41' 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



If you have proof of any more, send them 

 along, and we will perhaps have a his hst ; I 

 shall not hesitate, even if the firm is worth 

 a million or more. If I understand the mat- 

 ter, I would have just such a law as they 

 have in England and Scotland. I am not 

 versed in getting up petitions to Congress, 

 hut if some one will get up one, such as you 

 desire, making it a severe penalty to label 

 honey or anything else, without giving the 

 true name of the contents of the jar, 1 will 

 furnish such petitions free, at my own ex- 

 pense, and I think I can promise the signa- 

 ture of every reader of Gleanings. At the 

 same time, I shall use and advise the use of 

 grape sugar until it can he shown that it is 

 injurious to the hees, or that there is a pos- 

 sibility of its entering into the adulteration 

 of honey, either comb or extracted. If my 

 reputation suffers from such a course, I am 

 content to have it suffer, for I believe I shall 

 be justified by and by. 



■ — ■^*~+— tm 



SIZE AND SHAPE OF MOVABLE COMB 

 FRAMES. 



F we could demonstrate that a particular size and 

 shape of frame was, under all possible circum- 

 stances, absolutely the best, no one could, with 

 any show of reason, oppose its universal adoption 

 as "the authorized standard. Before giving the rea- 

 sons which induced me to adopt my present style of 

 frames, 1 entirely disclaim all pretence of beingable 

 to demonstrate that it is, under all conditions, the 

 best, nor am 1 at all sanguine that the time is near 

 at hand, when uniformity will be as much insisted 

 on as in the standard weights ami measures of the 

 same country. 



The inside dimensions of my first movable comb 

 hive were 18* 8 in. from front to rear and side to side, 

 and six inches in depth. This shape secured a large 

 top surface for surplus honey receptacles. Double 

 glass walls being used, the extra ' s in. was allowed, 

 so that glass 12x18 (a common size), could be easily 

 fastened against thin strips, to form the dead air 

 spaces for protection against extremes of heat and 

 cold. 



For better wintering in cold climates, I changed 

 these dimensions to ll l b from front to rear, 18's 

 from side to side, and 10 in. deep. To economize by 

 using fewer frames, 1 next made the hives 18' s from 

 front to rear, and It 1 - from side to side.* 



All the time that these changes were being made. 

 1 experimented with various other sizes. Frames 

 were used in hives 13 in. deep, and in 1854 a number 

 of hives were used 12 by 12 by ;i)i in. in the clear. 

 One of these I carried to F. G. Gary, President of 

 Farmers' College, near Cincinnati, in the fall of that 

 year; and we put a forced swarm into it. The frames 

 of these long hives were very nearly the size of what 

 has since been called the Gallup frame. The surplus 

 honey was sometimes taken in boxes at the rear of 

 the main breeding apartment, and sometimes on the 

 frames. 



These hives had not only movable covers, but 

 movable sides, hanging, like the frames, upon the 

 rabbets, by which arrangement the dimensions of 

 the hives could be changed at will. I have also used 

 even longer frames than those adopted by Mr. Quin- 

 by; and only after numerous experiments was the 

 present, so called, Standard Langstroth frame adopt- 

 ed. In adhering to it so persistently, 1 soon per- 

 ceived that I suffered pecuniary loss. A reference 

 to the back volumes of the A.B.J, will show how 



*The hives last made for mv own private use were 

 ISM by Wi by 10 in. deep, holding 13 frames. They 

 had (limbic sides and the whole upper story could be 

 filled with frames, while it was not necessary to re- 

 move all these upper frames to get access to the 

 lower ones. 



This square form gave the greatest capacity for 

 storage above and below, with the least possible use 

 of materials, while it was seldom necessary, in using 

 the extractor, to disturb the lower story, or to feed 

 back to the bees any honey taken from them. If 

 the season was good, the lower story supplied the 

 means to make new colonies and help weak ones. 



warmly many of our best apiarians condemned it. 

