Mar. 24, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



that kind of stock to were the men who want them for breeding pur- 

 poses. We suggested a small advertisement in the Dairyman, liiit 

 when we told him it would cost him ?.'), he took fright at once, lie 

 could not look beyond that f5. Finally we coaxed him to try it, and 

 he received a bushel of letters, flniiUy selling the bull for i'TO, and hiid 

 to send back several drafts to those who were too late with their 

 money. He made $25 by the investment, or 500 percent. Liist 

 autumn we had 460 bushels of tine two-rowed Bavarian barley to sell. 

 All the buyers in this vicinity would pay was 55 cents. A small adver 

 tisement in the Dairyman has sold 430 bushels at $1.25 per bushel. A 

 few years ago we persuaded three farmers near this city, who had each 

 a half-dozen or so nice Jersey and Guernsey heifer calves, to advertise 

 them. Answers came from a dozen States, and they all went in a 

 bunch to a purchaser in Idaho. Farmers do not often enough try to 

 co-operate in this way. Somebody must come alOTig and urge theui 

 into it. Good profit can often l^smadeoii products of the farm, like 

 seed-grain, dairy cattle, well-bred pigs and fowls, by advertising them 

 in a good farm paper, and especially in the local paper. The paper is 

 a go-between that should be used more than it is. Farmers should use 

 good business judgment as well as merchants and manufacturers. It 

 is more than halt the battle to be a good seller. 



Most bee-keepers are farmers. Undoubtedly they have many 

 things that they could sell to other farmer bee-keepers, aside from 

 their honey, bees, or beeswax. We have found that bee-keepers are 

 so constituted that they prefer to patronize each other whenever they 

 can do so. In view of this fact, no doubt many bee-keepers would 

 find it to their decided advantage to advertise in the bee-papers. The 

 illustrations contained in the foregoing paragraph are very plain. They 

 all show that it pays the farmers to advertise. It pays them well. 

 It will pay readers of the American Bee Journal to advertise in it, we 

 are very sure, if, of course, they have anything to dispose of. If Dr. 

 Miller, for instance, had 50 or 100 bushels of excellent seed potatoes 

 for sale, there is no doubt many of our readers who would be very 

 glad to buy of him. Especially would this be the case if the buyers 

 were not very far away from where Dr. Miller lives. 



The principal things we have for sale at the present time are the 

 American Bee Journal and bee-bookj. We are entirely out of the 

 bee-supply business, so we do not expect to come into competition 

 with our advertisers in that line as heretofore. The field is entirely 

 clear to them so far as we are concerned. This being the case, we 

 have no doubt that many of the smaller liee-supply dealers who have 

 not been advertising in the Bee Journal will find that it will pay them 

 to do so. Already a number of dealers have taken space in our col- 

 umns who were not represented before, and also many of our former 

 advertis-jrs are using increased space. We believe they will all find 

 that it will pay them thus to patronize the advertising columns of the 

 American Bee Journal. Alt its readers are bee-keepers. They sub- 

 scribe for it because it pays them to do so. It is all bees. No side- 

 issues appear in its columns. It is issued weekly, and comes regu- 

 larly, not having been even late except once in 20 years. Its adver- 

 tisers are clean, honorable people. They are all out for a square deal. 

 They have goods for sale that readers of the American Bee Journal 

 require. And many of our readers have things for sale that other 

 readers no doubt would be glad to buy. Why not exchange, and thus 

 each be a benefit to the other? 



We trust those who are intersted will read again the paragraph 

 that we have copied at the beginning of this editorial, and will act 

 upon the suggestions there offered. It will be a help all around — the 

 advertisers will be helped, the purchasers will be helped, and the old 

 American Bee Journal will be helped. Why not let the latter intro- 

 duce the other two to each other through an advertisement? Our 

 advertising rates will be furnished on application to this ofBce. 





Some Expert Opinion 



' In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." — Bin 





Free-Hanging Frames. 



If for some reason you were to start in anew to keep bees, and 

 were obliged to get an entirely new outfit — 



Ques. 7. — Would you use a free-hanging frame? If so, why' 

 If not, why? 



N, E. France (Wis.)— Yes. Easiest to handle. 



L. Stacdelhausen (Tex.)— Yes! (See Ques. S.) 



S. T. Pettit (Ont.) — Yes, with staple-spacers. More convenient. 



Geo. W. Brouheck (Calif.) — Yes. Less trouble in handling, 

 and no restriction in spacing. 



G. M Dooi.iTTLE (N. Y.)— Yes. Because, all things taken into 

 consideration, it proves best in my hands. 



E. E. Hasty (Ohio)— Yes. So handy. But if I worked on migra- 

 tory plans I should want something less free. 



Mrs. L. Harrison (111.)— Our Langstroth frame fits into notches 

 at the top ol tte hive, and are all equally spaced. 



r. 11. Elwood (N. Y.)— No, not so good to move. We move our 

 bees out in the spring, and back again in the fall. 



