94 



March, 1913. 



American Vee Journal 



and >2-inch space. But whoever has 

 tried, side by side, 8-frameand 10-frame 

 hives, has no doubt concluded that 

 after there has been some accumula- 

 tion of propolis, the space in the 10- 

 frame hive will not do as compared with 

 the 8-frame. 



More important than the question as 

 to the origin of the limited space in 

 the 10-frame hive is the question why 

 this handicap has continued upon it all 

 these years. If the extra space is a 

 good thing for the 8-frame hive, it is 

 an equally good thing for the 10-frame. 

 If the 10-frame is just as well without 

 the extra space, so is the 8-frame. Is 

 there a ghost of a reason why the two 

 should be different ? In other words, 

 why there should not be, as Editor Da- 

 dant says, the same space per frame in 

 each hive ? Perhaps the answer will 

 be that there are thousands of hives of 

 that particular size already in existence, 

 with covers and other parts to corres- 

 pond, and it would make confusion to 

 intoduce a size just a little different. 

 But that argument hardly appeals to 

 the bee-keeper, especially to the begin- 

 ner, however strongly it may appeal to 

 the manufacturer. In fact, to the prac- 

 tical bee-keeper it appears little less 

 than an outrage that this wrong, this 

 handicap upon the 10-frame hive should 

 be continued year after year. 



The trouble is that the beginner does 

 not know, while his hives are new, the 

 trouble in store for him, and after he 

 has learned about it he has so many 

 hives on hand that he quietly submits 

 rather than to have two sizes in the 

 same apiary. Before he has stocked up 

 to any considerable extent with hives 

 measuring 1454 inches, inside measure, 

 he will do well to demand ll^s. Even 

 if he has to pay a little more for the 

 unusual size, it will be money well 

 spent. Let the 10-frame hive have just 

 as fair a chance as the 8-frame. 



Marengo, III. 



[VVe have also a letter from A. C. 

 Miller, of Providence, R. I , calling at- 

 tention to the fact that the manufactur- 

 ers make the 10-frame hive smaller, 

 per frame, than the 8-frame. The trou- 

 ble with me is that I have been using a 

 10-frame hive which has the regular 

 one-and-one-half inches foreach frame, 

 and have never given thought to any 

 other. There is a difference between 

 what is and what ought to be. Below 

 is A. C. Miller's letter. — Editor.] 



In the January issue, page 16, in a 

 foot-note to Mr. VVilder's comments on 

 8 and 10 frame hives, you say, " Prop- 

 erly made hives should have the same 

 space per frame" etc. 



In good old times 10-frame hives 

 were 20 inches long by 16'4 wide, out- 

 side, but about <iO or more years ago 

 the supply men made even figures, and 

 all hives were made20.xl6 inches. That 

 lost quarter of an inch is as trouble- 

 some as an extra inch on a man's nose, 

 and is at the bottom of such trouble as 

 Mr. Wilder refers to. Last year, I un- 

 derstand the manufacturers went back 



to the lG'4-inch width. It will make 

 nice fun for those who use covers like 

 the "Colorado " and " Metal Topped " 

 fitted to the 16-inch width. 

 There will be a loud noise by and by. 



The 12-Frame Langstroth Hive 



BY R. F. HOLTERM.XNN. 



THE report of Mr. Greiner, pages 

 ■JG and 57, in connection with 

 the New York State convention, 

 interests me. The wedges which 

 I use, mentioned by Mr. Greiner, 

 are kept in place by driving a tack 

 through the thin end, the point of the 

 tack going through the wedge, and 

 when inserted, this tack sticks to the 

 bottom-board or brood-chamber. 



In the last lot of hives I have had 

 made, the wedge idea is embodied in 

 the hive side. I had to learn that the 

 space under the combs did no harm 

 after the close of the honey-fiow. 



The third line from the bottom of 

 the third column, page 57, states that I 

 use 8 frames in the 10-frame space in 

 the supers. I may have said what I 

 did not mean. It should be that I use 

 /'/ frames in the J 2- frame super space. 

 I value the 12-frame hive to such an 

 extent that when I buy bees in the 10- 

 frame hives, I take out the combs and 

 put them into the 12-frame brood- 

 chamber, waiting an opportunity to 

 sell the former. Let no one get the im- 

 pression that I use a Langstroth hive 

 less than 12 frames. 



