790 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 12, 



cells the queen has at her disposal. This is less than half of 

 the quantity actually counted by Dubinl as one day's laying. 



A German bee-keeper, who favors small hives, wrote not 

 long ago, that the queens, after having laid eggs for about 

 two weeks, are in the habit of resting five to six days at a 

 time. He had noticed this several times. This fact is easily 

 explained in small hives ; the queen stops because she finds 

 herself short of empty cells. In fact, it often happens, early 

 in the spring (in April at this latitude), that the laying is very 

 much retarded by cold weather, sometimes almost entirely 

 stopped, because the bees are unable to go out in search of 

 pollen or of water, which they need in quantity, water never 

 being stored ahead. The queen is fed more sparingly; the 

 oldest larvaj hatch out readily, making room for more egg- 

 laying. Thus when the bad weather is at an end, the trees 

 beginning to open their buds, the queen's egg-laying re-com- 

 niences with great energy. The queen has soon caught up — 

 filled all the empty cells — she is then forced to wait until the 

 first eggs laid at the close of the bad weather have hatched 

 out. Thanks to our large hi^es, we have never had a chance 

 to notice such an interruption in the laying, during good 

 weather, in the busy laying season. 



It is only since I came to the United States that I have 

 been ajjie to appreciate the large hives. Although having ex- 

 perienced a great liking for bees ever since I was a child, as 

 the hives which they used then were the old style of straw 

 skeps, none of these were large enough to give me the least 

 suspicion that there might be some profit in aggrandizing 

 them, except with supers for harvesting the crop. My atten- 

 tion was called to this subject about 32 years ago, after my 

 arrival in America. One of my countrymen, whom I visited 

 on my landing in Illinois, had seven box-hives in a corner of 

 his yard. 



One of those hives was a huge box, made with boards, IS 

 inches in diameter, and two feet high. The hive was so old 

 that the sap-wood had rotted out, and one could see the combs 

 along one side, from top to bottom. This hive had contained 

 bees, they told me, for over 20 years, had swarmed but little, 

 and was still inhabited by the descendant of the first swarm 

 that had been hived in it. Its population had always wintered 

 successfully, in spite of the crack I have mentioned, which, in 

 the later years, had exposed the bees to the cold, and yet 

 smaller colonies had been hived and had died by its side for a 

 number of years. This convinced me — as it would have con- 

 vinced most of my readers^that bees, in this climate, winter 

 better in large hives than in small ones. The old age of its 

 combs also convinced me that the French idea, that combs five 

 or six years old are worthless, was a great delusion. Thanks 

 to Progress, the French have gotten over this delusion as 

 thoroughly as our American bee-keepers, and they are also 

 bravely getting over that other delusion, that small hives are 

 best. Hamilton, III. 



{To be continued.) 



Does a Poor Yield Imply Overstocking ? 



BY F. L. THOMPSON. 



I wish Dr. Miller, in one of his future "Thinks," would 

 tell us how he knows when there is a poor yield ; that the 

 season is not almost wholly responsible for it instead of the 

 number of bees in the locality. If he can give instances of 

 overstocking in average localities in seasons of a good flow of 

 nectar, he has a good case ; but if overstocking is generally 

 complained of in poor seasons, does not that tend to show that 

 the flowers rather than the bees are to blame 1 I believe Mr. 

 Carlzen's locality is overstocked, for any one going through 

 and around Montclair would see very few blossoms. But his 

 locality is exceptional. In an average locality, in a poor sea- 

 son, the blossoms themselves are out in full force. It is the 

 nectar that is scanty. In a good season there may be no more 

 blossoms to visit than in a poor one. Isn't there something 

 shaky about the idea that the bees crowd one another on the 

 blossoms more in a poor season than in a good one? At any 

 rate, my experience, as given in my former article, is confirmed 

 by an item quoted with approval by Mr. Heddon from Mr. 

 James M. Martin, in the Bee-Keepers' Review for 1891, page 

 326 ; " When the season is poor for 200 colonies, it is poor 

 for four, and when good for 200, it is good for 600, all in one 

 yard." 



As to the "uncertain tenure by which the bee-keeper 

 holds his ground," that depends upon the assumption that a 

 poor season would be a good one if fewer colonies were kept, 

 which does not seem to be proven. It doesn't worry me, any- 

 how. If poor seasons are made worse, and good ones poor, 

 by overstocking, the non-specialists and side-issue farmers 



will give up the field in disgust long before the specialists 

 cease to make money with their plans of utilizing or prevent- 

 ing swarming, and the time and ability to carry them out. 

