758 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Nov. 30, 1899. 



of their full frames for dry combs in the center of the 

 brood-nest, or, better still, by breaking the capping-s of the 

 honey and turning it bottom side up where reversible brood- 

 frames are used. 



If a flow begins where hives set in couples, and neither 

 colony alone is strong enough to work in supers, the work- 

 ing force of the two may be united and set to work at once, 

 and the extra brood given to other colonies. 



When colonies are working in supers during a honey- 

 flow whole supers of young bees and sections can be given 

 to weaker colonies that will start them working with a rush 

 to finish them. 



When some supers have sections partly filled with un- 

 sealed honey, part of them may be used as starters for other 

 supers. 



When a strong colony begins to cap the first set of sec- 

 tions they can be raised up and a second set put under 

 them, when tlie bees will finish them up while starting in 

 the lower sections ; but, if raised too soon, they will not be 

 finisht properlj'. It is safer to crowd all the time, even at 

 the risk of liaving a few idle bees. 



All queens should be dipt when working for comb 

 honey, as the best possible condition for comb honey is just 

 suited to swarming. When eggs are seen in queen-cells, 

 swarming can be controlled by removing two-thirds of the 

 brood, and giving dry combs or empty frames with starters 

 only. The extra brood-combs may be exchanged for infe- 

 rior or drone-combs. By this plan swarming can be abso- 

 lutely controlled. 



THE LATEST HIVE IMPROVEMENTS. 



The woeful waste of bees the past winter has shown 

 more conclusively than anj-thing I can say the decided ad- 

 vantage of closed-end brood-frames, with their combs ex- 

 tending solid to the end-bars, making each comb a compart- 

 ment similar to combs in box-hives. By personal observa- 

 tion and correspondence from Northern New York. Tennes- 

 see, Texas and Florida, I find closed-end frames have win- 

 tered bees safer than the open-end frames. When protected 

 with an outer case they have equalled chaif-packt and box 

 hives, even where the cold was 30 degrees below zero. Why 

 should we have hanging frames so handy to handle if they 

 lose half the bees in wintering, so as to be utterly worthless 

 for comb honey ? 



I have devised a method of supporting brood-frames 

 from the center of the end-bars on solid cleats, that add to 

 the thickness of the hive-wall, and afford a reliable bee- 

 escape, free of cost, that can be utilized if desired. 



In working for comb honey I prefer a larg-e brood-nest, 

 like the Dadants, for fall, winter and spring, for keep- 

 ing and breeding up strong colonies till the harvest. 

 But I don't like their large frames, as I used them 

 eight years in the first hives I ever owned. I prefer tlie 

 large frame, divided horizontally, about 7 inches deep, that 

 I can contract the brood-space one-half in putting on the 

 supers at the beginning of the honey-flow, when it is most 

 desirable to utilize the bees for surplus rather than in rear- 

 ing bees to be needless consumers after the harvest. 



I prefer a 10-frame body thaj: can be contracted to 8- 

 frames, by placing a solid slab of sealed honey in a closed- 

 end frame on either side, which allows of bees clustering 

 over it to send up heat in the sections above them. I have 

 used one-half-pound sections, two-pound sections, and 

 frames 6 inches deep by 12 inches wide for comb honej-, 

 with and without separators ; also the so-called Standard 

 4'4x4j4 1 thick sections in wide frames and T supers. I never 

 liked any of the three, and I rejoice that I have lived to 

 this hour to say that they have had their day, and the tall 

 4x5 inch, thinner, plain sections have come at last, and are 

 here to staj', and the sooner the Standard bee-writers and 

 supply dealers get themselves in line with this sober, sol- 

 emn fact the better they are going to feel about it. 



I regret exceedingly that some of my good freinds are 

 advocating short-weight, ten-penny sections, which can 

 only help the supply manufacturer and the wholesale com- 

 mission man, who are pushing these small sections, while 

 the producer and consumer will have to pay the piper. In 

 my market the pound sections sell the best, and they can 

 be sold wholesale by the piece by producers that know their 

 business. I have never had to sell my own honej' by 

 weight. It requires extra-good seasons to get the smaller 

 sections filled properly, as bees will not work well in a 

 limited space, and the smaller the surface the worse the un- 

 sealed cells look, and the grocer will insist on buying them 

 by weight to sell by the piece. As it requires the same 

 handling, and costs as much, for the small sections and 

 foundation, they cost the producer relatively more than the 



larger sections, and the sooner producer and consumer call 

 a halt on this small-section folly the better for all concerned. 



