1900 



GI.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



439 



the frames at the time of hiving. Some of 

 the sections in the surplus arrangement should 

 be partly filled with comb left over from the 

 season previous, so as to start work in the sec- 

 tions at the same time the bees start below. 

 This causes the bees to store honey above 

 while they build comb more slowly below, 

 building only as fast as the prolificness of the 

 queen demands it." 



" Do you keep the swarm all of the season 

 in this contracted brood-nest ? " 



"No. As the queen's ability for laying in- 

 creases, more frames are added, so that at the 

 end of the season I have the hive filled, or 

 very nearly so, with nice worker comb, and 

 secure lots of section honey. By this plan I 

 secure three important items — much section 

 honey, very little drone comb, and a hive fill- 

 ed with nice straight worker comb, the latter 

 costing less, in my estimation, than it would 

 to buy the foundation, wire the frames, and 

 fit the foundation into them." 



"Do you think I could succeed by that 

 plan? " 



" I know nothing why you can not, and I 

 hope you will try it the coming season, on a 

 few swarms at least ; for if it works as well 

 with you as it does with me, it will be quite a 

 saving to you, both in vexation and in not 

 rearing a host of useless drones to eat up the 

 early honey which the industrious little work- 

 ers gather " 



" Do you treat after swarms having virgin 

 queens in the same way ? " 



" No, this does not apply to such swarms, 

 for there seems to be no disposition with them 

 to build drone comb, unless the swarm should 

 be an exceedingly large one. All swarms or 

 colonies having a young queen just commenc- 

 ing to lay rarely ever build any drone comb 

 the same season ; nor will the young queen in 

 the parent colony lay any eggs in the drone 

 comb in the hive already built ; because when 

 an old colony has a young laying queen after 

 a swarm has issued, instinct teaches them that 

 they may expect this queen to meet all of the 

 requirements of a mother-bee for the rest of 

 the season, and drones are necessary only 

 when a change of mothers is contemplated." 



" Why, will not such colonies build nice 

 worker comb then? " 



"They will, and I often take advantage of 

 this fact, and manage to get one or two nice 

 perfect worker combs built for future use while 

 the bees of these colonies are at work vigor- 

 ously in the sections, by taking one or two 

 full combs out of the center of the brood-nest 

 of colonies having such queens, and inserting 

 empty frames in their places." 



"But doesn't it detract from the honey 

 crop?" 



"These frames are filled, apparently, with- 

 out the cost of any section honey, while it 

 seems to give great energy to the colony so 

 building comb. The combs thus secured, and 

 any which I may secure from any nuclei or 

 weak colonies which are too weak to work in 

 sections advantageously, are carefully kept 

 for the next season, when they can be used to 

 fill out the hives of any swarms whose queens 

 may not be of sufficient prolificness to cause 



the bees to fill out completely the whole num- 

 ber of frames given with full combs having 

 the worker size of cells. Plenty of frames 

 filled with worker combs are something prized 

 by any apiarist. But I must be going, as it is 

 getting dark." 



[I solicit questions for this depaitment; but they must bo 

 put on separate slips of pa|)er. and niarlted " Gleanings De- 

 partment." If you desire an immediate answer, say so at 

 the time of writing, and a private reply will be sent jou in 

 advance before your question with answer appears in these 

 columns; but questions that are mi.\ed up witli business mat- 

 ters will not only be subject to considerable delay, but pos- 

 sitjly will receive no answer at all.— Editor.] 



THE OLD STYLE A. I. ROOT CHAFF HIVE ; A. 



I. R. HIMSELF HAS SOMETHING TO SAY 



IN REGARD TO BEE-KEEPING AND 



WHAT KIND OF HIVES TO USE. 



The A. I. Root Co.: — I have just noticed 

 in May 1st GLEANINGS your apiary. I see 

 you still have some of the A. I. Root chaff 

 hives of a few years ago. Don't tell A. I. 

 that I think they are the best hives ever got 

 up for comb honey. When I had them in my 

 yards I got quite a crop of honey every year. 

 Since I began using the eight-frame Dovetail- 

 ed my honey has not materialized as it did 

 with the A. I. Root chaff hives. The hives as 

 then made were warmer in the supers, as there 

 were no openings between supers, and the 

 sides were protected. I feel that the eight- 

 frame hive has had considerable to do with 

 our small honey crops for the last few years. 

 If a bee keeper wants comb honey, I think 

 the chaff hives are the hives. 



F. A. Salisbury. 



Syracuse, N. Y., May 7. 



[I have just instructed our stenographer to 

 get this in before Ernest sees it or adds any 

 footnote to it, if he can. It is just what I 

 thought years ago, and it is what I still think, 

 judging from the reports that come in. There 

 may be hives as good for wintering as the old 

 chaff hive, but I do not think there are any 

 very much better ; and when it comes to win- 

 tering and summering, protecting the bees 

 from both heat and cold, and sudden changes, 

 it seems to me the chaff hive is the thing. 

 Whenever I see reports in regard lo wintering, 

 where chaff hives are contrasted with other 

 hives, it looks to me as if the chaff hives al- 

 ways come out ahead. Friend Salisbury, here 

 is my hand, and I wish to congratulate you on 

 your sound, mature good sense and observa- 

 tion. Of course, the eight-frame hive is a fine 

 thing where bees are to be moved to out-apia- 

 ries and back again. It is a fine thing where 

 bees are to be shipped, or, perhaps, we may 

 add, offered for sale. It is a fine thing for 

 queen-rearing, where you do not wish to both- 

 er with smaller nuclei that are liable to run 

 short of stores ; and I think I would have 

 both the eight-frame hives and also the chaff 

 hives in every well-appointed apiary. But 



