124 



April, 1910. 



American Hee Journal 



the while no young ones were being 

 reared to supplement the waste. How- 

 ever, the o colonies were carried out of 

 the cellar on March 5th, about a month 

 earlier than is the general rule. To all 

 appearances the •') colonies were in per- 

 fect condition, but it was noticed that 

 the colony that had the old queen last 

 fall had a few spots on the entrance. A 

 hasty peep revealed the fact that the 

 young queen had been accepted all 

 right, as there was sealed brood in the 

 hive. As near as could be determined 

 by the hurried look at the other 4, no 

 brood was started, at least none was 

 sealed, anyway. Now the first colony 

 referred to is full of bees, but I ex- 

 pected that it would spring dwindle, 

 and from present indications it looks 

 as though I am not to be disap- 

 pointed (?). All .5 colonies have a 

 telescoping e.xtension top, and are 

 packed nicely on top of the frame; as 

 to side packing in the shape of paper, 

 etc., I would not pay 2 cents to have 

 somebody cover all my hives that way 

 in any spring, no matter how cold it 

 might be. 



Well, we have had some cold weather 

 since the 13th up to this date (March 

 17th), but as to those 4 colonies — well, 

 I may be a bit too sure, but I would 

 not give a nickel to insure them against 

 spring dwindling, even if the weather 

 stays cold for two weeks longer. As 

 to the other, it is a different story, and 

 every time I pass by the entrance of 

 the hive I clean out dead bees all 

 bloated up that are obstructing the 

 contracted entrance; and while at the 

 job invariably some old worn-out ones 

 will come out buzzing, seemingly anx- 

 ious to rid the hive of their useless 

 presence. Of course, that colony will 

 spring dwindle, and the same cause 

 that is responsible for the trouble in 

 this case, is also responsible for thou- 

 sands of others in the country every 

 year. Bad stores, damp hives, and a 

 multitude of other causes contribute to 

 the death-rate every year, and so often 

 the cause is wrongfully diagnosed as 

 " spring dwindling." 



Let me repeat that in 99 cases out of 

 IDO, if the bees have wintered perfectly, 

 there will be no spring dwindling to 

 amount to anything. 



"There is No Place Like—" 



The old saying, "there is no place 

 like home," seems to be as true as ever 

 in the majority of cases, even when the 

 maxim is applied to bee-keepers who 

 leave their homes in search of richer 

 pastures. I am reminded of this in a 

 letter received from Mr. Arthur Laing, 

 some weeks ago, in which he mentions 

 his intention of coming back to On- 

 tario again this spring. Mr. Laing has 

 for years been afflicted with the "wan- 

 derlust," and has in his travels visited 

 Cuba and many States of the Union. 

 His latest move was to sunny Califor- 

 nia, and from sundry longings I, my- 

 self, have for that warmer clime, I 

 rather imagined that Mr. Laing would 

 be enamored with the country, and not 

 care to come back to " Our Lady of the 

 Snows." However, it seems otherwise, 

 as Mr. Laing says in his letter, "I am 

 living in a land where for (i months we 

 have had sunshine and sand, and now 



for about 6 weeks we have had rain. 

 California is a nice country, but Onta- 

 rio is nicer, and I am coming back." 



.■\nother extensive bee-keeper of east- 

 ern Ontario sold all his bees a year ago 

 and went to the same country, and last 

 fall he wrote to the one who bought his 

 bees, that he was coming back again, 

 as he preferred snow-banks in the win- 

 ter to sand-storms. Since then he has 

 come back and purchased his bees 

 again at one-half more than he sold 

 them for over a year ago. Say, judging 

 by these testimonies they must have 

 some drawbacks in California as well 

 as here in Ontario; but lest this should 

 stir up some Californian to attack this 

 scribe, let me remind all with such in- 

 tentions, that all I am saying is what 

 the " other fellow " says, and, person- 

 ally, I plead guilty still to having a 

 longing to see the country under dis- 

 cussion. 



Bees Wintering " First-Classly " 



Before closing for this month, let me 

 say that from present indications the 

 bees are coming through the winter in 

 first-class condition. Of course, it is 

 too early to be positive in the matter, 

 but at this date (March 18th) I have 

 reason to believe that there is not a 

 dead colony in my yards, and from re- 



ports of a number received by 'phone, 

 the condition 

 York Countv. 



the condition seems to be general in 



Clover is now being tried pretty hard, 

 as we are having heavy freezing at 

 nights with thawing in the daytime. 

 However, we always have a siege of 

 this weather in the spring, and in the 

 great majority of cases the clover 

 stands it all right, so we will not bor- 

 row trouble, and at present continue to 

 be pleased at the splendid shape in 

 which the bees appear to be. 



Southern Beedom 



Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunfels, Tex. 



6ull(-Comb Honey Production — Our Ideal 

 Frame 



Numerous questions from prospec- 

 tive bulk-comb honey producers have 

 been asked about the frame we are 

 using, asking a more definite descrip- 

 tion of it, despite the fact that this 

 frame has been described several times. 

 With an attempt to make this more 

 clearly understood, a rough drawing 

 was made which shows a top-bar, end- 

 bar and a bottom-bar, and it is hoped 

 that the description following will save 

 further enquiring letters, as I will not 

 be able to answer them on account of 

 the very busy season now on. 



First, we will take the top-bar, which 

 is really the only part of these shallow 

 frames that is original with me, all the 

 other parts being the regular Hoffman- 

 style shallow-frame, except that we 

 have, for years, also used a heavier end- 

 bar to strengthen our frame for rough 

 usage. 



The top-bar is just a plain strip of 

 wood cut off of %-inch stuff, which is 



it will be shown later. At each end' 

 notches are cut out 3-16 deep by 15-16 

 inch long, leaving the ends 5-16 thick 

 to hang on. 



The end-bars are shallow Hoffman 

 style, 5^ inches long and %-inch 

 thick, which latter makes a much stouter 

 and stronger frame than was formerly 

 put on the market, with the end-bars 

 only 5-16 thick. This, in addition to 

 the top-bar we use, makes it a much 

 better frame. 



For the bottom-bar just plain strips 

 /4x34xl7^^ inches are used. We have 

 tried slightly heavier bottom-bars, but 

 with such a shallow frame it is not 

 necessary to use them. 



We hdve tried extensively both the 

 long top-bar frames without the end- 

 spacing staples on the end-bars be- 

 neath the ends of the top-bars and 

 those with the staples. We find that 

 after the frames, and the supers in 

 which they hang, have been in use for 

 some time, there is no doubt about it 

 that the staple-spaced frames are bet- 

 ter, and can be manipulated more rap- 



// >%:• 



the width of the top-bar, and just }i 

 inch thick. In other words, it is noth- 

 ing but a >^-inch strip ripped off of a 

 %-inch board. This board, from which 

 they are cut, is just exactly ISU inches 

 long, all square and true, so that every 

 strip will be exactly the same length, 

 making every top-bar from it exactly 

 I8;V inches long. There is no groove 

 on the underside for foundation, but 

 only smooth and flat, and how to fasten 



idly. We have thousands of each kind 

 in use, and as long as the ends of the 

 frames, top-bars and the hive-rabbets 

 are clean, there is not nuich trouble. 

 As soon as the bees stick propolis into 

 these intersections, the trouble begins 

 with the long top-bars, and then the 

 staple-spaced frames can be handled 

 much more easily. This is quite an 

 item to consider in bulk-comb honey 

 production when sliort cuts and rapid 



