1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



307 



season was poorer. Looking at my 

 book, I find I put a half-story over 

 No. 57, May 14, a. m. May 15, p. m., 

 I found no eggs, but found some May 

 16, A. M, I think this was one of the 

 most successful cases. 



At the other extreme was the case 

 of No. 76. May 17, I put the queen 

 above. By some means it was left till 

 June 14, just four weeks later, when 

 I found no brood or eggs in the upper 

 story. Neither was brood to be found, 

 nor eggs, in the lower story. I then 

 put the queen into the lower story, 

 and thought all wonld be well. But 

 eight days later I found no eggs, nor 

 did I find any later ; and July 2, I 

 found the old queen on the ground in 

 front of the hive, when I killed her 

 and ended the colony. A case of 

 stubbornness with a vengeance wasn't 

 it? 



In the same line of witness is the 

 fact that it is an exceedingly rare 

 thing to find a queen laying in one of 

 my supers, although there is nothing 

 to hinder a queen any more than a 

 worker from going up. In this case, 

 however, it may be that conditions 

 are not to her liking as to thickness of 

 comb, and separators may have some- 

 thing to do with it, 



QUEENS GO READILY FROM ONE STORY TO 

 ANOTHER. 



On the other hand, I have had 

 many cases in which queens have 

 gone of their own accord into an add- 

 ed story above or below ; now I think 

 in every such instance they have con- 

 tinued to go back and forth, keeping 

 up the brood in both stories. Friend 

 Hatch says his queens will go into a 

 second story ; but, once there, they 

 never go down again. When I first 

 read that, I wondered just a little 



whether there might not be some 

 chance for a mistake somewhere ; but 

 I have great confidence in the man. 

 It is possible that his different experi- 

 ence comes from different conditions. 

 I wish he would tell us what kind of 

 top and bottom bars he has, and how 

 much space between them. 



In my case, the top-bars were Ixf, 

 and the bottom-bars |^xj, with a full 

 inch between the.n. The space be- 

 tween was filled Avith comb, so that 

 really it wasn't so very different from 

 a single story with frames of double 

 depth. 



SHALL THE BROOD-NEST BE ENLARGED 

 HORIZONTALLY' OB VERTICALLY? 



The question as to whether a queen 

 will go back and forth from one story 

 to another becomes one of importance 

 to those who think as many as ten 

 frames or more are needed during part 

 or the whole of the year. I confess 

 that I am at present inclined to enter 

 the camp of such believers. Having 

 handled extensively both ten-frame 

 and eight-frame hives, the compact- 

 ness of the latter, together with ease 

 and convenience of handling, is such 

 that I am loath to go back to the ten- 

 frame hive. 



If as good results can be obtained, 

 or even if nearly as good results can 

 be obtained by using two stories a part 

 or the whole of the year, avoiding 

 thereby the lifting of the heavier 

 hives, then I want to hold on to the 

 eight-framers. This will hold espec- 

 ially true with such as now have eight- 

 frame hives exclusively, for a change 

 to a larger size would mean a heavy 

 expense ; whereas the trial of two 

 stories of a size already in use would 

 cost comparatively nothing. 



With my present light, if queens 



