DEVOTED TO SCIENTIFIC BEE-CULTURE AND THE PRODUCTION AND SALE OF PURE HONEY. 



VOL. XVII. 



CHICAG-O, ILL., JUNE 22, 1881. . 



No. 25. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 

 974 WEST MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILL. 



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For the American Bee Journal. 



Top vs. Side Storing. 



GREINER BROS. 



We were highly entertained by the 

 able discussions on the above subject 

 by Messrs. Heddon and Doolittle. As 

 they take the opposite sides of the 

 question it gives an opportunity to 

 profit by the argument; we nave also ex- 

 perimented on the same question for 

 the last 3 or 4 years, and can add a few 

 more thoughts from our own observa- 

 tion. 



When we commenced bee-keeping, 

 we adopted Mr. Heddon 's plan ; tiering 

 up, exclusively, for the production of 

 surplus honey. Our surplus cases, or 

 half-stories, are arranged to tier up, the 

 top and bottom being alike accessible 

 for bees, admitting the adjustment of 

 any number, and are therefore virtu- 

 ally the same as Mr. Heddon's surplus 

 arrangement. 



In the year of 1877 we transferred 8 

 colonies.and supplied 3 or 4 of these with 

 sets of 9 four-pound glass boxes ; we 

 had, at that time, not adopted the 2- 

 pound sections entirely, but experi- 

 mented with different styles. A week 

 later we found these glass boxes about 

 % finished ; we raised them and ad- 

 justed one of our surplus boxes. In 

 another week the latter was as near 

 filled as the glass boxes were the week 

 previous, but the boxes were not ye 

 finished. Of course another surplus 

 case took the place of the first one ; 

 and this, with the 9 boxes, went up an- 

 other story. By that time our hives 

 had much the appearance of house 

 chimneys, and we began to wish that 

 our bees would finish some of the top 

 work. The next week we were puz- 

 zled ; the last adjusted case was ready 

 to be raised up again; the first one 

 nearly, and the boxes almost finished, 

 but none ready to be removed. In our 



excitement we added another case, and 

 had then a capacity of about 140 lbs. of 

 surplus honey on those hives. When 

 the season closed, nearly all this honey 

 was finished, and we harvested from 

 these colonies about 1,000 lbs. of comb 

 honey, by the tiering-up plan. This 

 we considered a success, and if Mr. 

 Heddon can succeed in producing such 

 amounts as he stated in the last num- 

 ber of April, he may well be satisfied 

 with his plan. 



The next year we began to practice 

 artificial swarming, or, rather, divided 

 the colonies, to prevent natural swarm- 

 ing ; we had not yet tried queen-rear- 

 ing, but used capped cells for the queen- 

 less halves. We noticed that these 

 divided queenless colonies, while their 

 queens were hatching and being fertil- 

 ized, would store most invariably an 

 abundance of honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber, and we wished, time and again, 

 that we had this overplus honey in sec- 

 tions. Our hives were arranged in 

 such a way that six 5x5% sections just 

 fill the brood-frame (originally calcu- 

 lated for feeding purposes), and we 

 conceived the idea that frames, the 

 same width of, and filled with our sec- 

 tions full of comb, substituted for some 

 of the brood-frames, might possibly 

 help us out of the dilemma. The plan 

 worked in many cases to a charm, and 

 the starting point of our side-storing 

 plan was established. 



Mr. Heddon says: "To move sections 

 from the side to the top is too much 

 work." This we found to be true ; the 

 operation looks easier on paper than we 

 find it to be in reality, and. for this rea- 

 son we have not yet practiced it very 

 thoroughly ; but what harm is there in 

 placing, according to the size of the 

 hive, one or more side-storing frames in 

 the same, to be taken out again when 

 the honey season is over V It gives the 

 bees a chance to work at the side, if 

 they choose to. We have taken hun- 

 dreds of finished sections from our 

 hives in this way, which we considered 

 an addition to our honey crop. 



We can hardly agree with Mr. Hed- 

 don, to call it "the wrong place; - ' we 

 always find the side-frames in the 

 brood-chambei containing the most 

 honey. Many solid side- frames of 

 honey which we have recently taken 

 from our perished colonies, are a proof 

 that bees do not refuse side room for 

 storing purposes, and we do not think 

 ttiat they possess the ability of discern- 

 ing sections from brood-frames, but ac- 

 cept the former as readily as the latter, 

 so long as they are in the same place. 

 It seems that it is more in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of the brood-nest that bees 

 prefer, rather than the direction. The 

 instance related above shows that they 

 worked with the greatest rapidity in 

 the case next to trie brood-nest, less 

 in the second, and hardly any in 

 the third and fourth ; for some of the 

 glass boxes were never perfectly fin- 

 ished. 



Mr. Heddon's assertion, " the well 

 known fact that the very first place bees 

 use in the spring, is in the top of 

 the hive," does not indicate their 

 objections to storing at the side. How 

 is it, when we hive a young swarm into 

 an empty box hive (which comes the 

 nearest to nature's provision) that the 

 first used is the top, and yet, when the 

 hive is filled and prepart- d for winter 

 ing, we find, as a rule, that most of the 



stores are at the sides V Is it not their 

 natural inclination to work sidewise as 

 well as in any other direction ? 



The size and shape of the hive, local- 

 ity, season, etc., may have a tendency 

 to make one or the other plan more 

 practicable, but we are convinced that 

 side-storing is a great advantage, and 

 we should use some side-storing ar- 

 rangement, even if we used a hive as 

 shallow as the Langstroth. 



