September, 1907. 



American B^e Journalj 



Such a depth frame will take regular- 

 sized sheets of super-foundation to fill 

 them, and saves bothering about odd- 

 sized foundation often causing much 

 worry. In fact, our idea should be to 

 have everything of standard size, so that 

 we can get it whenever and from wher- 

 ever we want it. 



The lo-fraine hive is to be preferred 

 for all localities in the South, and / 

 would use the lo-frame divisible brood- 

 chamber hives in the North, for these 

 can be made into the largest hives, or 

 contraction can be practised at will, and 

 better results obtained than with an 

 8-frame hive. Two of the sections for 

 a brood-chamber, as I am using them, 

 are just the same size as the Dadant 

 hive, or the Draper or Jumbo barns. 

 The advantage over these I claim to 

 have, is that I can manipulate my brood- 

 chambers and accomplish results that 

 can not be obtained with deep-frame 

 hives. 



Two of the sections make an ideal 

 shaped hive for winter, deeper than the 

 Langstroth. As spring advances and 

 honey comes in freely from fruit and 

 other bloom, room is given, not on top, 

 causing the bees to clog the brood-nest, 

 but a section of empty combs is slipped 

 in between the lower and upper sec- 

 tions of the brood-chamber, thus mov- 

 ing the upper one, already partly filled 

 with honey, to the top as the super. 

 Here it is completely filled later, and 

 the bees remodel their brood-nest in 

 the two lower sections. 



If this is done just preceding the 

 swarming period it will knock swarming 

 in the head to a greater extent than 

 anything else I have been able to find. 

 The secret is to break up the solid mass 

 and crowded condition of the brood- 

 nest, and I know of no better and easier 

 way than simply to slip a section of 

 empty combs between the two halves 

 of the brood-nest. It provides laying- 

 room for the queen, and room for the 

 bees, and you have stronger colonies 

 instead of swarms. 



XnA when the early wliite honey-flow 

 comes the brood-nest is in an ideal con- 

 dition for it — free from honey, which 

 has gone up into the super, and filled 

 with brood. Now. the comb-honey su- 

 per with foundation is given — not on 

 top, but again in between that ideal 

 brood-chamber and the full, shallow ex- 

 tracting super. The bees are used to 

 storing above, there's no honey in the 

 upper part of the brood-combs, and you 

 had provided breeding room for a strong 

 colony for this flow. So what happens 

 but that the bees go to work imme- 

 diately, and with a vim not possessed 

 by colonies treated in the old way? And 

 is there any better way to accomplish 

 this? Can it be done so satisfactorily 

 and easily with any of the deep-frame 

 hives? I can not do it. 



Yes, and when removing honey, more 

 all-ripe honey can be removed sooner, 

 and a better quality can be produced, 

 especially of bulk comb honey, as much 

 thinner foundation can be used in full 

 sheets, or if starters are used, less 

 drone-comb is built, which is very "gob- 

 by" in comb honey. For extracting 

 combs I prefer them. They are easier 

 to free from bees, easier to uncap, and 



two of them go into the ii-inch baskets 

 of the extractor. 



After reading my manipulations thus 

 far, you will readily see tlvit anything 

 deeper than ni\- sections would be too 

 deep. There's too little difference be- 

 tween the 7-Jnch and the Langstroth. 

 A lo-frame 7-inch section would be too 

 heavy for one when full ; too deep for 

 me, as, in the majority of cases, it 

 would be too much room to give at one 

 time to obtain best results, especially 

 for slipping between the sections of the 

 brood-chambers in spring. 



Then, a 7-inch extracting super left 

 on top would take too much honey to 

 fill before the white honey-flow before 

 the bees work in the comb-honey su- 

 pers. And, again, two of the sections 

 then comprising the brood - chamber 

 would be too deep, and much of the 

 white honey would go into the upper 

 brood-combs. 



There are other reasons why I pre- 

 fer the shallower hives. 



