1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



3(17 



ter, and build up fully as soon in the spring, 

 and I often have nine and ten frames full of 

 brood. 

 Harford, Pa., April 9. 



tkn-ki;amk i,angstkoth vs. qltinby hives. 

 By C. P.Dadniil. 



To begin with, I will say that we are entirely 

 unfit to discuss the question as it is put; viz., 8 

 or 10 frame Langstroth hives, for the reason 

 that we have never had a single Langstroth 8- 

 frame hive. Our experience runs between 8- 

 frame Quinby or 10-frame Langstroth. against 

 10-frame Quinby hives, which are much larger 

 than any thing that is used by the majority of 

 bee-keepers. 



We must, therefore, put the question as fol- 

 lows: Do we want a 10 frame Langstroth hive, 

 or a smaller one or a larger one? Tally Dadant 

 on the side of the larger hive, for we consider 

 the 10-frame hive too small. To me, the an- 

 swer to the public feeling on the subject is, that 

 the smaller the hive they have, the smaller 

 they want it; and last fall at Chicago, when a 

 vote was taken on the subject, I heard several 

 say that an 3- frame hive was even too large. 

 Why don't the fol ks try some large hives instead 

 of disputing between the 10 and 8 frame, which 

 are both, in our opinion, too small. 



Your answer to Mr. Taylor, that a large hive 

 will have more bees and more honey, is just the 

 answer I should have made him. There are 

 undoubtedly circumstances in which a small 

 colony will find itself in a large hive, and will 

 not be warm enough; but I will not do you or 

 Taylor the injury of supposing that you do not 

 know what partition-boards or followers are 

 for. When we have a small colony in a hive, 

 and we see that they need warmth, we reduce 

 the capacity of the brood-chamber. But when 

 we keep hives on 10 Quinby frames, we have a 

 large brood-chamber, lots of honey, lots of bees, 

 and lots of brood; and we winter a more pow- 

 erful colony than you can in any 8-frame L. hive. 



What do the bees say? That is just what 

 we have been wanting you folks to find out. 

 We have found out what ours had to say. in 

 this locality, and we transferred nearly 

 every one (if our 10-frame L. hives and all of 

 our S-franie Quinby to large hives several years 

 ago. We can give you the names of half a doz- 

 en people on whose farms we have or have had 

 bees, and they will all tell you that the big 

 crops always came from the large hives, comb 

 or extracted. Nay, did not Ernest Root tell 

 nie, personally, that one of the leading comb- 

 honey producers had said (in private, not want- 

 ing to be known) that Dadant was right, tliat 

 he himself used a large hive in comb-honey 

 production, but that there was no use in trying 

 to educate people to a thing that they did not 

 want to try, and which, if they tried, would 

 only cause honey to be more plentifully produc- 

 ed and be still cheaper? 



There may be something in location, and it 

 may be that we should see the thing differently 

 if we were further nortli. It may be that the 

 bees' answer in Michigan would Ix! different 

 from what it is here; but one thing I will say: 

 If an experiment is to be made, it will not be 

 conclusive, in my mind, unless it is tried on at 

 least 25 hives of each kind for at least three 

 years. Unless the season is very good, a colony 

 in a very large hive will not attain its full pow- 

 er during the first season. Again, there must 

 be more honey left to winter a strong colony 

 than a weak one; but just depend on them to 

 take care of that if you do not rob them too 

 close. 



Now, my dear sir, I know we are in the mi- 

 nority, and I am afraid I am preaching in the 

 desert; but I don't care a straw for that; and, 

 in fact, we had just as lief be quoted as an ex- 

 ception on this subject for the rest of our lives. 

 We can raise the honey just the same. One 

 question: You all say that a large hive is bet- 

 ter for extracted honey, and a small one for 

 comb honey. Please give us the reason for 

 that. We want a hive to accommodate the ca- 

 pacity of the queen, and that is all, for we do 

 not believe, as Hutchinson does, that queens 

 cost nothing. 



Hamilton, 111. 



[Our friends have given us very fair, candid 

 opinions, based upon their extensive experience. 

 Yes, we know of a few extensive bee-keepers 

 who think the Quinby none too small. We 

 would refer, for instance, lo Capt. Hetherington 

 and P. H. Elwood, of York State, who have, or 

 did have, in the neighborhood of 4000 colonies. 

 We made many inquiries of the bee-keepers in 

 Mr. Dadant's vicinity, and found that all, or 

 nearly ail, were using the large hives. For ex- 

 ample, we would mention the Axtells, Hon. J. 

 M. Hambaugh. and A. N. Draper. 



Regarding the 8 vs. the 10 frame Langstroth 

 hives, some of oui' readers will remember that 

 we first made and recommended the 10 frame 

 hive. Yes. for a time we opposed the 8-frame; 

 but the pressure got to be so great that we final- 

 ly made it the leader. Speaking of large hives, 

 we can't for the life of us see the difference be- 

 tween a large hive spread out in one story, like 

 the Quinby, and the same capacity in 8-frame 

 Langstrotii or half-depih L. frame hives piled 

 up one on top of the other. We had one colony 

 two summers ago, occupying five 8-frame bod- 

 ies, and a score or more occupying three such 

 bodies. The 8-frame hives may be tiered up so 

 as to make large hives: by using only one body 

 we have a small hive. Mr. Dadant uses a divi- 

 sion-board because it is evident he finds it nec- 

 est^ary to reduce the capacity of his Quinby hive 

 at times. When he would give a colony its lull 

 capacity of brood-chamber, «'C would give the 

 same capacity by adding an extra 8-frame sto- 

 ry, and putting in the required numl)er of 

 frames. When this same discussion was up a 

 few years ago, the t.(>siimony was overwhelm- 

 ingly for the 8-frame. Auain, this matter was 

 brought up at the last Cliicago convention in 

 this wise: The question was asked how many 

 favored and used the lO-frame Langstroth hive. 

 A show of hands revealed that there were only 

 10. When it was asked how many used the s- 

 frame. 4:^ responded. When it was asked how 

 many had changed from 10 to 8 frame, :.'4 held 



