1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



381 



have such queens, though he claims 

 that about 3,000 eggs per day is the 

 average of a good queen. Berlepsch 

 says he has seen queens deposit eggs 

 at the rate of 6 to 7 per minute, but 



adds that such may be extra exertions 



of very fertile queens at the best 

 honey season, and lie puts the number 

 of eggs laid by a good queen at 1,200 



per day. At that rate she will keep 



only 5 frames full of brood. Now we 

 all know that a queen will keep from 

 8 to 10 frames full, and then some- 

 times go to depositing eggs in surplus 

 boxes for want of room ; at least I 

 have had such. But I think we will 

 be justified in saying that an average 

 queen lays at a rate of from 2.000 to 

 2,500 eggs per day, less than one per 

 minute. 



As it is preferable to crowd the bees 

 a little to force them into the surplus 

 arrangement. I think a hive which is 

 large enough to accommodate a queen 

 which lays 2.000 eggs per clay at her 

 best, is the hive we want. Multiply- 

 ing 2,500 by 21 days, we get 52,500 

 cells, which the queen wants to keep 

 her busy. Now, that is about what 

 an 8-framer will furnish, frames of 

 standard Langstroth size. As I stated 

 above, I have had queens which would 

 keep 10 frames filled with brood and 

 still be in want of more room ; but 

 I nave seen more hives of 10 frames 

 where the honey on the outside frames 

 remained from one year's end to the 

 other, and not more than 7 or 8 frames 

 filled with brood, which I, taken all in 

 all, consider proof conclusive that an 

 8-frame Langstroth hive is preferable 

 to any other. To prevent the queen 

 from entering the surplus arrange- 

 ment on top, it is only necessary to 

 use small sections 4 l 4 'x4 1 4 ; into tliese, 

 the queens will rarely, if ever, go to 

 depositing eggs, for the reason thai 

 she seems to object to too much wood 

 in the brood department ; if in addi- 

 tion to small sections, the latter are 

 put on a rack made of slats nailed to- 

 gether, so as to leave space enough 

 between them for the bees to get 

 through, such as Mr. Ileddon uses, 

 the queen will never be found in them. 



In the summer of 1880, I put into 

 several hives frames filled with sec- 

 tions a little larger than 3x3, in the 

 middle of the brood nest, which I 

 wanted to use to start some nuclei to 

 raise queens. The wood of these 

 small frames was very thin, not more 

 than 1-12 of an inch, each Langstroth 

 frame holding 10 of these sections. 

 But it did not work ; the queens would 

 not lay their eggs in so much machine- 

 ry; so I had to give up that plan, 

 and learned the value of small sec- 

 tions, as to where they would do the 

 most good, and where they would not. 



Though I am not yet a member of 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, I would propose to have the pro- 

 ceedings, etc., of that body published 

 in pamphlet form of the size of the 

 Beb Journal, to have it bound in 

 with same year, published at the cost 

 of the Association, and each member 

 should be entitled to one copy, non- 

 members paying to the funds of the 

 Association a reasonable price for it. 



Youngstown, O., Nov. 21, 1881. 



[All standard Langstroth hives con- 

 tain 10 brood frames. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Theories and Facts. 



j. w. WHITE. 



That was a severe criticism made on 

 a distinguished man, a generation 

 ago, when it was said of him that "he 

 depended on his memory for his wit. 

 and on his imagination for his facts." 

 But he was not alone in his glory; a 

 similar talent is frequently manifested 

 among men of every profession or 

 business. I was once present at a con- 

 sultation between several physicians. 

