1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



709 



8-frame Dovetailed, using two bodies or 16 

 frames. 



7. You will notice in the illustration of the 

 Gabus hive that the frames are parallel with 

 the front instead of, as is usual, at right angles 

 with the front. Is this any disadvantage? and 

 if so, why ? 



Ben Avon, Pa., Aug. 19. H. P. Joslin. 



I can hardly add much to the comments 

 made by the editor on the Gabus hive. Mr. 

 Gabus has strongly set forth its advantages, 

 and if, as he says, " It has all the advantages 

 of both the box hive and the movable-frame 

 hive," then certainly it is the hive for all to 

 adopt. Yet the fact remains that it has not 

 been adopted by all, nor even by a majority of 

 bee-keepers, for practically the same hive has 

 been before the public for many years. The 

 main ooint of difference between this hive and 

 its predecessors is, that in this hive the bolt 

 goes through the ^ holes in the end-bars. A 

 variation of more than ^ of an inch makes it 

 impossible for the J^-inch bolt to enter. It re- 

 quires nicer workmanship than I have general- 

 ly seen in bee-hives to have no variations of ^ 

 of an inch. Supposing, however, all goes to- 

 gether snugly when new and empty, there is 

 some liability to change through the course of 

 time; and with a cross lot of bees boiling out at 

 the open joints it might take more time and 

 care than desirable to get the bolt through. 



Considering the lifetime of a bee-hive, the 

 difference in expense is not a very great mat- 

 ter; and while one with long experience may 

 handle the frames of such hives readily, others 

 will find it much easier to have hanging frames 

 with some sort of automatic spacing by which 

 every frame will easily take its proper place. 



I don't know just how much value is nowa- 

 days attached to this matter of reversing the 

 frames; but there seems to be little said about 

 it, and I suspect that some who formerly prac- 

 ticed it have given it up. The claim that, by 

 reversing, swarming couid be prevented, seems 

 to have no solid foundation; but it seems to me 

 that reversing has value for the sake of getting 

 combs built solidly to both top and bottom bars. 

 There may be a question, however, whether it 

 is a desirable thing to break up the house- 

 keeping arrangements of the bees by turning 

 their rooms upside down. I know there were 

 reversible frames in use at Medina, and per- 

 haps the editor will kindly tell us whether they 

 are now used more or less than formerly. 



If the end comb were filled witn sealed honey, 

 and placed in the center of the brood-nest, I 

 think reversing would not make the slightest 

 difference. If the comb were partly filled or 

 partly sealed, then reversing might make a 

 difference. Whether partly or wholly filled, if 

 such frame were put in the center the honey 

 would sometimes be carried up into the supers 

 and sometimes not— oftener not, in my own ex- 



perience. One year, during the honey harvest, 

 I put empty combs into the center of many 

 hives, and almost invariably these combs were 

 filled solid with honey. Of course, in that case 

 full combs would hardly have been emptied. 



There seems to be a good deal of differ- 

 ence in colonies as to the amount of brood, and 

 consequently the amount of honey left in the 

 brood-nest; and I am inclined to the opinion 

 that, in the long run, it makes no difference as 

 to the placing of the combs. If they empty out 

 a comb that you put in the center, they'll fill 

 up others at the sides, so that in the end you'll 

 be just where you started. It is possible, how- 

 ever, that uncapping filled combs in the brood- 

 nest may make a real difference. No matter 

 where such combs are placed, the bees are like- 

 ly to empty them; and if there's no room for 

 the honey in the other brood- combs it must go 

 into the super. 



3. The best plan I know of is to put the two 

 nuclei side by side in the same hive, with an 

 impassable division-board between them, the 

 two entrances at the front being six to twelve 

 inches apart. I speak confidently of this plan 

 after much experience. The nuclei were al- 

 ways found in winter close up against the 

 division-board, the whole forming a globe just 

 as if they had been one colony, and I think 

 they wintered just as well as if they had been 

 fully united. 



3. There seems no doubt that lack of room 

 helps to induce swarming, and reducing the 

 room is probably worse than to start in the 

 first place with limited room. If I started the 

 season with a ten-frame hive, I think I would 

 keep the ten frames all through. If I used an 

 eight-frame hive, I think I would start with 

 from 12 to 16 frames, and reduce to 8 on giving 

 supers. 



4. I think not. Worker-comb makes a better- 

 looking surface when sealed. If the queen can 

 get into the super, she is more likely to go up 

 and lay in drone than worker comb, always pro- 

 viding drone comb is scarce in the brood-nest. 

 If excluders are used, of course she can't go up; 

 but in that case it might delay the sealing of 

 some of the sections, for I've seen cases in 

 which a section was entirely sealed except a 

 little corner of drone comb, the cells being en- 

 tirely drawn out, but without a drop of honey, 

 the bees evidently holding them open for the 

 use of the queen. 



5. I think not. 



6. Couldn't. It would fill a whole number of 

 Gleanings. I may give briefly, however, the 

 result so far as I have got. Somewhat contrary 

 to my expectations, I have not made a success 

 of running two stories throughout the season 

 for comb honey. I stuck to it faithfully 

 throughout most of the season, with some 

 twenty colonies, against the earnest pleadings of 

 my assistant. But I've had good success by giv- 



