1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



155 



able to tell, but there can be little 

 doubt that it will turn many others, 

 like friend Dean, toward the Lang- 

 stroth frame and two-story hive." — • 

 (Gleanings in Bee Culture, Vol 4, p. 

 26). During the year 1876 neat sec- 

 tions, made of four pieces, but other- 

 wise similar to the comb-honey sec- 

 tions of today, were evolved from 

 their crude prototype, the single comb 

 boxes or frames which had been used 

 by some beekeepers previous to the 

 introduction of comb-foundation. 



Comb-honey production now be- 

 came so attractive that within a few 

 years beekeepers talked and wrote 

 chiefly in terms of comb honey. The 

 exacting requirements of successful 

 comb-honey production made it 

 necessary for beekeepers to study 

 their problems as never before. This 

 is reflected in the beekeeping liter- 

 ture of the time giving it a brilliancy 

 peculiar to the comb-honey era. 

 Such leaders as Doolittle, Hutchin- 

 son, Heddon, Taylor, and our own Dr. 

 Miller, together with many others, 

 were the product of the earlier strug- 

 gles with the multitude of bafifling 

 problems connected with comb-honey 

 production. In turn they have left an 

 everlasting impress upon the industry 

 through the literature of the time. 



Early in the comb-honey era there 

 was a rapid ascendency of the Lang- 

 stroth frame and the abandonment of 

 the deeper frames by most comb- 

 honey producers. This was followed 

 by another change in the hive — the 

 reduction in the size of the brood- 

 chamber. Doolittle, one of the few 

 comb-honey producers who retained 

 the deep frame, reduced the standard 

 Gallup hive from twelve frames to 

 nine frames. Heddon and others re- 

 duced the Langstroth brood-chamber 

 from ten frames to eight frames. The 

 literature indicates clearly that these 

 changes were made because of the 

 peculiar requirements in comb-honey 

 production, that the brood-chamber 

 be filled with brood at the beginning 

 of the honey flow and a sharp divid- 

 ing line maintained between the 

 brood and supers during the honey 

 flow. 



The change to comb-honey produc- 

 tion had brought back the swarming 

 problem, the solution of which had 

 its effect in a further reduction of the 

 brood-nest when hiving swarms. In 

 the clover region swarming usually 

 occurs during the honey-flow, which 

 formerly meant a loss of the crop of 

 honey during ordinary years from all 

 colonies that swarmed. In order to 

 prevent this, beekeepers learned to 

 hive the swarm in a new hive on the 

 old location, leaving the parent col- 

 ony close beside the swarm until 

 about the seventh day, when it is 

 moved away. This drains the parent 

 colony of its field bees, adding them 

 to the swarm, and at the same time 

 so reduces the colony that after- 

 swarms are prevented. The supers 

 were transferred from the parent 

 colony to the swarm at the time ol 

 hiving. In order to compel the bees 

 to put practically all the honey into 

 the supers, the brood-chamber was 

 contracted by means of heavy divis- 

 ion boards. 



Doolittle described this method of 

 securing large crops from swarming 

 colonies in February, 1885, as follows: 

 "I use six Gallup frapies of comb 

 (equal to five Langstroth frames) for 

 the very largest swarms, while oth- 

 ers have four or five, according to the 

 size of the swarm to be hived, and in 

 this way I always secure good re- 

 sults." — (Gleanings in Bee Culture, 

 Vol. 13, p. 94). 



In July, 188,S, Mr. Heddon published 

 an article in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal on "The Contraction Method," in 

 which he advocated that the colonies 

 be maintained on five combs through- 

 out the year, except during the six 

 weeks just preceding the honey flow, 

 when they were given three extra 

 combs to induce the rearing of more 

 bees for the honey flow. In this con- 

 nection he wrote: "I have had colo- 

 nies, after casting three swarms, at 

 work in the supers within five days 

 after contracting. I think that the 

 advantages of this contracting sys- 

 tem will be seen; or it may be called 

 an enlarging system; that is, enlarg- 

 ing the brood-chamber for about six 

 weeks during the time that the queen 

 is not only the most prolific, but 

 when such prolificness gives us bees 

 to become field workers, just when 

 we most need them." — (American Bee 

 Journal, Vol. 21, p. 437). 