 The conclusion reached was so mani- 

 festly absurd that I ventured to ask 

 one of them the next day, " Is there 

 such a thing in your profession as 

 forming beforehand a theory about 

 what is the matter, and then making 



a diagnosis to suit it Y" Ills answer 



was : •' 1 am sorry to say there is just 

 such a thing in our profession, and 1 

 have to acknowledge with shame that 

 1 have in this instance been a party in 

 the business." Another consultation 

 was held, ami a different conclusion 

 reached. In theology men have in- 

 herited their creeds from their parents 

 and churches, and confirmed them- 

 selves in them by arguments drawn 

 from nature and revelation ; or, giving 

 up their traditional beliefs, they run 

 off into the wildest speculations. What 

 a rare thing it is to find a man who is 

 not wedded to some preconceived 

 opinion, who is an honest inquirer af- 

 ter the truth, and who is willing to 

 follow the inductive method of phi- 

 losophy by getting his theory from the 

 facts, rather than making his facts 

 conform to his theory. Blind adher- 

 ence to traditions, and the equally 

 blind reception of speculations mista- 

 ken for truths, are the two great hin- 

 drances to the world's progress in 

 goodness and truth. 



How is it with us bee-keepers '/ Are 

 we making much progress in scientific 

 bee-culture V Beyond the use of sec- 

 tion boxes and comb foundation, what 

 do we know to-day that could not be 

 learned from the Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth 's book, written more than 25 

 years ago ? Why do we not get to the 

 bottom of the questions about winter- 

 ing, dysentery and spring dwindling V 

 Is it not because we are not close ob- 

 servers and because we speculate too 

 much, and observe and experiment too 

 little V Let us try to get the facts, all 

 the facts about wintering, dysentery 

 and spring dwindling before us, and 

 k'eep them there, and then let us be 

 shy of anything which does not har- 

 monize or account for all the facts. I 

 will state some things that I take to 

 be facts ; if any of them are not facts, 

 let them be challenged and the truth 

 presented. In keeping bees 17 years 

 1 have not made notes on every point, 

 and may be mistaken, but I think I 

 may call the following a statement of 

 facts : 



The colonies which wintered well 

 were not deficient in pollen. Good 

 colonies which starved to death exhib- 

 ited no signs of disease from the use 

 of pollen or any other cause. Good 

 colonies which were confined for 

 months in the cellar, and were short of 

 stores so that they had to be fed in 

 March and April to keep them from 

 starvation, showed no signs of dysen- 

 tery broughton by usingpollen to save 

 their scanty stores of honey. After 

 removing the bees to their summer 

 stands, generally about the second 

 week of March, I give them an over- 

 hauling and clean out their hives ; 

 healthy or strong colonies generally or 

 always have at that time some young 

 bees, and more or less brood in all 

 stages ; diseased colonies, which show 

 sigiis of dysentery, have very little 

 brood, generally none at all. How can 

 we account for this, if brood- rearing 

 while the bees are confined tends to 

 give them dysentery ? In this lati- 

 tude (about 40%°), where the apples 

 bloom on an average about the 10th of 

 May, the locusts about the 25th of 

 May, white clover about the 1st of 

 June, and linden abouttbe 1st of July, 

 unless the brood-rearing isfarenough 

 advanced in March totill three or four 

 combs, the bees will not be strong 

 enough in numbers for the honey har- 

 vest. The one drawback is. during 

 March and April the weather is some- 

 times so rough that the bees cannot fly 

 to get water, and without water they 

 cannot rear much brood. I have never 

 had a successful year where the brood- 

 rearing was seriously interrupted in 

 March, unless this year is an excep- 

 tion, owing to the good fall pasture. 

 Last spring the colonies had each from 

 one to three combs of brood on the 

 14th of March, and none on the 14th 

 of April. After that they tilled up 

 rapidly. The old bees died off about 

 the first week of May, and if it had 

 not been for the warm spell of weather 

 about that time, much of the brood 

 would have chilled and perished. But 

 what we need in this section of coun- 

 try is to get our bees to brood-rearing 



early, and some way to supply them 

 With water so that they can keep on 

 without interruption. 



