ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



145 



give the queen all the room she wants 

 to lay. The hive-bodies will be just 

 as easily handled as the lo-frame. 



Dr. Miller — I would like to enquire 

 whether any of Mr. Horstmann's neigh- 

 bors like a large hive. 



Mr. Abbott — Mr. Horstmann does noi 

 believe in a lo-frame hive, but in a i6- 

 frame hive.. He goes me a good deal 

 better. 



Mr. Horstmann — Speaking of my 

 neighbors, I honestly believe that there 

 is not a bee-keeper in this hall this ev- 

 ening that has better neighbors than i 

 have. I have never had the least bit of 

 trouble with my neighbors. .Speaking 

 of the bees, I have the school teachers 

 bring classes over almost every yea-' to 

 see the bees — classes of children. I 

 have a colony of my bees over in the 

 University now. There is no danger ot 

 any stings. I have them "educated."' 



Mr. Moore — I am for the lo-framt- 

 hive, first, last and all the time, for 

 extracted honey or comb honey Th; 

 manipulation Mr. Horstmann is talk- 

 ing about is absolutely out of the ques- 

 tion for most bee-keepers, I take it ; it 

 is too much bother; and, just as Mr. 

 Abbott says, he is getting i6-frame hives 

 instead of 8. That is not the point at 

 all. Most bee-keepers, when they give 

 the bees 8 frames, think they will beat 

 the bees out of just 2 frames. "When 

 you talk of bees you are not talking of 

 one year; you are talking of >5 years. 

 The great question is wintering the 1)ees. 

 The question is. Does the queen have 

 plenty of room? A good, young queen 

 will fill 2 of those hives in favorable 

 circumstances. When you move them, 

 as Mr. Horstmann says, 3rou upset their 

 arrangements. They know where they 

 want the brood, and where they want 

 the honey. You give them the lo- 

 frame hive and the queen fills a large 

 portion of it with eggs, and they put 

 their honey in there, and they fill thai 

 as full as they dare to before you put 

 on the sections. It is a mighty poor 

 year when they don't have enough honey. 

 They come out in the spring with plenty 

 of hone}^ and they won't be economical 

 as they will with the 8-frame hive, and 

 they will be a going concern. It is not 

 one year alone, but it is a series of 

 years, for 5 years, that finally gets the 

 money; and I 'believe for the every- 

 day bee-keeper who can not do so much 

 manipulation, that the lo-frame hive is 

 the thing. 



The Members — Hear ! 



A Member — Did I understand Mr. 

 Moore to say that a good queen will 

 fill 2 of those bodies? 



Mr. Moore — Under favorable circum- 

 stances she will fill 3. It is only a 

 question of unlimited honey; that is all. 



Dr. Bohrer — I get more honey from 

 lo-frame colonies than I do from the 8, 

 and I have tried both. One thing that 

 induced me to adopt 10 in preference 

 to 8 was that one of the first Langstroth 

 hives was 18 frames. A good queen 

 would populate all of them, and we 

 got our honey from sections. We did 

 not use extractors at that time. Now 

 I get more honey keeping the combs 

 cleaned up, and keeping the bees con- 

 stantly at work, from my lo-frame hive. 

 You can get more than from the 8- 

 frame. 



Dr. Miller — There is a point that has 

 not been touched upon, that is, con- 

 venience in handling. With some people 

 that makes a great deal of difference. 

 A strong man does not care whether 

 has has 8 or 10 frames, though even to 

 a strong man it is a matter of con- 

 venience to have the 8 frames. As to 

 the care of them, I am sure there is a 

 good point there. Mr. Abbott is right 

 in saying that the farmer is better of? 

 with the lo-frame. That is not saying 

 anything detrimental to farmers, but 

 when we speak of farmers as bee-keep- 

 ers we speak of them as those who do 

 not make a speciality of it, and do not 

 expect to spend a great deal of the tim« 

 at it. I am sure that the average farmer 

 is very much safer with the lo-frame 

 hive than he is with the 8-frame; and 

 yet, with sufficient care and attention, 

 I am a little afraid that more comb 

 honey can be obtained through the 8- 

 frame hive than through the 10. For 

 years I used the 10, and, I hardly know 

 why, I think there was a fashion for the 

 8-frame, and I changed over to 8-frame 

 hives. I have the 8-frame hives yet, 

 but I do not know that I have got any 

 better crops since, but I am a little 

 afraid I have. I am afraid -that it would 

 not be so safe for me to use lo-frafne 

 hives, and yet there is a litle more 

 work required with the 8-frame hives. 

 I do not think Mr. Moore's objection 

 would hold, that using two stories in- 

 volves so much work that it is not easi- 

 ly done. Really, the amount of work 

 required using two stories during the 

 breeding season in the spring is not a 



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