86 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



be kept to an advantage in their locality; such bee- 

 keepers will probablj' find it to their advantage to 

 einploj' all the labor /itrrssa/// to secure all the hon- 

 ey that their bees can gather. 



T agree with you, friend Koot, in advising us to 

 keep our colonies strong, c.rtfipt that I would have 

 them strong per comh: or, to be more explicit, I see 

 no advantage in Inroe colonies, but I want a large 

 number of bees per comli. 



EIGHT OH TKN FUAMES: WHICH? 



As Mr. Buchanan, on page 8, brings up some points 

 that have not been touched in the discussion upon 

 this subject in the *1. B. ./., it is with pleasure that 

 1 reply to them. He must have put some very poor 

 workers into the S-t'rame hives thetirst year, to have 

 received no more surplus, and then had to feed 

 them the next spring. Had he received more sur- 

 plus from the 8-frame hives, and t?if)i had to feed 

 the bees, it would have appeared reasonable; but 

 the statement as now given appears to prove too 

 much. If there were more bees in the 10-frame 

 hives, then they should have eaten more honey, 

 and needed feeding, just the same as the bees in 

 the 8-frame hives. If thei-e were no more bees in 

 the 10-frame hives, why should they have stored 

 more honey? 



It is true, as Mr. B. says, that bees in small hives 

 are more likely to need feeding; but the reason is, 

 that the brood-nest occupies the combs to the ex- 

 clusion of the honey, which is, of necessity, placed 

 in the surplus apartment. My comb honey, some 

 part of which the contraction method forced into 

 the sections, netted me this last year about 16 cts. 

 per lb., and was replaced in the brood-nest with su- 

 gar syrup at a cost of about .5 cents per lb. It is true, 

 that Mr. Heddon is selling his fall honey at 7 cents; 

 but I believe he has explained why he raised extract- 

 ed honey this year. It was because he had a large 

 stock of empty combs, and wished to utilize them. 

 When extracted honey is raised, there is, of course, 

 but little advantage in contracting the brood-nest; 

 at least, so far as pieces are concerned; but when a 

 bee-keeper finds it necessary to substitute sugar for 

 honey in the fall, in order to winter his bees, it is a 

 great point. It may not be advisable for farmers or 

 careless people to use small hives ; perhaps they had 

 better not keep bees at all; at least, so far as profit 

 is concerned; but this question is one of considera- 

 ble importance to the professional bee-keeper. 



It is true, that bees in small hives are more likely 

 to swarm; hence small hives are not advisable, for 

 this reason, for those who wish littl^ or no increase. 

 The question of swarming vs. no swarming is too 

 large to be handled in this article. I will say this 

 much, however: I have (with the exception of one 

 season, when the harvest came early and was cut 

 short early) secured more honey from a colony (and 

 its increase) that swarmed, than from one that did 

 not. If swarming could be prevented entirely it 

 might be an advantage, as an apiary could be left 

 to itself part of the time; but when part of the col- 

 onies swarm, and some one must be present all of 

 the time, they might as well all swarm. 



Mr. B. speaks of the trouble of contracting the 

 brood-nest, disposing of combs i-emoved, returning 

 them again when needed, cost of sugar for feeding, 

 preparation and cost of fccdiny, and the lessened 

 room above tjie brood-combs for sections. The only 

 valid objection is the one I have put in italics. It 

 is no more work to remove the combs than it would 

 l>e to remove the same number of combs from any 



hive when running for extracted honey. The con- 

 tractors, or "dummies," not mentioned by Mr. B., 

 cost something, about 10 cts. per hive; that would 

 be about one cent a year per hive. It takes no long- 

 er to extract the honey from these combs than from 

 any. Extracting-combs have to be stored away for 

 winter, so we will store away these where they arc 

 to remain all winter. In lioth instances the combs 

 must be replaced in the spring. Sugar does not cost 

 so much as the honey that it is used to replace. 

 When every thing is conveniently arranged for 

 feeding, the cost of prejiaration and feeding, includ- 

 ing feeders, will not exceed 5 cts. per hive, (an 

 we not bear this expense, if it will enable us to suc- 

 cessfully winter our bees, even if there were no 

 other advantages? The lessened room above the 

 brood-combs is no objection when the bees are 

 crowded for room. 



You, friend Koot, say (hat the greatest objection 

 to an S-franie hive, aside from those given by Mr. B., 

 is, that it could not be made interchangeable with 10- 

 frame hives, when made on the Simplicity plan. 

 Let us first decide which sized hive is the licttrr. If 

 the narrow hive is the better, then it is a serious 

 mistake to make any more 10-frame hives. It might 

 not seem so at first, perhaps; but, in iimr, the liest 

 will be used. I am aware that it is an advantage if 

 a new thing can be used with an old one, and that 

 the old one will not have to be thrown away; but in 

 a progressive industry like bee-keeping, the old must 

 give way to the new, provided the new is better. The 

 old box hive had to give way to the movable-comb 

 hive, and ""twas ever thus," the hest will be used, 

 and those who cling to poorer implements because 

 they don't like to throw them away, are left in this 

 race. 



WIDE FRAMES AND SEPARATOKS. 



I should like to say a few words about your re- 

 view of Mr. Heddon's book; but this article is al- 

 ready becoming quite lengthy. I feel that I must 

 notice one thing, however, and that is the following: 

 " It is a little amusing to see friend Heddon go back 

 and declare in favor of wide frames, and separator:* 

 also, after the way he has denounced them a year 

 or two back. If I were he, I would be a little more 

 mild in denouncing any thing, especially if I ex- 

 pected to change my plans within a year or less." 



Can j'ou show, friend Hoot, where he has harshly 

 denounced Avide frames or separators? I have 

 spent half a day in " reading up " what Mr. H. has 

 written upon the subject, going back not only " a 

 year or two," but/uiir years, and it seems to me that 

 the remarks of yours are too severe. Away back i n 

 1883, page 31.5, A. B. J., he says: " Several corres- 

 pondents have asked me if I considei-ed it advisable 

 to use separatoi's with wide frames. I will reply, 

 that I do. When I run ?A wide-frame supers, I tried 

 omitting the separators. 1 find that, while the 'case' 

 seems not to need separators to get reasonably 

 straight combs, the wide frames are almost a total 

 failure." In the fall of 1884, at the Northwesterii 

 Convention, see A. B. J., page 679, "a vote was 

 taken, and about three - foui-ths of the members 

 could dispense with separators." Mr. Heddoi] 

 said: "We have used a large number of one- 

 story wide frames, in supers with separators, 

 and a large number of cases in which no separators 

 were used; and although there are advantages and 

 disadvantages in separators, yet they hjive nothing 

 to do with the amount of honey stored. Althougl^ 

 only one-fourth of you now vote in favor of separa- 