In the winter of 1S7I-2, before I had 

 heard of the hail effects of pollen and 

 winter brood-rearing, and when I 

 knew that they reared brood in Feb 

 ruary, I fed my bees for about 5 weeks 

 in the cellar, a mixture of honey and 

 Hour to stimulate the brood-rearing. 

 Did they rear brood? They did. Did 

 they get dysentery ? They did not. 

 Did they do well the next summer V 

 It was the best year I ever had. I 

 would not advise others to follow my 

 example that year, unless on a very 

 limited scale as an experiment. But 

 with all these facts before me, it is not 

 wonderful that when I read statements 

 made so boldly that pollen and early 

 brood- rearing produce dysentery,! find 

 myself questioning something. 



There is one thing more I would like 

 to know. I see it stated that by hav- 

 ing the hives well filled with brood in 

 September and October, and thus hav- 

 ing plenty of young bees to winter, we 

 may prevent spring dwindling. This 

 seems to be a reasonable theory. But 

 the difficulty with me is to get my bees 

 to do as I want them in this matter. 

 One year ago I fed them to get them 

 to rear brood, hut for all I could do 

 they slacked off early in September to 

 1, 2 or 3 combs of brood to each hive, 

 and they would not enlarge the brood 

 nest, and with October all brood dis- 

 appeared. Yet I had no dwindling 

 last spring. Thisfall wehad the best 

 and most constant flow of honey from 

 July till October I ever saw, the hives 

 gradually gaining in honey all the 

 time. But it was the same as the year 

 before, brood-rearing slacked off in 

 September, and disappeared early in 

 October. I have kept a record for 

 years of the amount of brood in the 

 hives at different times of the spring, 

 but until the last two years paid no at- 

 tention to the amount they had in the 

 fall. Who has a record of this kind V 

 Who can tell us the number of combs 

 of brood in each hive, say on August 

 15, September 1 and 15, and October 1 

 and 15 ? Who can report the number 

 of additional frames he got filled with 

 brood by feeding after the bees had 

 contracted theirbrood-nest in Septem- 

 ber ? We would like to have the facts. 

 General talk about keeping the hives 

 full of brood, without some figures 

 and facts, may only make us skeptical. 



Milroy, Pa., Nov. 11, 1881. 



Local Convention Directory. 



1881. Time and Place of Meeting. 



Dec. 8— Michigan State, at Battle Creek, Mich. 



T. F. Bingham, Sec, Abronia, Mich, 

 15— S. E. Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Mich. 



N. E. Prudden, Sec. 

 1882. 

 Jan. 10-Cortland Union, at Cortland. N. Y. 



C. M. Bean. Sec, McGrawville, N. T. 

 11, 12— Nebraska State, at Ashland, Neb. 



Geo. M. Hawley, Sec, Lincoln, Neb. 

 17, 18— N. W. 111. &S. W. Wis., at Freeport. Ill 



Jonathan Stewart, Sec, Bock City, 111. 

 25— Northeastern, at Utica, N. Y. 



Geo. W. House, Sec, Fayetteville, N, Y. 

 April 11— Eastern Michigan, at Oetroit. Micb. 

 A B. Weed. Sec, Detroit, Mich. 

 25— Texas State, at McKinney, Texas. 



Win. It. Uoward, Sec. 



May Champlaln Valley, at Bristol, Vt. 



T. Brookins, Sec. 

 25— Iowa Central, at Winterset. Iowa. 



Henry Wallace, Sec. 



iW~ In order to have this table complete. Secre- 

 taries are requested to forward full particulars of 

 time and place of future meetings.— En. 



Central Michigan Convention. 



The Central Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met at Lansing, Oct. 26, 

 and from the Lansing Republican we 

 take the following record of proceed- 

 ings: 



The Convention was called to order 

 by President Ashworth. The .Secre- 

 tary and Treasurer being absent, their 

 reports were postponed, and an oppor- 

 tunity was given to those who desired 



to sign the roll. C. Thompson and 

 W. C. Lankton became members of 

 the Association. 



The President appointed Messrs. 

