THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



115 



For tlie American Bee Journal 



How Shall We Report? 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



On page 58, Mr. F. H. Finch takes 

 exception to " those large yields pub- 

 lished," and thinks they were " not 

 weighed on standard scales." Also, 

 on page 60, S. J. McKennie says, " I 

 have the higliest respect tor intelli- 

 gent and scientific statements, but no 

 relish for exaggerated statements," 

 and by the editorial note at the close 

 of Mr. K.'s remarks, I see that you, 

 Mr. Editor, are not just clear as to 

 how a report should be made out. I 

 once reported 566 lbs. in one season 

 from 1 colony of bees, hence, I would 

 be classed by Mr. K. as one of those 

 "who exaggerate," and by you, Mr. 

 Editor, as being one of those whose 

 " statements are unfair, and mislead 

 the unsophisticated." As I have never 

 intended to be "unfair" or "mis- 

 lead," perhaps it were well to look 

 into the matter regarding how a re- 

 port should be made out. 



I had supposed it fair to give a re- 

 port based upon the " spring count " 

 of colonies in a yard, dividing the 

 total production of honey during the 

 season, by the total number of colo- 

 nies in the spring, and qualifying by 

 saying they increased to such a num- 

 ber. However, I now see that Mr. K. 

 does • not consider this as fair. But, 

 supposing they do not increase at all, 

 as was the case with Mr. Carroll's col- 

 ony that gave the 800 lbs., would it 

 then be fair to report 800 lbs. from one 

 colony. The editor says not ; for, in 

 his case, he used " 3 or 4 ordinary 

 hives by extra stories one over 

 another," thereby making his report 

 "unfair and misleading." 



But, again, supposing they did not 

 increase at all, and were kept in a 

 single story hive, as was the case with 

 the colony which gave me the 566 lbs. 

 Would it then be unfair to report that 

 amount as the production of one col- 

 ony y Although 1 listen intently, I 

 hear no one say " unfair." Well, if 

 the same number of bees, all the pro- 

 duction of one queen, make the same 

 number of pounds in 2 or 3 ordinary 

 hives, by extra stories being placed 

 one over the other, I cannot see why 

 it should be more unfair than the 

 other. 



Again, if the bees swarm and are 

 hived in a separate hive, and none of 

 the young or second queen's bees are 

 old enough to labor in the held, I do 

 not see how it should be unfair to re- 

 port the product of the two the same 

 as if they had remained in one hive. 

 The reason why these " big reports," 

 as they, are called, are considered " ex- 

 aggerated," is, that those calling them 

 such, think as does Mr. K., that 20,000 

 to 25,000 bees constitute a colony. If 

 we make 20,000 bees a standard from 

 which to report, as does Mr. K., prob- 

 ably Mr. Finch will have no need of 



offering his $500 for some one to in- 

 struct him how to have his bees make 

 one-half as much as some report, for 

 his 20,000 bees will secure nearly or 

 quite as much as will 20,000 of Mr. 

 Carroll's. 



In the spring of 1877, 1 selected an 

 ordinary colony of bees, and set it 

 apart for extracted honey. This col- 

 ony was no better than one- third of 

 my yard would average, and was not 

 helped in the least from any other col- 

 ony. I built them up as fast as pos- 

 sible, by the means I usually employ, 

 which I gave in my series of articles 

 during 1882. By the time apple trees 

 were in bloom, the queen had brood 

 in 12 frames, and from that source I 

 extracted 16J^ lbs. A few days after 

 this, the 12 frames, bees and all were 

 set into a hive 4 feet long, and a 

 division board placed at the rear of 

 the combs. Once a week two more 

 empty combs were inserted in the cen- 

 tre of the brood-nest, until the hive 

 contained 20 combs well filled with 

 brood. As white clover was now 

 yielding honey, the hive was tilled out 

 with frames of empty combs, which 

 numbered 32. I did not expect the 

 queen would occupy any of these last 

 12 combs, but in this I was mistaken, 

 for before white clover was through 

 yielding honey, I found brood in every 

 one of the 32 combs, which, if placed 

 compactly together, was fully equal to 

 15 frames full of brood. Each frame 

 gives 100 square inches, and each 

 square inch gives 50 worker bees, 

 hence, there were 5,000 bees to hatch 

 out of each of these frames every 21 

 days, or 75,000 from the 15 frames. 



