1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



713 



Right here it may be asked, on the part 

 of the professional old timer, "Why should 

 he be compelled to use a hive better adapt- 

 ed to beginners, when he from his knowl- 

 edge and experience can work a smaller 

 hive to better advantage? ' ' We have travel- 

 ed a good many thousands of miles among 

 bee-keepers, and have been surprised again 

 and again to find the old veterans are just 

 the very chaps, sometimes, who will allow 

 their bees to go into winter quarters with 

 insufficient stores. The fact is, they very 

 often have not time to go to the distant 

 outyards and give their hives the needed 

 attention. Now, would it not be better if 

 these same men had larger hives that would 

 be more nearly automatic, that would not 

 require so much "eternal vigilance" and 

 fussing? 



Then it very often happens that this same 

 veteran, in the midst of a good honey-flow, 

 finds himself short of hives and supers. If 

 he has only eight-frame hives he is going 

 to lose either two frames of brood or two 

 frames of honey. Taking it all in all, it is 

 our opinion that a brood-nest should be suf- 

 ficient unto itself in a single section rather 

 than to make it necessary to have to use 

 two hives or two brood-chambers in order 

 to secure sufficient capacity. 



We are not sure but that most that is said 

 in favor of the ten-frame would apply with 

 greater force to the twelve-frame or the 

 .Jumbo hive of equal capacity. But when 

 we consider that the ten-frame is about all 

 one can handle, so far as lifting is concern- 

 ed, and that the twelve-frame is just enough 

 heavier "to break the camel's back," should 

 we not rather stick to the standard — that 

 is, standard all over the United States — 

 rather than take something that is odd- 

 sized or irregular? 



It would be worth thousands of dollars to 

 the industry if all the hives in this coun- 

 try were standard. What do we find to- 

 day? Here is Mr. Jones, who, we will say, 

 started with ten-frame hives. He kept on 

 increasing until he had two or three hun- 

 dred colonies. His business grows, and in 

 the meantime his less successful neighbors 

 want to sell out to him. Most of them 

 have eight-frame hives, and some of them 

 have something else. The bees are offered 

 to him very low, and he buys them out. 

 Now, what has he in his yard? A mixture 

 of odds and ends. Almost any large pro- 

 ducer in the country has this condition to 

 contend with, not because it is of his own 

 seeking, but because he was compelled by 

 by force of circumstances to buy out those 

 around him. 



The management of this journal has de- 

 cided that it will be saving thousands of 

 dollars, not only to the bee-keepers but to 

 the supply -manufacturer, to enco\;rage 

 standardization; and while this policy may 

 be somewhat inconsistent with our previous 

 policies, we feel it is none too late to mend. 

 If it were not a fact that many of our larg- 

 est producers were changing from eight to 

 ten frame hives, and we were not also just 



as sure that the average farmer bee-keeper 

 and beginner would do better with the ten- 

 frame hive rather than eight-frame, the sit- 

 uation would be dififerent. As it is, we feel 

 it our duty to steer the beginner, at least, 

 right. 



UNIFORMITY OF SHIPPING-CASES. 



In this general connection there is almost 

 as much reason why the general bee-keep- 

 ing public should adopt standard shipping- 

 cases. What is the sense in having, for ex- 

 ample, two and three row r2-lb. single-tier 

 shipping-cases? W^hy not adopt one or the 

 other? What do we find on the market to- 

 day? A double-tier 24-lb. shipping-case, a 

 single-tier 24-lb. shipping-case, a 12-lb. two- 

 row and a 12-lb. three-row shipping-case, a 

 25-lb. five-row shipping-case, all for the 

 same sections. Every dealer must carry a 

 stock of all these, and this stock is made 

 the larger from the fact that we have 4X 

 sections. Ideal sections, and 4X5 sections. 

 This is aggravated again by different widths 

 of sections of these three different sizes. 

 Now, somebody must pay for this multiplici- 

 ty and confusion. If the bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity could see the necessity of adopting 

 standard shipping -cases, 12-lb., and one 

 standard 24-lb., it would save materially in 

 the cost of the cases; and, what is more, 

 buyers generally would be able to quote 

 prices on uniform packages. 



Perhaps the same argument might apply 

 with reference to sections, and so on it goes. 

 In a word, we are pleading for iiniformity . 

 Twenty-five years ago there was nothing on 

 the market except ten-frame Langstroth 

 hives. Mr. .James Heddon and some of his 

 followers favored the eight-frame. Gradu- 

 ally some of the manufacturers adopted the 

 eight-frame, we among the rest. We have 

 been convinced that it was a mistake. It 

 would have been better for the fraternity at 

 large if it had stuck to the original ten- 

 frame hive. We can always make an eight 

 out of a ten frame, but we can not convert an 

 eight into a ten frame except by the awk- 

 ward manipulation of another hive-body of 

 eight-frame capacity. If we have an eight- 

 frame hive, and the bees want ten frames, 

 there is a lot of vacant space left in another 

 eight-frame hive-body placed on top, which 

 the cluster must warm up somehow. They 

 simply can not warm it, and, consequently, 

 brood-rearing during cool nights receives a 

 check. 



The time is coming, we believe, when the 

 laws of the country will compel automobile 

 manufacturers to use standard nuts and 

 bolts. A good many of them, as we happen 

 to know, are using special threads, and the 

 only way to get a repair part is to send a 

 telegram and then wait several days before 

 the express companies can deliver it. Hun- 

 dreds of arguments might be produced 

 favoring a standard. If the ten-frame 

 Langstroth brood-nest were very badly pro- 

 portioned (but the facts do not seem to 

 prove it) , then it might seem advisable to 

 adopt some other form. 



