1919 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



163 



cient for a colony of hungry bees. 

 Not so far different from the few 

 ounces now sometimes advocated as 

 daily food. This putting man's labor 

 in the place of bees' labor may 

 gratify the pride of some folks, but 

 personally I prefer to let the bees 

 work for me, and not me for them. 



Mr. Quinby and his disciples be- 

 lieved in giving the bees sufficient 

 room to rear, provision and house a 

 goodly population, and while keeping 

 an eye to the surplus yield, they be- 

 lieved in letting the bees store and 

 keep a full larder. That well-stocked 

 larder is one of the important fac- 

 tors in making and keeping the col- 

 ony strong. That store of honey in 

 the brood-nest acts on the colony as 

 does the "governor" on a steam en- 

 gine ; it keeps the operation steady 

 and uniform to meet the varying load. 



One thing which engaged Mr. Quin- 

 by's earnest attention was the size 

 of the hive brood-chamber. All writ- 

 ers of his and earlier days were 

 widely at variance and he found it 

 necessary to make his own observa- 

 tions and deductions. The size he 

 settled on was approximately 18xl5x 

 11 inches inside, and his frames were 

 18x11 (fractions omitted) and spaced 

 V/z inches between centers. And this 

 size is used by the Dadants, and the 

 Jumbo frame is, for all practical pur- 

 poses, the same. 



Just now there is again a discussion 

 of hive sizes, comb area, etc., and 

 with the light which the investiga- 

 tions of Dr. Phillips and Mr. Demuth 

 and their associates have shed on the 

 internal conditions of the colony in 

 winter, together with their discov- 

 eries on the heat-producing methods 

 and digestive limitations, we have un- 

 disputable evidence on which to 

 work. It should result in dissipating 

 some of the erroneous opinions and 

 prejudices we now hold. 



To realize that there is a wide rec- 

 ognition of the need of large brood- 

 nests we have but to look at the in- 

 creasing use of Jumbo hives and the 

 advocacy of two Langstroth cham- 

 bers. But the latter practice has its 

 disadvantages, for it gives too much 

 comb area, and in the wrong direc- 

 tion, also it calls for much of that 

 expense article "manipulation" and 

 much increases the capital invested. 



As to comb areas and capacities the 

 following figures are instructive. As- 

 suming a frame full of worker-comb 

 the cell numbers of different sized 

 frames are as follows : 



An L has 6,700, 10—67,000, 20— 

 134,000. 



A lumbo has 8,500, 10—85,000, 20— 

 170,000. 



But there is another point beside 

 the number of cells, to-wit, the stor- 

 age capacity ("cubic inches) for food, 

 and there is a great difference in this 

 respect between combs spaced 1^6 

 inches between centers and those 

 spaced l'X inches. When combs are 

 used for brood they are the same 

 thickness (seven-eighths of an inch) 

 regardless of spacing, but when used 

 for stores, thickness increases as 

 spacing increases. 



The following table gives a fair ap- 

 proximation of the storage capacity 

 of combs. 



An "L" spaced lj4 has 117 cubic 

 inches. 



An "L" spaced \ l / 2 has 134 cubic 

 inches. 



A "Jumbo" spaced \y% has 149 cubic 

 inches. 



A "Jumbo" spaced \ l / 2 has 170 cubic 

 inches. 



It will be well to keep in mind all 

 numbers (brood capacity; and cubic 

 inches (storage capacity) when con- 

 sidering sizes, spacing and numbers 

 of frames and whether you will use 

 two stories, or single stories and 

 wider hives. 



And if you are going to experiment 

 with wider hives let me make a few 

 suggestions which may save you a lot 

 of loss. Make your hives wide 

 enough so you can keep outer combs 

 one-quarter inch away from hive 

 sides. When not so offset, the outer 

 surfaces of the outer combs are rare- 

 ly used for brood, and will hold but 

 half, or less, of the normal amount 

 of stores. In other words, one whole 

 comb is sacrificed. A good general 

 rule to determine hive width is to 

 make the inside width one inch wider 

 than the aggregate width of the 

 frames to be used in it, measuring 

 the frames when new. Soon after 

 the bees occupy the new hive the 

 frames begin to swell and later pro- 

 polis is stuck in. Strips of wood 

 one-quarter inch thick are nailed on 



inside of one side opposite where 

 edges of end bars come. That offsets 

 comb from hive-side properly. Su- 

 per springs, or similar springs, are 

 used at opposite sides, and soon it 

 will be found that the space on the 

 side where springs are will be little 

 if any more than one-quarter inch. 

 Hundreds of hives so arranged have 

 for years given entire satisfaction. 



I realize that there is still held by 

 many beekeepers an idea that thin 

 combs operate to increase brood and 

 force honey into supers. This is one 

 of the evils inherited from the teach- 

 ing of the manipulative school. You 

 cannot force bees to do anything 

 against their instincts, and even if 

 their instinct is to put brood in shal- 

 low cells and honey in deep, remem- 

 ber that it takes lots of bees to 

 raise lots of brood to gather a full 

 crop. Quinby knew that, and the 

 principles he laid down have stood 

 the test of time. Coupled with the 

 conditions of complete winter rest 

 and maximum brood production in 

 early spring, as enunciated by Dr. 

 Phillips, we have what amounts to an 

 almost new bee culture. 



Say it this way: Big hives, big 

 comb capacity, big winter rest, big 

 colonies and big crops, and big bank 

 accounts — if you know how to sell 

 and all pull together. 



Providence, R. I. 