The average life of the bee, in the 

 work season, is 45 days, hence, it will 

 be seen that the queen can place two 

 and one-seventh generations of bees 

 on the stage of action, to where one 

 generation dies off. Two and one- 

 seventh times 75,000=160,700, as the 

 number of bees in that hive during the 

 basswood yield. It was a sight worth 

 beholding when they were just start- 

 ing for the field in the morning, for 

 they would rush out like an army, and 

 then, later, the entrance would be one 

 Living mass going to and fro. From 

 clover, they gave 186 lbs.; from bass- 

 wood, 2871,^ lbs., and from buckwheat, 

 76 lbs.; making 566 in all. Now, if we 

 were to call 20,000 bees a colony, this 

 would give but about 71 lbs. per col- 

 ony, and I do not think either of the 

 correspondents would be willing to 

 call that an exaggerated report. 



Thus, it will be seen that all these 

 conflicting reports can be harmonized, 

 when we understand how many labor- 

 ers there are to perform the work. As 

 I have said before (and it will bear re- 

 peating), the main secret in getting a 

 large yield of honey, is to get plenty 

 of bees, just at the right time to take 

 advantage of the honey harvest. If 

 you understand your location, and get 

 your bees as above, you will have no 

 cause to complain of your yield, if the 

 flowers secrete honey. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



[Reports had been "going the 

 rounds " simply stating that from 800 

 to 1,200 pounds of honey had been 

 obtained by one colony in Texas or 



somewhere else. No matter what ex- 

 planations were made when the report 

 was given, the statement was divested 

 of details, and reiterated as " a good 

 story " to tell, being so unreasonable 

 that no one would believe it. Of 

 course, it was understood that it was 

 an ordinary colony ; this led Mr. Mc- 

 Kennie to figure it out (in his letter on 

 page 60), and that " figuring " we de- 

 sired to correct in our foot note, by 

 saying that such colonies were " doub- 

 led up to the capacity of 4 or 5 ordi- 

 nary hives, by extra stories, onefover 

 another "—that the colony was not an 

 ordinary, but an extraordinary one I 

 It will easily be seen that to those 

 laboring under the idea that a colony 

 of the usual size was spoken of, the 

 statements were " unfair," " mislead- 

 ing," and " unreasonable." This was 

 the idea we intended to convey, but, 

 perhaps, we were not sufliciently ex- 

 plicit, and have, therefore, been mis- 

 understood. We certainly never 

 thought of reflecting upon any one's 

 report, as some have presumed. We 

 liope this will be sufficiently clear and 

 satisfactory.— Ed.] 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Moving Bees on a Hand Sled. 



G. F. WILLIAMS. 



During the fall of 1880, about two 

 weeks alter our severe winter began, 

 I moved 9 colonies from my father's, 

 a distance of two squares, on a hand- 

 sled, to my own home. 



The entrances were partly clogged 

 with ice, and the bottom boards were 

 very icy. So, thinking it best to give 

 them a nice, dry one, as well as to pro- 

 tect them above, I carried them into 

 the kitchen, removed the bottom 

 boards, putting dry ones in their 

 places, put a piece of thin cloth over 

 the frames of each, on which a chaff 

 cushion was placed, using during the 

 operation, a smoker, when necessary, 

 to keep the bees in the hives. 



Eight of these were carried into the 

 cellar and one put out of doors, pro- 

 tected by placing a store box over it, 

 and tilling the intervening space with 

 sawdust. Of the 8 in the cellar, only 

 1 seemed to suffer harm from the mov- 

 ing ; large numbers dying and clog- 

 ging the entrance, which was re- 

 moved about every week. 



Early in March, thev were all carried 

 out for a flight, and again put back. 

 Towards the latter part of March, 

 they were again carried out for a 

 flight, and not one returned. The one 

 spoken of aliove and two others soon 

 dwindled, leaving plenty of brood and 

 eggs. The one left out all winter 

 came through strong and healthy. 



I am of the opinion now, knowing 

 little of bees then, that if I had not 

 removed them from the cellar for 

 three or four weeks, two would not 

 have dwindled. 



