THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



77 



?oinme OIbjectln©iiiS to thi® Use ©f 



E. T. ATWATER. 



JN talUing and writinjj: on the hive 

 question, so far as I have noticed, no 

 one has emphasized properly the mat- 

 ter of the comparative condition of the 

 combs in each. The deeper the frame, 

 the poorer the combs are apt to be. 

 This was broug^ht to m}' attention last 

 sprinjj;-, while talking to Mr. (J. J. 

 Yoder. 



Mr. Yoder uses largely a ten-frame 

 hive, with frames lyz inches deep, 

 comb surface 6^s x 17, when fully built 

 to end and bottom bars He uses also 

 a few ten-frame hives of standard 

 depth. During the season of 1904, the 

 colonies in shallow hives made more 

 honey than the ones on depp combs. 

 His explanation of the matter was that 

 the shallow combs were practically 

 ptrject, no sag, and so were very well 

 tilled with brood, while the deep combs 

 had sagged to such an extent that 

 there was 'ery kittle br^od reared 

 within, pernaps, two inches or more of 

 the top bar. Of course, more honey is 

 stored in the brood nest in which the 

 deeper frames are used, but even if 

 average returns were slightly les.s, the 

 deep hive would be better adapted to 

 an extensive business, as that extra 

 honey in the brood-nest is the best 

 kind of insurance against losses and 

 extra care. Of course, two stories of 

 7'2 inch combs may be left forthebees, 

 but I find that few do so. I cannot 

 believe that results, even with the 

 combs in the Yoder hives, would al- 

 vv;<js be in favor of the shallow hives. 

 I have always had more deep (stand- 

 ard) hives, than of the shallow, al- 

 though 1 have had in use, perhaps, lOO 

 hives with five inch combs, and iinother 

 loo with six-inch combs. In no case 

 that I can remember, has any colony 



in which the queen was confined to a 

 single case of either five-inch or six- 

 inch combs ever produced the largest 

 yield in a given yard. Reluctantly, 

 have I admitted this truth, for, from 

 the first, I have had a strong leaning 

 toward the shallow brood-nest, and 

 have been willing to give the shallow 

 hive the benefit of the doubt. My shal- 

 low hives were equal to 5, 6, or 7 L 

 frames. Have used L hives with from 

 four to ten frames in the brood-nests, 

 for comb honey. 



don't use too light foundation, 



nor put it in the frames too 



early in the season. 



Now, brother bee-keepers, if you real- 

 ize the importance of good combs, you 

 will likely fight shy of all light brood 

 foundation. If you use five-inch combs 

 two wires are needed. With /-.frames 

 we use three wires; with a deeper 

 frame it may be that four wires would 

 be necessary. 



I know that Doolittle recommends 

 filling frames with full sheets of foun- 

 dation during the winter, or spring, 

 but my experience again says no; un- 

 less you have a place where they can 

 be kept cool uniW ready for use, be that 

 time May or September. Full sheets of 

 foundation, well wired, if long exposed 

 to a temgerature of 90 degrees or high- 

 er, will sag, badly, and may even 

 break from the wires, and "Weed Pro- 

 cess" at that. Have your frames prop- 

 erly wired, then wait as long as possi- 

 ble before putting in the full sheets of 

 foundation. With our plan of using 

 melted wax to fasten the foundation to 

 the top-bar, two persons can put in 

 several hundred full sheets in a Aa.y. 



Upon this matter of combs with little 

 or no sag along the top-bar, depends 



