274 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 6, 



to lay on your tools, combs, etc., iustead of putting them on 

 the ground. 



In summer time, if the weather is dry, the ground itself 

 (jets intolerably hot, and the hives are much cooler by being 

 above it. In this part of the world, the winter is very rainy, 

 and the hives close to the ground get splasht and wet consid- 

 erably more than those above, which is certainly a disadvan- 

 tage. 



The bottoms ought to extend about 8 inches in front of 

 the hives. With that precaution, the incoming bees loaded 

 with honey will drop on them and never fall to the ground. 

 The loss of very young bees, barely able to fly when handling 

 the combs, is insignificant. Those that happen to fall on the 

 ground generally succeed in taking wing, or climb on the 

 bench-legs and finally enter some hive. For queen-breeders, 

 handling frames every day, that loss might be serious, and for 

 them it is preferable to have the hives on the ground. 



It may be noted here that nearly all our leading writers 

 are queen-breeders, and their advices, preferences and imple- 

 ments are better fitted for that branch of bee-keeping than for 

 a honey-producer. 



When I first fastened the hives to the bottoms and 

 benches, I did it in such a way as to be able to " unfasten " 

 them easily in case I should have to do it. As the years went 

 by, I found that the necessity of removing the hives from one 

 place to another occurred so seldom — in fact not at all — that I 

 made the fastenings permanent. 



A good deal has been said about the advantage of having 

 hives light enough to be carried from one place to another. 

 What on earth people want to move their hives around for, is 

 a thing beyond my comprehension. There are only two cases 

 in which it is necessary — that is, in taking the hives to the 

 cellars and back, and in hiving swarms on the old stand, re- 

 moving the old hive. The first case occurs only twice a year, 

 and the extra weight would not amount to much. As to the 

 second, 1 would rather carry the combs and bees to the new 

 location. In fact, I do not practice that kind of swarming- 

 management any more, as it is not suited to the nature of the 

 honey-fiow of this locality. As I winter the bees on the sum- 

 mer stands, the first consideration does not concern me. 



It has also been argued that it is easier to clean the floor 

 of the hive when the bottom is loose. Here, we have enough 

 flying days in the winter to permit the bees to do the cleaning 

 themselves. 



As to piling two or three small hives on the top of each 

 other to make a big one, I simply do not believe in it. I pre- 

 fer to have a full-sized brood-chamber, and if necessary use a 

 dummy. A hive too high cannot be ventilated easily by the 

 bees in very warm days, and too much traveling has to be 

 done to reach the supers, resulting in a loss of time to the bees 

 by being in the way of each other. 



THE BROOD-CHAMBER. 



For this latitude a chafi hive, or something equivalent, is 

 the best. The chaff need not be more than two inches thick, 

 and the lumber may be not more than % inch thick. The ob- 

 ject is to equalize the heat between night and day, and be- 

 tween warm and cold spells of weather, rather than to keep 

 up a very high temperature. 



The winter program here consists in a few days of 

 weather warm enough to permit the bees to fly, followed by 

 rain, and then a cold spell. The process is repeated through- 

 out the winter, except an occasional snow instead of rain, and 

 sometimes a two or three weeks' very cold spell (or what we 

 call " very cold "). 



During the warm days the bees fly out freely, and toward 

 night quite a number are chilled and lost. Some brood is 

 started and when the cold weather comes again a portion of 

 It Is lost on account of the inability of the bees to cover it all. 

 With a cbaff hive these inconveniences disappear, or at least 

 are considerably lessened. The walls of the hives do not get 

 warm enough to induce the bees to fly unless the outside tem- 

 perature is high enough to permit them to do it safely. And 

 more than that, the warmth accumulating in the chafI during 

 the day protects them that much better during the night. A 

 similar equalization exists between the warm and cold days, 

 and Is especially useful In preventing the brood from being 

 chilled. The advantages of thus protecting the brood In- 

 creases as the season advances. During the summer the chaflt 

 protection acts as a shade during the day, and prevents the 

 hive from reaching too high a temperature. 



