905- 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



87 



nay be cold. And as the bees cluster 

 or warmth they usually form a globe 

 ir round ball, no matter what the size 

 )r shape of the hive, I concluded that 

 he long frame left too much cold 

 ir unoccupied space, either at 

 me or both ends of frame, 

 \ hich if warmed must be by the 

 onsumption of stores. 



About twenty years ago, I began, 

 n a small way, to use a frame with 

 ourteen-inch top-bar, which gave 

 mple length for three sections in 

 upers. The shortening of the frames 

 id not necesrarily reduce the size of 

 he hive, only use more of them. 

 vfter testing them to my satisfaction, 



adopted that size of frame and at 

 resent use no other. For comb- 

 oney I use from eight to twelve 

 "ames per hive. 



I used to think in box-hive days, 

 hat a colony building their combs 

 om front to rear would be better 

 lan one that chanced to build from 

 ide to side. But with frames I can- 

 ot see that it makes any difference 

 hether the frames run from front to 

 :ar or cross-wise of hive and I have 

 sed them both ways and do every 

 ear. 



The advantages I have obtained 

 ith this size of frame are: First, 

 tocks build up more rapidly in the 

 pring, owing to the hive being 

 armer, (it seems needless to say 

 lat a given number of bees, say S,ooo, 

 an easier warm 500 cubic inches of 

 pace than they can 1,000 inches.) 

 econd. The bees enter the sections 

 arlier. Third, They give a larger 

 er cent, of their white honey in sec- 

 erns. Fourth, They build nicer 

 rood combs, less drone comb and in 

 itter part of the season fill the brood 

 ^mbs with ample stores for winter 



I wish to make one point plain to 

 eginners: That a swarm of given 

 rength will collect just as much 

 oney in one kind of hive as another, 

 rovided all are equally acceptable to 

 le bees. Whether a hollow log, 

 luare box-hive or frame-hive. The 

 lain thing so far as hive is con- 

 rned, is the controlling of their 

 bors and controlling the siz-i of the 

 rood chamber to meet changing- ccn- 

 itions from cold to hont and' from 

 sat to cold, such as the revolving 

 ?ar brings to us in this latitude, 

 hich is the condition of a vast ma- 



jority of the bee-keepers of North 

 America. I am not talking to the 

 veterans in bee culture, for most of 

 them are as stiff-headed as I am, but 

 to the vast army of inexperienced. 



My frames are 8 1-2 inches deep be- 

 tween top and bottom bar, and 12 1-4 

 between end pieces, and when 

 combs are built down to bottom 

 bar as mine usually are, each 

 frame gives about 200 square 

 inches of comb surface, and 

 eight frames 1,600 square inches 

 and as twenty-five worker bees can be 

 raised on each square inch of comb 

 surface 40,000 workers can be pro- 

 duced every 21 days. But allow- 

 ing one-half of the cells to be oc- 

 cupied with honey and pollen, we 

 have still room for nearly 1000 baby 

 bees per day in each hive. If you 

 want a faster increase add more 

 combs. My standard hives in my 

 home yard are mostly eight-frames 

 — in out apiaries 12. But each should 

 adapt his management to his own lo- 

 cality. 



Bro. Doolittle and Dr. Miller, I be- 

 lieve, leave their bees in winter quar- 

 ters until the soft maple blooms. I 

 set mine out as early in March as 

 they can fly with safety and they re- 

 main on their summer stands unless 

 severe cold should ensue. Bee-keep- 

 ers have long held that bees wintered 

 on the summer stands, if they do pull 

 through the winter are more vigorous 

 than those wintered in cellars. Be 

 that as it may, I prefer to house mine 

 for about four months of the coldest 

 weather. Queens begin to deposit 

 eggs in January whether wintered in 

 or out, first forming a small brood- 

 nest and enlarging slowly. An early 

 cleansing flight stimulates brood 

 rearing, but continued cold will check 

 it and wisely so, for large quantities 

 of brood prevents the close cluster- 

 ing of the adult bees, for bees must 

 have empty comb in which to cluster. 

 As a general rule it is not best to 

 stimulate brood rearing in cold 

 weather. 



Once upon a time some one recom- 

 mended mixing flour and honey and 

 plastering it into the combs to stim- 

 ulate early breeding. I tried two col- 

 onies and it did set them to breeding 

 in March, but the weather was cold, 

 and the result was that I lost both 

 colonies before warm weather came. 



It is a nice question to get our 



