360 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 6, 



One thing is certain, the small bee-keeper has been left 

 out of the discussion entirely. To him, a colony is a colony, 

 not a varying fraction of his bees; a hive is a hive, and a 

 queen is a queen. He will get more honey, after the first few 

 years, from 10 large hives than from 10 small ones, and if he 

 ever finds that out, he will not be likely to keep 15 small ones 

 instead. 



If a single colony in a large hive, after developing in pro- 

 portion to the size of the hive, gathers 75 pounds of surplus 

 when it would have gathered 50 pounds if its development 

 had been kept down by a small hive, then 100 such colonies 

 would sufiBce for a location which would require 150 colonies 

 in small hives to " lick it up." Isn't that just as fair a state- 

 ment as to say, " Why not keep 150 colonies in small hives as 

 well as 100 in large ones '?" It is a poor rule that won't work 

 both ways. Or, if a colony in a large hive requires to be fed 

 60 pounds during the year, it would not require more than 40 

 pounds if its development had been kept down by a small hive; 

 but the number of colonies in large hives sufficient to stock a 

 location would collectively use up no more sugar than the 

 number of small colonies requisite for the same purpose. 



Mr. Davenport, on page 231, argues the matter as if the 

 man who preferred large to small hives would necessarily 

 keep the same number of colonies in both cases ; bnt if his 

 arguments are scrutinized closely, they will be found to con- 

 tribute but little to the small hive side of the question, but 

 rather to the proposition, " It is six of the one, and a half- 

 dozen of the other.'' The only statement he makes which 

 seems to give a positive advantage to the small hives is," 

 "■With big hives, where no feeding is done, the season is often 

 an entire failure." But it is not unlikely that a considerable 

 percentage (enough to account for the word "often") of the 

 big hives referred to contained colonies in the first or second 

 year of their existence, which were further embarrassed by 

 being in an apiary of just as many colonies as would be 

 needed for the locality if they were all in small hives. 



Certainly, it i.s hard to imagine why a fixed proportion of 

 bees to hive capacity, and never a total too great for the 

 locality, should not produce the same results when the total 

 working force is the same. In fact, if the proportion was in- 

 variably maintained, the presumption would be in favor of 

 larger and fewer colonies, for comb honey at least. 



Mr. Hutchinson makes, or rather hints at, the same point 

 in the April Review, by saying: "If a man having an apiary 

 of 10-frame hives should change them for S-frame hives he 

 would thereby increase the egg-producing factor (the queens) 

 one-fourth, and the probabilities are that instead of having 

 less bees, there would be an actual gain." To increase the 

 egg-producing factor one-fourth, while maintaining in theory 

 the same number of eggs, is of course neither a loss nor a gain 

 (if queens, and extra hives and labor, are supposed to cost 

 nothing). Why should there be an actual gain in practice ? 

 Is the question. Apparently because the proportion of bees 

 to hive capacity is not as invariably upheld in large hives as 

 in small ones. May not this be due to the large portion of 

 partially-developed colonies, when swarming is allowed ? I 

 wonder if we have not been at fault in including the records 

 of swarms of the previous year, in getting at the capacity of 

 that "average Italian queen " before the flow. 



And right there is where Dr. Miller's point comes in 

 again. If the queen in an 8-frame hive comes nearer to fill- 

 ing up the 8 frames with brood than she would 10 frames, 

 the probabilities are that she would crowd 6 frames still 

 closer ; and, if we only leave out the one item of warmth, she 

 might run 4 frames a little closer yet. Very well, then ; from 

 that point of view, perhaps Scylla and Charybdis are wider 

 apart than we thought — perhaps arrested development, com- 

 bined with a too flat chamber, was what made the just medium 

 halt at 8 frames— if the 6-frame is not Scylla, perhaps the 

 10-frame is not Charybdis — and one more reason for doing 

 away with swarming. 



In other words, the next thing in order is contributions 

 detailing observed facts relating to the maintenance or non- 

 maintenance of the proper proportion of population of estab- 

 lished colonies in big hives ; and, as there is a scarcity of 

 data on that point (so few really large hives in the country), 

 perhaps it would be well to not regard the small-hive testi- 

 mony as overwhelming just yet. To put it still more con- 

 cretely, is there a larger percentage of colonies which, after 

 living in big hives three or four years, only about two-thirds 

 fill the hive with bees, than there is of such colonies in small 

 hives ? 



