Vol. XTI. 



DECEMBER 1, 1888. 



No. 23. 



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THE T"WO 



METHODS OF 

 COMB HONEY. 



SECURING 



C. C. MILLER REPLIES TO G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



fRIEND Doolittle, I'm a little afraid we're get- 

 ting somewhat scattering in our tiring. Pos- 

 sibly we're not agreed j ust what we' re flghti ng 

 about. As I understood it, the original point 

 in dispute was, "Do bees work as well over 

 dummies as over brood-frames?" Let us first see 

 .just where we stand with regard to that. Before 

 clinching for the tight, however, I feel very much 

 like saying that I have just re-read your article on 

 page 633, and T must say that you have a well- 

 arranged plan, and one hard to beat for good results. 

 When 1 used wide frames I worked on somewhat 

 the same plan: and, as I said on page 35 of "A Year 

 Among the Bees," I say now: "I am not sure 

 whether I can do any better by any other system, 

 if I do not take into account the item of labor." 

 You, however, have the advantage of single tiers 

 instead of double tiers in your wide frames. But, 

 to the subject in hand. 



In reply to my question, " Don't the bees com- 

 mence over the brood tlrst?" you reply, page H6.5, 

 ■'Most assuredly they do, for that is bee nature." 

 Well, I'm not opposed to your giving bee nature as 

 the reason, so long as we are agreed as to the fact, 

 and I'm not sure that there's any thing at issue be- 

 tween us, unless you have the idea that, after they 

 fuwe started, they'll work just as well somewhere 

 else as over the brood. I think that might be set- 

 tled in this way: Put a given number of partly filled 

 sections immediately over the brood, and the sanie 

 number of precisely sjipijai- sections ovpr thg dupa- 



mies, and see If those over the brood will not toe 

 completed first. Of course, it is possible to so 

 crowd them that all will be carried to completion at 

 an equal rate; but if there is any difference I feel 

 confident those over the brood will never be last 

 completed. 



I must modify my answer, that heat alone made 

 the difference between your bees and mine as to 

 working over dummies. An additional reason, I 

 think, is that your bees were crowded more than 

 mine; in fact, I suppose they were crowded so 

 that they must work over dummies, or some of 

 them not work at all. And right here is a chance 

 for a lively controversy as to which is better, to 

 crowd bees so that they will be obliged to spread out 

 where they would not otherwise care to go, or to 

 stretch them apart, so to speak, so they will fill a 

 larger space than they otherwise would. 



Right here I think I i*hall yield to the temptation 

 to give the views of a very bright bee-keeper as he 

 has privately expressed them to me. After saying 

 that Doolittle has handled the subject unusually 

 well, he says: "It seems to me that he has omitted 

 one point; viz., that of the rapid increase in the 

 numbers of a colon.v at the time we are adding cases 

 of sections. By the time that it is necessary to add 

 another case, the hive is crnwdfd so tl?at there are 

 bees enough to till it, and fill it to advantage. Per- 

 haps Mr. Doolittle would say that there has been a 

 loss because room was not given before the hive was 

 crowded. Perhaps there has been. This question of 

 the dasiiotty of a colony, so to speak, has never been 

 touched upon, that I know of. What I mean is this; 

 If a colony is working in a given space, will it work 

 to better advantage if the space be enl^rgefl, or if it 