The bees appear to be wintering 

 well here. They had a cleansing flight 

 late in December, and at present it 

 looks as if bees would come through 

 much better than a year ago; however, 

 it might yet prove to be a very late 

 spring and bees might suffer. 



Brantford, Canada. 



The Name of Spanish-Needles 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL. 



IN THE American Bee Journal for 

 December, attention iscalled in an 

 editorial to Spanish-needles, a most 

 valuable honey-plant of the Miss- 

 issippi Valley. Further informa- 

 tion in regard to the Latin and En- 

 glish names of this plant, it is added, 

 will be given later. This species, in 

 the lowlands of the Mississippi River, 

 covers large areas, and when it blooms 

 in September the golden-yellow rays 

 present a most brilliant display of 

 color. The flowers secrete nectar in 

 great abundance, which yields a golden 

 honey of great excellence and popu- 

 larity. 



Late in the fall of 1912, Mr. Dadant 

 gathered specimens of the fruit of this 

 species, and of another taller plant be- 

 longing to the same genus and growing 

 in the same situation. The latter spe- 

 cies has small rays, and it is not at all 

 conspicuous. The plants had long 

 been out of bloom, and there would 

 seem to have been little but dead ma- 

 terial to collect. These dried speci- 



mens were sent to me through Mr. E 

 R. Root for determination. 



The identification of the shorter spe- 

 cies, or the plant so valuable to bee- 

 keepers as a source of honey was un- 

 dertaken first. The material consisted 

 chiefly of achenes (the so-called seeds) 

 and involucral bracts. After a careful 

 examination of all the characters avail- 

 able, the plant was referred to Bidens 

 aristosa (Michx.) Britton. In one par- 

 ticular, however, it differed from the 

 7th edition of Gray's Manual, the awns 

 were downwardly instead of upwardly 

 barbed ; but, according to the Illus- 

 trated Flora of Britton and Brown, 

 both forms occur. 



Under these circumstances it seemed 

 desirable to have my determination 

 verified by an acknowledged authority. 

 At the Gray Herbarium of Harvard 

 University, there is ample material of 

 all the species of Bidens for compari- 

 son. ."Accordingly I sent part of the 

 fruit to Prof. M. L. Fernald, w^ho is a 

 joint author with Dr. B. L. Robinson, 

 of the 7th edition of Gray's Manual, 

 and one of the first anthorities on the 

 American flora, stating that I had iden- 

 fied the species as Bidens aristosa. 



A few days ago I received a letter 

 from Prof. Fernald, in which he says: 

 "The fruit you sent was recognized 

 as that of an anomalous variation of 

 Bidens aristosa, in which the barbs of 

 the awns are retrorse instead of as- 

 cending. I have several times started 

 to look into the matter, and have been 

 as often interrupted, so that today, for 

 the first time, I have actually got down 

 to the question and followed it through. 

 For the present the plant had better 

 pass as Bidens aristosa. In its awns it 

 shows a distinct departure from that 

 species, but not in its other characters. 

 We have considerable material from 

 Illinois and Missouri, and it seems to 

 be so abundant that I shall soon pub- 

 lish it as a variety."' 



The species is, therefore, undoubt- 

 edly Bidens aristosa, under which name 

 it should pass until it has been de- 

 scribed as a variety by Prof. Fernald, 

 when the varietal name should be 

 added. 



.•\s to the English name Spanish- 

 needles, in view of the fact that there 

 is another species of Bidens (B. bipin- 

 nata), which is also called Spanish- 

 needles, it would no doubt be better to 

 give the honey-plant another name. 

 But this is easier said than done. We 

 understand that in the region of the 

 Mississippi Valley it is generally called 

 Spanish-needles. If we change the 

 name on paper, the farmers and bee- 

 keepers will still continue to call it by 

 its old name. 



But to what name could we change 

 it ? Gray's Manual gives no common 

 or vernacular name for flide/is aristosa, 

 while Britton and Brown call it tick- 

 seed sunflower, which is no better than 

 Spanish-needles. It frequently hap- 

 pens, indeed, that several different spe- 

 cies have the same common name. In 

 this very genus of Bidens several spe- 

 cies are called beggar-ticks, while a 



30 hTu sTI FOR LEWIS BEEWARE 



Send for Annunl Cntnlos: «hU*h will toll 

 you « lio Is your nearest Distributer, 

 i;. B. I.enis i'onipnny. Watertown- Wis. 



