1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



807 



wires wore in no way iiijni'od. and some of all 

 sorts were on the ^\■agon at the same time. 



Now to go back to the hive you are tliink- 

 ing of: IL'^s- inside measure; wide, make it 

 V2}4 or 123^. and use two followers ?^ or less 

 thick, with the lag strips on both sides at the 

 ends of the follower, and a i4-inL'h wedge. 

 Those followers will and do spring. I have 

 used the follower with th(> nari'ow frames for 

 the past r.' years, alongside of hives without it. 

 and the follower is woith more, from the ease 

 that it makes in handling, than it costs, every 

 season: and with two followei's in the hive 

 with wide end-bars. 1h<' two followers are all 

 ready to contract the hive to the combs in the 

 center, be it .3. 4, or 5. for their winter and 

 spring packing. 



There are a great many who will say. " Too 

 many loose pieces;"" but actual use makes me 

 think differently: and trying tiie Hoftinan- 

 Langstroth frame since 1878. along \\ith the 

 others, and the wide end-bar since 1881, I must 

 say I will have only the wide end-bars for me 

 on the new frames in the future: and I want 

 them to be hanging frames too. I have used, 

 since 188<). 1200 hanging frames with the revers- 

 ing wires on: 300 of them were new wide-end- 

 bar reversing frames, and they will continually 

 replace all others. In 1884 and '8.5 I helped to 

 make and use 4.5 hives that used the L. frame 

 with I'^s end-bars, top and bottom bars ]1^4 

 long, held in place by tin I'abbets, top and bot- 

 tom fastened by hooks. This made a perfect 

 revei'sible hive and frame, separately or to- 

 gether: but.no moi'e of them for me of the L. 

 depth, and all the hive to reverse. They are 

 too slow to handle, and are not as satisfactory 

 as are the hanging frames. Neitiier do I want 

 the standing frame, although there are plenty 

 of nucli'i to be seen in several places made by 

 setting up two or three wide-end-bar frames 

 with a board on each sid(^ and a string tied 

 around. It is fun sometimes to save a lot of 

 cells in that way. It is simply two side panels 

 and two or three combs in closed-end frames, 

 and two wii-e springs from telephone wire bent 

 thus ^^ — one snapped on to each end to hold 

 the side panels in place. These side panels are 

 just followers {)\ wide. 17?4 long, with ^g-lnch 

 strips nailed on the ends on both sides. The back 

 ends of the frames rest on the board if you like. 

 They all pile away nicely in the fall and win- 

 ter \\ hen not in use. 



I also see that you have taken note of the 

 thick top-bars for "the prevention of the brace- 

 combs, and that the scant bee-s|)ac(^ is another 

 preventive of the brace-combs and climbers be- 

 tween the crate and brood - frames. I have 

 been using both thick and thin top-bai-s; but 

 when the bee-space above the brood-combs 

 was 3^ inch, the brace-combs w(>re missing. Un- 

 less the space between the brood-combs and 

 the space between the two sections correspond- 

 ed, then there would invariably be a little 

 ladder built: but with the inch-wide toi)-bar 

 thei'e is far less chance: and an inch-\\ide to])- 

 bar makes more difference than the thickness 

 of it does. I have used top and bottom bars ^% 

 thick up to 1^8 thick, and 1 have watched those 

 used by others; but the si)acing above the 

 combs makes more difference than all other 

 causes i)ut together. I became convinced of 

 the dift'eicnce of the space connected with 

 brace-coml)s in the summer of 1884; and also 

 that the scant si)ac<\ wIkmi the two stoi'ies w(!r(> 

 used for extracting, this shallow space would 

 be tilled nearly or quite full of propolis. Where 

 I have cared foi' bees for tiie i)ast 12 years then^ 

 have been a few localities whei'e cedars, hem- 

 lock, tamarac, pines, and juniper abound, and 

 in those localities, after the s\immer harvest is 

 by, the bees take delight in gluing every joint 



tight that they can get th(> gum into. So there 

 are two evils to try to dodge — the comb-braces 

 on the \\ide space, and the projjolis on the nar- 

 row space. Which is it to be ? and I am not 

 the only one who keeps bees and is between the 

 two tires? H. L. Jeffkey. 



New Milford, Ct.. Oct., 18iK). 



By consulting our sectional drawings on page 

 745, we find that we left ?4 inch below the bot- 

 tom of the follower, .so we are all right on that 

 score. About those staples: We have been ex- 

 perimenting some on the driving of the same in 

 closed-end frames; but on account of their 

 twisting in driving we have decided that a good 

 substantial wire nail, with a finishing head, 

 such as is used by Mr. Tunicliff, is better. I 

 agree with you, that a closed-end frame for the 

 Dovetailed hive should be made to lutng rather 

 than to stmid; but I shall have to disagree 

 with you somewhat in regard to reversing- 

 wires. These wires will all stick out so as 

 to require a space between the ends of the 

 frames and the end of the hive. For closed - 

 end frames it is very desirable, and. I might al- 

 most say, necessary, that the bees be excluded 

 from the side next to the hive, otherwise they 

 will propolize the outside as well as the inside 

 places of contact between the uprights. E. R. 



SPACING FRAMES IN CALIFORNIA. 



A COMI'AIiATIVE TEST BETWEEN 1% AND l}4 



INCH .spacing; a conclusive resui-t 



FOR 1%. 



I will give you some of my experience with 

 spacers, spacing, and moving bees. About ten 

 years ago, when I owned about 40 colonies of 

 befis, I thought something to hold the frames 

 the right distance apart would be a good thing, 

 so I bought a lot of blind-staples and drove two 

 in each end-l)ar on opposite sides of the frame, 

 in all the frames in my apiary. I extracted 

 from the brood-chamber then, and soon found 

 that the staples would not do in frames that 

 had to be extracted; so I pulled them all out 

 and have not tried spacers since. If I were an- 

 swering the (juestion on page (575 now. how- 

 ever. I would say, "Yes. if you have learned 

 the business so you do not need to look over 

 all the brood-combs every week to know that a 

 colonv is doing well." A frame like the modi- 

 tied Hoffman would be less liother through the 

 season than it would be to fasten all the franu'S 

 twice a year for hauling. Tliis applies to 

 brood-chambers only. Su|)er frames should 

 never have any projections, and should nevei- 

 be over % \\ide. 



I use a device in hauling bees that holds the 

 frames, on tht> same principle as the Hoffman 

 frame— that is. by making a solid bearing for 

 three inches down the t>nd-bar. I think it was 

 invented by R. Touchton. and is made as fol- 

 lows: One piece is I4 x %.by as long as ycnir 

 hive is wide inside; nine pieces }{ x % x 3 inch- 

 es; nail the nine i)i(H"(>s to the first i)iece in the 

 shajjeof agarilen-i'ake. l''*H inches from centcrto 

 center, and sliove these teeth down betw(>en the 

 end-bars. Before I came to California I always 

 spaced my combs II4 inches, and, lik<' a good 

 many others who are si)acing their combs 

 that distance now, 1 thought it was right and 

 best. When I came here I found most bee- 

 keepers spacing their combs l^'^ inches. I was 

 prejudiced against that distance, and changed 



