1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



be greatly annoyed by queens going into the 

 supers and spoiling my nice honey. That was 

 when I set my supers next to the brood-nest. 

 To obviate this trouble procured a number of 

 wood-zinc iiont^y-boards and put tliem into use, 

 as also a few sheets of perforated zinc, bound 

 with cleats, and a few slatted honey-boards. I 

 soon began to notice liiat the honey stored 

 above these partitions averaged whiter than 

 that built in supers that were set down next to 

 the brood-frames. Repeated experiments at 

 length convinced me that wood-zinc honey- 

 boards were worth as much for that purpose, 

 and to keep pollen out of surplus honey, as they 

 were as mere queen-excluders. 

 Mechanicsburg, 111., .Mar. 4. 

 [Friend Robbins' points are well taken. From 

 our own experience in putting sections between 

 brood-chambers, or between brood-combs, we 

 know that the capping of such sections when 

 completed, take on largely, the color of the 

 brood-combs next to them. This is one of the 

 reasons why sections should be stored above 

 the brood-nest, rather than under or between 

 the two parts of the same, because the small 

 bits of dark wax will drop away from the super. 

 Apart from this, bees seem more inclined to 

 store the surplus above. With respect to the 

 honey boards there may be something in what 

 friend R. speaks of. Who has observed the 

 same regarding them, and does it appear that 

 there is a dilference in favor of the slatted wood 

 zinc, over the sheet metal bound with a wooden 

 frame.— Ed.] 



JAKE SMITH'S LETTER. 



THE SIZE OF HIVES DISCUSSED. 



Mr. A. I. Gleenings—deer Sir.'— You know I 

 told you about Mr. Dinant, what a good bee- 

 keeper he was. Well, he come to dinner one 

 day, and we had a good time. After dinner 

 who should come in but Jim Short? Jim he 

 laffs at our makin so much fuss 

 with bees, and says he gits all the 

 honey he wants in the old-fashin- 

 ned way, and with only half the 

 trubble. Before he come we'd got 

 to talkin about how big it was best 

 to have a hive. Jim said he did- 

 dent go much on the size of a hive. 

 Says he, "In the fall I heft the 

 hives and take up the lightest and 

 the heaviest." 



'• What do you take up the light- 

 est for?" says Mr. Dinant. 



"Well," says Jim, •' if they're 

 light they're not apt to winter over, 

 so I may as well take em up. I don't 

 git much honey, to be sure, but I git some, 

 and I git some beeswax: and if I left em till 

 spring the bees would be all dead and they 

 wouldn't be neither bees nor honey." 



" But why don't you keep the heaviest over 

 winter?" says I. 



"Because I've got a sure snap of a heavy 

 hive, and I haint goin to take no resk. If I 

 take it up in the fall I'll git a good haul, and 

 what more do I want? I tried that thing a 

 fe.v times, and either they died in the winter, 

 or if I waited a year later they wan't so heavy." 



"I think Jim isn't so far out of the way," 

 savs Mr. Dinant. " A hive that's so very heavy 

 in hon(^y may not be very strong in bees, par- 

 ticklerly if they've crowded in so much honey 

 the queen couldn't lay. And for some reason it 

 seems to be understood that, when a hive is so 

 strong in bees, it may not winter better than 

 a middlin one. At any rate," says he, "it can't 

 be disputed that Jim does better than the aver- 

 age with box hives. But that isn't what we 

 were a talkin about. The size of hives is what 

 we were at, and Jim has them pirty big. I 

 spose that's all right for his mannidgment, but 

 with modern improvements a smaller hive is 

 best for comb honey. Nearly all agree on the 

 8-frame hive. But for extracted honey the 10- 

 frame is best." 



Zed spoke up, and, says he, " What's the rea- 

 son it takes a bigger hive for extracted?" 



"Because," says Mr. Dinant, "it's all the 

 same to the bees upstairs and downstairs. But 

 for comb honey it's different. The bees rather 

 store in brood-combs; and if they have more 

 than 8 frames then they begin to store in the :3 

 extra combs, and when they once git started 

 there they don't like to go above." 



"I was a readin what big hives the Dadants 

 use," says Zed. 



"Yes," says Mr. Dinant, "and they're good 

 aiVthority. But they \^ork for extracted honey." 



"Yes, I know," says Zed; "they put on a 

 super of shallow frames, and sometimes the 

 frames are filled with foundation. Now the 

 bees fill up these frames with comb honey; and 

 when the harvest is over they're extracted. 

 The 10 big frames is best because it's to.be ex- 



tracted; but if it was to be took for comb hon- 

 ey then 8 frames would be best. Now, what I 

 want to know is how the bees know beforehand 

 that it's to be extracted." 