The Death of L. Stachelhausen 



Through the death of Mr. L. von 

 Stachelhausen, the bee-keepers of Tex- 

 as, and of the entire bee-keeping world, 

 have sustained an irreparable loss, and 

 never before have the Texas bee-keep- 

 ers mourned a greater loss. Mr. Stach- 

 elhausen had a world-wide reputation 

 among bee-keepers, not only contribut- 

 ing much to the literature on bee-cul- 

 ture of this land, but in Europe also. 



L, Stachelhausen. 



His loss will be felt there as much as 

 here in our own country. 



Ever ready to impart information, 

 and to lend assistance to further his 

 beloved pursuit — apiculture — he gained 

 the friendship of all who knew him. 

 He was ever an active member of the 

 Texas Bee-Keepers' Association, and its 

 members feel greatly the loss of a fel- 

 low bee-keeper and a friend from their 

 midst. 



At the last meeting, in July, at Col- 

 lege Station, a half -hour memorial 

 service on the forenoon of Wednesday, 

 the 24th, was held by the con\ention in 

 commemoration of his death nnd his 

 departure from among those who held 



him in their highest esteem. He was 

 praised and honored by all who knew 

 him. and the following resolutions were 

 adopted: 



"Wherefore^ It has come to the 

 knowledge of our -\ssociation that our 

 beloved friend and brother bee-keeper, 

 L. Stachelhausen, has very recently 

 been removed by death from our 

 midst, we deem it the bounden duty 

 of this Association to make some fit- 

 ting memorial; therefore, be it 



Resolved, That we, the Texas bee- 

 keepers in convention assembled, be- 

 wail the loss of our esteemed, brilliant 

 and honored member, and while we 

 deem it an irreparable loss to the Texas 

 bee-keepers, as well as to the bee-keep- 

 ing world, we bow our heads in hum- 

 ble submission to the will of the Great 

 Ruler of the Universe, who doeth all 

 things well. 



We would luminate the life of our 

 deceased brother in that he lived a life 

 of honor, usefulness and sobriety; that 

 he was a lover of the cause and call- 

 ing he had espoused ; that he lived a 

 life of devotion wholly for the good of 

 others. It was always his pleasure to 

 attend our meetings, and today we miss 

 his kindly face, we fail to hear his 

 cheerful words, and a vacant chair 

 stands among us. It is also 



Resolved, That a copy of this resolu- 

 tion be spread upon a page of our 

 minutes and that that page be bordered 

 in black ; and that a copy of it be also 

 sent to the bereaved family, and to the 

 various bee-papers for publication. 

 Respectfully submitted. 



Louis H. SCHOLL, 



W. H. Laws, 

 C. S. Phillips, 



Memorial Committee. 



How Does the Queen Fertilize 

 the Eggs ? 



This question has not yet been an- 

 swered. It has been held that com- 

 pression on- the queen's abdomen in tlie 

 act of laying will cause fertilized eggs 

 to be laid, but I do not believe that 

 there is anything in it. There are sev- 

 eral reasons for this. First, when a 

 queen lays in newly-built comb with 

 cells only >8-inch deep, there can, of 

 course, be none of that so-much-talked- 

 about compression of the abdomen. 

 Neither is there such when eggs are 

 laid in queen-ccUs. most of which are 

 very wide-mouthed and shallow when 

 the egg is deposited in them. 



In a recent issue it was hinted edi- 

 torially that perhaps the depth of the 

 cell has something to do with the posi- 

 tion of the queen when laying. It 

 was thought that there may be some- 

 thing in this as regards the differen-ce 

 in depth of drone-cells and worker, the 

 latter being shallower than drone-cells. 

 As the writer had never seen that eggs 

 were laid in shallow drone-cells or be- 

 fore they were full.\ drawn out it might 

 be true. 



But, are not, in most cases at least, 

 the cells of a comb all of about the same 

 depth as long as they do not yet con- 

 tain brood, the drone-cells being later 

 drawn out longer than the worker 



