22 DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



in building their combs, from one to two inches or even more, 

 from center to center. But they aim to have their worker-brood 

 combs a half inch apart, between the combs, which would 

 about represent the 1^ spacing, from center to center. 



All this may look very unimportant to the beginner. Yet 

 much of the success or failure of beekeeping depends upon 

 just such small matters. 



The supporters of the narrow spacing look upon the wide 

 spacing as a detriment and Mr. Julius Hoffman, inventor of the 

 frame bearing his name, wrote: 



"If we space the combs from center to center lyi inches, instead of 

 1^, then we have an empty space of f^ inch between two combs of 

 brood, instead of ^2, as it ought to be; and it will certainly require more 

 bees to fill and keep warm a. f^ than a }4 inch space. In a ^ inch space, 

 the breeding bees from the two combs facing each other will join with 

 their backs, and so close up the space between the two brood combs. 

 If this space is widened to fi the bees cannot do this, and more bees will 

 be required to keep up the needed brood-rearing temperature. What 

 a drawback this would be in a cool spring, when our colonies are still 

 weak in numbers, yet breeding most desirable, can readily be under- 

 stood." 



This is a good argument but it does not work well in 

 practice, in large hives. When the breeding season ends, the 

 bees living between combs spaced 1^ inches put more honey 

 in each brood comb, since there is more room and they do not 

 need, then, to keep the cells down to the exact length of the bee 

 chrysalis, as in breeding time. So the comb, or that part of it 

 that is filled with honey, is thickened so as to leave just the 

 necessary room for the bees to pass through. This gives a 

 larger amount of honey than in narrow combs; the bees con- 

 gregate there in greater number and thus winter better. They 

 are more powerful in spring and the cycle of the year is reached 

 with better success. 



The above theory is backed by facts. Bees in large, deep 

 brood-chambers, with the wide spacing, are stronger, winter 

 better, gain strength faster than those in shallow hives, all other 

 conditions being equal. The reader will remember that these 

 facts were established before we tried to explain them by a 

 theory. No theory is strong unless it is backed by the facts of 



