THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



203 



late the arguments then employed, would be out 

 of place here. But there are certain proposi- 

 tions which, though quite correct in theory, 

 must necessarily undergo various modifications 

 in their practical application. " Though I have 

 employed the term brooding apartment here," 

 said he, "the gist of the question, from the 

 very nature of the case, involves the whole 



correct in regarding a body approximating t\ 

 globular form as losing least heat by radiation. 

 But that is not the sole requisite in a bee hive. 

 Other considerations likewise demand attention. 

 The material used in the construction of a hivo 

 is one of these. This may be of such a heat- 

 retaining quality that an excellent domicile for 

 bees may be made therefrom, though in form it 



wintering space required by a colony, for on ' be an ill-adapted structure. It should, further- 

 the form and dimensions of that, in combina- | more, be borne in mind that the heat-retaining 

 lion with the structure, internal and external, of ; property of a hive depends not so much on the 



the other portions of the hive, will the perma- 

 nent prosperity of the colony ultimately depend. 

 Hence the winte?ing space has an important 

 bearing on the brooding space, because its size 

 nud adaptedness chiefly determine how early 

 brooding will begin in the latter, and to what 

 extent it will be carried, before the commence- 

 ment, of sprang. This of course refers mainly 

 to colder districts and the winter season. In 

 milder districts and duriugthe warmer seasons, 

 the size and form of the brooding space is of 

 much less importance." Mr. Klipstein then 

 proceeded to discuss the subject of size and 

 form of hive from this point, of view, and with 

 reference mainly to the assumed requisites, and 

 concluded by stating as the result of his inves- 

 tigation, that for safe wintering, early and ex- 

 tensive brooding, ease of management, and 

 suitable storage room, a hive should be ten in- 

 ches square in the clear, or nearly so, and at 

 most fourteen inches high. In all this, doubt- 

 less, Mr. K. had reference to the district of 

 country in which he resides, intending that his 

 figures should indicate the proportional dimen- 

 sions of a hive presenting a square cross-sec- 

 tion, and preserving the most attainable approx- 

 imation to the globular form — his ideal of com- 

 pleteness. 



Mr. Dathe stated that formerly, while resid- 

 ing in Saxony, in a district where fall pasturage 

 is scarce, he used hives ten inches square and 

 fifteen inches high. But when he removed to 

 Hanover, he found that such hives were too 

 large for profitable bee culture the r e, -as the 

 bees swarmed much later from them, and then 

 more frequently than was desirable; and he 

 came to the conclusion that a medium sized 

 colony, as being less prone to swarm in summer, 

 would be preferable. The result of experiments 

 in Ibis direction showed that smaller sized 

 combs were more rapidly built and more 

 speedily filled with brood, and that the bees 

 swarmed earaer in the spring from such hives. 

 He therefore adopted reduced dimensions, mak- 

 ing h's hives nine inches square and fourteen 

 inches high, in the clear. Whether these di- 

 mensions were well suited for districts having 

 more ample spring pasturage, he would not un- 

 dertake to say, leaving that to be ascertained 

 by beekeepers residing in such districts. 



Dr. Pollman said that on the Lower Rhine, 

 where he lived, frames nine inches broad had 

 been commonly used heretofore ; but that of 

 late frames ten or eleven inches broad appeared 

 to be preferred. Shallow frames, too, had been 

 discarded, some practitioners now making them 

 sixteen inches high — which he regarded as run- 

 ning to the other extreme. 



Mr. Kohler remarked that Mr. Klipstein was 



quadrangular form of its cross-section, as on 

 the number and due length of the interspaces 

 between the combs, in which the bees dispose 

 themselves. The more we increase the breadth 

 of a hive, the more, under like circumstances, 

 will we decrease the number of interspaces and 

 extend them in length — thereby making the 

 hive really colder, so far as the bees are con- 

 cerned, though in other respects it may seem to 

 be rendered warmer. Again, a hive of bees is 

 not merely a body which has absorbed a certain 

 quantity of heat, and diffuses it again. It is 

 likewise a continuously heat-generating body ; 

 and the heat thus generated flows mainly up- 

 ward, in accordance with a simple natural law. 

 Hence, if we would construct a hive on proper 

 principles, we must introduce the greatest pos- 

 sible number of interspaces, and arrange that 

 the bees in consuming their stores may move 

 regularly upward, always finding a stratum of 

 warm air overhead. 



If I am now asked what the average dimen- 

 sions of a hive should be, I can only reply that 

 that depends much on the amount of bee pas- 

 turage commonly available, in the given dis- 

 tricts where the hive is to be used. In one dis- 

 trict, large and populous colonies must be pvo- 

 vided for and maintained, if any surplus honey 

 is to be secured. In another, such large colon- 

 ies are objectionable, because there the pastur- 

 age usually available demands a different mode 

 of management, and renders hives of a different 

 construction indispensable. The point, there- 

 fore, on which the question hinges among estab- 

 lished apiariaus, seems to be this — are we to 

 pass over from the use of apparently too small 

 dimensions to larger ones ? or, as the converse 

 may be, from seemingly too large dimensions to 

 smaller ones ? I, however, regard it as of 

 doubtful expediency in any case, for a beekeeper 

 who has already in use a number of hives of 

 uniform size, to make a change either way — 

 thereby introducing hives of varying dimen- 

 sions in his apiary. In large establishments 

 this may not be so objectionable ; but he who 

 operates on a small scale only, will encounter so 

 many difficulties and annoyances from such 

 diversity of dimensions, as will more than neu- 

 tralize any advantages derived or expected 

 from the change. He, however, who is just 

 starting an apiary, if residing in a district 

 where bee pasturage is ordinarily abundant, 

 though of brief duration, will do well to adopt 

 hives with frames not more than eleven inches 

 long; and if his district furnishes less abund- 

 ant though more protracted pasturage, frames 

 not more than pine inches long will be found 

 preferable. 



Mr. Hempel said he uses bars exclusively in- 



