198 



THE AMERICAl^ BEE JOURNAL. 



good work you have all in fair condi- 

 tion, but none at all in first-class or- 

 der to take advantage of ilie How. 



This is a great mistake, and entails 

 great loss. You might far better 

 have a portion of your colonies strong 

 and in first-rate " condition to work 

 when the flow comes, and tlie rest 

 simply able to go on nicely witliout 

 giving you any surplus, tlian to have 

 all in fair couditioii, but not able to 

 give you niuc i siuplus. Aiui a por- 

 tion of them would be in first-class 

 order when needed, were they not 

 systematically and unscrupulously de- 

 pleted to build up the others. No 

 watcliful bee keeper will be apt to 

 make this mistake more than once. 

 Here, again, experience is salutary 

 but dear. Of course in calculating 

 beforehand, in the spring, how long it 

 will be before your young workers 

 will be needed for action, it is hard to 

 hit the mark every time ; and we do 

 not care to have to feed a lot of idle 

 bees for two or tliree weeks before 

 the battle commences. 



Knowing the time from the egg to 

 the perfect bee. and also the time 

 your young bee hangs around the 

 house and chores inside before it 

 goes to work outside, you may add 

 these times together and calculate (as 

 jou may think) with mathematical 

 certainty just when to urge your 

 queens up in laying; and, after all, 

 Nature, in her freaks, may sell you 

 in the most ridiculous fashion ! We 

 had a realizing illustration of this last 

 season. The fruit bloom was abund- 

 ant, indeed super abundant, and rich 

 in the coveted nectar ; but when did 

 it come V Wliy, about two weeks or 

 more after the usual time. So you see 

 the bee-keeper must keep his "weath- 

 er eye "open in the spring on Dame 

 Nature as well as on liis queens, or he 

 will surely get "left," with all his 

 bee-lore. In bee-keeping, as in al- 

 most every other avocation of life, 

 " eternal vigilance " is the price of 

 success. 



Selby, Ont. 



[The report of the Convention will 

 appear in our next.— Ed.] 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Size of Brood Frames. 



W. J. DAVIS. 



About two years ago I gave a de- 

 scription (in the Bee Journal) of a 

 brood frame I was using by way of 

 experiment, with a view of adoption 

 in case results proved satisfactory. I 

 was not at the time aware of the fact 

 that so many bee-keepers were look- 

 ing for better returns from their bees 

 by the use of a shorter brood frame. 

 The size I chose was ll^x8>2, inside 

 measure, with a 14-inch top-bar. I 

 am so well pleased with their use, that 

 all the hives I now make are for 

 frames of that style. Have tried 

 from 8 to 12 frames per hive. For my 

 home apiary I prefer 8 frames. 



The reasons fer my preference of 

 short brood frames are these : 1. The 

 better clustering of a colony for win- 

 ter ; that is, less unoccupied space at 



the end of the frames. As bees in 

 this latitude must resist the cold for 

 7 months in the year, this considera- 

 tion should not be over-looked. 



2. As I secure my surplus comb 

 honey above the brood nest (not at 

 the side), the bees are forced to enter 

 the surplus boxes at the beginning of 

 the honey harvest. 



.3. As every square inch of nice 

 worker brood comb represents that 

 amount of capital in the hands of the 

 bee-master, and the amount should 

 not be greater in any one hive than 

 can be used to the very best advan- 

 tage ; and any store comb or drone 

 comb above a very limited amount is 

 a positive damage in the brood nest. 



4. Greater ease in equalizing colo- 

 nies in spring and summer, and equal- 

 izing stores in autumn. Other rea- 

 sons might be given, but the above 

 will suffice for the present. 



Some, I have no doubt, are ready to 

 say, such a hive is altogether too small 

 and bees would not secure a winter 

 supply of honey. With improved 

 bee-culture it does not matter whether 

 they do or not, if they give a satisfac- 

 tory amount of marketable honey. 

 But in point of fact and actual ex- 

 perience, I find small hives, quite as 

 likely as large ones, to contain suffi- 

 cient stores for winter. Another, 

 probably may say such small hives 

 could not have a strong working force 

 by the time white clover blooms. 

 Let us see ; a colony of bees can bet- 

 ter warm a small hive in early spring, 

 and, hence, can surely breed as fast as 

 in a large hive. 



