1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



519 



"by W. Z. Hutchinson; was using it then, and 

 expected to continue using it. As I said at 

 the outset, we desire to get at the truth ; and 

 as it matters not who is right, Bro. H. or my- 

 self, I desire reports from bee-keepers, both 

 for and against contraction at the time of 

 hiving swarms. 



Brothers Hutchinson and Taylor may prefer 

 to use small brood-chambers and practice 

 contraction because their locality best favors 

 that system, yet I recall to mind a bee-keeper, 

 N. E. Doane, of Brecksville, Mich., not forty 

 miles from either. He believes in large colo- 

 nies, and to that end uses twelve frame hives. 

 He claims for them, I think, that he has strong 

 colonies, very little swarming, and very much 

 more honey. There are others not far away 

 who use large hives. H. S. Wheeler, of Mt. 

 Pleasant, Mich.; John Morrison, of the same 

 place, and J. N. Harris, of St. Louis, Mich., 

 are other names given by our Mr. Boyden. 

 Would it not pay Bro. Hutchinson to call 

 upon friend Doane and some of these others, 

 and see whether their locality is essentially 

 different from that of Flint ? 



Near the close of his article, ]\Ir. Hutchin- 

 son, referring to what I have said regarding 

 the use of two-story colonies for comb honey, 

 says : " Suppose, brother Ernest, that you try 

 a few colonies with two or more stories for 

 brood-nest, in working for comb honey, and 

 see what it will cost you." My, oh my! Bro. 

 H. This is no theory of mine, for I have tried 

 it at our out-yard, and the results showed 

 decidedly more honey than I could get from 

 single eight-frame colonies; this I have report- 

 ed in these columns ; but, as I have said, I 

 practice two methods. If the colony is very 

 strong I let them have the two stories clear 

 through the season. If they are of medium 

 strength I take away one of the stories and 

 give them the same room in supers with sec- 

 tion honey-boxes. 



But I do not depend for mj^ facts upon our 

 out-yard, or home yard either, for that matter. 

 In my travels among the bee-keepers whom I 

 meet every summer I can not help seeing 

 some things, and one of the things that made 

 an impression on my mind was that these big 

 "guns" almost universally run big colonies, 

 either in large single stories or on the double- 

 decker idea. 



R. L. TAYLOR'S CRITICISMS ON THE EDITOR'S 

 ADVOCACY OF TWO-STORY L-A-NGSTROTH 

 HIVES FOR COMB AND EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY. 



On page 1S2 of the Bee-keepers' Review for 

 June Mr. Taylor has (unwittingl}', I believe) 

 made me father certain sentiments that I do 

 not and did not believe in, or, more correctly 

 speaking, he has taken certain propositions of 

 mine, altered them slightly, and then pokes 

 fun at them. He quotes me, for instance, as 

 believing that the best solution of the swarm- 

 ing problem is big colonies in two-story 

 Langstroth hives. So far so good ; but he 

 reports me as saying that the " two and three 

 story colonies do not swarm." I may have 

 given an unequivocal statement to that effect, 

 but I think not. I have been careful in all 

 that I have said on this question to qualify 



the point by saying that such colonies were 

 not as apt to, or were less inelined to swarm. 

 Indeed, in the very article he refers to, and 

 which he criticises, I said there would be 

 " less swarming." 



Still again he says, in referring to what I 

 have said regarding large colonies in two- 

 story hives, "It is evident that the editor 

 would have us believe that in some occult 

 way those extra stories add to the numerical 

 strength of the colonies." Now, Bro. Taylor, 

 how could you read so much between the 

 lines ? Such a proposition is ridiculous. I 

 might just as well try to claim that Ijig shoes 

 make big feet. I do believe, however, that, 

 in the hands of the average bee-keeper, big 

 rousting colonies can not develop properly in 

 a single-story eight-frame hive, in the same 

 way that I believe that the boy's predisposed 

 big feet can not develop in small shoes. 



It miy be possible for yoii to have as much 

 brood in one eight-frame brood-nest as two. I 

 Ijelieve I could do it myself by reversing, and 

 by wasting a great deal of lime. But in say- 

 ing this I do not mean to insinuate that you 

 can not do it, either by a long or by a short 

 process. 



A neighbor of ours, Mr. George Carrington, 

 who lives about five miles from here, obtained 

 of us a few twelve-frame hives. He already 

 had in his apiary quite a number of eight- 

 framers. A few days a ;o he told me, quite 

 incidentally, that the small brood-nest was 

 altogether too small for him; that his twelve- 

 frame colonies were rousting big ones, while 

 his eight-frame stock seemed to be limited to 

 the capacity of the hive. Mr. C. does not 

 profess to be an up-to-date bee-keeper. He 

 grows small fruit, and he saj-s he must have a 

 system of management by which he can ex- 

 pend as little labor as possible on his bees, 

 because he desires to give most of his time to 

 his farm and fruit. He gave it as his opinion 

 that twelve - frame colonies or two eight- 

 framers, one above the other, was the kind he 

 wanted for honey. 



Mr. Taylor thinks I practice contraction 

 after all, because I sometimes remove the 

 upper story of a two-story colony, and put in 

 its place supers of equal capacity to sections. 

 I do not exactly see that this is a case of con- 

 traction so much as it is a case of substitution; 

 but call it what you may. When the colonies 

 are not strong enough, or if the upper .set of 

 combs are well filled with honey and brood, I 

 put on comb-honey supers. In fact, I do just 

 as Mr. Taylor does — adapt the management of 

 the colony to its particular needs. 



Once more. Mr. Taylor seems to be a little 

 doubtful of what I mean when I say that, in 

 our experience at least, they, the double- 

 deckers, would get more honey, both comb 

 and extracted, than the smaller ones. He 

 seems to feel that I mean either comb or ex- 

 tracted. I meant just what I said. Some of 

 our double-deckers are run for extracted and 

 comb honey, botli at the same time. Off from 

 one of them last season I remember distinctly 

 of taking one eight-frame super of extractiiig- 

 combs well capped over, and two comb-honey 

 supers equally well capped. I do not see why 



