File:The Bee-keepers' review (1906) (20174453889).jpg

Title: The Bee-keepers' review
Identifier: beekeepersreview191906nati (find matches)
Year: 1888 (1880s)
Authors: National Bee-keepers' Association
Subjects: Bee culture
Publisher: (Flint, Mich. : s. n.
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: UMass Amherst Libraries

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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 119 faster, or more than that. If it will build up four times as fast we are for- tunate, as it is cheaper to house bees in large than in small hives, althouj,Mi it is harder work to lift the hives when they are large. Of course, a large colony will build up more rapidly than a small one, but it is evident that if we keep on enlarging the hive, a point is finally reached where the queen and ller helpers can't keep up with thehive. A colony must be sufficiently large so that it can work to advantage -so that there will le sufticient heat, and food and enough workers to care for the eggs tliat the queen will ordinarily lay. In other words, a proper balance must be preserved between these various factors. As Dickens saj's: "We must preserve the unities. " So many people have argued in favor of a large hive in order that the queen maj' not be "cramped for room in which to lay." We don't keep bees, nor build hives, simplv' that the queens may have room to "spread themselves;" what is needed is a hive with the combs full of brood, and of such a size tiiat with it we can accomplish the objects we have in view; one of which is to furnish super room in such proportion, as Mr. Holtermann says, that the wear and tear on the working force will just about equal that of tlie hatching bees. This is one of the moNt valuable p tints in the article. I doubt if it is possible to s ly '7///.s" is the correct size of hive for every !)ody Localities, men and their nehods, all differ. Mr. Chapman, in Noithern Michigan, makes a success of extracted honey production with an eight-frame Langstroth hive; IMr. Townsend does the very same thing with a ten-frame Langstroth; IJrother Holtermann, over in Ontar o, accomplishes wonders with a twelve-frame Langstroth. There is no question that shade and ventilation help to keep down swarm- ing. If anyl)ody wishes to give more ventilation, aside from a generous en- trance, it is an eas.v matter to slide a super along until a crack is opened. In this way the matter can be given a trial. There is one other point that Mr. Holtermann has been pressing of late, and I wish to say "amen," viz., that of holding the mind in readiness, or will- ingness, to accept truth. So many form a conclusion first, and then bend every argument to tit the conclusion.
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