262 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apr. 25, 



the season of 1893. I had some combs which had been trans- 

 ferred from box-hives, and were in use some 12 or 15 years 

 after, and were very black, but otherwise in good condition. 

 1 had two of these combs in a colony which had swarmed, and 

 I allowed them to rear a queen from a cell which I gave them. 



At the time I thought the queen should be laying, I went 

 to the hive and was about to open it when I noticed that the 

 bottom-board at the entrance to the hive was covered with a 

 lot of brownish dirt. My first thought was that the moth- 

 worms had gotten a strong start inside, but upon getting the 

 hive open, what was my surprise to find the colony in good 

 condition, and on examining the two old, black combs, I found 

 the cells completely torn down to the base, and side-walls 

 started up to about the usual heighth of comb foundation. 

 Each comb was torn down in this way in a circle where all the 

 brood had hatched, and on finding the queen which had not 

 yet begun business, I closed the hive and resolved to keep an 

 eye on the colony to see what they intended to do with the 

 old combs. Next day I again opened the hive, and found the 

 side-walls raised to the length to Ji of an inch or over, and 

 the queen had then started laying in each of them. I kept 

 watch of them daily for some time, and found that they tore 

 down the whole of the cells on those two combs, but did not 

 disturb any of the others, and had I not thus caught them in 

 the act, I should not have known that anything of the kind 

 had taken place, as the combs were still a very dark brown 

 color. 



I have seen a similar case in another colony, and, strange 

 to say, under exactly the same circumstances, viz.: having 

 cast a swarm and no laying queen present, and as fast as the 

 brood hatched the comb was torn down to the base of the 

 cells and rebuilt. In view of these facts, who is prepared to 

 say that a set of combs may not be good for all time, if prop- 

 erly cared for ? 



I will now give a brief outline of management in the 

 spring which I have used of late with success. 



I may stand almost alone when I say that I, for one, want 

 a flight-hole in the front of my hives above the bottom en- 

 trance, and as soon as the weather will permit I examine 

 each colony, noting the amount of stores remaining ; also see 

 that they have a queen. Next comes the strength of the col- 

 ony — if only bees enough to cover three or four frames, these 

 are set in so that the flight-hole can be used as an entrance, 

 and after giving at least one frame containing honey, the 

 division-boards are set alongside with a passage-way under 

 the bottom of them, and the remaining combs set on the out- 

 side. The bottom entrance is then entirely closed, thus ex- 

 cluding other bees from entering and robbing, while the col- 

 ony in the hive can readily have access to their honey, and 

 will proceed to uncap and carry it in, and thus stimulate the 

 queen to lay ; and it is really surprising to see how rapidly a 

 colony will build up when prepared in this way. As the season 

 advances, and more room is needed, all that is required is to 

 pull back the division-board and set over as many frames as 

 are needed, and continue in this way until the colony is again 

 able to fill the hive. 



I have always found it the safest plan to place the frames 

 added to the colony at the outside of the cluster, and trust to 

 the queen to spread the brood as she sees fit. Does she not 

 know better about that than we ? West Galway, N. Y. 



The Large and Small Hive Discussion. 



BY H. D. EDWARDS. 



The discussion now going on in regard to the most profit- 

 able hive to use — a large or small one — while it is interesting, 

 is calculated to befog the mind of the beginner. When such 

 men as the Dadants, and others, take the ground that an S- 

 frame Langstroth hive is too small, and such men as Doolittle, 

 Boardman, and others, say that it is large enough — all being 

 men of large and varied experience and close observation — it 

 Is not to be wondered at that such practical apiarists as Dr. 

 Miller take to the fence, and those of lesser experience, and 

 beginners, "take to the woods." Kut, really, I think location, 

 the length of the honey harvest, and the production of comb 

 and extracted honey, should in a great measure determine the 

 size of the hive. 



Now, I am of the opinion that a hive the size of an 8- 

 frame Langstroth, is large enough for the production of comb 

 honey in most localities. We all know that a queen in the 

 spring of the year will not lay eggs any faster than she has 

 bees to take care of the brood. I believe it is stated by some 

 one, that an 8-frame Langstroth hive will contain cells enough 

 to allow the queen to lay 2,400 eggs daily. How many colo- 

 nies have bees enough to take care of the brood from 2,400 



eggs daily, even up to the time of the honey harvest ? for we 

 all know that bees reared at the close of the harvest, except 

 to go through the winter with, are of no profit, but are, in 

 fact, an expense. 



