DECEMBER 15, 1916 



1155 



Drifting is apt to occur where four hives 

 are placed in a winter case because of the 

 proximity of the two entrances on a side. 

 When a nice warm day comes on during 

 mid-winter, the inmates will come out in a 

 general cleansing flight. The balmy air 

 and sunshine keep them flying. Some en- 

 trances will be having more bees in front 

 than others. As the day cools off, the 

 bees are quite inclined to join the entrances 

 of the strongest flyers, with the result that 

 one colony becomes too weak and the other 

 too strong. In the colder climates there is 

 less trouble from drifting, especially if 

 winter starts in snug and cold, and stays 

 cold all winter till spring. Mr. Holter- 

 mann, for example, has no trouble from 

 drifting, while we here in Ohio, using the 

 same kind of winter cases, every now and 

 then will find one colony weak and one 

 strong, for no other reason than that the 

 bees on a good fly day had drifted from 

 their own to another hive. 



Drifting when bees are put out of the 

 cellar can be minimized by setting the bees 

 out at night when there is a prospect of a 

 nice day following. The barometer or the 

 daily paper will usually tell what one maj' 

 exi^ect for the following 24 houi-s. If bees 

 are put out the night before, with the pros- 

 pect of a good day, they will get them- 

 selves settled down during the night, and 

 the next morning gradually come out one 

 by one, as the weather warms up. If the 

 day is still, there will be very little drift- 

 ing. If, on the other hand, the bees are 

 set out on the first warm day, the general 

 disturbance incident to moving will stir up 

 every colony set out. The result will be 

 that the air will be full of bees. ExiDeri- 

 ence shows that the strongest colonies will 

 draw from the weaker on occasions like this. 

 as the bees are inclined to join the crowd 

 where there is the most flying. 



Sometimes the drifting nuisance can be 

 controlled, and at others it cannot : but when 

 it takes ]ilace the apiarist should equalize 

 the colonies before some of them die of 

 spring dwindling and others of starvation 

 because there are too many bees for the 

 stores. 



The Spacing of Brood-frames and its 

 Relation to Wintering and Swarm 

 Control 



In our last issue, page 1129, reference is 

 made to a statement put forth by Allen La- 

 tham, supported by C. P. Dadant, to the 

 effect that li/2-iiiPh spacing from center to 

 center in connection with other factors for 



control tends to reduce swarming. While 

 1%-inch has been the standard in this coun- 

 try for 30 years, it has been generally be- 

 lieved that 1^'2 or 1%, is better for winter- 

 ing. Some beekeepers, therefore, while 

 they use 1% during the summer, space 

 wider during the winter. But apparently 

 no one has held that the IVo distance tended 

 to reduce swarming until Mr. Latham called 

 Mr. Dadanfs attention to the matter. Pre- 

 xnous to that, the latter had never giv-en the 

 question any serious consideration ; but in 

 view of the fact that he had so low a swarm- 

 ing ratio — lower than that of any one else 

 who used large hives when ninning for ex- 

 tracted honey — he began to think there 

 might be something in it. 



Practically all modern self-spacing 

 brood-frames of various kinds are spaced 

 1% inches from center to center. This is 

 true of the Hoffman frame, the Hoffman 

 metal-spaced frame, the Danzenbaker clos- 

 ed-end frame, and various other forms of 

 frames using metal spacers, nails, tacks, or 

 staples. 



The question naturallj' arises, " How did 

 the 1%-inch spacing come to be adopted 

 thruout the United States after the IV2 

 seem to have the preference of some of the 

 Ijest beekeepers in the United States and 

 Europe?" 



In 1890 E. R. Root, on one of the first 

 safety bicycles that was ever built, made a 

 trip thru the state of New York, \asiting 

 some of the large honey-producers, among 

 them particularly being Mr. P. H. Elwood 

 and Mr. Julius Hoffman. The former was 

 then, and is still so far as we know, using 

 the 1^/4-inch spacing with his Quinby closed- 

 end standing frames. Mr. Julius Hoffman, 

 who adopted the frame now bearing his 

 name, bad settled on 1%-inch spacing. 



So also had Mr. Langstroth. Mr. Root, 

 after seeing some of the large producers 

 in New York were making a success of self- 

 spacing frames, concluded that llie bee- 

 keepers of the West who were using un- 

 spaced Langstroth frames might perhaps 

 adopt self-spacers to advantage. 



The result of the trip thni New York led 

 to a discussion of the merits and demerits 

 of the self-spacing frames. In advocating 

 self-spacers Mr. ,Root had the support of 

 the Eastern producers and the opposition 

 of the Western beekeepers. The matter 

 was thrashed out pro and con for some 

 years. 



An examination of log gums and box 

 hives was not altogether conclusive. The 

 men who favored and advocated the nar- 

 rower spacing seemed to find in box hives 

 1% spacing as the average of brood combs. 