HIVIC-KNTRANCKS ANU VKNTILATION. 



The entrances must be sufficient -the whole width of the 

 hive, and at least one Inch high. If the entrance-guards are 

 used, then two Inches high, and the whole width of the hive, 



and at a distance of IM or 2 inches from the entrance proper. 

 This also applies to queen-traps. 



I don't want to have to raise the hive even if the bottoms 

 were loose. The very hot days occur mostly at times when no 

 honey comes in, and it is necessary that the bees can defend 

 themselves successfully against robbers. An entrance-guard 

 is the best help to them in that respect that could be desired. 

 Before a robber bee can pass through, she is almost sure to be 

 grabbed and executed, or summarily expulst. 



Openings in the upper part of the hives are not only use- 

 less, but are actual nuisances. It is this way: An opening 

 above will create a circulation of air on account of the differ- 

 ence of temperature between the inside and the outside of the 

 hive. Now if the weather is cold, the circulation will be 

 strong precisely when not needed, or even hurtful. If the 

 weather is very warm, the temperature is about the same out- 

 side and inside, and there will be almost no circulation, and 

 the top 0[.enings will then be nearly useless, besides affording 

 robbers a splendid chance to raise a racket. For this reason 

 I prefer to have an ample entrance only ; that means also a 

 hive not too high, and wide enough. 



If during the summer the bees hang out, I add on the top 

 one, two or even three empty supers; they may be without 

 sections, as they are intended simply to increase the empty 

 space so as to lower the interior temperature. 



BROOD-FRAMES. 



Thick top-bars are to be used so as to prevent, or nearly 

 so, the building of burr-combs. As to length, I prefer a frame 

 somewhat shorter than the Langstroth. But it is only for 

 convenience of construction, as I want the brood-chamber of 

 the same size as the supers. These hold four rows of 4^x454 

 sections. As to the depth, it depends upon the size of the 

 brood-chamber. This I find after a trial of many sizes ought 

 to be about the size adopted by the Dadants. And here I want 

 to repeat what I said above: Our leading writers are nearly 

 all queen-breeders, and therefore have to draw constantly on 

 their colonies to make their nuclei. The result is that these 

 colonies never attain full strength, and that the size of hives 

 they advise is too small for the best honey-producing manage- 

 ment. Our most successful, large honey-producers — the 

 Frances, Dadants, Hambaugh, Axtells, Aikin, etc. — use large 

 hives. A few very careful men, such as Doolittle and Dr. 

 Miller, obtain good results with smaller brood-chambers, but 

 it is by very elaborate and tedious systems of management 

 which would take too much time to be carried on anything 

 like a large scale. 



Deep frames are undoubtedly better for wintering, but the 

 hive may be too high for ventilation, the more so because a 

 tall hive being not as wide requires more supers to accommo- 

 date the bees. On the other hand, the Langstroth frame is 

 decidedly too shallow for a large brood-chamber (I mean a 

 brood-chamber of 12 or 13 frames). The queens go too often 

 in the sections above the middle frame's instead of extending 

 the brood-nest clear to the sides. And when they don't go up, 

 they seem loth to lay so far from the center of the hive, with 

 the result that less brood is reared than would be in a 10- 

 frame hive of the same capacity but deeper. 



As to the method of hanging the frames, I prefer to have 

 nails driven in the end of the top-bars, resting on tin or sheet- 

 iron supports. Very shallow notches are cut where the nails 

 rest. 



TIN RABBET 



Those notches are sufficient to hold the frames In place, 

 but do not prevent a lateral movement. When the apiarist 

 wants to take a frame out, he can push the others aside and 

 very easily draw out the one wanted. When I thought of cut- 

 ting these notches, I considered myself quite an Inventor. 

 Soon after I found that our departed friend, B. Taylor, had 

 preceded mo In that direction. 1 think, tho, that B. Taylor 



