1874. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



29 



inches from a board forty Jive inches in length. 

 We really hope our carelessness has annoyed 

 no one, and would plead as an excuse that the 

 importance of the matter induced us to crowd 

 it in hastily at the last minute. The 45 inches 

 should read 40, and the cover 30 inches long. 



That the matter is one of deep interest to 

 many may be gathered from the following com- 

 munications. 



Fkiexd Novice ;— On page 23 last No. oI'Gleax- 

 ings, in describing your standard hive you say -'but 

 if only just as much honey can be secured with it etc.'' 

 That was just what troubled me one year ago, and so 

 I made three one story hives, three foot long, and 

 they gave the best satisfaction of any hives I ever 

 used: hail the entrance at the end, and by placing the 

 brood in the centre, or back of the centre, I found the 

 bees would store the honey in the back end every 

 time, before tilling empty comb in the front end. Al- 

 though it was a poor honey season, one swarm gath- 

 ered 03 lbs. in three days ; up to Aug. 1st, '215 lbs, then I 

 divided and made three good swarms that gathered 

 stores enough for winter. 



I have concluded to make hives as follows : for sum- 

 mer, one story hives not less thin three feet long, for 

 winter, Simplicity hives 12 inches wide, to hold eight 

 frames, which 1 think will hold bees and stores 

 enough for wintering inside. Henri* Palmer, 



Hait, Mich. Feb. 2nd, 1874. 



Our opinion is quite favorable to your plan. 

 Those eight frame hives which we think will 

 be plenty large enough for wintering, will also 

 answer a very good purpose for starting colo- 

 nies before they get so large as to demand a 

 fill hive. Will not a 30 inch hive instead of 

 three feet, answer for the majority? 



Friend Novice:— Gleanings for Feb. rec'd about 

 two hours ago, and among the many important sub- 

 jects noticed is the Standard Frame question, 1 use a 

 frame about the size of friend Gallup's and like it on 

 many accounts better than larger frames, but if Bee- 

 keepers could be induced to agree on, and adopt a 

 Standard Frame, it would be of great benefit to all 

 Bee-keepers and Manufacturers of hives also. My 

 ideal frame would be a shallow one for summer, and 

 a deep one for winter, and the only way I have thought 

 of to combine the two desirable features, is to take 

 the Langstroth or Quinby frame and use them hori- 

 zontally for summer and. perpendicularly for winter. 

 I intend to experiment the coming season with Quin- 

 by size, as that just fits my hive one way. I propose 

 to set the hives on end soon as the basswood season 

 is over, so as to give the bees time to arrange their 

 brood and the late honey or sugar syrup, in the proper 

 position for winter. I have always noticed that 

 swarms with plenty of sealed honey immediately 

 above the cluster, keep the most quiet anil winter the 

 best in every respect. The swarm spoken of on pane 

 22 that wintered in a nail kej;* so successfully, un- 

 doubtedly had plenty of sealed honey immediately 

 ,ib we the cluster owing to the shape of the keg; now 

 tUe same swarm hived in the same keg, and kept in a 

 horizontal position, with the same exposure, would 

 hive stood a slim chance to winter. 



This subject will bear a good deal of agitation, so 

 let's hear from all. Yours for a Standard. 



Mexico, N. Y. Geo. T. Wheeler 



P. S. — If you want any hives manufactured to till or- 

 ders from "the Eastern States, I would like to make 

 some arrangement with you that would be satisfactory 

 to both. I can make them "with knot holes or 

 without." G. T. W. 



Reports of late years seem to favor hives 

 with a depth of frame from 9 to 10 inches, for 

 wintering, rather than taller ones, and we are 

 not sure the keg would not have wintered 

 equally well on its side. 



Mr.Quinby gave the plan several years ago, 

 in the Agriculturist, of standing frame hives 

 on end in winter, but we believe few practiced 

 it. Bees in winter seem disposed to cluster at 

 the top of the hive whatever may be its shape, 

 and a hive rather shallow with a close tight 

 quill over the frames seems to afford them the 

 best facilities, for brood-rearing. 



OX THE SIZE OF THE FRAME. 



