1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTU11E. 



899 



to pood advantage in a two story hive, and the ad- 

 vantages of having both upper and lower story ex- 

 actly alike are too great to be lightly ignored. It is 

 also Objectionable, because there are more frames to 

 be handled, to accomplish a certain amount of work. 

 Atonetime, friend Gallup used two rows of these 

 frames side by side, and named it the "twin" hive. 

 These, like the Adair long hive, were considerably 

 used, and some large results obtained from them, 

 but they are now, T believe, laid aside again, for the 

 old two story plan of giving in >rc room, a:vl getting 

 surplus. 



CLOSED END QUJNBY FRAME AND HIVE. 



Ever since Langstroth brought out the movable 

 frame, there have been, every now and then, indi- 

 viduals advocating having the frames at fixed and 

 regular distances, that the bees may be obliged to 



build their combs of exact thickness. I do not know 

 what may be accomplished with the aid of fdn., but, 

 at present, the majority agree that combs as they 

 are usually found, are better handled without being 

 fastened at fixed and regular distances. The Amer- 

 ican frame, as it was made originallv, had the top 

 bar very nearly 14 inches wide: as this is the dis- 

 tance which brood combs should be from center to 

 center, of course, the top bars came close tog-ether 

 in this case, closing- the space and forming a honey 

 board or chamber floor, and making- what is called 

 the closed top frames. To be sure, there are some 

 very decided advantages in such arrangements; 

 such as, having the frames solid and substantially 

 held when hives are to be moved, doing away w ith a 

 honey board, etc. But, alas, the frames are not 

 "movable," and althoua-h thousands of such hives 

 were introduced and sold, nearly all of them were 

 soon laid aside. The L. arrangement seems to be 

 the only one that stands the test of years of service. 



Well now, the Quinby hive of which T am about to 

 speak is not a closed top frame, but it is a closed end 

 frame. One great objection to the closed top Amer- 

 ican frame was, that it killed so many bees. Well 

 our friend. Quinby, made a verv long frame, and 

 got the end bars so far away from the centre where 

 the bees are g-enerally found, that thev would be far 

 leas likely to be in the way, when the frames were 

 heing closed up in place. It will be remembered 

 that, in this frame, it is the ends that are made VA 

 inches wide, instead of the top bar. That they may 

 not fall over too easily, a hook of hnop iron is hailed 

 to one of the lower corners, which hooks on a strip 

 of similar hoop iron nailed to the bottom board. It 

 will be noticed that this closed end frame, Quinby 

 hive is the simplest form of a movable frame that 

 can well be devised. For a summer hive, ti frames, 

 with a pair of panels to close each of the outside 

 ones and some simple board for a cover, is all that is 

 needed. Of course, the whole must be placed on 

 some kind of a fiat board for a bottom board. If you 

 wish a smaller hive, take out one or more frames 

 and close in the panel; if larger, put in frames as 

 long as they may be needed. The troublesome di- 

 vision board, in all suspended frame hives, is here 

 dispensed with entirely. To be sure, the same idea 

 can be applied to any of the frames mentioned; but 

 with tall frames it is more troublesome, because you 

 have the closed end bars nearer the bees, and there 

 is a greater surface to be gummed fast, every time 

 the hive is opened and closed. In fact, there is no 

 standard size of Quinby frame, if \ am correctly in- 

 formed. Quinby's neighbors who use them, includ- 

 ing his son-in-law, Mr. L. ('. Root, and Capt. Hether- 

 ington, who. it is said, has over a thousand hives, all 

 use different sized frames. 



Why is not this frame and hive nonre in use? Be- 

 cause it places the combs at fixed distances, which 

 will remain a groat objection so long as the bees will 

 persist in building combs of such irregular thick- 

 nesses, ifvou think this c m easily be got along 

 with, take two heavily tilled combs, with bulged cells 

 along the ton bars, and trv to make them come up 

 together. With suspended frames, this can easily 

 be got along with. Also, try to close up a hive made 

 of so manv loose pieces, and try to doit quickly, 

 without killing bees. In short, try using such hives 

 in the apiary a year or two, by the side of suspended 

 frame hives. 1 know there is a man found, once in 

 a while, (yes and I know one woman, too. a very suc- 

 cessful one. Mrs. Axtell. of Roscville, III.), who will 

 give the preference to a closed end frame; but then' 

 are so few, in proportion to those who prefer the 

 other kind, that \ have thought best not to try to 

 describe the hive in full, in my book. There are 

 several who have used the hive a few years, and then, 

 at great expense, b i\ r e had the combs all transferred 



into suspended frames. If any of you think you 

 would like to adopt such a hive. I would advise you 

 to purchase L. C. Root's excellent book, entitled 

 "Quinby's New Ree-keeping." 



