1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



419 



with you, and I'll tell you why I don't believe 

 It would be even advisable to put a colony of 

 bees in it to try it. I have tried hives that I es- 

 teemed less than this, and I have had no little 

 trouble therefrom; and it might not be a safe 

 thing to tell every man that a hive of his own 

 invention wasn't the very best thing in the 

 world; but a man who is level-headed enough 

 to invent a divisible-chamber hive and then re- 

 ject it will stand almost any thing; so I'm sure 

 you'll take it in good part for me to find all 

 the fault T choose. 



It's true, I'm changing from the hives I've 

 been using for years, and while I'm about it I'd 

 like to have the best; but one objection to yoiir 

 hive is, that the change would be somewhat vi- 

 olent. My old hives have frames 18x9, and I 

 can change to l~^x9}4 with not such a great 

 deal of trouble, for the two kinds of frames can 

 be used together, after a fashion ; but your 

 frame is li^i'X-S^i — no possibility of using your 

 frames interchangeably. Of course, if there 

 were enough to be gained by the change I ought 

 to be willing to undergo that inconvenience. 



The first thing that attracts my attention on 

 looking at your hive is that it is square — 14);|:x 

 14i^ inside measure ; and I must confess that 

 there's something a little prepossessing in that 

 appearance; but while you were about it why 

 didn't you make the real brood-space square, 

 instead of the inside of the hive? for the real 

 brood-space must be measured inside the end- 

 bars, and that makes it 143^x13,^. To make 

 your brood-space square you should lengthen 

 your frames !>§ inches. 



I don't believe I should like the method of 

 spacing at fixed distances employed in your 

 hive. Notches in the tin support maintain the 

 fixed distance at the upper part, and in some 

 respects this works well ; but it entirely pre- 

 cludes the possibility of pushing a number of 

 frames together along the rabbet as much as 2 

 inches. Much less do I like the spacing at the 

 lower end. Staples driven into one end of the 

 hive project so as to hold the lower ends apart, 

 and this makes it so that a frame must be lifted 

 some di;^tance to move it, and you can't put a 

 frame in its place without looking carefully to 

 see that you get it in its right place. True, this 

 spacing troubles at one end only, because the 

 other end is free; but that, again, is objection- 

 able; for I want my frames exactly spaced at 

 all four corners. I find in the hive before me 

 the space between end- bars at the free end va- 

 ries from xk to {},- That's a matter generally 

 lost sight of — the proper spacing of the lower 

 part of the frames — and the Hoffmans are at 

 fault right there. 



While putting the frames in the hive to find 

 the bottom spacing, I thought I would test by 

 the watch the rapidity of putting in frames. I 

 found it took me a minute and a quarter to put 

 the ten frames in place, and I feel pretty sure 



I could do it in much less than one-fourth the 

 time if the frames were allov/ed to slide freely. 

 *0f course, you would do it more rapidly with 

 your hive, having had practice. 



I see your top-bars are plump f| in thickness, 

 and I shouldn't want them any less. I don't 

 see the wisdom of our Medina friends in taking 

 a %■ stick and then whittling it down to a bead, 

 leaving it only %" thick. Perhaps they don't 

 know any better. You and I do. But what 

 makes you cut that J^-inch slot out of your top- 

 bars, so as to make a double top bar ? Is there 

 any advantage in it? I like the }^ saw-kerf to 

 receive one edge of the foundation in the top- 

 bar, but I prefer it ■^, so the foundation will 

 more readily enter. 



The horizontal wires in your brood-frames 

 are drawn so tight that they sing like the up- 

 per string of a banjo. According to the Roots 

 and Dadants, I think, they should be compara- 

 tively loose. From what little experience I've 

 had with horizontal wiring I stand against 

 them with you. Perhaps the editor will give 

 us some good reason for his slackness in wiring. 

 I don't mean for slackness in general. 



Now, I don't know but I've given nearly as 

 many favorable as unfavorable points ; but the 

 summing-up of the whole matter is that, where- 

 in there is a difference between your hive and 

 the more common form of the Langstroth, that 

 difference isn't any special improvement, and I 

 don't want the trouble of a change without a 

 certainty of a material improvement. We all 

 have our preferences, however, and I think we 

 can remain on speaking terms, even if we can't 

 agree on hives. 



Marengo, 111. 



[I am with you, doctor, exactly, in believing 

 that we do not want a notched rabbet to keep 

 the frames at fixed distances. It will hold a 

 frame for moving; but, as you say, it precludes 

 lateral movement, so highly prized by those of 

 us who have used such frames as the Hoffman. 



In regard to the thickness of top- bars, we 

 made them J4 deep, but our customers just 

 would not have them so; and in practice I 

 found that %' was practically as good as the %. 

 The latter may be a little more proof against 

 burr combs, but so "leetle" that it does not 

 amount to any thing. 



The 14-inch slot in the top-bar, if I am cor- 

 rect, is for the purpose of a passageway during 

 winter. An enamel cloth or quilt can be laid 

 squarely on the frames, and yet the bees pass 

 from one comb to another without going under 

 and around. A man by the name of Ainies 

 was one of the first. I believe, to suggest this 

 space in a top- bar. Even if such bars are only 

 % inch wide, they seem to go a long way toward 

 preventing burr-combs. We tried quite a lot, 

 and found them to do very well, but not so well 

 as a t op bar wider and at least ■'< inch deep. 



if horizontal wires are drawn taut, the found- 

 ation, according to our experience, will buckle 

 every time unless a very heavy article is used, 

 and that is too expensive. On the other hand, 

 if the wire is left a little slack, but taut enough 

 to take out all the sag, there will be no buck- 

 ling.— Ed.] 



