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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



147 



lo-frame hive, as the ordinary person 

 manipulates them, not the way you 

 skilled people handle it? 



Dr. Miller — Begging the Secretary's 

 pardon, the question Is not the way of 

 manipulating. The question is. Which 

 shall I take? and the manner of using 

 is a question that comes afterward. The 

 question is whether I shall take an 8- 

 frame or a lo-frame hive, and then I 

 may use one or both of them 2 stories. 

 Don't let us get away from the ques- 

 tion. If you want to go back to that, 

 if you confine yourselves to the 8 

 frames — if Mr. Moore wants that ques- 

 tion answered, I will answer it. Con- 

 fine yourself to 8-frames, or confine 

 yourself to 10 frames, and which will 

 you get the most from? Ten frames, 

 every time, if you are going to hold me 

 down to 10 frames ; but that was not 

 the question, as I understand. 



Mr. Moore — That is the way I under- 

 stood it. 



Mr. Abbott— Here is a point Dr. Mil- 

 ler does not seem to take into con- 

 sideration. The bees that are in a 10- 

 frame colony, separated and put into 

 2 8-frame colonies, will not gather as 

 much honey in proportion as they will 

 if left all together. They can not do 

 it. The greater bulk of bees that you 

 can get in one body, working in one 

 hive, the greater quantity of honey you 

 will get, and you can not take those 2 

 8-frame hives, using double bodies, and 

 get the same amount of bees in the 2 

 8-frame hives, working in that way, as 

 would be in one lo-frame hive, and get 

 as good results as you could if the bees 

 were all in that lo-frame hive, and 

 working as one colony. 



Mr. Wilcox — My answers were based 

 entirely upon the suppositions that 

 have been explained by Dr. Miller, and 

 I am exactly agreed with him and Mr. 

 Horstmann, and my system is exactly 

 the same as that described by him with- 

 out the slightest variation, and conse- 

 quently I still adhere to the statement. 

 My understanding of that question 

 was that we were to use the hives as 

 we pleased, which is better to adopt? 

 Of course, if we were confined to a 

 single story, and use the same size all 

 the season through, the lo-frame would 

 be the better undoubtedly. Another point 

 I want to give: I do not know that 

 it is of any importance except that it is 

 interesting. I tried an experiment 

 once. I put a few colonies in 4-frame 



houses, a few in 6- frame, a few in 8- 

 frame, and a few in lo-frame, and set 

 them all in a row close together, with 

 young queens all the same age, and kept 

 them 2 years, and the result was just 

 about in proportion to the size of the 

 hives, except that the bees in the smal- 

 ler ones nearly all died the first winter. 



Dr. Miller — Allow me to explain, as 

 Mr. Wilcox suggests, I did not mean to 

 suggest by any means that the 2 stories 

 are used all the year round, only in 

 building up the colonies; when they 

 have got so strong in the spring that they 

 need the 2 stories until the time of the 

 harvest. They do not always need the 

 2 stories, but I want the privilege of 

 using the 2 stories when thev get strong 

 enough to need it. 



Dr. Bohrer — Dr. Miller answered the 

 question categorically. He says he gets 

 more honey from the lo-frame hive, 

 and then he stated the chief objection 

 there is to a lo-frame hive, and I find 

 the same objection to it, and that is, 

 that the 8-frame hive is decidedly pre- 

 ferable when you come to handle it, 

 especially to a man afflicted with lum- 

 bago. That IS the principal thing. The 

 Doctor says he gets more honey from 

 the lo-frame hive. 



Dr. Miller — No. It is the other way; 

 at least I am. afraid I get more from the 

 8-frame hive. 



Mr. Sewell — It has come to a rather 

 interesting point. I would like to ask a 

 question of Dr. Miller. Does he not 

 get some gain, or perhaps a great gain, 

 in taking away those 8 frames just at 

 that time? In taking them away, or 

 shutting the queen down to an 8-frame, 

 you cramp her to a great extent, so that 

 she does not produce a great lot of 

 useless workers that are going to go on 

 an-d be consumers, rather than useless 

 workers, just at that time. 



Dr. Miller — I am not sure it is safe 

 to say anything against that generally 

 accepted theory about rearing useless 

 workers; but if I dared say it, I would 

 say I don't believe in it at all. I want 

 to rear all the bees I can at all times 

 of the year. That thing of rearing use- 

 less workers I am not afraid of — I do 

 not bother myself about it at all. But 

 the question he asks is an entirely per- 

 tinent one. The taking away of those 

 frames at that time still leaves, I think, 

 that 8-frame hive, as much room as the 

 queen will be likely to use during the 

 harvest time; and even if she were in a 