In this locality we have no need of 

 a strong working force before June 

 10, which is the time the white clover 

 begins to bloom. Let us suppose a 

 hive contains 8 combs of above size, 

 on Jilay 1, and each comb contains 

 98 square inches, or say 780 square 

 inches of comb in the hive ; each 

 square inch contains 50 cells, or 39,000 

 cells in the hive. Let us allow one- 

 half for pollen and honey for imme- 

 diate use (^which is a very large esti- 

 mate for the month of May, includ- 

 ing a reasonable amount of drone 

 comb), and we still have room for the 

 production of 19,500 worker bees every 

 20 days, or nearly 1,000 per day. It 

 will readily be seen that a small hive 

 will be crowded with bees much 

 earlier in the season than a large one. 

 In accordance with a suggestion of 

 one of your correspondents (which, I 

 think, a good one), I will say that I 

 have handled bees for over 35 years, 

 in the same locality, and with an 

 average of about 100 colonies. Have 

 used the standard Langstroth frame 

 for 23 years. Have used from 8 to 24 

 frames to the hive. Have 50 hives 

 that take 12 frames in the brood- 

 chamber, and can add 12 to an upper 

 story of the same hive for extracting, 

 or in place thereof two sets of surplus 

 frames. I have my bees now, about 

 one-half of them in long (Langstroth), 

 and the balance in short (Langstroth) 

 frames. 



I cannot agree with Dr. Tinker that 

 all brood frames not of a certain 

 length should be called by some other 

 name than the Langstroth. If I un- 

 derstand it aright, the main features 



of the Langstroth patent consisted of 

 separate comb frames resting on rab- 

 bets, with small space above, and at 

 ends of frames. I could not tolerate 

 any hive with close fitting top bars, or 

 without the shallow space above the 

 frames. In the matter of brood 

 frames, I am in favor of every man 

 using sucli size as he pleases. In the 

 controversy between Mr. Demaree 

 and Dr. Southwick, I think, for his 

 latitude, the Doctor has the argument 

 on length of frame, and Mr. Demaree 

 on the depth, for any latitude. 

 Youngsville, Pa. 



For the American Bee Joum&L 



Use Separators ? Yes. 



H. D. BUKEELL. 



For four years I have made a speci- 

 ality of honey production, keeping an 

 average of aljout 100 colonies, spring 

 count. These have produced in that 

 time over 23,000 pounds of surplus 

 honey, mostly comb. Separators were 

 used with about half the amount; 

 hence, I have had ample opportunity 

 to judge which is the better way. The 

 old argument (not often heard now), 

 " separators take off one-third the 

 honey crop," was long a stumbling 

 block with me. I labored long and 

 faithfully to persuade myself that I 

 could do without separators, but sig- 

 nally failed. Different locations, sea- 

 sons, races of bees, sections and 

 methods of management all have an 

 influence, and must be considered in 

 examining the subject. I have ex- 

 perimented long and carefully, and on 

 a large scale, during eight years' ex- 

 perience with bees, to determine the 

 facts. Have used wide frames hold- 

 ing sections both one eini two tiers 

 deep, and cases and racks of many 

 patterns ; sections \H, 1%, \%, V/e. and 

 2 inches wide, holding from 12 ounces 

 to 1% pounds of honey. 



This season I shall use no sections 

 without separators, although I have 

 quite a stock of one-pound sections on 

 hand 1% inches wide. That separa- 

 tors reduce the honey yield at all, I 

 have been unable to discover. But I 

 have found that where separators are 

 used the honey cappings are whiter, 

 and not nearly so many combs are 

 soiled, many of the bees, I suppose, 

 walking on the separators instead or 

 on the honey. 



The main objection to using separa- 

 tors, in my opinion, is their first cost, 

 but this is far outweighed by the 

 greater ease witii which separatored 

 sections can be manipulated, tlie pro- 

 jecting wood side pieces protecting 

 the combs. This is an important 

 item where inexperienced and often 

 careless help has to be employed ; also 

 in the wholesale lioney house. Buyers 

 or salesmen usually draw sections for 

 examination from different parts of 

 the crates of honey on sale, and not 

 very carefully either. If combs are 

 bulged, broken cappings and leaking 

 lioney result, and those crates are not 

 wanted. Often I have watched this 

 tableaux in wholesale houses. Honey 

 stored between separators will meet 

 with fewer accidents, causing leakage. 



