Tmm mjmMmi€MM mmw j^wmmmiu^. 



87 



witli biace-fombs, and fill in with 

 honey. The bee-keeper now thinks of 

 interchanging the sections and bringing 

 the brood to the top, bnt finds a strong 

 lever is reijuired to pry the hives apart. 

 He quickly finds he can neither inter- 

 change the jjarts nor close the hives 

 without killing hundreds of bees. They 

 pile upon the broken sui-faces, and a 

 smoker is required in order to cut 

 away the honey. 



If robbers are troublesome, it be- 

 comes a serious matter, and the bee- 

 keeper soon gives up the intei-chang- 

 ing business as a bad job. It seems 

 that bees do not build brace-combs to 

 the same extent between whole brood- 

 chambers, tiered one upon the other, 

 as between these shallow cases. After 

 all, there is no advantage from inter- 

 changing the sectional parts, since the 

 bees will carry the brood upward and 

 breed just as rapidly where no inter- 

 changing is done, as where it is. As 

 the season advances, the bees put all 

 the honey, or nearly all, in the upper 

 case, so that the whole brood-chamber 

 is required for winter. 



The "shake-out" function is a good 

 deal easier to talk about than to carry 

 out in practice. With black bees and 

 a little smoking it may be done, as it 

 does not take much shaking to get 

 them out. With Italians, Syrians and 

 Cyprians, it is a very difficult matter, 

 and the bee-keeper is easily persuaded 

 not to ti-y it again, r^ ; i ] 



Finally, sectional bi'ood-chanibers 

 are objectionable because of the extra 

 expense of so much rigging for the 

 amount of honey they contain, and 

 there are no advantages to compensate 

 for the extra cost. 



The sectional, or storifying hive, will 

 be the hive of the future. By this I 

 do not mean a hive with a sectional 

 brood-chamber, for one of the parts of 

 such a hive is only half as large as the 

 standard brood-chamber, whose ca- 

 pacity, as fixed by Fathers Langstroth 

 and Quinby, is 2,000 cubic inches of 

 space, which will contain, in suspended 

 brood-frames, about 1,.350 square 

 inches of comb. I have already shown 

 that the half of such a brood-chamber 

 is too small to be of any practical use 

 by itself. Nothing less tlian a capacity 

 for 800 square inches of brood-comb 

 is deserving the name of brood-cham- 

 ber, and such a one may be success- 

 fully used. I mean instead, a hive 

 made up of two, three, or more brood- 

 chambers tiered up one upon the other, 

 or, as our English brethren term it, 

 " storified." As this lattei- term is 

 more elegant and expressive, I shall 

 u.se it. 



"Storifying hives" have many ad- 

 vantages over other kinds of hives. I 

 have no doubt that the popularity of 

 the Simplicity hives is due more to 



this one feature than any other. We 

 have had them in use in this country 

 for many years, but it is only within 

 the last few jears that we have fully 

 apj)reciated this admirable function. 

 It is highly significant that our Eng- 

 lish friends are placing so much stress 

 upon this point. Of late they have 

 given no premiums to any but storify- 

 ing hives. 



In this connection I have but one 

 suggestion to make, and I have done. 

 It is, that, if the Simplicity hives were 

 cut down to take a 7-inch brood-cham- 

 ber, it would be nearly perfect as a 

 storifying hive. It would then be just 

 right for a swarm with a ()ueen-ex- 

 cluding honey-board ; it would be just 

 right for wintering, and it could be 

 " storified " at any time in the work- 

 ing season, to make a large hive ac- 

 cording to the necessities of the bee- 

 keeper. Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



H. R. Boarmau — I have made and 

 used sections and supers 5 inches deep 

 before I ever heard of such things. 



A. I. Root spoke of queens laying in 

 a circle, and thought that deeper 

 frames like the Langstroth, were more 

 desirable than sectional ones, on that 

 account. 



