1090 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



that the so-called standard -goods crowd have 

 made to keep theirs at the front. In proof of 

 this I refer any one to the back numbers of 

 bee-journals and catalogs issued by these 

 tirms during the past several years. 



Third, Mr. Dadant says that, if he judges 

 by the amount of foundation made for the 

 shallow hives, there are but few of them in 

 use. Now, if I judge by the same standard, 

 I can say that there are no Dadant hives in 

 use, save those that Mr. D. himself uses, for 

 I know of very few who make much of that 

 special size of foundation. However, I do 

 not think such an argument at all valid, for 

 the reason that I know of many shallow-hive 

 users who split standard sheets in two and 

 make two nice full sheets for this size of 

 frames; in fact, I have always used founda- 

 tion in this way. Besides, 1 am sure there 

 are quite a few who use home-made founda- 

 tion. 



Fourth, Mr. Dadant admits that the shal- 

 low hive is easier to handle and trans- 

 port than the deep one; but he says he does 

 not move hives — would as soon think of mov- 

 ing a house as a hive. This would be all 

 right for you, Mr. D., but all wrong for most 

 of us. I have always regarded mobility as a 

 very valuable point in favor of any hive, and 

 that conviction has been a good deal strength- 

 ened by studying the many mechanical de- 

 vices for lifting and handling heavy hives 

 that have lately been shown in the bee- jour- 

 nals, and whole apiaries are moved now and 

 then. 



Fifth, Mr. Dadant admits that foundation 

 is easier put in frames of the shallow kind, 

 but says he puts in foundation but once in 

 30 years. This is true in his case; but there 

 are many, especially in the South, who cut 

 out honey in chunks to sell as bulk comb 

 honey. How about these? Besides, combs 

 often must be cut out for various reasons. 

 But granted that a man needs to do a thing 

 but once in life, is that any reason for mak- 

 ing it as hard as possible to perform? 



Sixth, Mr. Dadant does not I'elish the idea 

 of shaking out an entire colony in order to 

 tiud the queen. Neither do I; but I seldom 

 need to find a queen in order to know wheth- 

 er or not she is failing; and when I want to 

 supersede one I never go to the trouble to 

 hunt her up. I have a better way of doing 

 it. But no one would need to shake out all 

 the bees in a hive in order to find a queen. 

 When I need to find one, which is not often, 

 I can do it quite as quickly as can the deep- 

 hive advocates. 



Seventh, Mr. Dadant does not like the idea 

 of helping a weak colony by giving a full 

 story of brood and honey from a strong one. 

 He prefers a more gradual help. Let us 

 compare methods, and then leave it to the 

 intelligent unbiased mind to decide which is 

 easier and better. Mr. D. gives a full comb of 

 brood to a colony already too weak to cover 

 and protect what their own queen can pro- 

 duce. Result, they contract into a still more 

 compact cluster, and egg-laying is stopped 

 for a time at least; neither do any field-bees 

 fly out on cold days to gather new honey and 



pollen. With my method I leave all weak 

 stocks alone just as they come through the 

 winter, only seeing that they have plenty of 

 stores; and as soon as settled warm weather 

 comes, and my best colonies are fixing to 

 swarm, I select four or five frames of hatch- 

 ing Ijrood with some empty combs, and place 

 over these weak ones. Thus I make them 

 all up to a standard strength; for by this 

 time, all unaided, these weaklings have reach- 

 ed a fair degree of strength, and the brood 

 given at once put them into honey-gathering 

 condition, and at one operation, without the 

 risk of chilling any brood or wasting any 

 undue amount of time; and the strong colo- 

 nies never miss the bit of brood taken from 

 them. In fact, it is a help to them, for it 

 keeps back swarming until the honey-flow is 

 at hand, when, of course, they do not swarm 

 in this locality. Now, which is the better 

 for the large honey-producer — this making 

 full strong colonies at one operation, or a 

 slow nursing process that involves the open- 

 ing of the hive several times, with all the 

 consequent risks? 



Eighth, Mr. Dadant says he gets more 

 brood in his deep hives. Near me are a few 

 Dadant hives bought from Mr. D. himself, so 

 they must be the simon-pure kind. For a 

 number of yeai's I have had opportunity to 

 observe the bees in these hives, and here is 

 what I have invariably found: When my 

 other colonies were strong, occupying five 

 and six shallow bodies, with from 25 to 30 

 combs of brood, these Dadant hives had about 

 five frames of brood with two solid slabs of 

 honey and pollen at the sides, and about two 

 inches of honey next to the top-bar in all the 

 frames, thus reducing the actual brood space 

 to about five frames. On top they usually 

 had a section-case in which were half enough 

 bees to work it. If there was any honey 

 coming in, this has been the condition of ev- 

 ery deep hive I ever examined in my life, 

 and I have owned and used several different 

 kinds by the hundreds. 



Ninth, Mr. Dadant admits that the circu- 

 lar style of egg-laying is not maintained 

 when warm weather comes; but he attributes 

 it to the wrong cause. He says the bees put 

 honey and pollen here and thei'e, and thus 

 break up the harmony of brood-laying. I 

 think it is due to the fact that the queen has 

 filled the lower chamber, and the colony has 

 developed to such an extent that brood is as 

 easily and naturally reared in one part of 

 the hive as another. To form a brood- nest 

 in any part of a tiered-up hive, only three 

 conditions are necessary: First, heat; second, 

 plenty of bees of all ages; third, empty comb. 

 Given these three conditions, the bees make 

 all the harmony they ever need. 



In closing I wish to thank Mr. Dadant for 

 the kind manner in which he has admitted 

 most of my claims in favor of the shallow 

 hive and frames, but I also want to say that 

 I think he is a little unfair in trying to min- 

 imize the effect of these several admissions 

 and also by striving to compare our modern 

 shallow hives with antiquated ekes. 



Vigo, Texas. 



