1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



573 



one trick ahead of me, for I can not. It 

 is no trick to get lier to go up; but how is it 

 about coming down? How much real gain 

 have you made by having the lower hive de- 

 serted ? 



I think one of the greatest failures of the 

 Heddon hive is this very trouble. In theory, 

 the small brood-nest to begin with was nice; 

 but after a three-years' trial the bees continued 

 to say, " No, we will not,"' and I had to give 

 them up. 



If the above has not convinced Bro. Lathrop, 

 let him get .")() ten-frame hives, and set them 

 alongside of .50 of his eight,-frame hives, and 

 see which takes ihe most time to do all neces- 

 sary work, and which will give most honey. 



Now for your footnote argument. The first 

 paragraph, and part of the second, about lift- 

 ing hives and enlarging by tiering up, have 

 been answered; but as to cost, that is a small 

 item when we think that a hive will last a 

 lifetime with proper care; and suppose they do 

 cost 10 cts. more each; if tliey are better, is not 

 the money well spent? Economy is not in sav- 

 ing, but in using well what we have. 



The next paragraph, about a ten-frame being 

 too small for a large colony and too large for a 

 small one, I do not agree with. We are talking 

 about the best hive for the brood-nest, and, of 

 course, a large colony must have surplus I'oom 

 according to its strength; and if ray queens 

 keep eight frames full of brood all the time, I 

 call thera "boomers." Wouldn't you ? 



You say bees will fill out sections better di- 

 rectly over the brood than anywhere else, and 

 that Italians are apt to store honey in the two 

 outside frames. Admitted. But will not the 

 same management that gets brood on the two 

 outside frames in the eight-frame work as well 

 in the ten-frame? Are not bees apt to fill, or 

 leave it if already full, one comb on each side, 

 just as much in an eight-frame as in a ton- 

 frame? But if left to themselves to build 

 their brood-nest, just as the mother-bee wants 

 it, will you not have eight frames in one hive 

 against six in the other? and is there not one- 

 third more brood surface to put sections directly 

 over than in the other? 



I do not know whether I get your real mean- 

 ing in the next to the last point you make, 

 about the eight-frame being nearer to the 

 standard. If you mean by "standard" that 

 more of them are in use, or| that you sell more 

 of them, that proves nothing; bocause the 

 average man would take your word for it, and 

 not try to prove for himself whether you were 

 right or not. On this basis, the Simplicity was 

 at one time the standard, and hence, by this 

 line of argument, the bi-st. This yon will hard- 

 ly admit. I think. I believe this question is one 

 of economy of management rather more than 

 increase of pfodiiciion. 



Ithaca. Wis., June :.'">. 



[You are quite right, friend II., in the opin- 

 ion that a good bee-master would succeed with 

 either eight or ten-frame hives, other things be- 

 ing equal; but (/ there isadifference. that same 

 bee-master would succeed better with one than 

 with the other, and it is important to know 

 which is better. 



In your supposed case of 100 colonies, you as- 

 sume that there would be eight frames of brood 

 in a t(>n-frame hive, and six in the eight. 

 While we do not Tnean to disf)ute this, we 

 simp'vask. Is it true? We have just run across 

 a numHi'r of our colonies in eight-frame hives, 

 especiallv at our out-yard, among the bass- 

 woods. th-it have brood in all of the eight 

 frames. N"\v. we used to run an apiary of ten- 

 frame hives, and. so far as we can remember, 

 we do not think we then secured more brood in 

 the ten-frame than we now do in the eight- 

 frame hive. But there may be a difference in 

 localities, and a ditference in bees, and perhaps 

 a dift'orence in men in the way they look at the 

 brood -nest. 



Now in rpgard to getting the queens to go 

 upstairs. We have experienced no difficulty if 

 we drew one frame of brood out of the lower 

 story and put it above witli o*^^her combs. We 

 have just been handling, personally, the colo- 

 nies in our basswood yards. Some of them 

 have brood in both stories of the eight-frame 

 liive — yes, as many as 12 to 15 in some cases. 



Yes. WB think a ten-frame hive is too small 

 for a large colony, and too large for a small 

 one: but it is seldom that wp have a colony 

 that neods more than IG frames of capacity 

 room. During a large part of the year, it may 

 be easily accommodated in one story of eight 

 frames. In mostof the apiaries we have visited, 

 whore ten-frame hiv s wero used, we found 

 a two-inch division board used, not only c?ur- 

 inq the honey season, but before and after it. 

 The two-inch division-board is put in so the 

 boes wouldn't put any surplus below, for eight 

 frames are enouffh for brood; and, as you say, 

 when thev are all full of brood the colony is a 

 boomer. Now. then, when the honey comes in, 

 it has got to go above — that is. the surplus goes 

 where we want it. Toward fall we find in 

 these same apiaries the colonies still on eight 

 frames, and sometimes less, to conserve the 

 heat — that is, to give the bees just room enough 

 without being crowded; and in winter it is 

 certainly an advantasre to have the brood-nest 

 no larger than is absolutely necessary. Our 

 colonies can always be accommodated in win- 

 tor on eiffht frames, and sometimes on six. 

 This was true when we were using exclusively 

 ten-frame hives in our apiary; and even now, 

 when we are usinsr the eight-frame exclusively, 

 the same condition sc^ems to exist. Yes. the 

 hoes do fill otit sections better directly over the 

 brood; but when we used ten-frame hives and 

 ten-frame supers, at least one outside row of 

 soctions was viehind the other rows; and before 

 w^ adopted the eight-frame hive we put in the 

 'division-boards and secured better results in 

 H'lins out sections, using eight-frame supers. 

 Tho point is here : The ten-frame hives, 

 so far as we have observed in the apiaries 

 we have visited, are apt to have two-inch 

 division-boards in a greater part of the year. 

 Here is a waste in having the hive too large, 

 and in the cost of the extra thick division- 

 board to reduce it down asrain to eight frames. 

 Tf this capacity is large enough, why not, wlien 

 we are startins anew, use the smaller hive? 



You will nunember that we once used and 

 strenuously recommended the ten-frame hive; 

 but the pressure soomed to be so great that we 

 adopted the eisrht frame. Formerly, with us, 

 the ten-frame so.omed to be the standard, and 

 now the eight-frame is; and why? \Ve will 



