1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



289 



and how to get it for the least outlay. The 

 path upon which I launched out was untried, 

 and not without misgivings; and yet I had 

 to act; and at the outset let me say that 

 while, during the past five years, I found I 

 had made some mistakes, I builded even bet- 

 ter than I anticipated, and I have, during 

 these five jears, passed from the condition 

 where I had to chase during the swarming 

 season the greater and best portion of the 

 day after swarms; and from the condition 

 where broken-up colonies diminished my 

 honey-yield very much, having colonies in 

 the fall, and therefore spring, of extremes 

 in numerical strength; and being content 

 with these conditions to a condition where I 

 look upon a swarm as a great misfortune in 

 the history of a colony, and have reached 

 the condition where I see even with a long 

 flow and strong colonies in the spring the pos- 

 sibility of well nigh entirely controlling in- 

 crease. I realize that strong colonies in the 

 spring can be practically controlled and kept 

 contented, even through a prolonged and not 

 heavy honey-flow, and a much larger yield 

 of honey secured, and hives kept in a more 

 uniform condition throughout the year, and 

 at the same time the unpleasant work of 

 hiving swarms done away with, and also the 

 expense of having some one watch the bees. 

 I do not want to speak boastfully. I owe 

 much to many sources for information. I 

 am a strong advocate of taking all the bee 

 periodicals that have any merit at all, and 

 also a strong advocate of going to conven- 

 tions and getting good ideas in convention 

 and between sessions, and having false ideas 

 knocked out by bringing them forward. 

 The foolish thought, that one should keep 

 an idea (in one's own estimation good) to 

 himself is often suicidal, and many a one 

 would have saved himself from expensive 

 mistakes had he ventilated his pet notion. 



Judging by what those about me under 

 similar conditions have been able to accom- 

 plish, and that is the only fair comparison, 

 my system is a brilliant success; and had 

 my bees not been in out-apiaries upon the 

 farms of others, and under their constant 

 supervision, so that every mouth could be 

 stopped, I should have been accused of adul- 

 teration or a misstatement as to fact. Dur- 

 ing the past season I secured from 296 colo- 

 nies, spring count, a full 60,000 lbs. of hon- 

 ey, about 1000 lbs. of it comb honey. I had 

 only about 15 natural swarms— I believe not 

 quite that; ended the season with 336 colo- 

 nies, which, without feeding a pound, would, 

 in 12-frame Largstroth hives, average be- 

 tween 85 and 90 lbs. in weight, giving the 

 bees an abundance of stores to turn into 

 bees when spring came. 



THE SUPPLY-DEALER AND THE SIZE OF HIVE. 



The supply- dealer, if honest, has a difficult 

 position. As I said at the Chicago conven- 

 tion, so I say now, with too few exceptions 

 he has to deal with men in an industry, com- 

 paratively few of whom realize the valup of 

 the very best of equipments. He has to cater 

 to a trade which is lookingover catalogs or to 



other sources for the hive, cither with one 

 comb-honey super or one extracting- ?u per, 

 which can be bought, not for the lowest 

 price, the cheapest (mark the difference), 

 but for the least momentary outlay, even if 

 it is a gross extravagance to use them from 

 year to year. Speaking in a general way 

 right here, special factories may sometimes 

 make goods rough, inaccurate, and not uni- 

 form: but home-made and local factory goods 

 are always that way. Hives and all their 

 equipments require accuracy and smooth- 

 ness, as fixtures in connection with no other 

 stock do. If the interiors of hives are not 

 smooth the bees keep propolizing them; if 

 bee-spaces are not accurate, propolis and 

 comb building lead to constant inconvenience 

 in handling, and loss of time and loss of tem- 

 per to those about. I therefore decided on 

 factory- made goods, and willingness* to allow 

 a fair profit after paying the expense of 

 having good machines opeiated by skilled 

 hands. All my past apiarian experience was 

 then centered upon the size of hive, and in 

 my decision I felt that, so far as that went, 

 there was no risk in adopting a hive as large 

 as the ten frame Langstroih; but what 

 abcut the twelve-frame? I was in doubt; 

 but I decided on the latter. First experience 

 with, and the experience of others, decided 

 me that, while a variation from the Lang- 

 stroth (and, if any, in depth, I favor one 

 slightly deeper — say one inch), might be a 

 slight improvement, there was not sufficient 

 to overcome the disadvantage of odd sized 

 goods — a departure from the standard, and 

 the resultant difficulty in quickly getting 

 supplies, and th« increased cost, also the 

 final loss when, through death or otherwise, 

 the goods have to find a market value. 



A STAPLE- SPACED FRAME. 



I used a frame designed by Mr. S. T. Pettit, 

 IJ in wide by § deep top-bar; the side-bar, 

 after passing the center, tapers, and meets 

 a bottom-bar f inch wide. This is to prevent 

 crushing bees by drawing out combs, which 

 a wide bottom- bar is more liable to do. The 

 top- bar has no groove, as such would not 

 only weaken the top- bar, but lead to a waste 

 of the foundation inserted. This portion is 

 much needed at the bottom in the ordinary 

 sheet of foundation to prevent the building 

 of drone comb. 



In passing let me say all the foundation I 

 use is specially made, and wider and deeper 

 than the ordinary. The frame is stapled, 

 being spaced by the latter, driven in by 

 means of a gauge (the last stroke being al- 

 ways about the same weight to secure uni- 

 formity) , and a staple at each end of the 

 side of the frame about an inch from the 

 top bar, and at opposite sides. This leaves 

 one end out, the outsides unspaced, and is a 

 convenience in taking out the first c^mb. 

 This method of spacing I learned from Mor- 

 ley Pettit. 



The order of development in comb- holders 

 I put as follows: The sides of the straw skep 

 or box hive; a top- bar without side or bot- 

 tom-bar; the complete frame. The un- 



