630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUI.TURE. 



Aug. 15. 



far as we know, all the honey produced in P, 

 I, and T supers with fences are cratable. 



I was talking the other day with one of our 

 good customers, Mr. McAdams, of Columbus 

 Grove, O. He bought a number of supers 

 with plain sections and fences. He was prej- 

 udiced against them in the first place; but as 

 there was so much said about them he thought 

 he would give them a trial. After testing 

 them he was agreeably surprised; and, much 

 to his astonishment, supers with plain sec- 

 tions and fences were filled more readily by 

 the bees than supers containing the old-style 

 sections with bee-ways. The second letter 

 above given is a case in point. 



I stated last fall that it was uiy opinion that 

 supers containing plain sections and fences 

 would be entered more readily, on account of 

 the freer communication, than supers of the 

 old style. From the few reports already re- 

 ceived, it would begin to seem as if the theory 

 were going to be borne out by the facts ; but, 

 as I said to friend Doolittle in another column, 

 page 6'25, one, two, or three swallows do not 

 make a summer. I do not, therefore, put it 

 down as a fact that the plain secdons will be 

 filled sooner than the old style ; but it stands 

 to reason that the supers of the new style ap- 

 proach a condition more nearly in accordance 

 with nature. Combs in a box hive or in a bee- 

 tree have free communication from one side of 

 the cavity to the other. They are not shut off 

 in so many little boxes. The up-to-date super 

 of last year made it necessary for bees to build 

 their combs in small shut-off compartments. 

 In the up-to-date super of this year, with plain 

 sections and fences, the bees have not only 

 free communication from side to side across 

 the face of the sections, but free communica- 

 tion between the slats. 



Now, dear reader, we shall be very glad to 

 receive reports covering all the points I have 

 named above. Let us know whether theory 

 is really confimed by the facts ; and while the 

 major part of the honey crop is in most locali- 

 ties secured, I have been assured that the fre- 

 quent rains give promise of abundant crops 

 from buckwheat ; and I hope some of our 

 York Staters, if they have read what I have 

 said, will make careful observations. 



CONTRACTION OR SUBSTITUTION; THE EDITOR 



CRITICISED AGAIN BY THE REVIEW 



CRITIC. 



There are some things that Mr. R. L. 

 Taylor, of the Review, does not thoroughly 

 understand in reference to the recent discus- 

 sion that took place between us, and he de- 

 sires further light. He is inclined to think 

 I am quibbling a little on the subject of con- 

 traction by calling it " substitution," and then 

 asks for my definition of "contraction." I 

 suppose each one of us would define the term 

 a good deal according to our practice, past or 

 present. But the contraction that I condemn- 

 ed was of that sort which implies the reduc- 

 tion of an eight or ten frame brood-nest down 

 to five or six frames, the space being filled 

 with dummies prior to putting on the supers 

 or the issuing of the swarm. And, by way of 

 parenthesis, it is apparent that Mr. Taylor, as 



well as myself, would condemn this sort of 

 practice. The contraction or substitution 

 that I recommended had reference to two- 

 story colonies, or double brood-nests, each as 

 large as the eight-frame type. To contract an 

 eight-frame brood-nest down to six or eight 

 frames is one thing ; and to contract a two- 

 story sixteen-frame brood-nest down to eight 

 frames is another thing. A five or six frame 

 capacity is small for any thriving colony, it 

 seems to me; but an eight-frame brood-nest, 

 with at least two supers to take the place of 

 the brood-nest taken off, would give the bees 

 all the room they could occupy. Now, I am 

 willing to admit, for the benefit of friend 

 Taylor, that both are a species of contraction; 

 and to save any further argument I will call 

 it contraction. But there is a distinction, 

 " allee samee " (excuse slang). One kind I 

 can indorse; but the other kind I condemn as 

 bad practice. • 



Again, Mr. Taylor says : 



To show the ill results of hiving swarms in con- 

 tracted brood-chambers, and that that plan is being 

 abandoned, the eaitor quotes two instances from the 

 " first volume of the American Bee Journal that he 

 picked up." 



Now, Bro. Taylor, I do not know that I 

 anvwhere on that page (518) stated that con- 

 traction of the other sort — the Hutchinson 

 kind — ihe kind that takes place after the hiv- 

 ing of the swarm — -was being abandoned. I 

 introtluced only the two instances where such 

 a procedure seemed to be a failure, to show 

 that it had not been a success with ali. Then 

 on the same page I quoted another man who 

 had used the plan, and expected to continue it. 



Again, Mr. Taylor still insists that I imply 

 that two and three story colonies do not 

 swarm, by picking out parts of a couple of 

 sentences. If he will read the whole article 

 through carefully — or, better, the several arti- 

 cles — and not pick out a sentence here and 

 there, he will see that I do not convey that 

 impression. A single sentence in any article 

 is quite apt to be misleading when taken by 

 itself. 



In one other portion, page 243, referring to 

 the size of brood-nest in its relation to the 

 size of the colony, he says he does not under- 

 stand me, and says he presumes it is owing to 

 his stupidity. Not at all; but his confusion 

 has made me worse confounded. Perhaps it 

 is I who am stupid. But I am certain that our 

 methods and beliefs are not so very far apart 

 when brought to an exact focus, except, per- 

 haps, that he believes that a single eight- 

 frame brood-nest is large enough, and I hold 

 to the opinion that I want, some of the time 

 at least, two brood-nests of that size. 



There are some things, Bro. Taylor, that 

 even the printed page apparently reveals as 

 through a glass, darkly; but be that as it may, 

 there can be no animosities at this end of the 

 line. Why did I refer to it ? Because some 

 of our readers, not knowing us both personal- 

 ly, might think we were at loggerheads. You 

 are not in the habit of wishy-washying (ex- 

 cuse again the slang) your friends with hon- 

 ied words; and when, therefore, you criticise I 

 know there is a kindly spirit back of it all. 