H. R. Boardmau — I have known a 

 cross-bar in the centre of a comb, to 

 stop the queen from laying on the 

 opposite side. I cannot look favorably 

 upon the sectional hive ; perhaps from 

 prejudice, but I think not. 



The Secretary — I used a sectional 

 hive la.st season, but I find enough dis- 

 advantages to deter me from changing 

 the present mode for it. 



E. R. Root — What about the thumb- 

 screws ? Is there not a difficulty in 

 the manipulation of frames ? 



Dr. Tinker — I find no trouble to 

 manipulate Heddon's frames, after 

 getting the first one out ; but, fre- 

 quently, that is quite difficult. 



Dr. Mason — I do not think that the 

 sectional brood-chamber is a practical 

 success. I like to have my frames so 

 that I can lift them out and look at 

 them. What are the advantages of 

 reversing ? 



Dr. Tinker — Th<; only advantage of 

 reversing, is to get the frames tilled 

 with comb ; if not tilled, queen-cells 

 will be built at the bottom, during 

 swarming time ; liut if filled, they will 

 be built along the centre. 



E. R. Root — I think it quite an ad- 

 vantage to have full frames of comb. 



A. S. Goodrich — I have had experi- 

 ence with full frames ; used wired 

 frames, and let the foundation come 

 to the bottom-bar. 



H. R. Boardmau — Comb fastened at 

 the sides, is sufficient for extracting. 



A. S. Goodrich — If three sides fast- 

 ened, make the combs quite secure, 



will not four sides fastened make them 

 more so ? 



Dr. Tinker — I like to have the combs 

 fastened to the bottom-bar nearly the 

 whole length, leaving holes enough for 

 the bees to crawl through. 



G. R. Morris — When the foundation 

 is fastened to the bottom-bar, the bees 

 cut it out. 



H. R. Hoardnian — I do not want 

 combs fasten(!d to the bottom-bar, as 

 the combs will be sure to sag or bulge 

 just above the bar. Reversing the 

 brood-chamber is entirely impractic- 

 able. In reversing in hot weather the 

 comb would be soft and drop over. 



Dr. Tinker — I can reverse brood- 

 chambers in April, and have the 

 frames tilled without danger of falling 

 over. 



Henry Bates — I want the combs down 

 to the bottom-bars, and no wires. 



Dr. Mason — Do you run for comb 

 honey ? 



Henry Bates — Yes. 



Dr. Mason — You have no experi- 

 ence then in handling combs ? 



Adjourned to 1:30 p.m. 



The afternoon session was called to 

 order by President Root, and the topic 

 for discussion was, 



Bce-Keeptiig In Connection ^vltta other 

 Pursuits. 



Frank A. Eaton led the discussion 

 as follows : 



Bee-keeping as a pursuit is of such 

 magnitude, and requires so much at- 

 tention and thought, that to couple it 

 successfully with other avocations, re- 

 quires rare business qualities and 

 good judgment. The question as 

 stated leaves it open, as to whether 

 bee-keeping shall have the dignity of 

 business, or be simply an adjunct, or a 

 recreation. I take it that the question 

 this convention chooses to consider 

 is the keeping of bees in such num- 

 bers as to raise it above a mere play 

 thing. 



To keep bees at all, means time and 

 work, and as the number of colonies 

 increase, so must the other business be 

 neglected, and those professions and 

 callings which aftbrd and give the 

 most time and leisure are the best 

 suited to go hand in hand with bee- 

 keepiijg. 



Perhaps the gi'eatest and best idea 

 of how bee-keeping can be carried on 

 in connection with another pursuit 

 would be to cite ray own case. I 

 manage from 75 to 150 colonies of bees 

 each season ; they require my entire 

 time and attention, from March until 

 October. I prepare my hives, sec- 

 tions, and in fact make all prepara- 

 tions for the busy sea.son during March 

 and April, as I ship bees and queens, 

 beginning liy May 1. 



I also run my ai)iary for both comb 

 and extracted honey (principally 



