146 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



great deal, and if you will take the 

 pains to have surplus combs you can 

 get along through the spring and 

 through the winter just as well with 

 the 8 as you can with the lo; but the 

 man who does not give his bees par- 

 ticular attention will be pretty sure to 

 lose a whole lot more bees in the winter 

 in the smaller hives than he will in the 

 larger hives. But there may be a dif- 

 ference also as to locality. We laugh 

 about the matter of locality, and yet 

 that comes in early every place you 

 touch a bee-hive, and touch bee-work, 

 and it may make a difference in that. 

 But I rather suspect — I am not sure 

 about it — I rather suspect that if you 

 give the work to it, that you get more 

 honey with the 8 frames, and enough 

 more to more than pay you for the ex- 

 tra amount of work you give. 



Mr. Taylor — There is another point 

 I think ought to be considered in this, 

 especially by those who are treating a 

 good many bees. Of course it is a 

 question of interest as to how many bees 

 we ought to keep in one place. Now 

 suppose my location would profitably 

 sustain loo colonies in lo-frame hives. 

 According to the idea of Dr. Miller, 

 if I kept 100 colonies in 8-frame hives 

 in that location I would get as much, or 

 more — probably more — honey from the 

 8-frame loo colonies than from the lo- 

 frame ones. It is claimed — and with 

 some truth, no doubt — that the colonies 

 in the lo-frame hives, will average con- 

 siderably more brood than those in the 

 8-frame hives. Supposing that they 

 have one-fifth more brood, that is, brood 

 in proportion to the number of frames 

 in the hive. Well, if that is so, then 

 if the location will sustain loo colonies 

 in lo-frame hives, it will sustain 120 

 colonies in 8-frame hives. That is 

 self-evident. Now there is a greater 

 advantage. Dr. Miller, if his ideas are 

 sound, would get at least one-fifth more 

 honey; instead of 8000 pounds he 

 would get 10,000 pounds, and probably 

 considerably more. That is a point that 

 we ought to have in mind. There is not 

 so much advantage in having a great 

 quantity of bees in large hives if we 

 can get the honey from a few more hives 

 that are smaller and more easily handl- 

 ed, even if we have to have more 

 queens. Queen-bees do not cost much 

 to a bee-keeper. 



Mr. Moore — Dr. Miller would grant 

 you that if you winter your bees in the 



cellar the question of how much honey 

 there is in the brood-chamber is not 

 so material. I take it that a very large 

 number of people who keep bees in 

 an ordinary rough way winter them out- 

 of-doors; but I would like to ask if 

 there is any one here who has had large 

 experience in producing comb honey in 

 10- frame hives? 



Dr. Miller — I am one. What is it 

 you want to know? 



Mr. Moore — We want to know 

 whether you have made such experi- 

 ments as you can say that you can not 

 produce more honey in 100 lo-frame 

 hives than you can in 100 8-frame hives, 

 other things being equal. 



Mr. Taylor — In 5 years. 



Dr. Miller — In answering this whole 

 question, there is one point brought up 

 by Mr. Taylor that I am afraid will 

 not hold. He is taking the ground that 

 a lo-frame hive will have more bees in 

 it than an 8-frame hive. Not neces- 

 sarily. Because when we are talking 

 about 8-frame hives we are talking of 

 having two stories to rear brood in, and 

 having just as strong colonies as th. 

 lo-frames. To come now to answering 

 the question directly: It is not an 

 easy thing, unless you have a lot of 

 lo-frames side by side with 8-frame 

 hives. I had a good many years' ex- 

 perience with lo-frame hives, and then 

 I had a good many years' experience 

 with the 8-frame hives, but you see 

 you can not compare them. It is not 

 an easy thing. The fact that I have had 

 much experience with each of them 

 does not help me to any positive answer 

 as to what they will do in the same 

 year. The trouble with me is, when I 

 make an experiment I go head over 

 heels and change everything, and some- 

 times lose a whole lot by it, but I have 

 an impression, by giving the right kind 

 of care, I can get a little more honeji 

 out of the same amount of the 8 than 

 of the 10— in comb honey — and allow 

 them. to use the two stories. 



Mr. Moore — Dr. Miller, you are get- 

 ting clear off the question. You are 

 running in harness with Mr. Horstmann. 

 You people are not talking about an 8- 

 frame hive — you are talking about a 

 i6-frame hive, and you are telling this 

 convention that you can get more honey 

 from a i6-frame hive than, from a 10- 

 frame hive, and you ought to. The 

 question is, Will you get more honey,- 

 or as much, from an 8-frame hive as a 



