302 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April S, 1906 



Report of the Michigan State Convention 



BY MORI.EY PETTIT. 



The Michigan State Bee-Keepers' Association held its 

 annual convention at Jackson, Feb. 1 and 2, 1906. The 

 sessions were well attended by bee-keepers from all parts 

 of the State, as well as from adjoining States and Ontario. 

 The latter Province was represented by R. F. Holtermann, 

 W. A. Chrysler, N. Smith, Mr. Stewart, and Morley Pettit. 

 Mr. E. R. Root, editor of Gleanings in Bee Culture, con- 

 tributed one of the most entertaining parts of the pro- 

 gram. These outsiders were very cordially received, and 

 tendered a hearty vote of thanks for their presence and 

 help in the program and discussions. 



Pres. W. Z. Hutchinson occupied the chair, and together 

 with Secretary Elmore M. Hunt, who had so energetically 

 advertised the convention, conducted one of the livest 

 conventions it has been the writer's privilege to attend. 



A NON-SWARMING HlVE. 



One of the features of the convention was a non- 

 swarming hive shown by L. A. Aspinwall. He has been 

 carefully experimenting with this hive for 17 years, and 

 was persuaded to make it public, although there are fei- 

 tures about it with which he is not quite satisfied yet. The 

 principle involved is that the cause of swarming is bees. 

 The ordinary hive becomes overcrowded with bees, and 

 the result is swarming. To overcome this, more space 

 must be given for the bees to cluster while producing 

 wax, etc. Like any other, Mr. Aspinwall's hive has the 

 combs together for winter and spring, but as soon as the 

 swarming season approaches he removes the combs con- 

 taining the least brood, and spreads the remaining combs 

 by alternating them with slatted dummies, which give 

 wide spaces between the combs for the bees to cluster in, 

 but so divide these spaces that nowhere is there more 

 than a bee-space, and no comb will be built. The comb- 

 honey supers are arranged in the same way. Slatted sepa- 

 rators are used, with the slats turned crosswise of the 

 separator, so that the spaces between sections are much 

 wider than in ordinary supers, and the bees can cluster 

 these spaces practically full. He uses drone foundation in 

 a part of his sections. 



It is thought that with this hive even Carniolan bees 

 could be used for comb-honey production with large re- 

 sults, and practically no desire to swarm. 



Mr. Aspinwall attaches great importance to strong 

 colonies, held together throughout the whole year with 

 no swarming. Any increase desired can be made by nuclei. 

 He detailed results he had had from this hive which 

 showed quite decidedly that it is worth at least the serious 

 consideration of all progressive bee-keepers. 



Along the line of non-swarming, R. F. Holtermann 

 advocated a large brood-chamber, and correspondingly 

 large storage capacity. He considered swarming a mis- 

 fortune. Some bee-keepers want increase to replace win- 

 ter losses, but, as a rule, bees can be bought cheaper than 

 they can be produced by swarming. The first symptom 

 of the swarming impulse is the production of drone-brood. 

 The second is the starting of cell-cups. The factors which 

 induce swarming are a crowded condition of the hive, high 

 temperature, bad air in the supers due to lack of ventila- 

 tion. To prevent swarming, put wedges between the bot- 

 tom-board and the hive, giving a large entrance; use a 

 12-frame Langstroth hive, and a good queen will fill it 

 just as well as she will an 8-frame brood-chamber. Use at 

 least two supers on each hive, so as to get a hive capacity 

 in proportion to the production of bees and honey. 



As to race of bees, Mr. Holtermann prefers a hybrid 

 of about three-quarters Italian and one-quarter black. 



A ventilator slide in each extracting super gives fresh 

 air directly into the super without its having to pass 

 through the brood-chamber and up. When bees are kept 

 together without swarming throughout the season, the}' 

 go into winter quarters in a more uniformly good condi- 

 tion, and cfiine out in the same way in the spring. 



Mr. Aspinwall here referred to the chapter on swarm- 

 ing in Mr. Hitchinson's new book, where he says swarming 

 is a thing of the past. This is a luxury, a comfort; to be 

 able to produce good crops of honey without the worry 

 of swarming. One can get all the white honey without 

 swarming, then make increase of nuclei in the fall season. 

 Al nrley Pettit endorsed what Mr. Aspinwall and Mr. 

