1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



497 



In starting anew here in California, with no 

 wintering problem to solve, in the adoption of 

 a frame that meets the requirements both of 

 the bees and of the apiarist, I have adopted 

 the regular standard Langstroth, and a hive 

 to accommodate ten, and my reasons are : 



1. Its convenience in handling, and being 

 nearest universal. 



2. Its size is as large as we dare to combine 

 the feature of surplus and brood. 



3. Its best adaptation to combs when trans- 

 ferring. 



4. A case of ten combs filled with honey is 

 sufficient for the average man to lift, which is 

 quite an item during the extracting season. 



Let us now consider the hive in all its prac- 

 tical features as regards the best results from 

 the queen, as well as the; convenience of the 

 apiarist. In order to reap the best results 

 from a good fertile queen she must at all 

 times have laying room with as few impedi- 

 ments in the way of horizontal bars and bee- 

 spaces as possible ; and in many instances I 

 have found that her majesty will go upstairs 

 to ply her vocation, and I do not believe in 

 fencing her below, especially in this country, 

 where the harvest usually lasts several months. 

 We should have uninterrupted passageways 

 for the working force from the brood-chamber 

 to the surplus-apartments. All bodies of hives 

 and frames should be made interchangeable, 

 as brood-chambers or surplus-apartments. And 

 now let me sav, to obviate future trouble, this 

 class of work should be cut by machinery, as 

 the most painstaking carpenter can not cut to 

 the line as accurately as machinery prepared 

 for the work. All lids and platforms should 

 likewise be of a uniform pattern, and made 

 interchangeable. All brood-frames should be 

 wired with three strands of No. .10 tinned 

 wire, horizontally divided nearly or quite even- 

 ly, and full sheets of foundation used where 

 drawn combs are not to be had. 



Escondido, Cal., May 31. 



[J. M. Hambaugh has been for many years 

 a neighbor of the Dadants — that is, he has 

 lived in their vicinity. He has used the large 

 Dadant Ouiuby hive, and in the past has been 

 a warm advocate of it, and would doubtless be 

 such still at his old home. But now that he 

 is in a new locality, new conditions have 

 arisen, and it is a little bit of surprise that he 

 has adopted the standard Langstroth ten-frame 

 hive. Usually, when one has become ac- 

 customed to a certain system and to a certain 

 hive and to a certain frame, it takes more than 

 the mere matter of locality to change his 

 preference. Facts show this. But Mr. Ham- 

 baugh shows his candor by adopting and 

 speaking in favor of the Langstroth hive in 

 the State of his adoption. 



If here is just one case of a bee-keeper who 

 has used a big hive largely, and now discards 

 it, does it not behoove us to study over very 

 carefully our locality to determine whether a 

 large frame or one of moderate size like the 

 Langstroth is the best, all things considered ? 

 In the A B C of Bee Culture, under " Hives," 

 I very strongly urged the majority to stick to 

 the Langstroth dimensions; notwithstanding, 



I have set forth as fairly as I could all the 

 points in favor of other hives like the Danzen- 

 baker, the Heddon, and the Dadant-Quinby.. 

 —Ed.] 



QUEEN-EXCLUDERS. 



Indispensable for Extracting, but not Necessary for 

 Comb Honey. 



BY C. A. HATCH. 



There seems to be a disposition in some 

 quarters to underrate the value of excluders, 

 or even declare them worthless as an adjunct 

 to the hive for extracting purposes. For comb- 

 honey production we are willing to admit all 

 the objectors have to say against them ; but 

 for extracted honey the case becomes quite 

 different, and there is no part of the comple- 

 ment of tools and appliances we think of 

 more value in its special province than good 

 queen-excluders. 



TO EXCLUDE THE OUEEN. 



This is, of course, the first function of its 

 use, and the results of this are, first, the whole 

 set of combs in the supers are reserved for 

 honey storage only, thereby adding at least 30 

 p^r cent to their capacity, and therefore to 

 their value. In other words, 100 supers of 

 comb, used with excluders, are as good as 130 

 would be if used without excluders. The ex- 

 tra 30 thus gained, are, at a moderate estimate, 

 worth $30.00; cost of excluders, say, $20 00; 

 difference $10.00 in one year on combs. 



Second, be ever so careful in extracting 

 from combs where the queen has access to 

 them, and more or less brood will be thrown 

 out, and with it some larval food, which is 

 not advantageous to the flavor of the honey, 

 to say nothing of the young larvae floating 

 around in it. Quality is every thing in honey, 

 and flavor is a prime factor in quality; so let 

 us look carefully to all points by which this is 

 effected. 



Third. Many more combs must be handled 

 where no excluders are used, to get a given 

 amount of honey, from the fact that much of 

 the storage room in the combs is occupied 

 with brood and pollen. To lessen cost of pro- 

 duction is to diminish cost, and thereby in- 

 crease profits. All labor saved is money earn- 

 ed; so, remember this item. 



Labor saved in the fall is another item in 

 favor of excluders. The brood being all be- 

 low, the honey for winter is stored there, and 

 so no feeding is needed; and, there being no 

 brood in supers, they are removed with half 

 the labor required for those having no exclud- 

 ers; also labor during extracting is economiz- 

 ed. Before using excluders, when extracting, 

 much of my time was spent in lifting off su- 

 pers and putting brood and queen below, all 

 of which had to be done over again, may be, 

 the very next time of extracting. Now, un- 

 less for swarming or to correct something 

 wrong in the brood-nest, the super and exclud- 

 er are never touched until removed in the fall, 

 after the honey harvest is over. See the ad- 

 vantage you have added to your comb capaci- 