 The evil will cure itself. Last season I kept exact account of 

 the proceeds in cash of a lot of 15 colonies, whose swarms 

 were returned by Mr. Lyman's plan — (Vol. 34, page 211). 

 They averaged .S2.56 net. Another lot, which for reasons 

 which need not be mentioned had to be managed in the old 

 way — old colonies not removed, second swarms allowed, etc. — 

 netted less than a dollar apiece, value of swarms included. 

 Both lots were in the same yard, and under the same condi- 

 tions. But what farmer would want to bother himself by 

 doing things just exactly at the right time ? (!) 



I do not wish to be understood as favoring excessive com- 

 petition, in "coming parlous near saying the bee-keeper 

 needn't pay any attention to the warning after he has once 

 started in with a few colonies." " Competition is the life of 

 trade," and, "There is always room on top," are both maxims 

 which at times are misleading, if not unjust, to the 90 per 

 cent., who fail in business. But I do say that the non-spe- 

 cialist should yield first. At present, there seems to be little 

 danger of more crowding in the honey-business than in any 

 other, by specialists, who should not be unjustly discriminated 

 by law in favor of those who have other resources to fall back 

 on. A specialist, moreover, will not be likely to make much 

 trouble in overstocking, just because he understands his busi- 

 ness. He knows that if he should do so, his actions would re- 

 coil against himself. The numerous small bee-keepers would 

 be the ones mainly responsible for overstocking, just as they 

 are for foul brood. Arvada, Colo. 



^ 



What Dr. Miller Thinks. 



Amalgamation. — I don't know whether it will do any 

 good to discuss the proposed Constitution, published on page 

 757. It can probably be voted upon by the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union only in the form given, as there isn't time to make any 

 changes. It's a good deal easier to find fault than to propose 

 the remedy, nevertheless for the sake of the future it may be 

 well to heed the editor's hint as to "suggestions and discus- 

 sion." 



Article I, provides that notice of annual meetings be given 

 in the bee-papers and also mailed to members. Isn't it un- 

 necessary expense to mail notice of a thing published in the 

 bee-papers? 



There is lack of specific mention as to when and where 

 the annual election is to be held, only the ofiBcers are to be 

 " elected by ballot," the ballots " printed and mailed by Dec. 

 1," " and the polls shall close on the last day of December." 

 Putting those items together, and remembering what has been 

 the practice in the Union, the supposition is that the ballots 

 are to be sent to the Secretary. Very decidely that's objec- 

 tionable. Indeed, that sort of voting can hardly be called 

 voting by ballot, for one of the objects of the ballot is to 

 secure " secrecy and liberty." Certainly, there's no secrecy, 

 and the average voter will not feel the same degree of liberty 

 when he sends an open vote to one of the officers to be elected. 

 I think it's hardly necessary to argue the matter ; and any 

 one can see the objection. The remedy is another matter. 



Article IV provides that an extra assessment may be made 

 each year. I think the Bee-Keepers' Union never felt a neces- 

 sity for anything of the kind, and I believe the necessity is 

 much less now than formerly. Why keep out members by put- 

 ting in such a thing ? 



Provision was made in the Bee-Keepers' Union against 

 receiving members who should come into the society after get- 

 ting into trouble about their bees, and it was a wise provision. 

 No insurance company would insure a building after it had 

 burned down, and then pay for its loss. Is no safeguard of 

 the kind needed for the new organization ? 



I am bound to say that the Constitution seems to be much 

 more objectionable than when I first read it over, and it is 

 very unfortunate, to put it mildly, that the committee ap- 

 pointed Sept. 6 should have made their report so as to see the 

 light not till 12 weeks later, with no possible opportunity for 

 amendment or effective discussion before being voted on. [See 

 page 797. — Editor.] 



Age of Bees. — G. W. Demaree thinks the bees which re- 

 fused to rear or accept a queen could not have done so because 

 "too old," because many a queenless colony in spring had 

 acted all right. (See page 758.) Those queenless bees in 

 spring had outlived by several weeks the stubborn ones, and 

 yet in one sense they were younger, for a bee is understood by 

 many to grow old only as it becomes old through labor. Any- 