 White and Wood a committee to re- 

 ceive questions for the question 

 drawer, and Prof. Cook, L. B. Baker 

 and Mrs. V. It. Mattison, a committee 

 to answer such questions. 



An opportunity was given to any 

 who desired to relate their experience 

 in bee-keeping during the past season, 

 and President Ashworth was called 

 for. He knew but little about the 

 bees, as he had been from home most 

 of the summer. He had 16 colonies, 

 and they were doing well. 



Mr. Langton was a beginner. He 

 bought a single colony a year ago last 

 spring, and made up 2 from them. 

 He let them have their own way pretty 

 much. They have increased to 12 col- 

 onies and have taken about 1,200 lbs. 

 of honey. He used chaff hives, and 

 asked if it was advisable to remove 

 them to a sheltered position on the 

 south side of his barn for winter. The 

 general expression was that they 

 should not be disturbed. 



Mr. White had 9 colonies this spring, 

 and from them and their increase had 

 taken an average of 125 lbs. of comb 

 honey. 



Mrs. Harrison used chaff hives and 

 had taken about 300 lbs. from 3 colo- 

 nies ; was making arrangements to go 

 into the business more extensively. 



Mr. Wilson commenced the winter 

 with 9 colonies, saved 7, and those 

 have increased to 20. He extracted 

 about 200 lbs., and had taken about 

 100 lbs. of section honey. Wintered 

 in temporary chaff hives, which he has 

 made in sections so that they can be 

 taken off and packed away in the 

 spring. Used 6 inches of oat chaff 

 around the sides. 



The President said Mr. Mitchell, a 

 successful bee-keeper, used clover 

 chaff. 



Mr. Hanchett, of Leslie, had large 

 experience on a small scale. Went 

 into winter quarters with 21 colonies 

 and came out with 4, but thought it 

 due largely to carelessness in not pro- 

 viding for a severe winter. He packed 

 with forest leaves and opened his 

 hives about April 1 ; they suffered 

 from spring dwindling. A neighbor 

 lost a large number of bees by permit- 

 ting them to take their first fly in the 

 afternoon, and they were chilled. He 

 discussed the question of ventilation 

 and oil cloth covers, and the general 

 expression was adverse to the latter. 



Mr. Thomas, of Brighton, had a 

 most unfavorable location for bees, 

 but his experience had been diversi- 

 fied. Used the simplicity hives and 

 wintered on summer stands. A year 

 ago he had 50 colonies of bees; in Feb- 

 ruary had lost 6. In the spring he had 

 20 colonies which had increased to 80, 

 and he had taken 1,850 lbs. of extrac- 

 ted honey and 150 lbs. of comb. His 

 bees had plenty for winter, and were 

 in winter quarters. 



At the aiternoon session, which con- 

 vened at 1:30 p. m., the attendance 

 was still light. The President an- 

 nounced a continuance of the expe- 

 rience meeting, but there was nothing 

 forthcoming. Addresses were also 

 called for without response, and mem- 

 bers were then requested to write and 

 furnish to the committee any question 

 upon which they might, desire infor- 

 mation. 



Mr. Waldo was called upon for his 

 experience, and said his bees had done 

 remarkably well. He started a year 

 ago with 9 colonies, and now had 25 

 colonies, after selling $44 worth of 

 bees, and he had put them away with 

 from 25 to 32 lbs. of honey each. He 

 had sold at least $50 worth of honey. 



A. L. Baker, of Lansing, started 

 with 2 colonies and now had 9 strong 

 ones, having united 2 weak ones. He 

 had sold 125 lbs. of honey. This was 

 his first year's experience. 



Reuben AVood had last spring 36 col- 

 onies, but 14 of them were weak. He 

 had sold 4 and had 66 left for winter, 

 and had taken some 1,500 lbs. of sur- 

 plus honey. The bees were in good 

 condition ; he kept them in cellar last 

 winter. 



