858 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May I. 



He goes on to cite the fact that the most 

 extensive bee-keeper in the world uses Quinby 

 frames, the size of which is 18>^xll)4, or 

 nearly double the dimensions of the British 

 frame. He refers to some reports from bee- 

 keepers in his own country who had used 

 frames about this size, and obtained some 

 large crops of honey. He next quotes from 

 our own Dadant, who, in March 1st Glean- 

 ings for 1894, reported they had tested, side 

 by side, the American, Langstroth, and Ouinby 

 frames ; but after a series of years, covering 

 many comparative tests, the Ouinby was found 

 to be unquestionably ahead. Dadant is fur- 

 ther quoted as saying that he had letters 

 from Switzerland, Belgium, France, and vSpain, 

 praising the large Dadant hives, showing by 

 comparison that they were more profitable 

 than smaller hives. 



Our own readers know what a leaning I 

 have toward large colonies, and how I have 

 more than once said that, in our experience at 

 least, they would get more honey, both comb 

 and extracted, than the smaller ones; but I 

 can not see that these results are necessarily 

 attributable to a large frame or to a large hive 

 rather than to an equally large hive made up 

 of one or more stories. According to my 

 notion it is not the size of the brood-frame or 

 the size of the hive so much as it is the numer- 

 ical stren_s;th of the bees themselves. I do not 

 know positively, but I am very confident that, 

 if Mr. Dadant would try two-story Langstroth 

 hives over against his one-story Ouinb}'s, he 

 would find little if any difference in the 

 amount of honey secured or in their disin- 

 clination to swarm ; and, what is of prime 

 importance, he could handle his colonies by 

 piece-meal, one story at a time. 



As I have said once or twice already in these 

 columns, our "big double-deckers" at the 

 out-yard are the ones that went right on 

 minding their own business, piling in the hon- 

 ey, and not swarming, while the single-story 

 colonies scarcely made a showing. Indeed, I 

 believe that the best solution of the swarming 

 problem, whether at the home or at the out- 

 yard, is big colonies in two-story Langstroth 

 hives. In some cases, at least, it may be ad- 

 visable to have three stories. If other locali- 

 ties were like our own I would guarantee that 

 there would be very much less swarming, and 

 more money in the pockets of bee-keepers at 

 the end of the season. 



THE CONTRACTION FAD. 



Some eight or nine years ago, contraction 

 was all the rage. It seemed to be generally 

 agreed that ten -frame Langstroth colonies 

 should be contracted down to six or seven 

 frames. "Why," said the advocates of con- 

 traction, " if we give the bees full ten frames 

 below they will pile the surplus all in the 

 brood-nest, and let the supers severely alone. 

 Italians especially are disinclined to go above 

 if they get two or more frames for honey 

 below." I must confess that I was carried 

 away by this sort of talk, and so were hun- 

 dreds and perhaps thousands of others. But, 

 oh how the bees did swarm, and no wonder! 

 The whole trouble was, the queen did not 



have brooding space enough, and the bees 

 were quick to "catch on" to the fact; and 

 the result was, the queen and bees connived 

 together for larger quarters. 



THE SELK-HIVER FAD. 



Then followed the craze for an automatic 

 hiver. "Why," said the advocates of these 

 new-fangled things, "this staying at home 

 and taking care of swarms, and having a man 

 at each yard, is a tarnal nuisance and expense. 

 We have got to have something that will take 

 the place of labor." A few fell "into the 

 swim," and for a time at least felt that the 

 self-hiver, or what subsequently developed 

 the Langdon non-swarming method, was the 

 thing. 



Along about this time bee-keepers began to 

 complain that the "honey seasons were not 

 as good as they used to be, " and many thought 

 they would be satisfied if they could get on an 

 average 25 to 30 pounds of comb honey per 

 hive. Several Michigan beekeepers told me 

 they considered they vere doing well to get 

 even 10 pounds per colony. Right here do 

 not forget the fact that contraction was used 

 more extensively in Michigan than in any 

 other State. 



EXPANSION INSTEAD OF CONTRACTION. 



How would it do if we were to begin to talk 

 expansion instead of contraction ? If we not 

 only talked it but practiced it by working our 

 colonies in two or three stories, we should 

 find, I verily believe, that the little one-story 

 colonies were not " in it." 



It would not cost a cent to try three-story 

 colonies. " But," some one says, " I have not 

 any extra supers." Well, take some of those 

 little colonie s of yours, and unite them all 

 into one big one ; but before doing so, select 

 the best breeding queen out of the lot; for it 

 it is necessary to have^cc?^/ qneens, not much 

 over two years old; and it is important, also, 

 to have wide-mouth entrances, for these big 

 colonies not only must have plenty of room, 

 but a big open entrance. 



Our readers all know that some of our most 

 extensive bee-keepers, and most successful 

 ones, are those who use large colonies. Find 

 me a bee-keeper who produces his honey by 

 the tons and by the carload — who strives to 

 keep his queen in one brood-chamber, Lang- 

 stroth size, and I will point you out a dozen 

 or more who use big colonies, and get the 

 honey — and the money too. W. L. Coggshall 

 uses double-deckers. P. H. Elwood and Capt. 

 Hetherington use single-story colonies, but 

 they are on Ouinby frames. Julius Hoffman, 

 of Hoffman-frame fame, uses double-deckers, 

 his frames being square, or, rather, on the 

 deep order. J. F. Mclntyre uses two and 

 three story colonies, Ivangstroth size, and he 

 prefers the ten-frame width to the eight, and 

 I might go on and name more. 



Now, brethren, come on and let's discuss 

 this question. It is high time we were talking 

 about it, so that we can put it in practice for 

 next season. Let us see whether the trouble 

 with the poor honey crops of late has been all 

 due to the season or all to the hive, or, what is 

 probable, to both. 



