622 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



lower hive, with an empty comb between 

 them if the colony is strong. Under such 

 conditions what per cent of swarming would 

 be liable within 30 days ? After that length of 

 time I should expect swarms, if the surplus 

 combs were not extracted. My experience 

 has been that swarming is usually occasioned 

 by that prosperity of a colony that promises a 

 superabtindance of population and stores. A 

 proper manipulation will counteract in various 

 ways all inclination of colonies to swarm, 

 whether worked upon the principle I have 

 explained or otherwise. Large colonies are 

 much more inclined to swarm than small ones 

 provided with a proportionate amount of 

 room for storage of surplus. 



Give a colony having 5 frames of brood at 

 the beginning of the swarming season a two- 

 stor}' hive containing 18 frames, for their oc- 

 cupation, restricting the brood-rearing of the 

 colony to the original 5 frames. They would 

 breed up to a pretty good working colony dur- 

 ing the season, but the number of swarms 

 from 100 such colonies could be counted upon 

 the fingers of one hand. Even with 6 brood- 

 combs this liability to swarm would be about 

 the same unless it was a ver}- provident sea- 

 son and the extracting was neglected. Place 

 a strong colony of bees under the sarne con- 

 ditions at the beginning of the season, select- 

 ing the proper combs for the different posi- 

 tions they are to occupy in the hive, and 

 where is any increased liability to swarm to 

 be expected ? I have not experimented in 

 this way, working for section honey. There 

 would "be a little more tendency toward 

 swarming in an apiary worked for box honey 

 than if worked for extracted; but if this work 

 were done just as a colony began to store well 

 in the sections' the difference would be trifling. 

 But, this is only my opinion ! 



Howardsville, Va. 



[Why, friend A., it seems to me your sys- 

 tem is the very otie that would induce swarm- 

 ing in a wholesale way. In my experience, 

 curtailing the queen is almost sure of itself to 

 breed discontent ; and when you say that 

 large colonies are more inclined to swarm 

 than small ones, I wondered what kind of 

 bees or localit}^ you have. Your experience is 

 almost diametrically opposed to that of the 

 great majority of the whole bee-fraternity. 

 Why, I supposed it was almost an axiom that 

 large colonies are less inclined to swarm than 

 small ones. W^hat does the Dadants' experi- 

 ence mean all these years on this point? — Ed.] 



BEE-SPACES OF ITALIANS AND BLACKS. 

 Is it True that the Latter make Fatter Combs? 



BY A. E. COONROD. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — I notice in Gle.'^.nings, 

 page 550, that you would like to hear from all 

 those who keep onl}^ pure black bees, in re- 

 gard to the bee-spaces used by them. I have 

 only the black bees ; and after reading your 

 footnote to Mr. J. E. Crane's article I went to 

 the honey-room and measured several sections 



and found the bee-space used by large colo- 

 nies in the height of the honey-flow to be 

 scant y\ inch, and by the smaller colonies to 

 be a little over ^'g, or about gV inch ; but on 

 an average they are i\. I use the plain sec- 

 tion with the fence, and, of course, I measur- 

 ed from the slat to the face of the comb. I 

 like the plain sections very much, but the bees 

 fill them too nearly level full ; and don't ^-ou 

 think that could be avoided by using a section 

 Vg inch wider, and making the cleats on the 

 fences thinner? For instance, take the 4x5x 

 13^8 sections and make them 4x5x1^^ ; then 

 make the cleats 's inch thick, and raise the 

 lower edge of the bottom slat in the fence a 

 full bee-space above the inside of the bottom 

 of the section ; also lower the upper edge of 

 the top slat ^., inch below the inside of the 

 top of the section to allow the bees room to 

 pass up into the next super above. My fences 

 are fixed that way at the top, and the honey is 

 not bulged any more than it would be where 

 the cracks are in the fence, and there isn't any 

 ridging that is noticeable. I think that, if the 

 edge of the section could project j^ to \ inch 

 from the face of the honey it would avoid any 

 danger of breaking the cappings in shipping 

 or handling the sections. 



Ehzabethtown, N. Y., July 25. 



[Our readers will remember I stated that, 

 from numerous measurements, we found that 

 bee-spaces — that is, the spaces from the face 

 of a comb to a line or str-iight edge across the 

 face of the old-style section — was '^ inch. Mr. 

 J. E. Crane, who keeps black bees mostly, 

 found the measurement to be somewhere about 

 i\. The article above seems to confirm Mr. 

 Crane's position, and would go to show that 

 blacks use a smaller bee-space than Italians. 

 The matter is very important, because it de- 

 termines the thickness of the cross-cleats on 

 the fences. If r\ in. is the bee-space made by 

 black bees, then the cross-cleats on the fences 

 ( j\> inch ) are a trifle too thick. 



Now the question arises. How generally are 

 pure black bees used in pre''erence to either 

 blacks or hybrids ? My impression is, that the 

 majority of progressive bee-keepers use hy- 

 brids, because they secure as much honey as 

 Italians, and more than blacks ; because they 

 are proof against the moth worm, defend their 

 entrances better, and to a great extent com- 

 bine the qualities of both varieties of bees If, 

 on the other hand, progressive bee-keepers 

 like J. E. Crane use black bees pure and sim- 

 ple, and the number is considerable enough 

 to make quite a sprinkling in the fraternity, 

 then it would appear that cross-cleats on 

 fences should be only 's inch thick instead of 

 y%. The thicker the cleats, the fatter will be 

 the comb in the plain section. The thinner 

 the cleats, the larger the space between the 

 comb and the straight edge across the section. 



I do not feel entirely satisfied yet that black 

 bees do invariably use a smaller bee-space than 

 Italians. Is it not possible — indeed, probable 

 — that yellow bees in the localities of Brothers 

 Crane and Coonrod would use about the same 

 bee space — in the neighborhood of i\ inch ? 

 For vears and years we have taught, and prac- 