R. L. Taylor (Mich.)— No. Because I don't like a rattle-bux for 

 a hive; and because there is waste space outside the end bars. 



E. S. LovEST t Utah) —Yes, because they are easy to manipulate, 

 and if they are self-spacing, with care there is no need of killing the 

 bees. 



J. M. Hambaugh (Calif.)- Yes, anda plainone at that. No Hoff- 

 man self-spacing, for they are an absolute detriment to easy and rapid 

 manipulation. 



Eugene Secor (Iowa)— A hanging, self-spacing frame. They are 

 easily moved, but more perfectly spaced than one is likely to leave 

 them if one trusts his eye. 



C. Davenport (Minn.)- No. It takes too much time and work to 

 space them correctly, and if you wish to move a hive they have to be 

 fastened in place some way. 



Prof. A. J. Cook (Calif.)— I should. It is more easy to manipu- 

 late, is less likely to kill bees, and is simple. Simplicity is a good 

 motto in hive-construction. 



Jas. a. Stone (111.)— If you mean free of spacers, my answer is 

 yes. Because the greatest obstruction to returning a frame was the 

 spacer. Have torn mine all out. 



C. P. Dadant (111.) — Yes. by all means; because it is the safest 

 for the bees, and the easiest to handle. I would not use spacers ex- 

 cept such as were a part of the hive-body, and notof the frames. 



J. A. Green (Colo.)— No. Because I want the frames properly 

 spaced at all times, and a hive that can be handleo any side up with- 

 out coming to pieces, and that is ready for hauling at all times by 

 simply closing it up. 



E, Whitcomb (Nebr.)— Yes. I do not care to have the frames in- 

 cumbered by anything. It hanging free they will hang plumb if the 

 hive is set anywhere near level; the conditions Inside will be good both 

 for the occupants and the handler. 



Wm. Rohrio (Ariz.)— I think not. I prefer the Hoffman self- 

 spacing frame; it IS just as easy to handle, more accurately spaced, 

 and can be handled in pairs, if desired. In moving bees they are just 

 the thing — always in place, no smashing bees, etc. 



C. H. Dibbern (111.)— No, sir, too hard, and often impossible, to 

 get them out of hives when old, and crowded with bees. No more 

 hanging frames for me— need too much spacing, and it is so pleasant 

 to find a hive you wisn to open with the combs all in a bunch. 



G. W. Demaree (Ky. )— Yes, all the time. Why ? Because they 

 can be manipulated much easier, more rapidly, and are not half as 

 trying to the bad temper of the apiarist as is tlie " bee-glued," " bee- 

 stucklast," "chock-up ■'" fixed " frame. Why' That's all. 



Dr. C. C. Miller (111.) — No. I don't want to have to spend time 

 to try to get frames at something like equal distances apart. I don't 

 want to have bottom-bars at all sorts of distances. I want hives ready 

 to haul at a minute's notice without having to fasten the frames. 



Adrian (iETAZ (Tenn.) — Yes. In order to spread them a little 

 when taking out i he first frame, ano also to set them so as to admit, 

 when necessary, some queen-cages between the frames. For the same 

 reasons I want them spread not less than IJ-a inches apart from center 

 to center. 



Rev. M. Mahin (Ind.)— 1 greatly prefer a free-hanging frame. 

 For me it is much more easily manipulated, and kills fewer bees. I 

 have several times made fixed frames, but in every case I have dis- 

 carded them, cutting out the combs and putting them into the loose- 

 hanging frames. 



O. O. PoppLETON (Fla.)— No. I use close fitting top-bars, which 

 gives me the advantages of self- spacing frames, honey-boards, freedom 

 from burr-combs, all in one. I can manipulate tl em easier and more 

 rapidly than 1 can loose-hanging frames. A minor advantage is the 

 less danger of being stung. 



Dr. J. P. H. Brown (Ga.) — I would use a free-hanging frame 

 witl the ends of top-bars close fitting. Such arrangement of top bar 

 makes the frames self-spacing— they can more easily be handled, and 

 if necessary shoved from one side of the brood chamber to the other 

 without lifting from the hive. 



Mrs J. M. Null (Mo.) — I think I would probably, more from 

 force of habit thai for any other reason. Hard to get out of old ruts. 

 I have had some trouble with self-spacers, in the way of disfiguring 

 combs. I think the free-hanging frames can be the mire rapidly 

 manipulated. My colonies being wintered on the summer stands, are 

 very seldom moved. The question would assume a different shape, or 

 rather would have a different meaning, did I practice cellar-wintering, 

 or migratory bee keeping. 



R. C. Aikin (Colo.)— If I used a deep frame I would hang it, but 

 if a shallow one I would stand it. To get results one must manipulate, 

 and a standing frame is not nearly so easy to manipulate as a hanger. 

 For a deep self-spacer the Hoffman is probably as good as anything. I 

 despise nails and such. I am about "on the fence" as to whether to 

 use loose or self-spacers in the deep frame. The loose style will not 

 hang true, and the Hoffman is harder to handle unless you keep them 