 Relieving that I was right. 1 refused to make or rec- 

 ommend any other than "the flat things," and not a 

 few thought that the validity of my patent must, 

 somehow or other, depend upon this shape. 



It cannot be denied that my standard frames are 

 not the best tor those who, living in cold climates, 

 winter their bees in thin hives, upon their summer 

 stands, using none of the precautions which long 

 experience has shown to be indispensable. Foil the 

 incorrigibly ignorant or careless, who give theirbees 

 no attention after the honey harvest ceases, an old 

 box <>]• hollow log is much better than any kind of 

 movable frame hive. Improvements in apiculture 

 are not in their line, and inventors and writers will 

 more and more ignore them. 



The shape of hive most in use, when 1 first kept 

 Vices, gave too little top surface for surplus honey. 

 The low and broad style which 1 introduced, besides 

 remi dying this d< feet, has other advantages. 



1. It is, for obvious reasons, much better adapted 

 to the use of tipper stories than tidier hives. My 

 own experience strongly supports the belief of so 

 many, that it is more natural to bees to put their 

 stores over their brood-nest (I use this convenient 

 German term) than anywhere else. 



It was my practice, in using the extractor, to keep 

 neither honey-board nor quilt over the frames, so 

 that 1 might work with the least possible delay. A 

 glance at the top of the frames -was enough, with 

 Italian bees, to show whether the frames needed 

 emptying. If the combs were crowded with honey, 

 these bees would begin to build upon the tops of the 

 frames; they repeatedly did this when they had 

 plenty of room for comb building in empty side 

 frames! As the attempt to build wpveardi is very 

 difficult, being contrary to the laws of gravity, and 

 of course to the instincts of the bees, why should 

 they attempt it when there was ample room for ex- 

 tending their combs laterally? 



2. Long and shallow frames are much better for 

 all necessary manipulations than any other style. 

 [a] In handling them, the arms are kept in an easy, 

 instead of a cramped position; a point of great im- 

 portance to those who must often spend many hours 

 a day in such work, [b] The eye readily commands 

 the whole surface of a comb, without that uncom- 

 fortable craning of the neck which the use of deep 

 frames compels, [el There is much less danger of 

 hurting bees in lifting out or returning the shallow 

 frames, [d] Less motion and, of course, less time 

 is needed to insert or remove the shallow frames. 

 [e] It is mtieh easier to make shallow frames hang 

 true than deep ones. 



At some future lime, I will reply to the objections 

 which have been urged against my standard frame. 

 My friend, Prof. A. J. Cook, in his admirable "Man- 

 ual of the Apiary," recommends the Gallup frame. 

 It is a good frame, and I am heartily glad that this 

 and other styles are being so largely ttsted by such 

 experts as the Hetheringtons, Dadants, and others. 



If it be in the nature of the case possible to decide 

 what ought to lie the standard frame, we shall, in 

 due time, reach such a result, ami our best apiarians 

 will no doubt cheerfully accept it. 



Oxford, O.. Jan., 1879. L. L. Lanostroth. 



We are very much indebted to friend L., 

 for the very valuable suggestions he has giv- 

 en us so opportunely, on the matter of hives 

 and frames. It would seem from the above 

 that even the long hives about which there 

 was so much excitement a few years ago 

 were nothing new to friend L., after all. 



I have often noticed the disposition of bees 

 to build comb right over the brood nest in 

 preference to side storing, and as soon as 

 fdn. made the securing of comb honey so 

 easy, I was at little trouble in deciding that 

 a two story hive with tlw standard L. frame 

 was the one wanted. 



HIVE MAKING. 



Last season, I manufactured about ;">(I0 Simplicity 

 hives, one story, and about 20,000 sections for my- 

 self and brother bee-keepers in Clinton Co. I did 

 not advertise at all. My customers hunted me up, 

 and took all the hives and boxes I could make, and 

 they have givett entire satisfaction. E. Thew. 



Saranac, N. Y.. Jan. 17, 1879. 



