628 



THE AMERICAN BEE JODRNAU 



October 6. 



to reduce labor to a minimum, and produce honey to a maxi- 

 mum. 



I think it is agreed that a large colony produces more 

 honey in proportion to Vie number of hccs than a small one. It 

 will also consume less honey in a year in proportion to the 

 number of bees than a small one. Suppose my field is such 

 that its limit will be reacht if I have 5,000,000 bees in the 

 season. I may give extra stories, and have 75 colonies with 

 66,666 bees in each, or I may talje the plan you suggest, and 

 have 100 colonies with 50,000 bees in each. The 75 stronger 

 colonies will consume less and store more than the 100 weaker 

 ones, and the 75 will take less labor than the 100. So when 

 you have all your field will bear, the profitable keeping of 

 bees does not depend so much upon having the combs and 

 hives occupied to their full capacity as it does on having each 

 queen occupied to her full capacity; in other words, having 

 as strong colonies as possible. 



IS THEBE DANGER OF MISUNDERSTANDING ? 



On page 4:37 of this journal, "Illinois" says: " I have 

 the dovetail hive, and have put the division-board in the mid- 

 dle of the frames. Is that the right place for it? If not, 

 where does it belong ?" I replied: "Put In all the frames, 

 crowd them all close to one side, then put the dummy close 

 up against the last frame." Critic Taylor refers to this in the 

 Bee-Keepers' Review, heading the item, " Instruction that 

 might possibly be misunderstood by a novice," and says: 



" With such frames as the Doctor uses that advice would 

 no doubt be sufiBcient, even for one as wanting in experience 

 as ' Illinois ' is, but with the common hanging frame used by 

 most of the beginners who read the Doctor's replies, one can 

 imagine what a deplorable mess would be made in carrying 

 out these instructions." 



Allow me to correct a wrong impression on your part, Mr. 

 Taylor, by saying that most of the frames now in use in my 

 hives are "common hanging frames," and I am familiar with 

 them through many years' use, and know very well what a 

 mess would be made by crowding them close to one side. But 

 there was no common hanging frame in the question. 

 " Illinois " specially mentions a dovetail hive with a division- 

 board. I very much doubt whether most of the beginners 

 who read my replies use common hanging frames, as you sup- 

 pose, and still more do I doubt whether any beginner during 

 the present year has received a dovetail hive with division- 

 board and common hanging frames. Even supposing common 

 hanging frames were in the case, the danger of being misled 

 would be largely averted by the remark following, which 

 reads : 



" If the hive were made just wide enough to take in the 



frames But there will be a space between the dummy 



and the side of the hive That gives play enough for the 



dummy so it can be easily be taken out." 



Mr. Taylor, let me give a hypothetical case: On page 

 281 of the Review, speaking of boiling foul-broody honey, you 

 say: " I consider 15 minutes boiling sufficient; having first 

 added an equal amount of water." Now, suppose I should 

 say, " That is ' instruction that might possibly be misunder- 

 stood by a novice.' ' An equal amount' in the place in which 

 it stands might be understood as meaning 15 minutes. 'Im- 

 agine what a deplorable mess would be made ' if the novice 

 should pour water into the honey at any ordinary rate, for the 

 space of 15 minutes. If I should say that, you would prob- 

 ably call me hypercritical. I think the danger of misunder- 

 standing in the case of my advice is just as remote as in that 

 of yours. I don't say you are hypercritical. But if any one 

 else does, I make no promise to defend you. 



McHenry Co., III. 



The Queen -Excluder aad Its Inventor. 



BY F. GREINER. 

 [Continued from page 614.1 



Now to return to Mr. Hannemann again. He was so 

 taken up with the superiority of his system and management 

 that he could see but little good in any other ; and, being 

 ignorant as to the conditions in other lands, notably North 

 America, he showed mistrust of everything that was reported 

 from here. He says, for instance, at the close of the article 

 of his, written in 1879 : 



"And while my results, as shown, seem meager by the 

 side of such yields as are reported by an Adam Grimm, I am 

 satisfied with them because mine really exist. Grimm's are 

 only on paper." 



Our older readers will remember who Adam Grimm was. 

