THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



57 



though most of them are not queen-exclud- 

 ing, the slots being ^ of an inch, or double 

 bee-space." 



In your introduction in last issue it seems 

 to me you use the word "vertical," when you 

 mean "horizontal." For the very reasons 

 which you give there, and knowing as I did 

 from several years experience, the advan- 

 tages to be derived from contraction, I was 

 led to the invention of my new hive, the 

 crowning feature of which is one brood-cham- 

 ber in two horizontally, divisible parts, or 

 sections, all about which your readers well 

 know. With this arrangement contraction 

 can be accomplished almost instantly with- 

 out any exposure to robbers, no loose pieces 

 to be handled, bringing the brood close up 

 to the honey-board, and, when the surplus 

 cases are adjusted, there is brood under the 

 whole, there being no " dummies " as form- 

 erly. I have found this a great advantage, 

 not mentioning the important gain by the 

 alternating of its brood sections. 



Before closing I wish to say a word in 

 regard to your editorial on page 40, concern- 

 ing niy honey-board. If I were compelled 

 to give up either, the bee-space or break- 

 joint principle, I am not sure but that I 

 should give up the bee-space. It is like, 

 " Which would you rather lose, your father 

 or your mother?" "We would rather keep 

 them both. 



May I lisp one more word concerning 

 " best bees V " I was somewhat astonished 

 at the number of bee-keepers who favored 

 the Carniolans. If the truth could be known 

 I would be willing to wager that the major- 

 ity of those who have Carniolans have more 

 German than Carniolaii blood in their bees. 

 I used to say that, if the best strains of 

 brown German bees could be introduced 

 under a new nan.e. that their praises would 

 be sung by hundreds who would now discard 

 them for worthless Italians. If. there is any 

 bee having a single quality superior to the 

 combination of the best Italians and Ger- 

 mans, I want to see its work. It may 

 be true. I am open to conviction. 



DowAGi\c, Mich. 



March 18, 1889. 



Bro. Heddon, we cannot agree on all 

 points. Were we to make use of the near- 

 ness and dearness of our relatives in com- 

 paring the merits of the bee-space and the 

 break-joint principles in honey-boards, we 

 should look upon the latter as a cousin, and 

 the former as a parent. 



It has been asserted that the Carniolans 

 are simply a strain, or variety, of black, or 

 German bees; but they cerfai)thj possess 

 characteristics, and desirable ones at that, 

 not possessed by the German bees as we now 

 have them in this country. 



AVe believe that we employed the word 

 "vertically" in the proper sense when using 

 it in connection with contraction of the 

 brood-nest. A brood-nest contracted ^'hor- 

 izontaJly," would be squeezed up at the sides^ 



Size of Brood-Chambers, also a Little Criti- 

 cism of Friend Green's "Review." 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



LC CORRESPONDENT says, "I have 

 more bees than I wish to keep, con- 

 sidering that, in all probability, they 

 will double by swarming during the 

 present season. ^Can I not work them all till 

 I get iive frames' of brood in each, and then 

 double them so that each hive will have ten 

 frames of brood? In this way I would have 

 my original number in the fall, if each gave 

 one new swarm, and get the bees in just the 

 best possible shape for the harvest. What 

 think you of the plan? I used the L. frame." 

 In answering tlie (luestion, there are several 

 points to be considered, such as getting all of 

 the bees to stay in the new location, which 

 the doubled-up colony will occupy; what 

 is to become of the extra queens, etc., etc.? 

 But the main one, as I consider it, and the 

 only one which I shall dwell upon in this 

 article, is, will the bees be in the "best pos- 

 sible shape for the harvest?" as the corres- 

 pondent says they will. I claim they will not, 

 and, as such a claim is not worth a cent un- 

 less it is backed up by suitable evidence, I 

 will at once proceed to give what I consider 

 sufficient proof that I am right. In the first 

 place, one queen will lay only about so many 

 eggs, or keep about such an amount of comb 

 space occupied with brood for any length of 

 time, that space amounting to about seven L. 

 frames, taking our queens as they average. 

 A few may do better, many will not do as 

 well. Now, our correspondent is going to 

 give the brood product of two (lueens, or 

 seven-tenths more brood than the average 

 queen can produce, to one colony, expecting 

 to reap large returns in honey, basing this 

 expectation, I presume, on the amount of 

 bees he will have in that hive twenty-one 

 days later. As far as the bees are concerned, 

 his calculations are all right, but there is 

 another factor which comes in right here, 

 which spoils the bright outlook; for, when the 

 brood hatches from the outside combs, the 

 queen will fail to fill them with eggs again, 

 so that storing in the brood-chamber will 

 commence upon the hatching of the first 

 bees, and before the bees commence to 

 work in the sections to any amount. With 

 so large a comb space below, the bees will 

 soon crowd the queen, in preference to ex- 

 tending their operations in the sections. 

 There is a limit regarding the size of a brood 

 chamber, beyond which we must not go, if 

 we would reap the best results in comb 

 honey. I know of nothing so damaging to 

 the prospect of a good yield of honey, except 

 a failure of the llowers to secrete any, as let- 

 ting the bees begin to store honey in a large 

 brood chamber, or any other,before they get 

 well at work in the sections. To avoid this 

 storing of honey in the brood-combs, before 

 the bees went to work in the sections, I cut 

 the size of my hives down to a comb capacity 

 of about 7,1.2 L. frames,! using !> of the Gallup 

 size, and if at the beginning of the harvest I 

 find some few of the queens do not keep this 

 amount of room occupied with brood, the 

 size of the brood chamber is contracted tilj 