All 4x5 inch sections made by the A. I. Root Co. for the 

 Danzenbaker supers are full J-g-inch thick, which gives 

 more strength and firmness to the sections when folded. 

 No one will use a thinner section after trying them. 



The fence separators for the section supers are one of 

 the best improvements that has been brought out recently, 

 altho recommended and used by the late B. Taylor, of Min- 

 nesota, 10 or more years ago. The nearer nothing a sep- 

 arator can be the better, if it keeps the queen out of the 

 supers, and the sections straight and uniform in weight. 

 The fences fill the bill fully, and they are bound to "fence 

 in " the whole bee-keeping fraternity, and thej', too, are 

 hereto staj', altho some of the " big 'uns " did an awful 

 amount of hard and high kicking at the venturesome fel- 

 lows who felt pretty hard hit at the time, but are getting- 

 ready now to say, " I told j'ou so at first." 



One of the best among the latest hive improvements is 

 the section-holder, forming a divisible honey-board or top- 

 less wide-frame, covering three sides of the sections. The 

 edges are covered with the fence cleats, hence they come 

 out as clean as new, ready for the shipping-cases. 



The tempered wire springs that are now used in supers, 

 made by the A. I. Root Co., are a valuable improvement 

 over wedges, as thej' are always in place with a perpetual 

 pressure. The three-piece Danzenbaker cover and bottom 

 will be further improved for the coming season, and are 

 decidedly the best made. 



The Danzenbaker hives combine the best features in 

 other hives, with the latest improvements already described. 



F. D.\XZENB.\KER. 



Mr. Abbott — I did think I would not say anything about 

 this, but I want to give some facts. These things have 

 come to stay. This is a big country. Away out West there 

 is a lot of stock that I want to sell ; there is little sale for 

 it. Liast j-ear we put in a large stock of supers. I don't 

 believe there is in Missouri 25 percent of closed-end hives. 

 I am astonisht to hear that the section-holder is a modern 

 improvement. Twenty-three years ago I bought it and 

 threw it away. I don't know any bee-keeper in Missouri 

 near me who uses it. Some localities use it. When I went 

 to Missouri, 16 years ago, Mr. Armstrong, of Illinois, had a 

 fence separator. (By the way, I have a stock of fence sep- 

 arators to sell.) Mr. Armstrong's separator was the best 

 separator I ever used, but I don't see the need of puttiilg 

 separators in bee-hives. You can put in the sections and 

 give plenty of room. Bees don't like to be disturbed. Men 

 come to nie and aslv for advice about separators — I say they 

 are useless. For Mr. Danzenbaker it may be all right, but 

 for the majority it is useless. I have in my possession 5,000 

 pounds of honey, not a single pound of which was produced 

 with separators. You can sell "chunk honey" to good 

 advantage. People will smack their lips and saj', "That 

 chunk honey is good." 



Question — How do you ship that kind of honej' ? 



Mr. Abbott — I don't ship it. Sell your honey at home. 



Mr. Stone — I would like to give Mr. Abbott some idea 

 about tlie proportion of honey that he would have left on 

 hand if produced without separators. At the World's Fair, 

 out of 2,300 pounds brought us, about 20 pounds of that pro- 

 duced without separators was fit to ship and sell. 



Dr. Mason — Mr. Danzenbaker says, " Why have stand- 

 ing frames if it makes the bees die in winter ?" It doesn't. 

 Don't make that style of statements. Standing frames don^t 

 make bees die in winter. 



Mr. Danzenbaker — A gentleman talkt to me about my 

 hive. I askt him, " Did you ever use that hive ?" He said 

 "No." I sold him that kind of frame, and he found fault 

 because the frames were open. I sold him a Root hive. 

 This man got 50 hives, and he got SO the year before ; colo- 

 nies on the open frames all wintered safely. Twenty-three 

 colonies on the closed ones died. They are the only ones 

 that I have heard of. He wintered them in Hoffman hives. 

 In closed-end frames there is no circulation around the hive. 



Dr. Mason — I understand that Mr. Root has wintered 

 bees in Danzenbaker hives, and 50 percent of the bees died. 

 Is that a fact, Mr. Root ? 



Mr. Root— It is. 



Dr. Mason — But he only had two colonies, and one died. 

 [Laughter.] 



[Continued next week.] 



The Premiums offered on page 765 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



