1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



517 





The Executive Committee of the U. S. B. 

 K. U. have decided to hold the next annual 

 meeting at Omaha, along in the fall. For 

 fuller particulars in regard to this, see Dr. 

 Mason's note in Heads of Grain in this issue. 



A FRIEND of mine, in a private letter, gives 

 me this piece of consoling consolation: 



I notice you're getting your full share of being mis- 

 quoted and misunderstood ; but let patience have her 

 perfect work. There's an old saying, " Every one 

 must eat his peck of dirt," and there are some other 

 things as well as dirt that one seems destined to have 

 his full quota of. 



We have just received a line from George 

 E. Hilton, that hustling bee-keeper of Michi- 

 gan who is running a series of out-apiaries, 

 saying, "My men report the plain sections a 

 success." M. H. writes: "I have just taken 

 off some of the new plain sections, and they 

 are a success, sure — ^well filled — not too full." 



We shall be glad to hear from others regard- 

 ing the success or failure of these old new 

 things. The proljabilities are that some will 

 not like them, while others will be very enthu- 

 siastic over them. 



FAIR DISCUSSION. 



A LITTLE private correspondence has taken 

 place between Mr. Hutchinson, of the Revieiv, 

 and myself, on the matter of contraction, as 

 discussed in this issue. Bro. H. winds up his 

 letter in this fashion: 



If there is any man in the world with whom I 

 should delight to have a good square argument, it is 

 yourself. I think we both intend to be perfectly fair, 

 and try to be unprejudiced, and we have great op- 

 portunities to see all sides of a subject, and to fairly 

 understand what we are talking about. 

 Yours truly, 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



That is just exactly the way I feel, friend 

 H., toward you. As long as such a spirit pre- 

 vails, nothing but truth can result from such 

 a discussion. Strict fairness compels me to 

 say that I want to be willing to take back any 

 thing I sa}', just as soon as I am convinced I 

 am wrong. Such a position, far from being a 

 weakness, should be an element of strength in 

 one's character, and I know Bro. H. feels the 

 same way. Before we get through it all, I 

 presume it will be seen that both of us are 

 right, to a great extent, and that the truth lies 

 somewhere between us. 



TWO PROPOSITIONS ; STRONG COLONIES, AND 

 THE BEST WAY TO GET THEM. 

 Mr. R. L. Taylor, of Michigan, although 

 differing on some points with me, agrees on 

 this ; namely, that strong colonies are a desid- 

 eratum ; but we differ as to the method of se- 

 curing them. Mr. Taylor believes that he can 

 secure strong colonies in one brood-nest of 

 about eight-frame capacity, by so manipulat- 

 ing that the brood-nest shall be full of brood. 



My position is, that the average bee-keeper 

 will get stronger and better-working colonies 

 in izvo eight-frame brood-nests than in one. 

 It is very possible that Mr. Taylor and ot'iers 

 know how to get jumbo colonies out of single 

 eight-frame brood-nests. If so, I hope they 

 will tell just how they do it. By this I do not 

 fling a challenge into Mr. T.'s face that he 

 can not tell how it is done. Personally I 

 should like to see this matter thoroughly dis- 

 cussed. If I could make one brood-nest do 

 the work of two, no one would be more enthu- 

 siastic than I. I hope the brethren will dis- 

 cuss this question, as it is a live one ; that is, 

 from my point of view it means dollars and 

 dollars to the bee-keeper. 



CONTRACTION — THE RIGHT AND WRONG KIND; 



MR. HUTCHINSON'S AND MR. TAYLOR'S 



CRITICISMS ; LARGE HIVES, OR 



DOUBLE-DECKERS. 



In several issues, of late, it will be remem- 

 bered I have had much to say upon the value 

 of two-story colonies as against one-story ; 

 that the former would not only secure more 

 honey, either comb or extracted, but were 

 very much less inclined to swarm. On page 

 358 of our issue for May 1 I had sometliing 

 more to say on this same line. After referring 

 to the case of the Dadants with their large 

 hives, and to others, I spoke of contraction as 

 a "fad," and that, some eight or nine years 

 ago, it was all the rage ; but as it seemed to 

 result in an excess of swarming we were hear- 

 ing less of it. Unfortunately I referred to the 

 light crops Michigan bee-keepers had been 

 having, and in that connection stated that 

 contraction was more extensively used in 

 Michigan than in any other State. This last 

 statement seems almost to have had the effect 

 of a red rag before a bull; for brothers Hutch- 

 inson and Taylor, in dissenting from some of 

 my positions, have taken nearly nine columns 

 to my two. In the first place, let me state 

 that I had no intention of poking fun at the 

 leaders of the Michigan bee-keepers ; neither 

 did I have them particularly in mind. More- 

 over, I did not mean to imply that contraction, 

 however much it might have been practiced 

 in Michigan, was wholly responsible for the 

 light crops in that State, because I well knew 

 that Michigan, like other States, has been 

 having poor seasons. In evidence of this, 

 read my last paragraph on page 358. 



Bro. Hutchinson winds up by saying, " It 

 matters little which of us, Bro. Root or myself, 

 is right, if only we get at the truth." Just so. 

 With such a fair understanding I will assume 

 that there will be and can be no animosities. 

 If any thing, there will be only honest differ- 

 ences. Well, then, in this fraternal spirit 

 which has always existed between the Revieiv 

 and Gleanings, and which always shall 

 exist, I trust, let us consider some of the points 

 raised by Bro. Hutchinson and by Bro. Taylor. 

 Mr. Hutchinson says it is evident I have 

 "misunderstood the time and manner in which 

 contraction of the brood-nest has been prac- 

 ticed ;" and then he adds : 



Bro. Root, so far as I know, no none has practiced 

 contraction of old established colonies— those that had 



