1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



631 



is too much blind following of those who write for the bee- 

 papers, amongst the rank and file of bee-keepers, without try- 

 ing to originate some thoughts and plans of their own, and 

 something that is just suited to the locality in which they find 

 themselves. Every person having bees, or, for that matter, 

 anyone following any pursuit in life, should have some 

 thoughts of. his own — thoughts which will lead him out in 

 all directions from the beaten path of those gone on before, 

 and in this way help to lift up the avocation which we have 

 chosen, to a higher plane. We should not be a machine, but 

 the -master of a machine, or of anything else we may take hold 

 of. So, when we find ourselves confronted with the swarming 

 problem, or any other, we should master it, if it "takes all 

 summer," and do it by our own planning, or the modifying of 

 some plan that we have read or heard about. In this way we 

 will grow, and by telling others how we do it, through some of 

 the mediums which we have for the exchange of thought to- 

 day, we will help some one else to grow, and thus we shall be 

 of mutual benefit to each other, just as the All-Wise Father 

 designed we should be, and be lifting this old world up to 

 where God designed it to stand — to where His will should be 

 "done in earth as it is in heaven." But to return. 



When a swarm issues, and while it is out in the air or 

 clustered, go to the hive from which it came, and take out all 

 the frames of brood and put in their places frames of empty 

 comb, frames filled with foundation, or frames having starters 

 In them, as is best pleasing to you, returning the surplus 

 arrangement on the hive as it was before, and if the swarm 

 is a large one, it is well to give additional room by way of 

 another set of sections. When this is done, hive the swarm 

 back in the same hive, or let it return if the queen has her 

 wing clipped. 



Set tiie frames of brood, with the adhering bees, in a hive 

 on a new stand and in 24 hours give a maturing queen-cell or 

 a queen, according to what you can supply. This should sat- 

 isfy any colony, but if the swarm on the old stand should per- 

 sist in swarming in from ten days to two weeks, then I would 

 cage the queen for a few days, according to circumstances, 

 when she is to be released, after cutting all queen-cells. This 

 is on the plan of doubling our colonies each year. 



If I wished no increase, then I would put on a queen-ex- 

 cluder after putting in the frames below, and on top of this I 

 would place the hive containing the frames of brood (which 

 was to be set on a new stand in the plan given above) while 

 on top of this last I would put the surplus arrangement that 

 was on the hive when the swarm issued. This should do away 

 with all further swarming, but it results in filling these combs 

 which now have the brood in them, with honey, which must 

 be extracted, while it lessens our crop of section honey just 

 that much. Where any can make it pay to feed back ex- 

 tracted honey to have it stored in sections, as some claim they 

 can, then the amount of section honey need not be materially 

 lessened ; or, if we live in a locality where our bees are liable 

 to be short of stores in the fall, these frames of honey would 

 be just the thing to give the bees to winter upon. Being sure 

 of plenty of stores to winter on each year is one of the things 

 which gives pleasure to most bee-keepers, for the having of 

 nearly empty combs with winter staring the bees in the face 

 is something not enjoyable to any apiculturist. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Some Experieuces with Large Hives. 



BY BEV. L. L. LANGSTROTH. 



Some years before my health, and the death of my son in 

 1872, compelled me to dispose of my apiary, I had a dozen 

 Langstroth hives made, each containing 13 frames in the 

 lower story. The supers held some 18 frames. These hives 

 were used mainly for extracting. I liked them better than 

 the 10-frame hives. They were sold to Mr. Wm. McCord, my 

 next door neighbor, the bees having been removed from them. 



These extra-large hives remained in constant use by Mr. 

 McCord until his death, less than a year ago. During all this 

 time I had many opportunities to examine them, and I was 

 satisfied that they were more profitable on the average than 

 the 10-frame hive, which out-numbered them in his apiary. I 

 used them only one season for comb honey. The honey crop 

 that year was a poor one, but if it had been a good one, I do 

 not think that I should have liked them for comb honey, and I 

 did not use them long enough for extracting to fully establish 

 their superiority over the smaller size. 



Eleven of the frames were usually well filled with brood 

 by the time when the honey harvest began. Mr. Wm. McCord 

 was a very cautious bee-keeper. He seldom extracted from 

 the lower story, and in a fair season he usually had more 



honey below than he needed for safe wintering, and he often 

 nsed this surplus to supply such of his colonies in 10-frame 

 hives as were deficient in stores. 



