538 



June 21, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



different line. I agree with Mr. Holtermann in respect to the 

 queen-cells, rudimentary ones that are new in the spring — 

 the old ones are cut down. In the matter of drones I have 

 tried with artificial comb, and that factor is one that produces 

 swarms, but there are a great many factors that enter into 

 and constitute the swarming impulse. If we remove one of 

 them, that is a help ; but in an apiary of a number of colonies 

 drones will intermingle quite frequently, and for that reason 

 drone-comb is a troublesome expense. 



When- you come to size it up there has been quite a con- 

 glomeration here. What is the young bee-keeper to do when 

 he leaves this session? Next season will he adopt any of these 

 plans, and can you guarantee him success? We want a 

 hive, or we want a system, that will control swarming dur- 

 ing the production of comb honey, and then we have got it 

 without doubt for the extracted, and that is the point at 

 which I am laboring. Dr. Miller has been for years work- 

 ing on a non-swarming system in producing comb honey. 

 That is what we are after. .We must not have manipula- 

 tion that will tamper with the natural workings of the colony. 

 So sure as we remove the queen, so sure as we cut the queen- 

 cells out, so sure as we divide, we are placing the colony in 

 an abnormal condition. Isn't that right, Dr. Miller? 



Dr. Miller— Not fully. 



Mr. Aspinwall — You have placed them in a desperate 

 condition. The removal of the queen does not necessarily 

 compel them to make as many queen-cells as when you have 

 thwarted the swarming by removing the cells only. 



There is another point in regard to controlling swarm- 

 ing that has been mentioned here, and that is in reference 

 to the numerous methods set forth in the paper. No one 

 of those methods prevents swarming to the fullest extent. It 

 controls the evil or bane of bee-keeping to a certain extent 

 only. As the writer admitted, there was no one system that 

 could be wholly relied upon. You will pardon me for taking 

 the stand that it must be done mechanically, as well as by 

 the system adopted in connection with it. I know the bee- 

 keeping world is working on another plan, and decries the 

 principle of a hive that will control swarming. I recollect 

 very well in the days of Quinby, Mr. Hazen, who experi- 

 mented quite largely, lived in my neighborhood. Professor 

 Cook refers to him as making an effort to control swarming 

 by a non-swarming hive, and he offered such a hive to Mr. 

 Quinby with whom I was well acquainted. 



The matter of giving sufficient room is another factor, 

 and that is what Mr. Hazen did, simply giving surplus room 

 on all sides and the top, the hive in other respects remaining 

 the same. I don't care how much room you give a colony 

 so long as there are 6 to 14 combs, as the case may be; the 

 bees may make rapid increase with a fertile queen or other- 

 wise; when those combs are filled any outside appliances 

 for room will not compel them to leave that brood- 

 nest, until they are compelled to by the honey-flow. Dur- 

 ing that time the brood-nest is overcrowded, and the 

 result, in many instances, no matter what the room is, such 

 a season as last season, notably in my location, would be to 

 have a great number of swarms. In my locality the im- 

 pulse was something enormous, one-third of my queens be- 

 ing mated with black drones last season. 



Dr. Miller — As to cutting off the cells, there was a time 

 when I most thoroughly believed the cutting of cells didn't 

 have any effect at all. Now actual practice and trial have 

 made me change my views, until I know that in many 

 cases the destruction of cells will stop the swarming. Sometimes 

 it would be just the destruction of cells once in the season, and 

 sometimes the second time would do it, other times not. There 

 are so many exceptions to that case, and all I cared for 

 was to have the actual truth known about it. Here will be 

 SO colonies and in all of them the cells will be destroyed; 

 perhaps in 10 of them there will be no swarming, and per- 

 haps in 40 of them there will be. 



At this stage Mr. Aspinwall was requested to address 

 the Convention on the subject of 



WHAT HAVE WE TO HOPE FOR FROM THE 

 NON-SW ARMING HIVE? 



Mr. Aspinwall — I am much obliged to Dr. Miller for 

 bringing this matter up. Perhaps if he will look over the past 

 and present he will see that other factors help out in this 

 matter. The matter of drone-cells; the matter of hive-room 

 and ventilation; all these are factors that enter into the 

 control of increase. When I looked over the past and re- 



ferred to Quinby's work of 1852, there was such an enthu- 

 siasm in reference to the increase of bees that Mr. Quinby 

 said that the season had prospects, or something of that kind, 

 or charms that tin- different beholders could never realize. 



Mr. Langstroth said it was one of the most beautiful 

 sights in the whole compass of rural economy. People were 

 looking for swarms then. We are not today ; it is the bane 

 of bee-keeping. J doubt if there are half a dozen in this room 

 who are keeping many bees, but have gone home at night 

 thoroughly worn out with the swarming of the day. 



I will merely say that the matter of controlling on my 

 part is more with the hive than with manipulation. I tried 

 these various methods some years ago. To show that there 

 is a prospect of a non-swarming hive, I have been at work 18 

 years upon it, but many in the audience know I am an experi- 

 menter on potato machinery; I have been at it ever since 

 I was 19 years of age, and the first invention required 21 

 years to produce. That is the potato planter that is used 

 almost universally in the United States and abroad to-day 



L. A. ASPINWALL. 



So that the hidden things in nature are the things that come 

 very slowly to us. 



In the matter of the non-swarming hive the question 

 of room is one important thing, and while I will not give you 

 the details of the hive fully, because of other patents that are 

 to be applied for within a very short time, I will say that 

 I use slatted frames inserted between the regular combs of 

 brood, using usually 7 to a hive, sometimes 6, sometimes 5. 

 Seven is about the best number, as I have already experi- 

 mented with numbers from 5 to 8 or 10. My hive is made to 

 hold 15 frames. In the month of May during apple-bloom, or 

 rather during the bloom of the sugar maple and willow, the 

 7 combs upon which the colony is wintered are extended by 

 adding one at a time, or 2, according to the strength of the 

 colony. By the time apple-bloom is through, many of my 

 colonies have 12 frames, most of which are filled with brood. 

 Some times I have colonies that will fill nearly 14. Of course, 

 my hives are packed so as to winter in the open air. This 

 packing is left on until perhaps the end of the apple-bloom, 

 sometimes earlier, according to the temperature. The tray is 

 left on the last. Just at the opening of the main honey-flow 

 these slatted frames are placed at once between and outside 

 of the 7 combs, speaking for the large number I use now. 

 That gives an outside ventilating space and standing room 

 for the bees as well as inside. It is very important we keep 

 the outside cool, where^ the sun strikes, by an intervening 