The proper capacity of the brood- 

 chamber was thought by many bee- 

 keepers at this time to be five Lang- 

 stroth frames, except during the 

 short period mentioned when the 

 brood-chamber of the strongest colo- 

 nies was expanded to eight frames. 

 The contraction system came to be 

 used not only when hiving swarms, 

 but was used on established colonies 

 as well. Contraction of the brood- 

 chamber, the use of the queen-exclud- 

 ing honey-boards, and reversing or 

 inverting the brood-combs to cause 

 the bees to take practically all the 

 honey to the supers, became quite the 

 fashion for several years among the 

 leaders at this time. Even Dr. Miller 

 wrote: "Up to the time of putting on 

 supers, the desire has been to have 

 the bees occupy as many combs as 

 possible. I have had as many as nine 

 frames occupied with brood, without 

 my spreading the brood, or doing 

 anything to urge the bees or queen 

 further than to see they had abund- 

 ant stores. When it comes time to 

 put on supers they are reduced to 

 four or five frames." — (C. C. Miller, 

 1885, "A Year Among the Bees," p. 

 419). 



(To be Continued) 



Specific Gravity of Honey 



By 1". Dundas Todd 



THE Beekeepers' Association of 

 British Columbia for several 

 years has arranged with Mr. J. 

 A. Dawson, head ot the Dominion 

 Department of Trade and Commerce, 

 Vancouver, to test the density of all 

 honies entered for competition at 

 the Vancouver Agricultural Exhibi- 

 tion, the tests being made by means 

 of an Abbe refractometer. At the 

 last exhibition he remarked that a 

 sample of honey shown by Mr. L. 



Harris, Vernon, one of our bee in- 

 spectors, with a refractive index of 

 1.5008, indicating that it contained 

 84.62 per cent of solids, and had a 

 specific gravity of 1.443, was the 

 densest honey he had ever tested. 

 Here are a few others of his readings 

 on that occasion, just to show the 

 variations in density. They were not 

 chosen at the time to show high 

 density, but for quite anollier pur- 

 pose, so I quote them as they are, the 

 only readings I happen to have: 

 Sp. Gravity. Solids. 



1.443 84.62 



1.4400 84.39 



1.4333 83.23 



1.4305 82.81 



1.4281 82.46 



1.4189 . 81.08 



The Dominion standard for honey 

 is 



1.3790 75. 



My own honey, which is principally 

 from wild fruit blossoms and is 

 sealed for at least a month before 

 being extracted, shows about 81 per 

 cent solids; that is a specific gravity 

 of 1.418. 



I notice in the issue for May of the 

 American Bee Journal that Mr. Isaac 

 Hopkins gives 1.420 as the minimum 

 specific gravity oflicially accepted by 

 the New Zealand Government grad- 

 ers, and states that no honey of lower 

 specific gravity is allowed to be ex- 

 ported, or accepted by the Co-opera- 

 tive Honey Producers' Association. 

 Our experience at Vancouver would 

 indicate that this is a very high stand- 

 ard, and I wonder whether a reading 

 by Mr. Dawson of one of New Zea- 

 land's minimum standard samples 

 would be as high. 



A rather interesting and practical 

 feature developed this past season. 

 The three older of British Columbia's 

 half dozen bee inspectors were acting 

 as judges, and the idea struck them 

 to check up the "capsizing" way of 

 testing comparative densities* with 

 Mr. Dawson's figures, just to see how 

 it would work out. In the capsizing 

 method one takes a jar of honey in 

 each hand, then turns them upside 

 down at the same instant, and watches 

 the air cells rising. The quicker the 

 cell arises, the thinner the honey. I 

 am glad to report that when the 

 honey is free of any granulation the 

 method is reliable as a comparative 

 test, and enables the judges to quick- 

 ly arrange the honeys in order of 

 density. I have also learned that not 

 infrequently there is quite a variation 

 in the flavor, density and color of 

 honey in the same exhibit. This does 

 not surprise me, because when I ex- 

 tract in August I know I have quite 

 a percentage of honey that was 

 sealed early in May, so a dozen jars 

 filled from one run of the extractor 

 are found to be streaky. 

 Victoria, B. C. 



Minnesota Report 



The fifth annual report of Charles 

 D. Blaker, State Inspector of Apiaries 

 of Minnesota, is ready for distribu- 

 tion. Minesota beekeepers desiring 

 this report should address Mr. Blaker 

 at Minneapolis. 



