1S9S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



907 



Notwithstanding I prefer thick extracted for 

 my own eating, I ai:i wilHng to forego the 

 additional flavor in the wax. I do think that 

 comb honey is more apt to have a better flavor 

 than the average extracted. There, that is 

 my opinion — Rd ] 



LARGE HIVES; DISADVANTAGES. 



A Very Fair Siatement of their Good and Bad 



Points; why Mr. Dadant Prefers the Large 



Hives in Spile of their I'nwieldiness. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I must own up that there is nothing j^erfect 

 in this world, and that the large hive is no 

 excepiion. In the first place, it cosls a great 

 deal of money, and that is a big point for a 

 beginner who may not like bee cuilure after 

 he has tried it a year or two. While an eight- 

 frame Dovetailed or Simplicity hive costs 

 about 11.25, the large hive we use costs some- 

 thing like twice as much. Then they are not 

 suitable for comb honey unless under special 

 management, because, if left to themselves, as 

 Dooliltle says, the spaces that are not filled 

 with brood, in case there is more room than 

 the queen can fill with brood, are filled with 

 honey by the bees, and the result is loo much 

 honey in the brood-combs and too little in the 

 supers, especially in an inferior season. 



Again, those large hives are very cumbrous. 

 It is out of the question for one man to carry 

 one of them from one place to another in the 

 apiarv, unaided, even if it does not contain 

 any bees ; for it is voluminous as wtll as 

 heavy ; and when the bees are to be put into 

 the cellar for winter it is fully twice as much 

 labor to take in a given number of large hives 

 as the same number in small hives, or eight- 

 frame Langstroth bodies. 



But the worst thing is transportation. In a 

 good large wagon we could easily place two 

 rows of eight-frame hives and about seven in 

 each row. If they are carried with supers and 

 only a shallow cover you can put in two tiers 

 of them, which makes about 28 hives in a load, 

 while 12 of our large hives make a big luad for 

 a wagon. In shipping by rail the cost of 

 transportation is outrageous anyhow; but one 

 of these hives costs about twice as much as 

 one of the small ones, being fully twice as 

 heavy, and no one short of a Vanderbilt or a 

 Rockefeller can afford to have such a hive 

 sent by express, for the express companies' 

 rates on such packages amount to a small 

 fortune, and they have still added the war- 

 stamp, which they demand of their customers, 

 and this, by the way, in my opinion, is neither 

 honest nor patriotic. What do j'ou think of it ? 



The objection of the great cost of shipment 

 of our hives is such that we took special pains 

 to make lighter hives when we shipped bees 



for breeding, and it is quite probable that our 

 customers still thought our hives too expen- 

 sive in this respect. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I believe this is all. I 

 assure you I can't think of any other objec- 

 tions to the large hives, and I made the case 

 as black as I could. It is trvie I make a poor 

 State's attorney in putting the case before the 

 jury, for the people as against myself, and it 

 would probably have been better to let Hutch- 

 inson do it. He surely would do it belter. 



But, hold on ! I can not be content to let 

 the case rest in this way ; and as I believe I 

 have a little room left in your paper to make 

 my article of average length I will beg leave 

 to add a few words in defense of my position, 

 and explain why I stay with the large hives 

 in spite of the enormous defects mentioned. 



The hive is too large for transportation, but 

 we do not transport it except in rare instances. 

 We consider a hive a fixture, after the bees 

 have been put into it, and we see no more 

 need of transporting it about than a house. 

 We have hives that have certainly been in the 

 same spot, unmoved, for ten years, perhaps 

 fifteen. If we wanted to carry on migratory 

 bee-keeping, or move our bees to and from 

 our out-apiaries, as Dr. Miller does, this point 

 would have much more weight ; but we have 

 never practiced any such thing; and as to cel- 

 lar wintering, which we have not practiced 

 for some ten years, we consider it of small 

 import whether it takes two men or one for 

 half a day twice a year, if our profits are in- 

 creased thereby. The hive could be made 

 much lighter than we make it, by having a 

 cap or cover fitting over it dovetailed, or sim- 

 plicity fashion, instead of a telescoping cap ; 

 but we have tried both, and no one can run 

 fast enough to catch up with us to make us a 

 gift of such a hive for our use. We want the 

 overlapping cover for several reasons. This 

 being outside of the scope of my article I will 

 return to the question. You understand my 

 position — I want the hive to stay there like a 

 hog-shed or a chicken-house, and its weight 

 concerns only those who expect to move it 

 about. 



As to the cost, I do not believe, if we look 

 at all sides, that it is much greater to the 

 apiarist. With the small hives many more 

 swarms will be harvested, and there is need of 

 about as many empty hives as you have colo- 

 nies of bees ; while with the large hives ten 

 per cent of the number will be suflScient. 

 Btit, put it at tweniy per cent, or, if you like 

 it better, say that as many hives will be need- 

 ed as with the small hives, and let us see what 

 it will cost. A hive, if well made and well 

 painted, will last thirty years. We have two 

 dozen in our apiar}- here that were made in 

 18(57, hence are 31 years old, and some look 

 sound enough for another 30 years. It is true, 

 they have been kept sheltered with a roof; but 

 the roof costs only a trifle when it is made of 

 cheap lumber. The additional cost of a large 

 hive, if double that of a small one, will repre- 

 sent, in interest and sinking fund, between 

 ten and twenty cents per year, or one to two 

 pounds of honey. Is it likely that I can raise 

 this much more, if we consider the better 



