132 



i'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. . 



WiM Pliim-TreesjM lelilot CloYcr, 



Query, No. 207.— 1. Do wild plum-trees 

 yield honey when in bloom ? 



2. Will sweet or melilot clover do well 

 among trees where it will be shaded to a 

 considerable extent ?— C. M. 



1. I think SO.— G. M. Doolittle. 

 1. Yes.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 1. Yes, they do here; I think they 

 do in most localities.— James BLed- 



DON. 



1. Yes. 2. Yes, but it will do better 

 on waste ground, and will produce 

 more honey. — Dadant & Son. 



1. I have seen bees work on them, 

 and I think they get honey from 

 them. 2. Yes.— C. C. Miller. 



1. Yes. 2. Not so well as when 

 unshaded. — A. J. Cook. 



Wild plums yield honey nicely here. 

 Melilot clover succeeds poorly here 

 in the most favored spots. Low, moist 

 places give the best results.— G. W. 

 Demaree. 



Large or Small Hives-f Well ? 



Query, No. 208.— I am so situated that 

 I can keep but a limited number of colonies, 

 and those will be in 2-story chatf-hives. The 

 top story will hold 10 wide-frames. Would 

 it be best to make the brood-chambers wide 

 enough to hold 13 LauCTtroth brood-frames, 

 and use a division-board when needed ? or 

 make it only wide enough for 8 frames ?— 

 Cashier, Nebr. 



In this location I should make them 

 the capacity of but 8 frames.— James 

 Hbddon. 



I should prefer the 13-frame hive 

 and use division-boards or dummies 

 for contraction.- G. M. Doolittle. 



1 should prefer chaff hives to hold 

 13 brood-frames, and contract with 

 division-boards for winter. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Under the circumstances I would use 

 a division-board.— W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son. 



In my locality 10 Langstroth frames, 

 or their equivalent in space, is about 

 right. If you use division-boards 

 you can govern the size best suited 

 to the needs of your bees, even though 

 you choose to make room for 13 

 frames.— G. W. Demaeee. 



Make the brood-chambers for 12 or 

 13 frames, by all means. If you make 

 them large enough, you will not have 

 a chance to regret their small size. A 

 large hive can always be adjusted to 

 the size of the colony ; a small hive 

 cannot. The difference in cost is 

 insignificant, considering the advan- 

 tages.— Dadant & Son. 



It depends upon so many things 

 that it is hard to give a categorical 

 answer. If size and weight are no 

 objection, perhaps you had better 

 have the wider hive.— C. C. Miller. 



Why make chaff hives V I prefer 

 single-walled hives and cellar winter- 

 ing. Chaff hives are awkward, heavy 

 and expensive. I should make the 

 brood-chamber for 8 frames. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



No, sir; a 10-frame, full size Lang- 

 stroth is just the right size, in 

 my opinion, for a brood-chamber. It 

 will hold frames enough for the best 

 season, and give room for winter 

 packing. I am aware that a /isM! differ 

 from me, but a trial will convince 

 any unprejudiced person that lam 

 correct.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Surplus Arrangements. 



Query, No. 209.— What kind of crates, 

 wide frames or other arrangements are the 

 best for producing surplus honey 7— W. T. 



The kind with which you succed the 

 best.— H. D. Cutting. 



I like the Heddon crate or case 

 very much. This, however, does not 

 permit the use of separators. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



Wide frames holding sections, I 

 think, is the best arrangement for 

 surplus comb honey yet invented. — H. 

 R. Boardman. 



Wide frames containing but a single 

 tier of sections.— G. M. Doolittle. 



If separators are not needed, I pre- 

 fer the Heddon case ; if they are, then 

 the wide frames one tier of sections 

 high.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



In my opinion plain cases just bee- 

 space deeper than the section used, 

 and of the same size of the brood 

 department of the hive, made so that 

 they will tier one on the other, are 

 the simplest, cheapest and best things 

 out. The fewer " gim-cracks" about 

 the surplus case the better it is. — G. 

 W. Demaree. 



The kind I use, of course. At pres- 

 ent I use one of which I do not know 

 the name, a little like the old Heddon, 

 but with T tin rests. What I will 

 use in five years from now, goodness 

 knows !— C. C. Miller. 



I prefer to have the sections massed 

 together in a case without separators. 

 Then if the sections have side-pas- 

 sages the supers will be to the bees as 

 if there were no partitions and the 

 combs all one. The secret in getting 

 nice combs in sections without sep- 

 arators, is having a narrow case to 

 hold only 4 or 5 sections wide. I am 

 not surprised that some bee-keepers 

 who have used a case one foot wide 

 without separators, should at last 

 decide in favor of separators. I also 

 have failed to get nice, straight combs 

 in wide cases. Wide frames are al- 

 ways stuck up so much with propolis 

 that I have discarded them.— G. L. 

 Tinker. 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that th& 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the- 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; '} south ; O east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ^ northwest; 

 o^ southeast: and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State meutioned. 



For the American Bee Journal- 



Apieultural Discussions, etc, 



dr. c. c. miller, (179-340). 



As I think over the bitter person- 

 alities that were so oommon years ago 

 in the columns that bee-keepers like 

 so well to read, there is a great feeling 

 of satisfaction that that trouble is all 

 in the past, although I know it took 

 some editorial back-bone to make it 

 willing to stay in the past. I so much 

 enjoy the peace and quiet of later 

 years that I deprecate anything that 

 squints, in the least, in the direction 

 of a return to the past. Possibly I 

 am unnecessarily alarmed, but it 

 seems to me just a speck of a cloud 

 begins to threaten, as I read what 

 points to a controversy over the Hed- 

 don hive. Not that I think con- 

 troversy should be repressed— perhaps 

 we cannot have too much of it so long 

 as it is conducted in the right spirit. 

 The Dadant-Hutchinson battles over 

 the size of hives were of that charac- 

 ter that both combatants won re- 

 nown. Although perhaps the ques- 

 tion in dispute may not be fully set- 

 tled, good points hav'e been brought 

 out, and it made pleasant reading all 

 through, because neither contestant 

 appeared to lose his temper and in- 

 dulge in personal flings. 



But with reference to the Heddon 

 hive, W. F.Clarke starts with a " come 

 on," as who should say, " You just 

 dare to say a word against the Hed- 

 don hive !" and even W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son loses his usual equilibrium and 

 puts a chip on his shoulder, talking 

 about the great blow of opposition 

 before any blow began ; then another 

 begins to talk on the other side, using 

 something else than square argument 

 — brethren, please don't ! Do you not 

 see how easy it will be for this thing 

 to run into just the kind of discussion 

 that we do not want y Bro. Newman, 

 if we get back to one of the old sort 

 of personal quarrels, please leave it 

 all out of the copy of the Bee Jour- 

 nal that you send to me, and print 

 instead quotations from the old poets.* 



When any man puts before the pub- 

 lic a new thing, especially if it be pat- 

 ented, that public has the right to 

 discuss it. It is entirely proper for 

 A to say that no other hive but the 

 Heddon should be used, giving rea- 

 sons for such belief ; and it is just as 



