312 FIFTY YBAES AMONG THE BEES 



hustlers. But they were cross. If I had it to do over again I 

 would look out more for temper, and I think I would stick to 

 pure Italian blood, even if occasionally a hybrid colony should 

 store most honey. If I had persisted in breeding from pure 

 Italian stock, I might have had just as good hustlers, with less 

 tendency to change, and with better tempers. 



As already mentioned, since 1912 I have mainly Italian 

 stock that is excellent, but not as gentle as I should like. If, 

 from the beginning, I had rigidly stuck to Italians, I might 

 now have bees of best gathering qualities, and by attending 

 to other qualities I might now have hustlers beautiful in ap- 

 pearance, mild in temper, and little given to swarming. 



EIGHT VERSUS TEN FRAMES. 



I changed from ten-frame to eight-frame hives, I think, 

 more than for any other reason because at that time it was .the 

 fashion. I do not know that I got any better crops by, chang- 

 ing. When it comes to moving hives about, the advantage is 

 decidedly in favor of the smaller hive. The same may be said 

 of the supers. I am not sure the smaller hives have any other 

 advantage, unless it be that they occupy less space and cost 

 a little less. But the larger hive has the great advantage that 

 it can have a larger supply of stores on hand at all times, 

 making less danger of starvation in winter and spring. That 

 makes less trouble and less anxiety. An eight-frame hive is 

 sometimes too small for a queen without a second story, where 

 a single story with ten frames would answer. So if it were 

 to do over again, very likely I might continue the ten-frame 

 hive. 



EXTRACTED HONEY VERSUS COMB. 



I have learned the production of comb honey as a trade, 

 and it would be a good deal like taking up an entirely dif- 

 ferent business to take up the production of extracted honey. 

 Nevertheless I do not know that I can make more money with 

 comb than with extracted honey. At one time there was so 

 much adulteration of extracted honey that the price of the 

 genuine article was affected thereby. Pure-food laws have 

 changed that, so that comb honey has no longer that advantage. 



There is another matter that deserves serious considera- 



