252 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



John Craycraft, in Gleanings, p. 47. He gives 

 some very sensible arguments, showing the ad- 

 vantages of his square hive over the long hive, 

 although his is not a square frame. This, to my 

 mind, eliminates the most objectionable fea- 

 ture. His experience with both styles of hives 

 entitles his views to careful consideration. It 

 has often occurred to me that I should want to 

 use the frames as he arranged to use them, the 

 short way of the hive, if I were using the long 

 hives. Nor would this make a hive that I 

 could be satisfied with by any means. 



HOAV THE SQUARE HIVE OPERATES IN WINTER. 



At the beginning of cold weather the brood 

 will all be hatched. This will leave the lower 

 part of the combs empty, upon which the bees 

 will be clustered. The stores will all be above 

 the bees, in the most favorable position to be 

 protected and preserved by the heat ascending 

 from the cluster. As the winter advances, the 

 consumption of stores enlarges the brood-nest 

 of empty comb, and the cluster advance slowly 

 upon the stores above them; and as long as any 

 stores are left they are in an available position, 

 and preserved in good condition for use. This 

 is important. iStores of honey exposed for any 

 considerable time to the cold become candied 

 or grained, and are seriously impaired, and 

 sometimes they become utterly worthless, and 

 will be dug out of the comb, and carried out of 

 the hives when warm weather comes. At 

 the approach of spring, the cluster will have 

 reached the top of the combs, where brood- 

 rearing will begin in the warmest and most 

 favorable part of the hive. 



HOW THE LONG HIVE OPERATES IN WINTER. 



Long before winter is over, the stores will be 

 exhausted above the cluster to the top of the 

 frames. If the cluster was located in the cen- 

 ter of the hive, they will now have the stores di- 

 vided into two lots, one in either end of the hive. 

 One lot must now be abandoned while they ad- 

 vance upon the other. When these are con- 

 sumed they are hopelessly cut off and separat- 

 ed from the stores in the other end by the 

 empty comb between, and will perish unless a 

 fortunate warm spell conies to their relief. But 

 suppose the cluster is located at one end of the 

 hive, at the beginning of winter. The stores 

 will all or nearly all be at one side, and exposed 

 to nearly as much cold as if no bees were in the 

 hive at all. If the cold is severe and continu- 

 ous throughout the winter, how could any 

 thoughtful bee-keeper hope or expect the 

 dormant cluster of bees to advance upon this 

 frozen and candied mass of stores, and be able 

 to appropriate them for food, with much 

 chance of survival ? 



The large amount of surface exposure of the 

 long hive makes it unfavorable for wintering 

 without protection. This fact seems to have 

 been early recognized by its advocates, and 

 chaff packing as a winter protection came to 

 the rescue. By this Improvement the hive 



that was already clumsy and awkward to 

 handle became practically an immovable fixture 

 in the bee-yard, and manipulation of such hives 

 was not to be thought of. 



I think the chaff hive has hardly been re- 

 garded with favor by the majority of large hon- 

 ey-producers, even by those who practice out- 

 door wintering. The manipulation of hives is 

 too important a feature to be sacrificed for the 

 advantages thus gained. 



East Townsend, Ohio. 



E. FRANCE'S ftUADRTJPLE LANGSTROTH 

 HIVE. 



HOW^ USED AND MADE BY HIMSELF. 



By E. France. 



First, we will say our lumber is dressed on 

 both sides, and is % inch thick. We waiit a 

 pair of good match planes that will make a 

 good tight job. For an eight-frame hive, 

 match boards together for a bottom 30 inches 

 wide by 42% inches long. We now want a 

 division-board 30 inches long, 9% inches wide. 

 Make the division-boards double thickness; 

 nail two pieces of lumber together flatwise. 

 Now rabbet out of the top edge of the division- 

 board X inch out of the thickness of the board, 

 and %■ inch down toward the bottom. Cut a 

 rabbet on both sides of the division-board. 

 Those rabbets are to hold up one end of the 

 frames. Now put the division-board across 

 the bottom-board, exactly in the center, and 

 nai! it fast, driving the nail through the bottom- 

 board into the division-board. 



Now make two short division-boards, double 

 thickness, to go lengthwise of the bottom, 

 dividing the hive into four equal parts. Nail 

 them in, and we are ready for the sides, which 

 should be wide enough to come even with the 

 top of the division-boards and down to the 

 bottom of the bottom-board (10j>^ inches wide); 

 now two boards the same width to go across 

 the ends; then we want some one-inch hoop- 

 iron. Cut off a piece 30 inches long. Roundoff 

 the two upper corners, then drive the iron into 

 the division-board between the two thicknesses. 

 Drive it in half an inch, leaving half an inch 

 above the division-board. Now cut two pieces 

 of hoop-iron to go into the short divisions, the 

 same length as the division-boards. This iron 

 is for a safeguard to keep the bees from passing 

 from one colony to another over the divisions, 

 in case the honey-board should be warped 

 enough to let bees pass over. 



We want quite a lot of IJ-g-inch strips, same 

 thickness as the hive lumber. Place a l^o-inch 

 strip around the top of the hive, }.< inch down 

 from the top. This is for the top chamber to 

 rest on. 



If you now look at the pictures you should 

 get a good idea of the hive. The entrance is 

 put at the corner furthest from the center of 



