1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



13 



such changes are warranted by defi- 

 nite, established facts. 

 Idaho. 



We consider the above article of 

 sufticient importance to give it a 

 prominent place in this number. Mr. 

 Atwater is one of the leading bee- 

 keepers of the West. His statement 

 that, for years past, he has wintered 

 bees on 15 to 20 frames of standard 

 size is in the line of views expressed 

 by the editor on "large hives." 



He is also correct, we believe, in 

 saying that swarm prevention cannot 

 be secured by the use of large hives 

 and abundant empty combs, ONLY. 

 To fairly prevent swarming, "without 

 special manipulations," we have sev- 

 eral conditions. Young queens, few 

 drones, large brood chambers in sin- 

 gle stories, plenty of empty combs, 

 spacing I'/i inches of frames from 

 center to center, sufficient ventila- 

 tion, shade. With all these require- 

 ments fulfilled we still have about 5 

 per cent of swarming. But if a bee- 

 keeper tries only a part of these re- 

 quirements, or fulfils them when it is 

 too late and the swarming fever has 

 begun, he cannot claim to have given 

 the method a fair chance. 



There is no doubt that methods 

 will succeed more or less according 

 to the circumstances of the honey 

 crop and the locality. But the fol- 

 lowing cannot be disputed: 



1. Bees do not usually try to su- 

 persede young queens of 2 years or 

 less, during the honey crop. They 

 do often try to supersede old queens 

 at that time, and swarming results. 



2. Drones are bulky, noisy, and in 

 the way of the bees. A large num- 

 ber of them makes the bees uncom- 

 fortable, and swarming may result. 



3. When the queen has to pass 

 from one story to another to seek 

 room for egg-laying, and also if she 

 is hindered by queen-excluders, she 

 is more or less annoyed, therefore 

 more willing to swarm. 



4. If the bees have to build 

 combs to store honey in large 

 amount, they are kept idle, hanging 

 in the hive, and the consequence is 

 an increased desire to swarm. They 

 are often thought to sulk, when the 

 truth may be that they are nearly 

 full of honey from the previous day's 

 harvest and must wait for wax to be 

 produced, if the crop has opened sud- 

 denly. Then swarming is sure to 

 come. 



5. The spacing of the combs V/2 

 inches from center to center gives 

 some 180 cubic inches, more or less, 

 of additional room in the brood 

 chamber, over the spacing of 1^, at 

 the time when the hive is full of 

 brood and swarming most imminent. 

 No one can reasonably deny that the 

 narrower spacing will induce more 

 swarming. 



6. The increase of space at the 

 entrance to the point where all the 

 bees can pass in and out readily is 

 sure to make the bees more at ease 

 and prevent swarming to some ex- 

 tent. It also gives chance for better 

 ventilation and less swarming. 



7. Shade, in hot localities, is im- 

 portant in the prevention of discom- 

 fort and therefore in helping to pre- 

 vent swarming. 



8. The above requirements should 

 be fulfilled in ample time, before the 

 swarming fever, else they are of no 

 avail. 



Mr. Atwater's statement that the 

 11-frame Dadant hive is none too 

 large for brood is gratifying, for he 



is, as they would say, in a monarchy, 

 "more royalist than the king." We 

 believe the hive large enough, and 

 our belief is based on some 50 years 

 of comparative trial by three gen- 

 erations of the family in active bee- 

 keeping. 



But we hasten to agree with him, 

 that a change from the present 

 standards of small hives and narrow 

 spacing may be "inadvisable," and in 

 fact we do not urge it. Beekeepers 

 have produced large crops and made 

 money with small hives, and will do 

 so still. It is a pleasure, however, for 

 us to read that "if there were no 

 standard spacing," Mr. Atwater 

 "might prefer the wider spacing." — 

 C. P. Dadant. 



A Fireproof Storeroom for Combs 



H. C. Cook, a beekeeper in the city 

 of Omaha, has a novel plan of caring 

 for surplus extracting combs when 

 not in use. The picture will give a 

 good idea of the nature of the build- 

 ing. It is round and at first glance 

 looks like a small silo. It is made of 

 concrete and is fireproof. Since the 

 building is tight it is an easy matter 

 to fumigate big stacks of combs after 

 placing them in the building to kill 

 any moth that may be present. The 

 building is ten feet across and ten 

 feet high. On the walls are racks for 

 holding the combs, as shown in the 

 second picture. These racks hold 

 2,400 combs. In addition to the 

 - combs in the racks, supers filled with 

 combs are stacked up on the floor so 

 that the capacity of the building is 

 ample for one apiary of about 100 

 colonies which he keeps on his city 

 lot. Since Mr. Cook erected the 

 building himself, with the help of an 

 assistant, the cost was not large. He 

 feels that it is an excellent invest- 

 ment, since all his extracting combs 

 are thus kept safe from fire and 

 from moths. 



Comb racks in Cook's store house. 



The Disappearing Disease in Texas 



By H. B. Parks 



ABOUT the middle of August a 

 strange and severe malady 

 made its appearance in the 

 bee-yards of southeast Texas. The 

 area in which this trouble occurs ex- 

 tends from Travis County southeast 

 to Live Oak County, and southwest 

 to Dimitt County. A large number of 

 beekeepers have reported that the 

 disease suddenly broke out in their 

 vicinities and that almost every api- 

 ary was affected. Those reporting 

 coincide in their description of the 

 disease. When first noticed the bees 

 were rushing from the hives and 

 most of them were unable to fly. 

 These would crawl along the ground, 

 seemingly in great distress, and con- 

 gregate in groups. There they would 

 move around as if in great pain un:il 

 they finally died. A large number of 

 bees, especially those newly emerged, 

 die and fall to the floor of the hive in 

 such numbers that they clog up the 

 entrance. Many also report that the 

 disease causes the death of the young 

 larvae. Where a hive is afflicted with 



