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JI.LINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



179 



particularly is that true if the flow is 

 short. What I do admit is if they are 

 allowed to swarm they w^ill put more 

 honey into the brood chamber and 

 their chance of wintering is better 

 than where the small hive is used. 

 The eight-frame hive has a tendency 

 to destroy in that way, in the hands 

 of the slip-shod bee-keeper, more bees 

 than ever a large frame hive did. 



As to the matter of spring, there is 

 just as much occasion for contracting 

 an eight-frame hive as a twelve, and 

 if Mr. Chapman uses a part of the 

 super expanding his brood chamber, I 

 have a perfectly legitimate right, and 

 I do where occasion requires, to put 

 in a division board and contract the 

 brood chamber, and so I am a good 

 •deal unlike the Irishman who said if 

 he had a stick too large he didn't 

 know what to do with it, but if it was 

 too small he could splice it. So if 1 

 find a twelve-frame is too large, I take 

 out some of the empty combs and put 

 in a division board, and that is all 

 there is to it. 



Mr. Chapman, in replying to Mr. 

 Holterman, , said: The question is 

 here, how large a colony of bees 

 should we expect af. the beginning of 

 the honey flow; that is, what number 

 should a colony of bees be in a large 

 colony? Take a common Langstroth 

 frame and we count three thousand 

 cells on one side, on the other side 

 there are three thousand more, mak- 

 ing six thousand. Supposing we ruse 

 seven of those combs, that lacks one 

 of ©occupying an eight-frame brood 

 nest, and for the first generation we 

 get just 42,000 bees from just what 

 cells would be contained in seven of 

 those combs at the end of 21 days; at 

 the end of 42 days it is 84,000. I want 

 to ask you what kind of swarm of 

 bees we got? How large a hive do 

 we need to produce that many bees? 

 I want to tell you to-day that if every 

 colony of bees in Northern Michigan 

 could be counted the numbers would 

 run less than 20,000 to the colony, and 

 there are thousands upon thousands of 

 colonies in that country. Many times 

 have T wished that I could have Just 

 •what bees could be raised In two 

 combs In three generations to put 

 away In the f^ll. I couldn't do it. 

 What Is the necessity of ibuilding a 

 barn for such colonies? We have to 

 take the cost Into consideration. 

 Bight here is a point In putting those 



frames of brood up. During the pres- 

 ent season I had a colony on the scale, 

 and the first day it gained fourteen 

 pounds, the second day twenty-one 

 pounds, the third day. nineteen and 

 three-quarter pounds and the fourth 

 day sixteen and a half pounds, and at 

 the end of just one week to the minute 

 it was 100 pounds 8 ounces heavier. 

 Now, I want to show what that man- 

 agement with an eight-frame hive will 

 do. I set apart several more colonies 

 just as good. When they needed room 

 I put on an upper story, and when they 

 needed another upper story that was 

 put on. I raised up no brood. I did 

 with this colony that gave me the 100 

 pounds 8 ounces. When I came to 

 test this carefully I found that in the 

 hive where I had raised up the brood 

 and started the bees, in a moment's 

 notice, in from two or three days, and 

 sometimes five days, they will start in 

 that upper story. On the other hand, 

 I found that colonies exactly as near 

 alike as we could pick them out where 

 I put up brood gathered from 22 to 28 

 per cent more honey in those very 

 colonies than you could get in the 

 way Mr. Holterman runs his bees. 

 The man that is using the large hive 

 and sets them out and lets them build 

 up just as they have a mind to is 

 losing 25 per cent of the honey he 

 might get through good management. 



Now, I want to say you may take 

 our large bee-keepers that do not pay 

 attention enough to the business they 

 have and different kinds of manage- 

 ment; they do not use the care and 

 attention they should. Every man, in 

 testing his management, should use 

 the scale. When we get results from 

 the scale we get something that Is 

 accurate; we get something that we 

 can swear to; and if our large bee- 

 keepers w^ould test all their manage- 

 ment so that they could know just 

 when they can better the results of 

 such management, then there is some- 

 thing we can rely upon. Our large 

 bee-keepers, if they would test this 

 thing carefully, at the end of five 

 years would b^ hundreds of dollars 

 better off. 



There are so many things In this 

 large hive that we have no time to 

 touch upon one-quarter of them; but 

 there Is one point In regard to ripen- 

 ing honey and getting our extracted 

 honey In good marketable shape. In 

 my country It Is cold; I don't know aji 