Take, for instance, a locality where white clover is the 

 principal source for surplus ; where there is no basswood or 

 other flowers to lengthen out the honey harvest — the white 

 clover does not last usually longer than 80 or 40 days, oftener 

 30 than 40 ; then what surplus we get we must get during 

 these 30 or 40 days, and we must devise some plan to get the 

 bees in the sections at the beginning of the harvest, if we wish 

 to secure the most comb honey. Then if we have a large 

 brood-chamber, where there are plenty of empty cells, the 

 bees will commence to store honey in these empty cells, and 

 will refuse to go into the sections, and will fill all the empty 

 cells with honey also, and the cells the young bees are hatch- 

 ing out of, thereby crowding out the queen. What we want, 

 then, is a hive no larger than the queen can completely 

 fill with brood by the time of the harvest, in order to crowd 

 the bees into the sections. Then, accordingly, we want a hive 

 rather below than above the capacity of the queen ; and, in 

 my experience, I have found but few queens that will occupy 

 more than 8 frames up to the beginning of the harvest. 



I think I see one advantage the large hive has, sometimes, 

 over the smaller hive, and that is, there are frequently more 

 bees in the large hive in the spring, consequently the" queen 

 will lay faster, because she has more bees to take care of the 

 brood, and hence there will be more bees to gather the surplus 

 when it comes. But, then, that depends a good deal upon the 

 apiarist — how he manages his bees in the fall. That is the 

 only advantage I see that the large hive has over the small 

 one. When I say "small one," I mean a hive of the capacity 

 of an 8-frame Langstroth. Hence the queen has more bees 

 to take care of the brood, and she will lay faster, and the 

 colony will be stronger at the beginning of the harvest. But, 

 all things considered, I believe an 8frame Langstroth is 

 large enough to obtain the best results in the production of 

 comb honey in most localities. Delhi, III. 



Spring Management of Bees. 



BY J. A. C. DOBSON. 



In my discussion of this subject I have endeavored to con- 

 fine myself as closely as possible to practical points, and to 

 present what I know and do myself, and not what others 

 know and do. 



Bees must be properly managed in the spring, or the crop 

 of honey will be disappointing in any season. 



If the bees have been provided in the fall with plenty of 

 stores to last them through the winter and until late in the 

 spring, nothing need be done to them except to see that the 

 entrance is kept open and the packing on top of the frames 

 is kept dry by removing the covering and exposing it to the 

 sun and air on warm sunny days, whenever they occur in win- 

 ter, until spring has fully come. But if any doubts exist 

 about any colony having an entire sufficiency of stores to last 

 it through, such colony should be examined on the first warm 

 day in February, and if a deficiency is found to exist it should 

 be fed, either with honey, syrup or candy. This examination 

 Is the more important because it is a well known fact that colo- 

 nies of the same size consume very different quantities of 

 honey through the winter, and we are very liable to be mis- 

 taken in our estimate of the quantity of honey the bees may 

 have on March 1. 



If we do not have frames of honey to give, then I think it 

 is altogether the safest at this season to feed them candy, but 

 if several warm days come together I would prefer to feed 

 syrup, for they would then have time to store it in the frames 

 where they cluster, and could the more easily reach it if sev- 

 eral cold days should come afterwards. But whatever is fed 

 should be in quantity sufficient to last them until spring has 

 fully come, because the rigors of last March (1894) are liable 

 to come any year. 



E'er fear of chilling the brood, the hive should never be 

 opened unless the weather is warm enough for the bees to 

 fly freely. It is, however, not necessary to expose the brood- 

 nest to ascertain the quantity of honey a colony may have ; 

 simply turn up the quilt at the sides and feel the weight of a 

 few of the frames. 



Spring Dwindling.— I have heard and read much about 

 spring dwindling, its cause and prevention, but I have never 

 suffered from it like most bee-keepers have, and I am vain 

 enough to attribute this fact to my management. I winter my 

 bees on the summer stands, and know nothing practically 

 about any other method, but from what I do know I am not 



