840 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



NoA-. 1. 



Some think that a strong colony can hardly 

 bp got into an eight-frame hive. This fall I 

 put into eight-frame hives, without any trouble, 

 three colonies which had good queens, said 

 queens having had free range in three to five 

 stories. I had just as strong colonies among 

 those that had been in eight-frame hives all 

 summer; but, as a general rule, more combs 

 give stronger colonies. 



HAULING HOME OUT-APIARIES. 



A. X. DRAPEK CKITICISKS SO.MK OF E. K.'S 

 STATEMENTS. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — I wish to protest some 

 against your article on page 749, on handling 

 hives more and frames less. To start with, are 

 you not a little off in your heading? I can't 

 see that you advocate handling hives any 

 whatever in your article. You simply advocate 

 Mr. Quinby's ideas of twenty years ago; viz., 

 simply to judge from outside appearances, in- 

 stead of handling frames. This you incorrectly 

 call "handling hives more and frames less." 

 In the second column you say. " Where fixed 

 frames give us an advantage on the subject of 

 handling hives more and frames less, is, that 

 we can pick up two, three, or four frames at a 

 time. This is especially advantageous in 

 forming nuclei." I do the same thing with loose 

 frames — simply slip a finger between each of 

 the ends of the frames. Uon"t you think you 

 are overdoing the thing in order to boom the 

 fixed frame? 



Turn back to page 737. Don't you think your 

 statements look a little "fishy"? Now, 57 

 hives at 67 lbs. to the hive would be 3819 lbs.; 

 add to this your weight and that of your driver, 

 probably 300 lbs. more, and you would have 

 4119 lbs. net; besides, the hives were wet, and 

 the wheels would pick up 200 or 300 lbs. more 

 of mud. In addition to this your road was 

 hilly, and it naturally was slippery from the re- 

 cent shower on it. 



You say that one of your horses was Mike. 

 Wasn't the other old Jack ? See on page 599, 

 under the text, "A righteous man regardeth the 

 life of his beast." Now, my Christian friend, 

 did you actually overload that poor old heavy 

 horse in that way? I really had a better opin- 

 ion of you than' that. I can't believe it. I 

 don't believe your team could pull any such 

 load under such circumstances. Isn't it possi- 

 ble that you did not have so many hives on the 

 wagon, or else you overestimated the weight of 

 the hives? Another thing, you state that there 

 was no ventilation except the wire over the 

 entrance. Now. if it has been as warm there 

 as it has here, all of those bees would have been 

 suffocated; or you may have had so few bees 

 in the hives that they were all right; in which 

 case your hives were so weak that they would 

 hardly be worth moving. I have moved lots of 

 bees, and I have got to move 195 hives back 

 home very soon; but I shall wait till cooler 

 weather. I find that from 20 to 25 hives make 

 a load for a team. My hives are large, and 

 there are bushels and bushels of bees in them. 

 Now, if I should close them up as you advise I 

 should ruin the whole outfit. A. N. Dkaper. 



Upper Alton, 111., Sept. 28. 



[No, I think my heading was all right. When 

 I lift off the cover and look over the tops of the 

 frames, and diagnose its condition, without 

 even lifting a frame, I am handling hives and 

 not frames; or, if you choose to press the point, 

 handling a hive-cover or a part of a hive. 

 When I take up four frames at a time I am 

 handling half a hive at a time. When I lift or 



weigh a hive to ascertain the amount of stores. 

 I am certainly handling hives in this case, am 

 I not? It is true, you can pick loose frames 

 two or three at a time. I have done it myself. 

 But you must take two hands, and he very 

 careful; and if a bee stings one of your fingers, 

 you must take the grief until you can set the 

 frames down. I have handled four Hoffman 

 frames of bees with one hand; i. e., can carry 

 the same to another hive. 



I did not intend to claim originality for the 

 scheme of handling hives more and frames less. 

 I gave credit to Mr. Quinby. Heddon. L. C. 

 Root, Hoffman, and others (see page 713). 

 Then, again, if you will refer to page 749 you 

 will see that I acknowledged that the scheme I 

 outlined was probably in use more or less by 

 practical bee-keepers! 



On page 737 I said in one place the load 

 weighed something over a ton and a half; and 

 in another that the hives weighed from 60 to 75 

 lbs. each. The first estimate was made by our 

 teamster, and was about correct. The weight 

 of the hives was made by one of our men who 

 liftiMJ off many of the hives after arriving home. 

 After all. the team was perfectly able to pull 

 either weight, though hereafter, thanks to you. 

 friend Draper. I will ascertain correct figures 

 when I speak of loads in print. 



There is one thing I am certain of — there 

 were .57 colonies on the wagon. They were 

 counted on the wagon, and after they were car- 

 ried into the apiary. 



In regard to the mud, your imagination is 

 a little vivid. The rain was furious for only a 

 very short time; but the water, almost all of it. 

 ran immediately away. The road was through 

 a sandy and gravelly region, so that there was 

 almost no mud clinging to the wheels. Yes, 

 the other horse was Jack; but he is in pretty 

 good sijirits and health, and has been for three 

 or foui- iiioiitlis liack. Both of the horses are of 

 the Clydesdales, of the heavy draft type, and 

 are counted as one of the strongest teams in 

 this county. We were two hours in making 

 the .seven miles; and as we stopped at the top 

 of the hills, they pulled the load with ease. 

 Remember, too. we hauled the bees at nigJit, 

 and it was quite chilly besides. 



Let me now pick yo\i up on a point. It sounds 

 to me a little "fishy" when you say your hives 

 contained bushels and bushels of bees. I agree 

 with you that, if you were to close up such 

 colonies on a hot day, leaving ventilation only 

 through the entrance screen, the bees would be 

 smothered; and I agree with you that, if you 

 use the large Dadant hives, you would not want 

 to get more than 20 or 25 on a load. If you will 

 refer back to my article again, you will see 

 that I was not talking about that kind of hives, 

 and I did not claim that they contained bushels 

 of bees, nor did I advise any one to put 57 such 

 colonies on one load. Has not your disgust 

 at fixed frames led you into some wrong im- 

 pressions ?] 



After making the footnote above I thought it 

 was no more than fair to submit a copy to 

 friend Draper, as it was evident that he had 

 misunderstood me in several places, and very 

 possibly he might wish to make some comment. 

 He has done so; and as he has suggested so 

 many points that I omitted to mention before, 

 I thought best to give place to the whole, as the 

 controversy may bring out some facts valuable 

 to beginners if not to the more experienced bee- 

 keepers. 



Friend Ernest: — Perhaps 1 was a little too 

 fast; but moving bees is a particular hobby of 