Naples, N. Y., May 23. 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Cause of Winter Losses of Bees. 



HIRAM ROOP. 



A friend wishes to know why I would 

 rather have 100 colonies left out of 200 

 wintered out-of-doors, than to have 

 150 left out of the same number win- 

 tered in the cellar (i. e., that is the way 

 I put it), and as I have had no reason 

 for changing my mind, I will tell why. 

 I had, in the fall of 1880, 156 colonies 

 of bees in the best condition for win- 

 tering : as were all the bees in this part 

 of Michigan. Thirty-eight of my col- 

 onies were in the winter-protector hive; 

 the rest, 118 colonies, we put into a cel- 

 lar, where I had wintered without loss 

 during the past 10 years. As a result, 

 I had on June 1, 1881, 19 colonies left 

 from those wintered out-doors, and 21 

 left from the cellar ; that I have kept 

 alive by giving combs of brood and 

 bees taken from the out-door colonies. 

 Many of my friends know that this was 

 my first severe loss as a bee-keeper, 

 and I want to say that I am not dis- 

 couraged, and while I do not wish to be 

 on the contrary side, I must disagree 

 with all that have offered theories as a 

 cause for this mortality among our bees. 

 When asked my opinion, I answer by 

 asking what caused the yellow fever in 



the South V the epizootic with the 

 horse V Our bees and their honey were 

 all right, but the weather was all wrong; 

 i. e., atmospheric changes. One of our 

 neighbors had, in the fall of 1871, 84 

 colonies of bees in box hives; the next 

 spring all had died but one, and that 

 one was strong and commenced swarm- 

 ing early. In the fall of 1880 he had 32 

 colonies in box hives, and lost all again, 

 except the same old box, and that cast 

 a large swarm on May 27, 1881 ; the 

 combs in the box are built from each 

 corner to the center (as shown in above 

 engraving). I know of many more like 

 instances but give this one for the bene- 

 fit of that class who think no further 

 inmrovenipnt in tribes necessary. 

 Carson Oily, Mich., June 13, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Experience with Comb Foundation. 



JAMES S. LORD. 



I have read the Bee Journal for 

 years and have noted all the articles on 

 foundation, giving the good and bad 

 points of all the different kinds. I tried 

 2 kinds last year— the flat-bottom and 

 the Root. Some of my hives take 

 frames 10^x13 in. ir.side, the long way 

 up and down. I know this is the re- 

 verse of most of the frames in use, but 

 I think in severe winters, like the past 

 one, they will winter bees better than 

 shallow frames. I know they have with 

 me, for I have both kinds, 10^x13 and 

 the Langstroth. I practice" natural 

 swarming and I cannot get foundation 

 to stand the weight of a large swarm, 

 unless it is wired, and I do not believe 

 it can be made to stand, unless it is 

 wired, on as deep a frame as mine. I 

 tried 5 swarms on the Root, and it all 

 fell down, some close to the top-bar 

 and some an inch lower, and it nearly 

 ruined the bees in 5 hives. I put 40 col- 

 onies on wired flat-bottom foundation, 

 8 frames to the hive, and into 2 hives I 

 put 2 heavy swarms each, and there 

 was not a bad comb in the lot, and all 

 were built out in a very short space of 

 time. 



I did not see a full card of sealed 

 brood ; once in a while there was an 

 empty cell, but not enough to make any 

 material difference ; I never saw a solid 

 card of brood, even on natural combs, 

 but I have seen brood in cells that the 

 wire ran through, and I think the queen 

 did not skip them oftener than she aid 

 the other cells ; still I think I should 

 like foundation with a natural base bet- 

 ter, if I could have it wired. The 

 Given press will do that, but I must 

 own a press because my frames are not 

 a regular size, and the dies must fit the 

 I runes. 



I have 60 colonies of bees now on my 

 sized frames and could not afford to 

 change, and would not if I could. My 

 hives are made to pack all around and 

 over the bees in winter, and in the 

 honey season I use side boxes. 12 out- 

 side the frames. I get 56 4V£x->J4 boxes 

 within 6 inches of the brood-frames, 

 and I like them better than liering up. 



I do not like to run Mr. Hawley out, 

 in the stingless bee enterprise, but I 

 have any quantity of colonies that I 

 will warrant not to sting. 



Probably 90 per cent, of the bees in 

 this section are dead. I have informed 

 myself and will give the report of 8 or 

 10 who use box hives and single-walled 

 hives : 



No. 1 , lost 20 out of 22 ; 2, 27 out of 

 29; 3,80 out of S7 ; 4, 12 out of 14; 5, 

 7 out of 7 ; 6, 10 out 10 ; 7, 30 out of 30 ; 

 8. 60 out of 100 ; 9, 33 out of 36. Others 

 have lost in about the same ratio. 



I commenced the winter with 70 colo- 

 nies ; 10 of them in old hives that I did 

 not have time to transfer, and the other 

 60 are in the " Genesee " hive. I did 

 not pack the old coolies, and have lost 

 6 of them ; the Genesee hives were all 

 packed in planer shavings, and I 

 have lost 5 of them. They had a flight 

 on Nov. 10th, and did not have another 

 until Feb. 10, just 3 months ; this shows 

 quite a difference in favor of the "Gen- 

 esee hive." 



Linden, N. Y. 



