68 i 



GI^EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. ]5. 



with a given amount of labor, as any other 

 bee-keepers in the world. Now that extracted 

 and comb honey have come down so low in 

 price it becomes almost a necessity to cut down 

 labor ; and //'there is a system by means of 

 which swarming can be largely controlled and 

 labor diminished, let us know what that sys- 

 tem is. 



The Dadants have a large following, not 

 only in and around Hamilton and Keokiik, 

 but also throughout almost all of France. I 

 have talked with several of Dadant's neigh- 

 bors, and they all assert that, after testing the 

 large and small hives side by side, they have 

 decided in favor of the former. 



This article will be followed by a number of 

 others, and we are sure our readers will find 

 them to be interesting and profitable, because 

 the Dadants have long^been the champions of 

 large hives ; and it is to be presumed that they 

 know more about them than any one else in 

 the world. — Ed.] 



A NEW HIVE. 



Brood-nest and Super all One and the Same Thing; 



a New Application of Plain Sections; a Novel 



Idea, and yet One that may Bear a little 



Thoughtful Consideration. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



The readers of Gleanings need not get 

 frightened. I am not going to order the or- 

 dinary hive to the scrap-heap. Perhaps my 

 idea is not so original ; but if not, it is revo- 

 lutionary in a degree. It contemplates the 

 banishment of frames, separators, holders, 

 and other old-time contrivances from the 

 apiary. Of course, this hive o' mine is not 

 calculated to forward the business of supply- 

 dealers; but what care we for supply-dealers? 

 they can starve, or march along with the 

 times. Then, again, this hive will put a stop 

 to a good deal of bickering. Every bee-master 

 will be able to adopt his own spacing ; he can 

 change it every time he buys sections. He 

 can have two bee-spaces or no bee-space, just 

 as it suits his fancy. He can produ e extract- 

 ed or comb honey (or both) without altering 

 his hive furniture. Boiled down, the whole 

 thing is a Miller-Hdton-Morrison section-case 

 — eke would be a better name where the case 

 is used indiscriminately either as a brood- 

 chamber or a super. Instead of T tins, use 

 narrow ribbons of steel (on edge) for the sec- 

 tions to rest on. There are two iron screws 

 on the side and one on the end. The one on 

 the end need not be so large as the others, 

 and it is very useful. The inside contains 

 nothing but sections with a follower. 



The section I prefer is rix43<xl '4 i and each 

 case contains 33 sections lying longwise, both 

 for the brood-chamber and the super, as all 

 parts of the hive are exactly alike. Such a 

 section is not too narrow; possibly a narrower 

 one would suit the consumer better. The 

 pound of honey looks vastly bigger, and, 

 above every thing else, the public want big- 

 ness. There is much to be said in favor of 

 the narrow sections. The main point is, that 



they require no separators. With the screws 

 properly adjusted, there is very little scraping 

 needed. No coaxing is required to get the 

 bees to go upstairs, as there is no preference, 

 the whole hive being alike. Well-filled nice- 

 looking sections are used, as comb honey not 

 so good is put into the solar extractor. 



A good many will find objections to this 

 hive; but let them think about it and experi- 

 ment the coming season. I can anticipate 

 some of the most prominent objections. It 

 will be said that such a hive encourages 

 swarming. This will depend altogether on 

 how it is used; but here let me emphasize the 

 fact that this hive can be used properly only 

 with full sheets of foundation of the different 

 kinds. Deep-cell foundation is tised for comb 

 honey, and extra thin for extracted honey; 

 but the modus oper'andi can be discovered 

 only by experience. The bees breed and 

 work in this kind of hive pretty much as they 

 do in other hives. To control swartning, it is 

 necessary to add room from below occasion- 

 ally. Some practical men will say that good 

 comb honey can not be produced without 

 separators. This is true of the sections now 

 in use, but it is not true of narrow sections, or 

 what ought to be termed normal sections. 

 The normal comb is "s inch in thickness. 

 Will any of your readers give a good reason 

 why comb honey should be thicker ? 



An important point is to have the founda- 

 tion fastened on all sides; and to do this I use 

 a peculiar method. My plan is to cut the 

 foundation into small triangles, and fasten 

 two such pieces into each section. This in- 

 sures rigid foundation that, no matter how 

 the section may be placed, will neither sag 

 nor bend. 



In making the cases or ekes it is necessary 

 to make the four corners very strong, as the 

 pressure of the screws is very great. By 

 proper adjustment, propolization is reduced 

 to a minimum. 



The general idea of the hive is not new. 

 The Stewart on hive, of Scotland, which has 

 been in use for over a hundred years, is found- 

 ed on similar ideas. My own ideas on the 

 subject were engendered by observing the 

 working of the ordinary straw hive of our fore- 

 fathers. I have seen excellent yields obtained 

 by people who never used any other hive — as 

 much as 220 lbs. from a first swarm. In pon- 

 dering over the matter I came to the conclu- 

 sion that there was only one objection to this 

 kind of hive; viz., the honey is not got out in 

 a marketable shape. The Scotch add to their 

 hives from below to prevent swarming till 

 these assume large dimensions. 



If it had not been for the recent develop- 

 ments in the foundation business such a hive 

 would not be possible. To bee-keepers who 

 are all the while meddling with the brood- 

 chamber this hive will be of no service; but to 

 the man who has hundreds of hives to attend 

 to, and who has no time to fool with his bees, 

 it will be welcome. The sunmier labor is 

 largely reduced if the apiarist looks after his 

 business well and has all his cases stacked up 

 ready for business in the spring before the 

 rush comes on. Every bee-keeper follows his 



