THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



231 



is not to him only, but also to the very ones 

 to whom the system appears cumbersome. 



I do uot thiuk Mr. Taylor's motiiods 

 tedious aud fussy. For three years there 

 has been a growiug dissatisfaction on my 

 part with the hive and frame I liave been 

 usin^. I am as much wedded to the system 

 of contraction as ever, but not to my old 

 methods of practicing: it. So louj^ as I use 

 the Lantjstroth frame I shall contract as I 

 have ct)ntracted in the i)ast. But this year 

 1 have been testing a few shallow, divisible 

 brootl-chamhors, and, although the test is 

 not completed, I am, so far, so well satisfied 

 with them that 1 aui determined hereafter to 

 invest in no other kind. I may run figainst 

 something that will change my mind, but, so 

 far, my face is set. I have two or three 

 times in the [)ast given, in my writings, inti- 

 mations of my trend of mind toward shallow 

 frames, but I have hesitated to invest in 

 them for several reasons, of which I will 

 mention only two. One is a sort of dread 

 of — perhaps simple prejudice against — so 

 great an innovation upon my accepted hive 

 and system. The other stump in my way 

 has been the not insignificant matter of cost. 

 But every year has increased my disgust 

 with the laborious and tedious manipulations 

 of dummies and single hanging frames. 

 Finally, I decided I would hesitate no longer 

 to test in combination the divisible brood 

 chamber and closed end frames. I believe 

 now wiiat I have suspected before that either 

 one of these two principles will work best in 

 combination with the other. Such is the 

 results thus far of my trial of divisible brood 

 chambers. 



The burden of Mr. Taylor's article in the 

 Review, and mine in Gleaniiigs, is not (luite 

 the same, one leading thought of mine being 

 contraction, something which he does not 

 mention; yet the general idea of both are 

 pretty much the same. To overrule in- 

 crease and get the bulk of the honey in the 

 surplus receptacles, are the two great objects 

 to be attained, whatever may be the methods 

 employed. 



MEOHANiosnuBG, 111., .July ;U, 1S91. 



Methods, Hives, Frames, and the Honey Flow. 



J. H. LAliRABEE. 



fN the production of honey, where it is 

 not sought to produce as much as jiossi- 

 l)le from a limited number of colonies, 

 the handling of frames to an extent to inter- 



fere with the manipulation of many colonies 

 with a certain amount of labor, is unneces- 

 sary and I believe to-day but little practiced. 

 I once took a number of colonies on shares, 

 as the lady of whom I took them was tired 

 of the labor of caring for them. And no 

 wonder. She thought it her duty to examine 

 them all once a week through the summer, 

 and, of course, as she had read, it was the 

 proper thing to remove more or less of the 

 frames each time. 



But the day when the bee keeper who pro- 

 duces honey at the market price can profit- 

 ably handle his bees on the above plan, is 

 past. Messrs. Elwood, Manum, Coggshall, 

 Boardman and Miller, as well as Heddon, 

 Taylor and Tinker, are, I believe, employing 

 less labor than years ago, and are caring for 

 more bees in i)roportion to the labor. This 

 for the reason that they have learned that 

 bees will to an extent care for themselves, 

 only requiring man's aid at certain critical 

 periods. And we who are following them 

 are learning, first, that if cf)lonies are strong 

 and have itlenty of bees and a queen with a 

 goodly amount of good honey, man cannot 

 by handling hives or frames better their 

 condition; second, that the bee keeper is not 

 a manufacturer nor a producer, but simply 

 acts as a shepherd, gathering them into 

 comfortable quarters for winter, giving di- 

 rection to their breeding, and "fleecing" 

 them at intervals. 



I once followed the fashion aud practiced 

 clipping, but after a time came to the con- 

 clusion that it did not pay nie, and now my 

 apiary in Vermont contains few clipped 

 queens. Also ten frame hives are my favo- 

 rites, as bees in them seldom require feeding 

 or the removing of honey to give the queen 

 room. We have (I now speak of my Vt. lo- 

 cation) no fall fiowers that yield honey, and 

 never but once did my bees gather fall 

 honey, and that I regretted. Thus if they 

 are wintered on honey, as seems best, it 

 must be of the white honey crop. Whence, 

 you see, partially arises my preference for 

 the large hives. With Dr. Miller I believe 

 in expanding or giving the bees plenty of 

 room in the spring, and like him I don't 

 know so well about the after contraction. 

 If I contracted when hiving swarms, or at 

 any other time, my bees would need feeding 

 for winter, and that don't pay me, and per- 

 haps, like friend Hutchinson, I would then 

 need some (piick way of uniting weak 

 swarms in the fall. 