His brother David, who lived next to him, was also a skill- 

 ful bee-keeper, and usually had many more colonies than 

 William — all of which were kept in smaller hives — some hold- 

 ing ten and some nine frames. 



I left Oxford, Ohio, in 1887, andgenerally, either by visits 

 or letters, knew how the McCord bees prospered. I was so 

 well persuaded that the large hives were more profitable, in 

 Oxford, for extracted honey, that just before my last spell of 

 head trouble I purchased two of these large hives well stocked 

 with bees, for my own use, to be kept in the apiary of a Day- 

 ton friend. McCord did not wish to part with them, and 

 charged a proportionate price for them. 



I give these facts for what they are worth, and by no 

 means as settling the question so much argued, as to the 

 proper size of hives. Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 19, 1895. 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



Dadant's Hives. — On page 607, R. Dart says I'm trying 

 to poke fun at everybody. Now just to pay you for saying 

 that, Bro. Dart, I'm going to poke fun at you for saying that 

 Dadant uses the 10-frame hive. Why, bless your heart ! a 

 10-frame hive would not begin to do him. He uses the Quinby 

 frame, and it would take at least a 12-frame hive of Lang- 

 stroth pattern to equal his hives in capacity. In the discus- 

 sion as to 8 and 10 frame hives, the Dadants have had very 

 little to say, for they are both too small. I hereby challenge 

 them to show cause why they should use hives of such unrea- 

 sonable size, under penalty of being shipped back to France 

 should they fail. 



Pbesekving Combs From Moths. — Dr. Gallup says on 

 page 599: " Now if anyone has a better method than the 

 above to preserve combs from the moth, trot it out." Well, 

 Doctor, in most cases it's a better plan to leave them in the 

 care of the bees. Unless the number of idle combs greatly ex- 

 ceeds the number of those needed by the bees, they can easily 

 take care of them at any time when it is warm enough for the 

 moth to do harm, unless it be during the honey harvest when 

 working for comb honey. But at that time one will not have 

 long to wait to have them all in use for swarms or nuclei. 



J. B. Hall and Thick Top-Babs. — I'm glad to see that 

 the Canadians have put at the head of the Ontario Associa- 

 tion that very practical bee-keeper, J. B. Hall. When the 

 North American met at Toronto twelve years ago, Mr. Hall 

 had very little to say in the convention, but at the Pair, where 

 he had some exhibits, I had a really good visit with him, and 

 it was then that for the first time I saw his top-bars one inch 

 thick. Thick top-bars have become popular since then, and 

 I'd very much like to know where Mr. Hall first got the idea, 

 or whether he made it up out of his own head. He's such a 

 turtle in his shell that it's hard to get him to say anything in 

 print, but perhaps if I should call him names and get him 

 mad he might tell. Say, you Canuck I you Johnny Bull I 

 you're no better than you ought to be. Stick your head out of 

 your shell long enough for me to get a crack at you, and own 

 up from whom you stole the Idea of a thick top-bar. 



One Bke-Book or More? — I've just a little doubt as to the 

 wisdom of throwing about promiscuously the advice of Bro. 

 Abbott on page 602. He is sure that beginners should not 

 have more than one good bee-book or paper, as more would 

 only confuse. I know there's something in the fact that if 

 one had a bee-book that gave specific instruction for a certain 

 course of action, it would be less confusing than to have 

 another whose teachings should conflict. If there is no con- 

 flict of teaching, then certainly there is an advantage in hav- 

 ing more than one book, for tlie same thing being presented 

 with a different wording might be a little more easily under- 

 stood than with only one presentation. But suppose there is 

 conflict. In that case the supposition is that at the point of 

 conflict one book is better than the other. If the beginner 

 can be sure that he has the book that is best at all points of 

 conflict, then he would better have only one, so far as that is 

 concerned. But one book may be best at one point and the 

 other at another, so to get what is best at all points he needs 

 more than one. If the beginner is ever to have more than one 

 book, he must use his judgment in deciding what is best for 

 himself, and it may be as well for him to begin using that 

 judgment at the start. 



With regard to the bee-paper, I don't see the least reason 



