1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



157 



my hives, and although I made no careful ob- 

 servation of others, I am satisfied that many of 

 them exceeded it in population and had more 

 brood in them. 



The other hive was as good as any of the or- 

 dinary size and form of hives that I had, as 

 could be easily seen by observation, and noting 

 the fact that the room was not to be had in them 

 to deposit many move eggs, after deducting the 

 space for honey that would be naturally stored 

 by the bees, around the brood nest. Taking 

 these experiments as a basis, we find that if a 

 queen should continue to lay eggs, at the rate of 

 one thousand four hundred and eighty-five daily, 

 there would be produced in fifty days (which I 

 assume to be the lifetime of a worker), seventy- 

 four thousand two hundred and fifty bees, and 

 if they could in such hive be so managed as to 

 prevent swarming, there would be a force of bees 

 in the hive, nearly four times as strong as Mr. 

 Langstroth and others tell us there is in a 

 good swarm, but as there has been no means 

 yet devised by which swarming can be prevented 

 in such hives, without at the same time inter- 

 fering with the increase of bees, except in rare 

 instances, and by a great deal of care, such a 

 force seldom accumulates in one hive, or if they 

 do, there being no room for them all to work, 

 they are worse than idlers. 



The Melipult is only a partial remedy, as it 

 only makes room for storing honey, while it 

 gives the wax workers no employment. Yet, 

 with its assistance the honey yield is increased 

 three-fold. On the other hand, in the other 

 hive, with unlimited room for brood nest, and 

 for the employment of the whole force of the 

 hive at all times, the queen laying at the rate 

 of three thousand five hundred and seventy-nine 

 eggs daily, the force would be maintained at 

 about one hundred and seventy-nine thousand, 

 or nearly nine times Mr. Langstroth's estimate, 

 and with very little attention. Let us carry oifr 

 calculation a little farther, and see if we can as- 

 certain the capacity of each of the colonies for 

 the production of surplus honey. 



With intelligent management Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's swarm of twenty thousand bees, or my 

 smaller hive of two thousand cubic inches, can 

 be made to produce one hundred pounds of box 

 honey, and by the use of the Melipult, if swarm- 

 ing is prevented, three hundred pounds might 

 be obtained of extracted honey. Now, as the 

 large hive will have nine times the force of a 

 good swarm in an ordinary hive, it follows that 

 they can produce nine hundred pounds of comb 

 honey, or to count it exactly, eight hundred and 

 ninety five pounds. 



The question, however, arises, can the bees 

 construct comb sufficient to hold so great a 

 quantity of honey. When I made the state- 

 ment that they could, in a pamphlet I published . 

 on "Progressive Bee-culture," the statement 

 was ridiculed and pronounced reckless by some 

 of our most intelligent beekeepers, but I have 

 seen nothing to cause me to retract the state- 

 ment. 



An ordinary swarm of bees has been known 

 repeatedly to build a square foot of comb In 

 twenty-four hours. Dr. Byrd, who placed a 



natural swarm in one of the large hives I have 

 been speaking of, reports in the Western Agri- 

 culturist, that the bees built nine sheets of comb 

 ten by thirteen inches, in a week, which was 

 more than a foot each day. 



Now fifteen square inches of comb, will, on 

 an average, hold one pound of honey, so that 

 each square foot of honey in the comb will 

 weigh nearly nine pounds and two-thirds, and if 

 they continued at that rate they would con- 

 struct the comb for nine hundred pounds in 

 about ninety-three days, or about three months. 



But we must recollect that the colonies that 

 have been reported as making a foot of comb in 

 a day, were ordinary swarms, which Mr. Lang- 

 stroth says have about twenty thousand workers, 

 or at best, as we have shown, could only have 

 about seventy-four thousand, while the force 

 the large hive has to do the work with is one 

 hundred and seventy-nine thousand, nine times 

 the former number and. two and a half times 

 the latter, so that even compared with the 

 seventy-four thousand, it would only require 

 about thirty-eight days for them to construct 

 comb enough to hold nine hundred pounds of 

 honey. 



Another and stronger proof of their capacity 

 to supply the comb, is the fact known to all, 

 that twenty thousand bees that constitute the 

 working force of an ordinary swarm, do produce 

 the comb in which one hundred pounds of 

 honey is stored, and I can see no reason why 

 nine times as many cannot build comb to hold 

 nine times as much honey. 



The next topic called, was, "what is the best 

 method of increasing stocks?" It was laid over 

 on account of the absence of Mr. Hosmer, the 

 question having been put on the programme 

 especially to draw out his method. 



The next topic was, " Is the Italian bee supe- 

 rior to the black bee ? " 



Br. Lucas of Illinois, said that it had been 

 affirmed and re-affirmed so often, that he did 

 not think, there was any one doubted it. He 

 wished no better bees than the Italians. 



Br. Bohrer, had in 1871 about an equal 

 number of hives of each, and he only got honey 

 from the Italians. The Italians conducted 

 themselves better in every respect. They were 

 more pi-olific. Had not noticed that they 

 worked at unusual hours, or on red clover to 

 any extent, nor were they any more exempt 

 from disease. 



Mrs. E. S. Tupper of Des Moines, la., for 

 several years had only Italian bees, during 

 which time she had seldom seen a moth, or had 

 a robbery. This year in addition to her Italians, 

 had to manage 150 stocks of black bees. The 

 blacks were troublesome in robbing, and the 

 moth was numerous and destructive among 

 them. The blacks would not defend themselves 

 against the moth, when weak or queenless. 

 The season was bad, and the moth was very 

 destructive to the black bees, around in the 

 country, while the Italians were nearly exempt 

 from their ravages. In Iowa, it is conclusively 

 proven, that in poor seasons the blacks do noth- 



