756 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



lor upon a grand scale, with their results. 

 In this progress many have participated, 

 and day by day the progress is more rapid. 



That which the progressive apiculturist 

 sought and found was the means whereby 

 he might keep his bees entirely under his 

 hand, with the ability to direct them in ev- 

 evy thing. To aid feeble colonies; to take 

 honey from a colony too bounteously sup- 

 plied and give to one which was lacking-; 

 to replace queens insufficiently fecundated, 

 or those which died by accident; to improve 

 the stock by choosing the best breeders; to 

 diminish the production of drones while in- 

 creasing that of workers; to control swarm- 

 ing to a certain degree; to prevent the moth 

 by reducing the combs in weak colonies to 

 the number the bees could cover; to detect 

 foul brood at the first sign of the malady — 

 in fine, to increase the production of honey 

 of the first quality by all the most practical 

 means, that was the task. For all these 

 operations a hive was needed that would 

 g-ive facilities for examining every nook and 

 corner of the combs — a hive that could be 

 taken apart like a puppet-show. Such is 

 the movable-comb hive. Whatever the name 

 or form of the hive, Sagot, Voirnot, De 

 Layens, etc., one sole condition si?ie qua 

 non is that the combs shall be separated 

 from the walls by a space large enough for 

 the passage of a bee, at sides, bottom, and 

 between the stories. Aside from that, opin- 

 ions may be divided as to the height, width, 

 and length of the body of the hive and the 

 super, the manner of suspending the frames, 

 and the direction the frames shall run; but 

 the base of the progressive system is the 

 movableness of the combs at the will of the 

 operator. All the other conditions are sec- 

 ondary. 



The objection often made to the high price 

 of movable-frame hives has been proved of 

 DO consideration by those who know what 

 advantage this expense gives in results. A 

 hive well cared for, and protected from the 

 inclemency of the weather, even by the 

 roughest roo/, will last at least forty years, 

 making- thus an expense the bee-keeper will 

 hardly have to bear more than once; and 

 each year he will draw in return compen- 

 sations that will pay, many times over, the 

 interest of the money and the liquidation of 

 the outlay. The facility with which the 

 production of an overplus of drones may be 

 prevented in a large apiary will of itself 

 be an appreciable economy. He who holds 

 to the old system solely for the sake of econ- 

 omy finds himself in the position of the far- 

 mer who continues to buy cradles and flails 

 under the pretext that harvesting and 

 thrashing- machines are too expensive. Yet 

 the farmer might have the excuse that his 

 field is too small or too stony for the use of 

 the more perfect machines, while there is 

 not an apiary, however small, which can 

 not accommodate itself to hives that are prac- 

 tical and economical because of the m?nip- 

 ulations which these hives permit. On the 

 contrary, the owner of a small apiary will 

 take more pains, and will have greater re- 



sults from the very fact of the limited num- 

 ber which permits him to do all the work 

 himself in the best manner. 



The utility of the centrifugal extractor, 

 which permits the taking of the honey with- 

 out destroying the combs, and without hav- 

 ing the honey mixed with brood and pollen, 

 is such that the hive and extractor together 

 round out one complete whole. For thirty- 

 seven years we have each year employed 

 regularly the extractor upon several hun- 

 dred colonies of bees. Living- in a country 

 where comb honey brings fifty per cent 

 more than extracted honey, we have, notwith- 

 standing, found a much greater profit in 

 extracted than in section honey, because of 

 the great economy resulting from the saving- 

 of building storage combs one year after 

 another, especially in mediocre seasons. 

 Southern California, Arizona, Utah, all 

 honey regions par excellence, are devoted 

 to the production of extracted honey on a 

 grand scale. In certain mountainous re- 

 gions of California, where all the hills are 

 covered with sage, extra ced honey is the 

 chief product; and it is not uncommon to 

 see the village grocer buy honey by the 

 hundred barrels to send to the populous 

 centers. Box hives with fixed combs are 

 almost unknown, and it is under serious 

 consideration to prohibit their use by 

 law, because with such hives the first ap- 

 pearance of foul bro )d can not be discover- 

 ed, as it can with hives which easily allow 

 the removal cf the combs for inspection. In 

 a warm country densely occupied with bees, 

 the prevention of this malady is a vital 

 question; for if it once gets a fcothold it 

 will make very great ravages. 



An idea of the extensive use of the ex- 

 tractor in the United States may be had 

 from the fact that the establishment of The 

 A. I. Root Co. alone, in the year 1903, made 

 and sold 1171 honey-extractors, and they 

 say they have sold more than twenty thou- 

 sand since the beginning of their business. 

 I have this from Mr. Calvert, the secretary 

 of the company. 



As to hives, in the United States box 

 hives are no longer in use except among 

 owners of bees who neglect this branch of 

 agricultural industry. In Europe, where 

 liquid honey is much more esteemed than 

 comb honey, the question of the extractor 

 has also made its way, ard the great pro- 

 duction belongs henceforth to the new api- 

 culture- It is true that one still sees some 

 opposition. This is not surprising; but let 

 him who doubts try it and he will soon be 

 enabled to judge for himself. 



Progress is always slow, but nowhere 

 can one doubt its future. Even Egypt sees 

 its old monuments surrounded by the new 

 civilization The old temples, historic and 

 useless, of the isle of PhilEe, do they not 

 find themselves threatened with inundation 

 by the moder j and utilitarian embankments 

 cf the Nile at Assouan? When ancient 

 Egypt herself yields to progress, we may 

 have confidence in the future. 



Hamilton, 111. C. P. Dadant. 



