1S75 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ir, 



(very likely, on the ground that he who "knows 

 nothinj; IVars nothin*;") and we do not tear to 

 confess we have been in error, when convinced 

 of it; not even if it involves pecuniary loss to 

 ourselves. Before iioing fartlier we may say in 

 justice to ourselves that we would snule, to 

 see the person who would dare undertake to 

 And the Queen or extract the honey from a 

 ^lozen Q. hives as ((uickly as Ave could from a 

 like nund)er of our suspended fianie hives. 

 Now we have studied hard at intervals for the 

 l^t'.st six months on a hive so made that two 

 combs woulil make a nucleus hive that couhl 

 be eidarired by more of the same kind as need- 

 ed, to a 20 frame hive or more, and also that 

 this 20 comb hive could be quickly divided into 

 10, two comb nucleus hives, etc. We have such 

 nucleus hives now in use, and have only been 

 prevented from mentioninir tiiem in j)rint by 

 P. G's remonstrance (she is ill with the Ty- 

 jihoid fever now) that we were in too much of 

 a hurry with our improvements. This whole 

 liive was to be made of only three dittVrent bits 

 of wood except the frames and It some time 

 ago occurred to us that on Quinby's plan, 

 three pieces of wood would make the hive 

 (rlthout nn)i frnmfis ; that is if we have the sec- 

 tions that constitute the hive answer for frames 

 also. Now a serious question arises ; are the 

 old style box hives any better for wintering, 

 and brood rearing, than movable frame hives? 

 Is the space around the frames undesirable V 

 Quinby urges this strongly but it is his hive 

 and (begging his pardon) we should like some 

 others to say so too. We rather think Elwood 

 and Capt. Hetherington favor the idea. 



When one has plenty of time to manipulate 

 such hives, and but little money to invest in 

 more convenient and better ones (we use this 

 phrase only after careful contemplation and 

 consideration) jierhaps the honey frame des- 

 cribed last month, enlarged to the proper size, 

 may be all the hive needed for profitable bee cnl- 

 t'lre. Three sticks cut accurately by machin- 

 ery — samples, or whole hives can be sent by 

 mail — and our troubles are all over. Stretch 

 them out long, or pile 'em up two or three sto- 

 ries at your own sweet will, and without any 

 quarreling. We presume Mr. Q. can tell you 

 how to cover the outside combs and top, cheap- 

 ly. Very likely we shall get a "bigger pile of 

 letters" than we have now, in remonstrance, 

 but dear friends such a pile of honey as Elwood, 

 Hetherington and Root, (we think no?r he must 

 be some relative,) will have more weight v.ith 

 us than 40 pages of foolscap. Please don't feel 

 unfriendly, but we really cannot publish all 

 these letters. Just compare these two items 

 c'ipped at random with our scissors from the 

 nuddle of letters. 



I would not qh'c a Xew Idea hive awav, inucli le«s 

 aell it. I tried 1-2 ofthcni .-^nd tliinli I lost aljout S.'in.nn 

 on that nnml>er in onr; fcison. Xovice von liad 

 lictter srive up your "Standard New Idea'' and I will 

 send you a sample, hive holding ten l'2xl'2 frames and 

 40 section frames, etc. 



K. S. Bkcktkll, New Bufialo, Mich. 



Last season I had ii stcicks iu American liivcs— most 

 of them with empty cunili;? in sccinid story-and di<ln"r 

 jret TiO lbs. linney out of ujipcr combs— lU'cs would not 

 store honey in em))ty combs above, when they wouM 

 build, anil till combs rajjidly below, lieuce 1 conclude 

 two story liives are not mv iiui best holt. 



L. b. Pakker, Chicago, 111. 



Both used the same frame, American, 12x13. 

 Who is correct? Arc we not right in thinking 



that either form would give honey perhaps 

 e(|ually, were no other conditions wanting? 

 We never exfu'cted any great advantage, l)Ut 

 oidy hopi'd the long hives would tlo eijually as 

 well, and abundant reports we think corrobo- 

 rate this notwithstanding llie few adver.se 

 reports like the ftn-mer one, above. It is the 

 same in regard to wintering, taking the r< - 

 l)orts all together, we must tliiiik it a disease, 

 and that severe cold ai^gravatcs it es])ecially 

 after the colony has become thinned down s>t 

 they are incapable of making a cluster large 

 enough to generate the reijuisiK; warmth. 

 JVIost of those who have wintered the most 

 succesfully, have had a dwindling down in the 

 spring in numbers that was in former years 

 unknown, and this is the case even in the war- 

 mer latitudes of the South. Bees fly out on 

 the snow, get on the bee house floor, or if con- 

 fined to the hive, accumulate on the bottom 

 boards, in a way they did not formerly. So long 

 as we get enough bees through to save the 

 Queens, Ave say Ave wintered them, but are they 

 really wintered as thej^ used to Avinter ? Please 

 don't stop Avriting; the facts you furnish us 

 are thankfully received and carefully read, but 

 Ave are sure very few of our readers Avould care 

 to so over it all as Ave do. 



The question keeps coming: "What hive 

 do you advise? you are acquainted Avith the 

 results, and opinions expressed in regard to 

 most of them. What shall we start Avith so as 

 to be sure and start right?"' Once Ave thought 

 one hive Avould do for all but we fear it is 

 something like advising a farmer that Ave do 

 not know, as to Avhat crops he shall raise. If 

 our opinion Avill help you any, here it is in as 

 small compass as we can possibly make it. 



WHAT HIVE SHALL I USE? 



If you are already using Langstroth frame, 

 Quiiiby, Gallup, American, or Adair, keep on 

 using them, at least for the present. We do 

 not think there is any great advaidage in chang- 

 ing. If you thiid^ proper, test one or two broad 

 hives that Avill hold from IG to 30 of these same 

 frames, the hives are cheaper, and tee think 

 more convenient for the extractor. If you are 

 just commencing, Ave suggest that you adopt 

 our Standard Hive, not that it will give more 

 honey than any of the others, but that we think 

 it saves much valuable time, where time is lim- 

 ited. Where one has plenty of leisure, Mr. 

 Quinby's cheap hive has many advantages, and 

 Ave may be mistaken about the time needed by 

 an expert to open and close these hiAJ-es. 



To make a real Quinby frame, take two end 

 pieces each 11 i.jxli.;>x'._, ; nail these into the 

 ends of toj) and bottom bars each lxl8/o, the 

 fortner i.j inch th'ick, and the latter "^^ only. 

 The to)) bar is nailed in flush with the tops of 

 end bars, the bottom bar raised -^o"; this al- 

 lows a passage betAveen bottom board and 

 bottom bars Avhen the frames stands on the 

 loAver ends of the tAvo end pieces. Quinby uses 

 a larire triangular comb guide naiied on the 

 underside of the top bar. We should prefer a 

 very thin strip of ]iinc. Even bad A\'orkman- 

 ship makes little difference Avith these cheap 

 hives for they are bound to "flt" any Avay. 

 When you Avish to house your bees simply car- 

 ry in as many frames as tlic bees are clustered 

 on and leave the b.-iiar.ce to give the frost a 

 chance to freeze out the n;oth millers. 



