1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



787 



A great deal of unwarranted prejudice exists against bees 

 and bee-keepers which It is our business to overcome 

 Whether It arises from Ignorance, or malice, it must be coun- 

 teracted. 



Among the objects of this organization are these : To 

 assure to the pursuit the rights to which it is entitled under 

 the law; to assist In educating the public as to the relation of 

 bees to plant life and fertility, and to keep before the people 

 the knowledge of the value of honey, both economically and 

 as an unsurpast article of food. 



The last half century of our splendid accomplishments In 

 the garden of apiculture may be but the hint of what the 

 future has in store for us If we rise to the height of our privi- 

 leges and advantages In this best of all lands for Individual 

 and industrial development. We must not rest on the laurels 

 of past achievements when Important responsibilities lie be- 

 fore us. The world Is moving forward, not backward. The 

 net results of all human effort are progress. Some obstacle 

 may retard our advancement for awhile, but In God's good 

 time right shall triumph over wrong, and happiness and pros- 

 perity shall perch upon the banners of earnest and faithful 

 endeavor. 



The yesterday of Bee-Keeping is In the charnal-house of 

 History. I am able to bring out only a skeleton or two to re- 

 mind you of its past. Its To-morrow is In the womb of Oppor- 

 tunity, from which shall come forth all the good which we 

 merit through striving. 



"O River of Yesterday, with current swift 



Through chasms descending, and soon lost to sight, 



1 do not care to follow in their flight 



The faded leaves, that on thy bosom drift I 



" O River of To-morrow, I uplift 



Mine eyes, and thee I follow, as the night 

 Wanes into morning, and the dawning light 

 Broadens, and all the shadows fade and shift ! 



" I follow, follow, where the waters run 

 Through unfrequented, unfamiliar fields, 

 Fragrant with flowers and musical with song; 

 Still follow, follow; sure to meet the sun. 

 And confldent, that what the future yields 

 Will be the right, unless myself be wrong " — (Longfellow.) 



Eugene Secor. 



By a unanimous vote, the thanks of the Union were ex- 

 tended to Mr. Secor for his paper. 



Dr. Miller — I would like to ask whether Mr. Secor meant 

 to say that there were cases 50 years ago when Increase was 

 not desired ? 



Mr. Secor — I said, "If increase .was not desired, they 

 knew not how to prevent It." 



Dr. Miller — Do you think there were cases 50 years ago 

 when Increase was not desired ? 



Mr. Secor — My grandfather had as many colonies as could 

 be profitably kept in one locality. I do not think he knew 

 how to prevent Increase. I said "If." 



Mr Danzenbaker — My grandfather had 300 colonies of 

 bees when I was born. He had more than he wanted, and 

 when they would swarm he would let them stay on the trees 

 until they flew away. He would get what bees he wanted, 

 and let the rest go. He brimstoned the bees to get the honey. 

 And he did another thing — he used to set a box alongside the 

 hive, and the bees would fill It, and then he would take it 

 away. But he resorted to brimstoning the bees, too. 



The Secretary next read a paper by Mr. J. F. Mclntyre, 

 of California, entitled, 



Be»t ^ize of Hive for IJse in the Apiary. 



I have been given an exceedingly broad and Interesting 

 subject, but as I and every one who cared to say anything on 

 this subject have recently had our say, I will treat it as briefly 

 and concisely as possible. "For use in the apiary" — this in- 

 cludes every locality In the world, every system of manage- 

 ment, every kind of bees, comb and extracted honey ; and you 

 want to know the one "best size of hive" for all these locali- 

 ties and conditions. " I don't know." Guess yourself. 



For several years I have been trying to find out the best 

 size of hive for extracted honey in the Sespe apiary, with a 

 very strong desire to prevent swarming, or any further in- 

 crease of stock. My experiments lead me to believe that 

 Dadants' hive and system would be the best for this purpose, 

 but my apiary contains over 11,000 Langstroth combs, and 

 to change these to the two sizes in the Dadant hive is out of 

 the question. Large combs and plenty of them in the brood- 

 chamber, with prolific queens to match, give the largest num- 

 ber of bees per colony, and with plenty of super room the 

 larger the colony the more honey we get per hive — yes, I must 

 say it If it paralyzes Mr. Hutchinson — it would be much more 



profitable to get all the honey from a location with 200 large 

 colonies, than it would be to get it all with the same number 

 of bees In 300 smaller colonies. The 3U0 small hives would 

 require more labor per hive to care for them than the 200 

 large hives, they require more care to prevent starving, more 

 labor and annoyance to hive swarms, the first cost of the hives 

 would be greater, and the expense of feeding them through 

 a dry year In California would be greater. 



Four years ago I deepened a few 10-frame Langstroth 

 brood-chambers, making the frames 12 Inches deep, and used 

 a regular Langstroth super above to extract from, with a 

 queen-excluder between. These hives produce fine, large col- 

 onies, and I would be satisfied with them if they would not 

 swarm, but th^y do swarm with me nearly as badly as the reg- 

 ular 10-frame hive ; and when this happens they are not so 

 desirable, because the brood-chambers are too large for a 

 divided colony or to hive a swarm In withoutcontracting with 

 division-boards. 



My apiary also contains 62 regular 12-frame Langstroth 

 hives, which are open to the same objection — they are too 

 small to prevent swarming, and too large to hive swarms in, 

 and altogether do not average as much surplus honey per hive 

 as the 10-comb hives. Didant prevents swarming by tiering 

 up those shallow extracting-supers, and always putting the 



J. F. Melntyre. 



empty combs next to the brood-chamber without a queen-ex- 

 cluder between; and if swarming is successfully prevented 

 his brood-chamber is all right for size. I have been through 

 the shallow-frame fad for comb honey, and am satisfied that 

 any frame smaller than the Langstroth, or any hive smaller 

 than an 8-comb Langstroth is unprofitable in this locality ; 

 and for extracted honey I am satisfied that any hive smaller 

 than a 10-comb Langstroth Is unprofitable. 



The upper limits of size are not so well defined, as they 

 depend entirely on the prollficuess of our queens, the length 

 of time that our bees have to breed up in the spring before 

 the honey flow commences, and our success In preventing 

 swarms. One of my neighbors, Mr. Keene, keeps his bees in 

 8-comb Langstroth hives four stories high, without any queen- 

 excluders or any one to watch for swarms, and his average 

 yield per colony Is ju^t about the same as his neighbors, who 

 put In their time during the swarming season watching for 

 swarms and hiving them. 



If next season is a good one I want to try a large number 

 of 10 and 12 comb Langstroth hives three stories high. I 

 will start with single brood-chambers in the spring, and when 

 these are nearly full of brood I will raise them up and put 

 another brood -chamber full of empty brood-combs under them, 

 and a super full of empty store-combs above them ; and If 

 they do not swarm, and their average of surplus honey is as 

 high as the balance of the apiary, I will put another brood- 

 chamber under every hive. J. F. McInttbe. 



