496 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



"boil," meaning the act of boiling? Still, 

 there is danger, as Mr. Taylor suggests, that 

 bee-journals may be open to the criticism that 

 the boarder had against the butter : "If, 

 madam, there were a little less grease in it, it 

 would be very good salt." Likewise we should 

 not print grammars with a little apiculture in 

 them. I'm about through "dabbling" in it, 

 Mr. Taylor. But you musn't say, "Some 

 time since Gleanings eschewed grammar." 

 Why is the wrong word since instead of ago 

 used in such cases ? There, I'm dabbling again, 

 tti 

 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 The following is clipped from the Chicagoan 

 of May 27 : "A rare treat was given to the 

 eighth-grade pupils of the McPherson school 

 last Thursday, when Mr. G. W. York, editor 

 of the American Bee Journal, gave them an 

 illustrated lecture on bees. The pupils were 

 delighted, and the way Mr. York described 

 the simple animal was truly wonderful." Mr. 

 York says his reason for copying the item was 

 to suggest that bee-keepers in other cities will 

 find the schoolchildren greatly interested in a 

 talk on bees if given a chance. He had a 

 Langstroth frame of bees in a glass hive, and 

 gave therefrom a practical illustration of the 

 work of bees in the hive. That is a grand 

 idea, and ought to be carried out wherever 

 possible. Mr. York deserves the thanks of 

 all for taking the initiative step. The chil- 

 dren were to take notes and print them in 

 their little school-paper. " A chiel's amang 

 ye, takin' notes ; an', faith, he'll prent it." 



THE BEST HIVE FOR EXTRACTING. 



Location an Important Factor; the Dadant-Ouinhy 

 Hive for One Locality, the Langstroth 

 for Another. 



BY J. M. HAMB.AUGH. 



As a preface to this article I will say that my 

 conclusions herein enumerated are based on 

 an experience of nearly 20 years in honey pro- 

 duction ; and while I am taking a standpoint 

 for Southern California, in most instances they 

 will be equally applicable to the Eastern States. 



In order to achieve the best results in honey 

 production, all points considered, both finan- 

 cially and in satisfaction to yourself and cus- 

 tomers, I would advise running largely to ex- 

 tracting ; and in order to reach the maximum 

 results with a minimum amount of labor I'd 

 look at the situation about thus : 



1. Location. — You must know that the loca- 

 tion is a desirable one, and be assured that the 

 end will justify the means. 



2. When you are satisfied on this point, the 

 second consideration will be — a suitable hive. 

 It must be composed of as few parts as possi- 

 ble to meet all requirements of cheapness and 

 utility, and it must have the features of ex- 

 pansion and contraction to meet the needs of 

 the smallest or the hirgest colonies at the op- 

 tion of the apiarist. There are times when a 

 colony of bees snugly tucked up in small 

 apartments on three or four combs can utilize 



their heat, and fare much better than they 

 would in more roomy apartments ; hence the 

 necessity of the contracting feature ; and, like- 

 wise, when the season advances, and the queen 

 reaches her maximum of fertility, laying 3000 

 eggs daily, the expansion feature becomes an 

 absolute necessity, and room must be given 

 the queen to lay, and workers to store honey 

 in proportion to their strength numerically, if 

 the swarming fever is to be averted, and the 

 best results obtained in honey production, when 

 ample room is thus provided it seems that the 

 energy of the bees is turned to honey, and 

 the swarming-fever averted largely, and very 

 often entirely, for the season. It is almost 

 the universal rule that the non-swarming col- 

 onies are the largest honey-producers, hence 

 the need of expansion to the requirements of 

 the strongest colonies. 



The practical hive must also be easily util- 

 ized when increase is wanted by division. 



Now we come to the consideration of the 

 proper size of frame. When I was a honey- 

 producer in Illinois I made some experiments 

 along this line which did not work out to my 

 entire satisfaction. When the crusade was 

 started against the old primitive style of bee- 

 keeping I was imbued with the idea of adopt- 

 ing the standard Langstroth frame for comb- 

 honey production ; and the consequence was, 

 I soon found myself in possession of an apiary 

 equipped with the (then) modern modes of 

 honey production in one and two pound sec- 

 tions. A visit to the Dadants in the first years 

 of the '80's resulted in my trying their large 

 Dadant-Quinby hives, and a change of modes 

 from comb to extracting — a change that I 

 have never regretted ; neither did I regret the 

 visit, notwithstanding it installed two differ- 

 ent-sized frames in my bee-yards, the impor- 

 tance of which I realized later on. In course 

 of time my bees were all equipped for the pro- 

 duction of extracted honey, and the equip- 

 ments for comb honey were stored away in the 

 attic of my shop. Time and experience point- 

 ed out very plainly that, if I could adopt one 

 size of frame for all the yards, it would save 

 many vexatious experiences where the bees are 

 away from home and main storage places. I 

 was already using the same frame for surplus 

 as brood on the Simplicity ; but the wintering 

 problem was a feature not to be ignored ; and 

 as the large Dadants invariably wintered with 

 less loss, breeding up faster and more satisfac- 

 torily in the spring, I could not think of dis- 

 carding them for the sake of the one frame 

 feature. I determined to try the same size of 

 body and frames for surplus on the Dadant 

 hive, and my experience was quite satisfacto- 

 ry during a heavy honey-flow, but entirely too 

 roomy when the flow relaxed and the colony 

 became less populous. I found them quite 

 unwieldy, and too heavy for the average man 

 to handle, when a case of 11 of these large 

 eombs filled with honey had to be carried into 

 the extracting- room. There was also more 

 breakage of combs during the handling in and 

 out of the extractor, hence I abandoned this 

 feature. I am not sure, but it. has always 

 seemed to me that the Dadant surplus case is 

 a little too small ; but, to return. 