Dear Novice :-I have been very much surprised 

 in seeing in your circular, that if you were to choose 

 among the different frames used in this country, you 

 would give the preference to Langstroth, then In 

 Adair, then to American, and after these three, to 

 Quinby. 



This operation does not seem consistent witli what 

 you have writ en, on the American hive, in the A. B. J. 

 for June 1872, page 274 where you say the bees raise 

 more brood in the shallow, than in the high frames. 



Beside, if you like the L. frames because they have 

 \1% inches in length, how is it you do not like the Q. 

 frames'' Is it because thev are 7 8 longer 'i If von do 

 not like the Q. frames because they are 2 ' K higher than 

 the L. how is it that you prefer the Adah", which is of 

 the same size, and the American, which is even 1% 

 inches higher ? 



Before pronouncing your judgment did you try all 

 these shapes of frames ? If so, you have obtained" re- 

 sults very different from what 1 have experienced. 



For ten years 1 have used both sizes, Quinby and 

 American ; and after a trial carefully made, 1 conclu- 

 ded, three years ago, not to augment any more the 

 number of my hives with square frames, 12 by 12, and 

 to make only Quinby hives, accordingly, I have since 

 peopled a second apiary, six miles from ray residence, 

 with Quinby hives exclusively. To day, in my home 

 apiary, you will find more than one hundred "Quinby 

 hives, ready to receive my swarms, and not one 

 square frame hive newly constructed. 



For six or seven years, I have tested the laving abil- 

 ity of my Italian Queens. For that purpose all my 

 hives, destined to produce honey, have been made 

 with a capacity for eleven Quinby" frames, or if Amer- 

 ican, sixteen. Last season 1 had" here eighty stands, 

 which I intended for gathering honey; about forty of 

 each kind, besides my hives destined to make 

 swarms and raise queens. By the first of June three 

 of my Quinby hives had between seventy and seventy 

 live thousand cells containing brood : "while the best 

 of my Americans had about ten thousand cells of 

 brood less. Yet both kinds had equally young and 

 prolific queens, the same pasture and the same care. 



Besides, eight Quinby frames have a greater area 

 than ten Langstroth, or eleven Adair, and are usually 

 equal to twelve American. Do you not think that the 

 work is more quickly done with 8, than with 10 or 

 even 12 frames in the hive ? 



The area of comb tilled with brood in the frame is 

 always in spring like a sphere flattened at the bottom 

 part. The bees, in spring, experience some hesitation 

 to lengthen the brood nest, at the bottom; because 

 the bottom of the comb is always colder than the 

 sides. Hence the queen finds- always more cells, 

 warmed and ready to'receive her eggs, at the sides, 

 than at the lower part of the comb. 



Lastly, it takes more bees to surround and warm 12 

 frames than 8, for instance, the compass of a Quinby 

 frame measures 59 }i inches, and for 8 frames -i7'i 

 inches, while the 12 American frames measure 67<j 

 inches, and it takes 15 per cent more of bees to pro- 

 tect the same quantlty'*of brood, and in the Lang- 

 stroth hive 10 per cent more than in the Quinby. To 

 conclude : I cannot admit, without protest, your opin- 

 ion, as to the measure of the frames, for, in my opinion, 

 you are mistaken in your classification. 



For the benefit of your readers, I will tell you how 

 I have solved the problem of making nuclei," to raise 

 queens, with my great Quinby frame, withou. cutting 

 the comb. 



I have contrived to make some frames, divisible at 

 will in two equal parts, all my hives, destined to raise 

 queens, receive some of these divisible frames. I 

 have also some small hives, or nuclei, tit to receive 

 these half frames, when I want to people one of these 

 small hives, I take a frame containing brood and 

 honey ; divide ft in two parts and Insert it in a small 

 nucleus with partition board. Thus the Quinby hive 

 gives only one frame, while the nucleus gets two. 



DADANT'S DIVISIBLE FRAME : NO PATENT. 



When the two parts are united, the buckle A, of wire. 

 of the frame with the tongue, enters in a button hol( 

 pierced ai '': a small nail, easily removable, entering 

 in the buckle at < '. main tains the two parts together! 

 The same device can as well fit the L. frames. 1 have 

 used it at least eighl years, with the best results. 



Hamilton. Ills., Feb. 4th 1874. Ch. Dadant. 



R fly on page 35. 



