574 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



Trade Notes. 



NUMBER OF SECTIONS MADE BY THE G. B. 

 LEWIS CO. 



We are surprised to learn that the G. B. 

 Lewis Co., of Watertown, Wis., manufacture 

 annually from ten to twelve millions of sec- 

 tions; but during the last year, 1893, the sales, 

 so we have been informed, were not quite so 

 large. This is probably a much greater num- 

 ber of sections than is manufactured by any 

 other manufacturer of bee-keepers' supplies. 

 As the company in question have not adver- 

 tised so very extensively, this large sale is 

 doubtless due to the fine and uniform quality of 

 the sections they make; in fact, we get pretty 

 good reports of all the goods sent out by the 

 G. B. Lewis Co. 



tomlinson's closed-end-frame hive. 



After describing Aikin Brothers & Knight's 

 new hive, with the closer! -end frames, we re- 

 ceived letters from various sources, criticising 

 the hive, some saying that it was made of too 

 many pieces, etc. Among them the following 

 is a letter received from Julius Tomlinson: 



Friend Root: — 



I read with interest your description of 

 Knight's non-swarming hive. It may be a 

 good hive, and the non-swarming principle all 

 right; but it is too complicated, and the non- 

 swarming feature not so simple as Langdon's. 

 The closed-end brood-frames are a good thing ; 

 but the way of compression of the same is not 

 nearly as simple as in my hive, as you may see 

 if you will take the trouble to read my little 

 book which I inclose. Bees and honey are too 

 cheap to warrant complicated and expensive 

 hives. Heddon once said, in our Michigan con- 



Tomlinson uses a long bolt, with thumb-nuts 

 as a means of compression, on closed - end 

 frames; but his manner of producing compres- 

 sion laterally is slightly different. Instead of 

 having a bridge-shaped cleat nailed across the 

 end-board, he has loose wedges that be crowds 

 down between the end cleat of the side-board 

 and the end cleat of the end-board. The en- 

 graving below will make it plain. 



A peculiarity is, that the ends of the frames 

 come in contact with the side-boards that are 

 squeezed up by the thumb-nuts and rods, and 

 the lateral compression or pressure against the 

 sides of the frames is effected by the wedges. 

 Usually in such arrangements the thumb-nuts 

 and rods compress the frames laterally; and it 

 seems to us that, as the rods afford the more 

 powerful compression, their pressure should be 

 applied to squeeze the frames together. 



The frames are the ordinary closed ends; 

 but a top and bottom bar % inch square is nail- 

 ed to the ends so that one sharp edge or corner 

 is up, a la Bingham. To contract the brood- 

 nest, one or more frames are removed and the 

 end-board is shoved up against the frames left 

 in the hives. It is then, says friend Tomlinson, 

 fastened with a wedge, and the thumb-nuts are 

 drawn up. Just how this end-board may be 

 wedged up, or, rather, what the wedge may 

 crowd against, friend T. does not describe. 



The cover is made of three boards, the two 

 cracks being fitted together with a couple of 

 V-shaped tin gutters. We do not regard this 

 method of making covers of two or three pieces 

 as entirely practical, and we think that friend 

 T. will discover, sooner or later, that his covers 

 leak badly. The bottom-board is made long 

 enough and wide enough to reach out to the 

 outer edges of the hive, and is cleated at each 

 end to prevent warping. Upon the upper side 

 and on the outer side edges are nailed two 

 cleats % thick and 1}4 inches wide. This raises 



vention, that, if he were to start anew in the 

 bee-business, he would take the old box hive, 

 and I am not sure but he was about right. 



Julius Tomlinson. 

 Allegan, Mich., June 7. 



Accompanying this letter was a booklet de- 

 scribing his Ideal hive, with closed-end frames. 

 As it was made on somewhat the same plan as 

 Ailvin Brotliers & Knight's hive, we concluded 

 that a brief description of it might be interest- 

 ing — the more so, as attention is now being 

 directed toward a feasible plan whpreby closed- 

 end frames may be used successfully without 

 the inconvenience of the old methods. Mr. 



the hive- body up a bee-space from the bottom- 

 board, and leaves an inner projecting support 

 for the ends of the brood -frames. 



The super is made on the same plan as the 

 brood -chamber, and contains a series of single- 

 tier wide frames. These, Mr. T. says, secure 

 cleaner sections, and he prefers them to the 

 section-holder, or topless wide frame. 



We do not quite understand why friend T. 

 prefers to have the most powerful compression 

 —that by means of rods and thumb-nuts — ap- 

 plied upon the ends of the closed-end frames 

 rather than ujjon the sides. Pos!-ibly there are 

 some advantages in this, and if •^o friend Tom- 

 linson will enlighten us. 



