular manner, loses 

 its identity to the sweet influences of 

 balmy days and a good honey flow 

 only. But, alas, the numerical strength 

 of the colonj" is insignificant and eggs 

 then laid by the queen often fail to de- 

 velop into bees in time for the harvest. 



When the shallow frames are used 

 in connection v\-ith large single-story 

 brood chambers, as outlined in ray last 

 article, they are a valuable adjunct 

 to any apiary. The large colonies in 

 deep-frame hives require so much less 

 care, so muc^ less protection fi'om the 

 cold, and breed wp, so much earlier iu 

 the spring, tliat the siiaken-swarm s^ s- 

 tem of honey production may ')•.' i^sed 

 if desired, with -gratifying results. 



The order of packing deep-frame 

 hives is almost the reverse of that of 

 shallow ones. These, instead of re- 

 quiring the heaviest protection on top, 

 need very little there at the beginning 

 of winter. This makes the cluster 

 form down near the entrance where it 

 should be at that time. Now, on the 

 contrary, if the hive is made warmer 

 at the top to start with, the cluster 

 will, as likely as not, take its position 

 up there. To further demonstrate the 

 correctness of this. nl?ase .lote that 

 where a super of empty combs is left 

 on the hive and covered well with for- 

 est leaves or fine-cut straw early in the 

 fall, the bees will leave the well-cfi]le<l 

 combs of the brood chamber and go 

 into the super, where they are sure to 

 starve. By all means make the cluster 

 form near the entrance on the coiitGr 

 combs, even if you have to leave ofF 

 all protection at the top, except the 

 outer cover at the beginning of winter. 



The secret of succes.sful wintering in 

 old box hives having deep combs is 

 largely due to that hole In the top 

 through which the bees enter the cap. 

 The cluster is thereby made to form 

 near the lower edges of the combs and 



as the days, weeks and months circle 

 away, it moves up the combs no faster 

 than the consumption of honey makes 

 this an actual necessity. Food of the 

 very best quality is always in close 

 profximlty and by the time .of le 

 approach of spring, the bees have hol- 

 lowed out a most suitable nest for 

 early brood rearing. 



Dr. I,. E. Kerr's fling of "nonsense" 

 at this very important condition of 

 comb arrangement for cold weathep, 

 page 223, "luckily" is not very damag- 

 ing. He proves himself to be equally 

 capable of writing the self-same way 

 and in the rebound is dealt a harder 

 blow than those who differ with him. 

 After commenting favorably on the 

 merits of a frame shallower that the 

 Ivangstroth, he remarks tiiat "some one 

 has said that a deep frame winters 

 best where the climate is a cold one." 

 -He then emphasizes the correctness of 

 the assertion in these words: "So will 

 an old box winter the bees in a still 

 better condition; but who would think 

 of going back to the old box hive on 

 that account?" Following closely on 

 this comes the announcement that "a 

 colony on Langstroth frames, if they 

 have sufficient honey, will stand an 

 equal chance with any in the world." 

 That may be good logic; but I'm un- 

 able to harmonize his statements, and 

 uritil the Doctor throws a little more 

 light on the matter, I suppose I shall 

 have to stay in my own back yard. 



No one, to my knowIe<3ge, has asked 

 Dr. Kerr or any other reader of the 

 American Bee-Keeper to go back to the 

 system of the old box hive. The method 

 I have given is far from that It is the 

 most practicable one I am acquainted 

 with. It combines the best features of 

 them all, is less expensive and gives 

 one a longer period of freedom from 

 the apiary. 



I invite your interest, reader. In this 

 free and easy way of producing gilt- 

 edged honey. 



Wheelersburg, O., Oct. 12, 190.3. 



"Pat" writes from Cuoa: "I have 

 decided to go back to the States in 

 coming spring, at any figures, with no 

 less than 600 colonies." Pat states that 

 the honey flow was Just commencing 

 at time of writing, October 31. 



Can you send us just one new stib- 

 scriber? 