 Holtermann had said about the advantage of holding bees 

 together without swarming. The wedges for large en- 

 trance; the divider, to allow for a double layer of bees 



around the outside of the sections in the super; and the 

 upward ventilation he had learned from his father. Mr. 

 S. T. Pettit, and had always used. Upward ventilation is 

 essential to the most successful production of extracted 

 honey; it is equally good in comb-honey production, with 

 this difference, that it should be closed as soon as the sec- 

 tions are filled and capping begins. 



Many who admitted that the large brood-chamber 

 and the Aspinwall hive were a good thing, objected that 

 they had their supply of hives, and it would be expensive 

 to change. Mr. Pettit replied that it paid farmers to throw 

 away their cradles and buy reapers; then their reapers 

 were discarded for self-binders, etc. Hundreds of dollars 

 were spent on farm implements which are of no more 

 practical value to farmers than are the improved hives and 

 machinery to bee-keepers. 



Messrs. Hutchinson, Root, Aspinwall, Holtermann, 

 and others, spoke along the same line — that the secret of 

 success in any business is to hold oneself always ready to 

 adopt the very latest improvements. No matter how much 

 is invested in a machine, be prepared to discard it for a 

 better if by so doing the cost of production can be ulti- 

 mately lowered. Business principles must be followed to 

 insure success. 



Mr. Bingham, of smoker fame, referring to super ven- 

 tilation, said the draft is always downward. This is the 

 bees' patent way of ventilating, to blow air out at the 

 entrance. Instead of an opening in the super, he would 

 accomplish the same result by sliding one super slightly 

 forward and the next one back. Bees will build honey right 

 up to the ventilator. 



E. R. Root, speaking of bees coming into a large en- 

 trance, said he had often watched them fly right in and 

 alight in the under side of the cluster. 



Mr. Holtermann said the bees never use the super ven- 

 tilator for an entrance except when by any accident the 

 queen gets up, and they are using the super for a brood- 

 chamber. 



Morley Pettit said some object, that cross bees come 

 from these ventilators to sting people going along behind 

 the hives. The ventilators should be narrow, about fjj-inch 

 by 4 inches long, then have them open only in the honey- 

 flow. As soon as robber-bees begin to hunt around, the 

 bees of the hives are on the defensive at the ventilators, 

 but not at other times. 



The following paper was read from C. P. Dadant, on the 



MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



I believe it is a mistake to write long essays for bee-con- 

 ventions. The greatest gain derived from a convention is in 

 the discussions of the subjects by the members present. A 

 slight introduction of the subjects by papers is sufficient, in 

 my estimation, and I trust that for this reason you will' ex- 

 cuse the shortness of my essay. 



Just now the tendency seems to be towards larger apiaries 

 at home and a less number of out-apiaries. It is quite prob- 

 able that in a case of most extraordinary and favorable condi- 

 tions it may be advisable to keep as many colonies in one spot 

 as lately reported from a noted New York State bee-keeper, 

 but in many instances the keeping of over 100 colonies in one 

 spot would prove unprofitable. This, at least, was our expe- 

 rience. It is not so much during the heaviest flow that a 

 large number of bees in one spot is objectionable, for the large 

 crops seem to produce flowers enough for an incredible num- 

 ber of colonies, but it is during inferior seasons, and especially 

 in the early and late part of the season that a large number 

 of colonies in one spot is unadvoidable in my experience. 

 The fruit-bloom of a number of orchards may prove quite 

 beneficial to an apiary of 100 colonies, if there are not too 

 many other small apiaries in the immediate vicinity, but with 

 300 or 400, it is quite probable that the bees would not gather 

 enough even to keep up breeding without some help from the 

 apiarist. We. therefore, have considered it advisable to keep 

 not more than from 80 to 100 colonies in one spot. 



It is necessary for me to say that we use large hives, anil 

 as these hives give full scope to the breeding of prolific 

 queens, it is possible that a larger number of colonies in small 

 hives could be kept profitably in the same space. 



Our first attempt at keeping out-apiaries was made in 

 1872, with the production of both comb and extracted limn \ 

 We soon ascertained that unless we produced extracted honey 

 altogether, in large hives, it would be out of the question to 

 control swarming entirely, and with an out-apiary we think 

 swarming is still more of a nuisance than it is in the home 

 yard. 



Swarming may be acceptable to those who wish to in- 



