1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



171 



ahead ; and after you've kept bees for a year or 

 so you'll not be so smart; and it may be time 

 enough then to read the rest of this article. Now, 

 after you've got through inventing the Great-Eure- 

 ka-warranted - not-to-rip-ravel-nor-run-down-at-the- 

 heel hive, let me advise you to commence with one 

 of the hives already in use. It really does not make 

 such an immense difference what kind of a hive 

 you have, so far as the bees are concerned. They 

 will store about the same amount of honey, wheth- 

 er you shorten or lengthen your frame the hun- 

 dredth part of an inch. But it does make a differ- 

 ence whether your hives are all alikf^. nnd you will 

 find it quite troublesome to change from one hive 

 or frame to another. There are two things so gen- 

 erally in use tHat they have become a kind of stan- 

 dard. One is the frame IT's inches long and 9% 

 deep, outside measure; the other is the one-pound 

 section, 4,Vx4J4. I use a frame ^i longer and 'g 

 shallower than the one I have mentioned. I don't 

 know that it's either better or worse ; but I'd give 

 quite a little if all my frames were of the standard 

 size. Tn that case I should be more like others, and 

 it is so much more convenient to be able to order 

 goods of standard size that are always kept in stock. 

 But having commenced with an odd size, each year 

 that I increased the number of my hives made it 

 harder for me to change. So, try to start so you 

 will not want to change. If you settle on the frame 

 and section, then every thing else must conform. 

 As many of the readers of this journal may be in- 

 fluenced by what has been said in its pages and in 

 friend Root's price list, I will comment thereon. 

 Much has been said in favor of chaff hives, and I 

 don't blame friend Root for speaking so highly of 

 them, because he has succeeded so well with them 

 himself; and if I lived in Medina 1 suspect I should 

 be a chaff-hive man ; but being where I think I can 

 do better to winter in a cellar, I think I am not 

 likely ever to care for any thing much different 

 from the Langstroth hive. Most of the improve- 

 ments made upon it at different times have been 

 not improvements. The Simplicity is really a Lang- 

 stroth, but some things about it are not liked by 

 some as well as the old Langstroth. The new Dove- 

 tailed hive is really a Simplicity, in my opinion; 

 and in some things it goes back to the old hive. 

 But I am afraid some may be misled to use with it 

 the section-holder, who may afterward wish they 

 had started with something else. It has been rec- 

 ommended, and I think it likely that a very few, 

 after trying it fairly side by side with the T super, 

 may conclude they prefer the section-holder, but I 

 think the great majority will prefer the T. It is 

 true, that the sectioa-holder'just fits the Dovetailed 

 hive, and presents a very pretty appearance; but it 

 is also true, that the T super just fits the 414 section; 

 and because the L. frame is best to use, and the 4ij 

 section, I would use the best thing to hold each of 

 them, and adapt the two to each other as best I 

 could. 



The objection to the T super is, that it is shorter 

 than the Dovetailed hive, and, when placed upon it, 

 leaves a small space either at the front or back. 

 But, following the lead of Adam Grimm, many 

 think it very important to have just that space at 

 the back end, so that the bees may easily keep the 

 broodnest cool in hot days. If wanted closed, it is 

 very easy to do so by placing a little stick over the 

 opening, as I have done for years when I wanted it 

 closed. I do think it is paying a very high price for 



the matter of looks to use the section-holder in 

 place of the T super. Possibly it is because I am 

 used to it; but the inequality in the lengths of hive 

 and super does not offend my eye. 



Perhaps I may give some of the objections to the 

 section-holder. The sections rest on a bottom strip 

 which is light, and will pretty surely sag more or less. 

 The bottoms of the sections will not generally cor- 

 respond with the bottom-bar of the holder, and, as 

 a consequence, bee-glue will be plentiful in the 

 angles; and you may be sure that, wherever the 

 sections do not fit down snug upon the bottom-bar, 

 the bees will thrust bee-glue between. The holders 

 make more weight to handle, and tin separators 

 must be used. If it has a single advantage over the 

 T super, I do not know it, with the single exception 

 of its being the same length as the Dovetailed hive. 

 I confess I don't like the idea of a section-holder 

 and T super combinsd. I want the T super in its 

 best form, and certainly that is not by making it an 

 inch too long. 



And now 1 have done what I wanted— given some 

 general hints, and especially warned beginners 

 against adopting the section-holder without first 

 giving it and the T super a fair trial. From the 

 number who have used the T super— which is not 

 always, but pretty often, a safe guide— you may 

 judge something. Friend Root tells me that, for 

 the Simplicity, of late, the T supers have outsold 

 the wide frames three to one, and the section-hold- 

 er is a modified wide frame without any top-bar— in 

 my opinion, no better for being without the top-bar. 

 The immense sale of Dovetailed hives makes me 

 anxious that no one shall think that, just because 

 the section-holder exactly tits the hive, he must use 

 it in preference to something better. If you are 

 very anxious to have the super the same length as 

 the hive, then order the T super with one end filled 

 in; then, if you wish, you can take out the filling 

 and use it as a section-holder; and by putting one 

 on top of another you can use the pair as a hive- 

 body to hold brood-trnmes. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Feb. 22. 



I will explain to our readers, that, after 

 the Ohio Convention adjourned. Dr. Miller, 

 and Dr. Mason, of Toledo, were both invited 

 to come down to our place and give their 

 opinion in regard to a good many unsettled 

 problems in bee culture coming before us 

 during the opening of the season of IsflO. 

 These two veterans met and conferred with 

 the wise heads of our establishment ; and I 

 tell you it made quite a pleasant little con- 

 vention. We bad a session of two or three 

 days, and the result of it was some marked 

 improvements in many of our implements. 

 The aim was to reduce expenses, and to 

 confine ourselves, so far as possible, to the 

 regular goods already in use. The Dove- 

 tailed hive, ai the present time, is certainly 

 more simple than the Simplicity, and justly 

 deserves, I believe, being called the Sim- 

 plicity hive at the present date. We are 

 now shipping them by the carload, and our 

 whole establishment is hardly equal to the 

 demand. Very likely, five times as many 

 are sold as of the old Simplicity, and per- 

 haps the Simplicity had better be laid aside, 

 although I confess there are some features 

 about it that I dislike to see dropped. Mak- 

 ing the bottom-board and cover one and the 

 same thing can not well be managed with 



