54 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ness. Any man who expected to depend 

 upon bee-keeping alone for his living 

 would certainly see to it that the locality 

 chosen was one possessing at least ordin- 

 arily good characteristics. 



If the circumstances are right, it is safe 

 for a man to make bee-keeping his sole 

 business; but this isn't saying that no 

 one except the specialist can keep bees 

 to advantage. 



EXTRACTED. 



THE SIZE OF HIVES. 



Some Pertinent, Interesting and Well Consid- 

 ered Views of the Veterans. 



This question of the size of hives is an 

 old one, but it is still very lively. It 

 may seem stale to some, but it is 

 really a very important question. It 

 is so important that I am going to 

 give more space in the Extracted De- 

 partment this month than I have ever 

 given before, in order that I may lay 

 fairly before my readers the views of good 

 men on this subject. First I will give an 

 extract from the American Bee Journal, 

 in which a Mr. K. W. Brown asks some 

 very pertinent questions, and receives 

 very fair answers from my good friend 

 C. P. Dadant of Illinois. Here is the 

 article: — 



The following letter, which was sent to 

 the Editor of the American Bee Journal, 

 is referred to me for reply: 



Editor York: — I think that many who are 

 trying to solve the hive question will be misled 

 by Mr. Dadant's articles on the proper i?) size of 

 hives. It should be remembered that Mr. JJa- 

 dant is an e.xtracled-honey man. I have looked 

 in vain through his writings for his emphatic 

 advice to u,se just as large a hive for comb honey 

 as extracted. 



I wish Mr. Dadant would answer this question: 

 Do you advise just as large a hive for comb as 

 for extracted honej- ? 



Until I became a specialist, about two \-ears 

 ago, I used the ten-frame L,ang,stroth size', ex- 

 clusively. .'Vfter trying S-franie and lo-frame 

 hives in the .same j'afd, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that I can get more comb honey ])er 

 brood-comb with the smaller hive, and have few- 

 er unfinished .sections. 



I now think that those "who make their bread 

 and butter by producing honey to spread upon 

 the bread and butter of others," should figure 

 their production at so much per comb, and not 

 so much per queen. 



After ever^'thing has been considered I think 

 it will stand about this way: If vou have noth- 

 ing but the care of your bees to take up your 

 time you will probably make more money with 

 a small hive. If you have a farm to work, you 

 would better use a larger hive. 



Yogrs truly, E. W. Browx. 



I would very much dislike to mislead 

 anyone, in whatever I write on bee-cul- 

 ture, but most especially on the hive- 

 question, which, as is well known, we 

 have tried to avoid, as it has been so often 

 rehearsed and discussed that the subject 

 has become stale to us. But it appears 

 that, as others find that we succeed with a 

 large hive, and hear that we prefer it to 

 others, and have good reasons for so do- 

 ing outside of our practical experience, 

 they make inqtiiries about it, and this is 

 why I have been requested to write a se- 

 ries of articles on thestiljjectin Gleanings. 

 So, if the subject proves worthless, and 

 our experience proves injtirious to the 

 bee-keeping public, we will not feel as 

 deserving of any blame. 



I am very free to say that we are not at 

 present comb-honey producers. .A.11 the 

 comb honey that is produced in otir 

 apiaries is produced by otir boys, for 

 their own pleasure, on one, two or three 

 hives, every season, and I notice that 

 they take particular pains to select a very 

 powerful colon}- in every case. But we 

 have been comb-honey producers, and 

 would be yet if we cotild get more than 

 twice as much for comb honey as extrac- 

 ted. But as long as we can sell extracted 

 honey as freely for three fifths to two- 

 thirds of the price we would get for comb, 

 we will probably prodtice extracted hon- 

 ey. 



The experience of Mr. Brown we notice 

 to be similar to that of many others. 

 They try a small hive — the lo-frame hive 

 — and finally change to something still 

 smaller. We tried the lo-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive with something still larger, 

 and changed to the latter. 



I have often noticed that the stipporters 

 of small hives agree that the large hive 

 may be good for extracted honey, but is 

 not suitable for comb honey; but I have 

 never seen any one give a single reason 

 for making this difference. The only 

 attemj)t I have met to an explanation of 

 the difference, is in an article by G. M. 

 Doolittle, in Gleanings, in which Mr. 

 Doolittle says: 



"If the queen has all the vacant cell-room her 

 prolificne.ss requires, more room is only a dam- 

 age to our crop of comb honey, for in the finding 