If disputants would fight it out on that line (with due re- 

 gard for locality), instead of wasting powder on questions 

 like, "Are eight Laugstroth frames enough for the average 



queen ?" it would be more to the purpose. Much depends 

 upon the statement of issues. Experience is useless unless 

 rightly interpreted. 



Is IT AN Objection? — On page 239, Mr. W. C. Frazier 

 says the most serious objection to thellH-inch depth for a 

 comb is that it breaks and melts down easily. How serious 

 the objection is he does not say. But it may be doubted 

 whether "serious" properly describes the objection, when the 

 Dadant frame is in common use in Italy (a warm country), 

 Prance, and Switzerland, often unwired, and we hear nothing 

 of complaints on that score. 



The Ends of the Frames. — On page 101, Mr. Abbott 

 says : "The place for the ends of the frames is inside the box 

 that forms the brood-chamber." As there is a hive with pro- 

 jecting frame-ends on the market, to which not one of the 

 objections applies which he gives, it would seem that that 

 statement ought not to be made a general one. 



Patent Hives. — Just at the close of the moth-trap era. 

 and other contrivances alluded to by Quinby in his book, it 

 might have been " pretty generally understood that all patent 

 hives are humbugs" (see page 151). But the world has 

 moved since then. 



Colorado Winters. — Mr. Abbott is quite right in doubt- 

 ing the " mildness " of Colorado winters, on page 90. The 

 word "mild" requires too much careful explanation after 

 people get here. 



Colorado Alfalfa Region. — On page 183, "the alfalfa 

 regions of Colorado " as a place to produce honey should not 

 be understood to mean about Denver, or anywhere where 

 there are plenty of bee-keepers already. There is consider- 

 able complaint of overstocking. 



The Divisible Brood-Chamber. — On page 229, if it had 

 been shown that no more brood is produced in the divisible 

 brood-chamber hive than in others of the same depth ; and 

 that it does no particular good to eliminate the strip of honey 

 intervening between brood and sections ; and that other hives 

 can be handled with no more work, this hive would have been 

 killed a good deal " deader." Arvada, Colo. 



Results of Experiments ia Winteriag Bees. 



BY HON. R. L. TAYLOR. 



The last mentioned experiment is of more than ordinary 

 interest and importance on account of the fact that the ablest 

 and most experienced bee-keepers are divided in their opinions 

 as to the chief cause of the dysenteric ailment brought on dur- 

 ing confinement in winter; one party attributing it to im- 

 proper food, and another to super-abundant moisture. The 

 colonies selected for the experiment were taken indifferently 

 from the apiary and did not differ greatly from the others 

 either in quality of their stores, or in their numerical strength, 

 except that it would have been difficult to have found another 

 colony in the apiary as weak as No. 1, unless it might be 

 among the four or five abnormal colonies. 



I have already alluded to the use of a hygrometer in the 

 bee-cellar during the winter to determine the degree of mois- 

 ture in the air, and it should be said in addition that it showed 

 almost uniformly a difference of one-half a degree between the 

 dry-bulb and the wet-bulb at a temperature of 43-' to 45° 

 (which was generally that of the cellar), indicating that the 

 percentage of saturation was about 96, lacking only about 4 

 per cent, of complete saturation. 



In the case of thecolonies under consideration no effort 

 was made to determine the degree of saturation of the air im- 

 mediately surrounding them by the use of an instrument, the 

 advisability of that course not having been suggested early 

 enough to allow suitable arrangements to be made for that 

 purpose, but all the indications were that the saturation of 

 the air was complete. 



The cover used for the top hive was a flat board several 

 inches wider and longer than the hives, purposely chosen of 

 that size that it might serve to hold the wet sheet free from 

 the hives. It was raised a little from the hiye by the inser- 

 tion of thin strips, and it was found on the removal of the 

 sheet on April 8, to be loaded as heavily as possible on its un- 

 der side with great drops of water which fairly poured off 

 when one edge of the cover was raised a little. 



The covers of No. 3 and No. 5, which were also raised 



