THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



299 



THK WEIGHT OF TESTIMONY. 



In Gleanings, 463, Dr. Miller .says 

 "Messrs. Taylor, Hutchinson and Brice 

 say they can't rai.se .uood queens by tak- 

 ing away the queen. W. W. Somerford 

 (page 465) says he has raised them. 

 The only thing for T., H. and B. is to 

 impeach the character of the witness." 

 Not at all; it is more to the point to im- 

 peach the character of your argument. 

 Exceptions prove the rule. 



l.\rgp: vs. sm.\ll coi.oniks. 

 Mr. Getaz says (American Bee Journal, 

 562) "The question now is: Supposing 

 the large colonies could be wintered 

 equally well, which would be the best — 80 

 colonies of 12 combs and population in 

 proportion, or 120 colonies of 8 combs, 

 the total population to be the same in 

 either case?" This in an article discus- 

 sing the large and small hive question. 

 Mr. G. appears to assume that the colony 

 reared in a 12-frame hive would be, as a 

 rule, 50 per cent, stronger than one reared 

 in an 8-frame hive. In that I think he is 

 in error. My experience, such as it is, 

 teaches me that the smaller the hive, 

 within reasonable bounds, the stronger 

 the colony in proportion to the amount 

 of room. A colony in a section of the 

 Heddon hive is more than M as strong as 

 one in an 8-frame L. hive, and, a fortiori, 

 one in an 8-frame stronger in proportion 

 than one in a lo-framehive. Mr. Getaz's 

 answer to the question is that "the dif- 

 ference might not be very great; but it 

 would undoubtedly be in favor of the 

 large colonies. " He gives, as points of 

 advantage, fewer guards against robbeis 

 required; greater conservation of heat; 

 fewer hives to open; and probably less 

 swarming. For myself, I cannot at all 

 agree with Mr. Getaz. He may be en- 

 tirely right for his latitude, but for my 

 latitude and flora the 120 in 8 frames 

 would be so far ahead that there would 

 be no comparison. .\s I have said, the 

 assumption that they would be strong in 

 proportion to the size of the hive is wrong 

 to start with. Then the loss of heat. 



owing to the larger space to be warmed 

 in the case of those in the large hive, 

 would more than offset the advantage 

 gained by the greater population. Or- 

 dinarily, here, those in the smaller hives 

 would gain more rapidly in population to 

 their numbers; and, although they would 

 not generally quite overtake the others 

 by the opening of the honey season, 

 their less inclination to waste time in 

 swarming would generally offset that, and 

 make their profits hive for hive not very 

 wide apart. I am especially surprised at 

 Mr. Getaz's opinion that with the colo- 

 nies in the larger hives there would prob- 

 ably be less swarming. The principal 

 factor in the production of swarms is a 

 large population. If, as Mr. Getaz as- 

 sumes, the larger colonies gain in num- 

 bers in proportion to the size of their 

 hives, then not only will their hives be as 

 closely packed with bees but their num- 

 bers will be 50 per cent, greater. On 

 what grounds, then, can he assume that 

 the swarming will be less? It seems to 

 me that it must be greater, inevitably. 



LARGE HIVES AGAIN. 



Mr. Harris in Gleanings, 538, gives 

 some results in wintering in hives of 

 different sizes. For protection they had 

 chaff in the upper stories and a tight 

 board fence about the yards. The re- 

 sults tubulated are as follows: 



No. of .Size of Winter Average 



colonies. hive. loss. brood Apr. 25. 



37 8-frame 



16 10 " 



156 12 " 



32 16 " 



8 

 o 

 9 

 >3 



3 frames 



5 " 



He says he had the best success in win- 

 tering in 12-frame hives, while his fig- 

 ures show that tlie lo-frame hive winter- 

 ed best. The editor, commenting, says it 

 is facts like these that should have some 

 weight; but it strikes me the facts are too 

 naked. We need more particulars to 

 to warrant us in forming any judgment. 

 Mr. H. indeed says that "the most of the 

 eight-frame, and all of the ten-frame 

 hives were in the yard where the bees 