 He was a pioneer in American apiculture ; he made more 

 money with bees than any one else — at least in his time. His 



writings always had the mark of honesty upon them, and I 

 never heard a word against his character. I took it upon my- 

 self to make a reply in the BienenZeitung (this must have 

 been in 1880), explaining to the German bee-keepers Hanne- 

 mann's alleged mysteries of American bee-keeping. Hanne- 

 mann, for instance, couldn't comprehend how there could be 

 room for 27 boxes weighing 130 pounds, on a hive having 

 24x15 inches of top surface. Grimm had reported such a 

 yield from a single 10-frame Langstroth hive, such as was 

 then commonly used. Hannemann had evidently never heard 

 of fiemig MP nor of removing full boxes and replacing with 

 empty ones, so he could not understand how the thing was 

 possible, and at once jumpt at the conclusion, " It is all a lie, 

 a great humbug," and, worst of all, says so before the thou- 

 sands of German readers. He reasoned thus : 



"One hundred and thirty pounds of comb honey would 

 occupy a space of 3,500 cubic inches. To give this amount 

 of room to a colony occupying a hive of 2,500 capacity is an 

 impossibility, as every one can see. Furthermore, it is impos- 

 sible for one colony of bees to fill such a space with combs and 

 honey outside of the hive. It would require, with a six-weeks 

 continuous honey-flow, 9 kilograms (19 4/5 pounds) of 

 worker-bees. No queen is capable of producing this amount 

 of bees in so small a hive, nor, for that matter, if ever so 

 large a hive." 



Well, a good many of us who have been long in the busi- 

 ness have now and then had these phenomenal years and 

 yields. We know from experience that It is possible for a col- 

 ony to fill a space of 3,500 cubic inches with combs and 

 honey. We have had these cases under our own hand, and 

 what we have seen with our own eyes can by no theory be 

 reasoned out of existence. Facts are stubborn things. 



Another point Mr. Hannemann was trying to make out of 

 Grimm's reports was, that the climate must be unsuitable for 

 bee-keeping here, for a neighbor of Grimm had 99 colonies 

 out of 100 frozen to death one winter. Here Mr. Hannemann 

 overlooks the fact that, altho a country may have very severe 

 winters, and actually freeze the bees (a condition I cannot 

 imagine, however), yet the summers may be warm, flowers 

 may be plentiful, and the meteorological conditions very favor- 

 able for the secretion of nectar. There is no doubt that a 

 mild climate is favorable for the wintering of bees, and most 

 of us wish we had that ; but what of the hard winters ? Are 

 we helpless ? Why has God given us our intelligence ? Have 

 we no means to combat the zero weather? Why! if neces- 

 sary we would bring about a condition of 90- in the shade 

 every day in the year, as Herr Weygandt has proven with his 

 heated bee-house. If only the summers are conducive to the 

 welfare of our bees, and the honey-producing blossoms are 

 present, the winter is no objection. Why, I believe we could 

 keep bees away up at the north pole If we could only get there. 

 Mr. Hannemann expresses his opinion of the North Ameri- 

 can and his surroundings like this: 



" I esteem him highly as a man of progress ; but to carry 

 on apiculture successfully there are obstacles in his way that, 

 with all his intelligence and ingenuity, he can never [?] hope 

 to overcome. With steam and machinery he may be able to 

 make very accurately his hives, etc.; but to stock them up re- 

 quires a good deal of money, so it seems ; and, after being 

 stockt up, it requires the right kind of man who must be pos- 

 sest witli love for and knowledge of the bees ; he must have 

 an extensive experience, etc. The climate must be suitable 

 for bee-keeping so the colonies will send out a goodly number 

 of swarms ; and when these are on hand they must be mast 

 together by forming giant colonies in order to obtain the best 

 results. This is the only way." 



The reader may ask here, " Why bring up this after 20 

 years have past ?" Does it not show that even the wise are 

 blind sometimes, and that half of the people do not know 

 what the other half are doing? I write the above principally 

 in the hope of entertaining, perhaps amusing, my bee-keeping 

 friends, and to bring out some good points that may be of 

 value to some of them. 



I have no old grudge against Mr. Hannemann, altho I 

 admit I felt somewhat indignant at first. That has all past. 

 I now feel only my indebtedness to him. He was probably 

 excusable for holding an adverse opinion of us American bee- 

 keepers. 



In criticising the Hannemann system, and in comparing 

 it with our method, I wish to say this: The methods he pur- 

 sued were probably all right for his particular environments, 

 and much ahead of anything else known to him then ; but, 

 after all, the Yankee could and would greatly improve upon 

 them. We would not only use the extractor, but also furnish 

 the bees much if not all the combs needed. I am sure it would 

 be impracticable to use the giant hives and the cages a la 

 Hannemann for the production of section honey, on account 