I have said nothing in regard to surplus arrange- 

 ments for these various hives, for those described in 

 this book can all be adapted to them. Where a 

 frame is very deep, the sections should be placed at 

 the side, as well as above the brood nest, and are 

 then termed Side Storing Roxes. As a general 

 thing-, it seems to be well decided that the hives with 

 shallow frames give far the most surplus. This 

 brings us to the subject of extremely shallow hives. 



BINGHAM'S HIVE. 



Mr. T. F. Bingham of Otsego, Mich., has used a 

 hive, and I believe is using it still, with frames only 

 ti inches in depth. While such extreme limits may 

 be used, and successfully, too, especially by those 

 advocating them, they will, as a g-eneral thing, be 

 found inconvenient by the masses. Very tall 

 frames, very shallow ftames, very large and very 

 small frames, triangular frames, five sided frames, 

 and, in short, almost every imaginable kind of 

 frames have been used and patented. Yes, many of 

 them have been tried and abandoned over and over 

 again. Of late, it seems that a great many of them 

 have been patented over and over again; for patent 

 hives have got to be such a legion, it is not at all 

 strange that the patent office officials should fail to 

 be able to tell what has, and what has not, been pat- 

 ented. I would not discourage inventive genius, but 

 I would caution our A RC class about traveling the 

 same path over again so many times, not knowing 

 that the ground has been thoroughly worked over 

 before. As a general rule, I think the most igno- 

 rant class of bee keepers we have are those owning 

 patents on hives. 



House Apiary.— A double walled building usually of 

 octagonal or rectangular form, in which bees are 

 kept both summer and winter in separate hives as 

 out of doors. 

 Hybrid.— A cross between two specie?. In bee cul- 

 ture, applied to a cros3 between blacks and Ital- 

 ians. 

 Hymettu8. — A country of Greece, famed for the su- 

 perior quality of its honey, which is of light golden 

 color, and gathered from mountain thyme. 

 Italian or IAgurian Bee— A native of Italy, 'distin- 

 guished by three bands of yellow across the uppar 

 part of the abdomen of the worker bee. 

 Italianizing.— Changing from any other species of 



bees to the Italian, 1~~. 

 Introducing. — Method of presenting a strange queen 



to a colony of bees, so that they will accept her. 

 Linn 11 Nursery.- A device used in rearing queens; 

 a double wailed tin hive, with space between filled 

 with water kept warm by means of a lamp, 125. 

 Langstroth Hive. —See Hives. 



Larva (pi. Larvae).— The bee in the grub state, from 

 the time of the hatching of the egg until the cap- 

 ping- of the cell; in other words, unsealed brood. 

 L. Frame.— Langstroth frame (See Hives). 

 L. Hive.— Langstroth hive (See Hives). 

 IAgurian Been.Sve Italian Rees. 

 Lining lire*. Noting the direction of their flight. 

 Mandibles. Jaws of the bee, which work sidewise 

 instead of up and down as in higher animals. - 

 Conk'. 

 Manipulation.— Handling of boes. 

 Mat. — A covering for brood frames to be used under 

 the cushion, quilt, or sheet to keep them free from 

 propolis, or they may be used alone, made of 

 wooden strips, woven with cord. 

 Melzxtractor. — Honey Extractor. 

 Met a] Corners.— Tin Fixtures for securing corners 

 of frames and forming on the upper bar an 

 edged support, which can not be made fast by 

 propolis, and under which no moth worm can se- 

 crete itself. 

 MiieheJl HiVC— See Hives. 

 Movable, Frame. See Hives. 



Natural Swarm. A swarm which issues spontane- 

 ously. 

 Nectaries. — The lower part of the petals of flowers 



where nectar is secreted. 

 Neuter.- See Worker Ree. 



Non Swarming Hive. — One so large, or so construct- 

 ed, as to control the desire to swarm, an end never 

 yet satisfactorily obtained. 

 Nucleus ti>l. Nuclei <>r Nucleuses).— A miniature col- 

 ony of bees, generally used for rearing queens. 

 Should have a queen or means of rearing one. 

 Nurse 'Bets. -Bees that care for brood: generally, 

 those less than two weeks old. 



