1889 



GLEANINGS Ui BEE CULTURE. 



•518 



called back in the darkness, wl Mamma, I am 

 not afraid." The cold corpse of her dar- 

 ling was afterward found, and skeptics have 

 tried to make it appear that the poor moth- 

 er was wrong. But who shall say that God 

 did not take that little one who, with child- 

 ish lips, said she was not afraid, into his 

 care and keeping, without a pang V We are 

 not told in God's holy word that we shall be 

 spared from death ; but we are told that 



Jesus can make a dying-bed 

 Feel soft as downy pillows are. 



As we go to press, I feel to rejoice that 

 our own State of Ohio has done nobly for 

 the relief of the sufferers; and I am glad to 

 say that a subscription was started in our 

 own little town of Medina, even on the Sab- 

 bath day, and that the money subscribed 

 went as' speedily to the sick and suffering 

 as our modern methods of swift travel could 

 carry it. Jesus told us, that " in the world 

 ye shall have tribulation ; " but lie also says, 

 "I have overcome the world. " 



THE VAN DEUSEN METAL CORNER. 



FRAMES AT FIXED DISTANCES; 

 FRAMES, ETC. 



REVERSIBLE 



EDITOR OF GLEANINGS:— It is with pleasure 

 that I answer your inquiries regarding the 

 VanDeusen metal - cornered frame. Eight 

 or nine years ago I read Quinby's " New Bee- 

 Keeping," and became enthusiastic over the 

 merits of the closed-end frame. I gave it a trial, 

 but I never could handle it without killing a good 

 many bees. My bees at that time were blacks and 

 low-grade hybrids, with the two worst traits of such 

 bees fully developed— that of hanging in great 

 bunches on the corners of the frames when lifted 

 from the hive, and of being very free with their 

 stings when pinched a little. With Italians I pre- 

 sume the crushing of bees with such frames is 

 reduced to a minimum, for they do not get in the 

 way as the blacks do. With hooks on all four cor- 

 ners, the Quinby closed-end is certainly an almost 

 perfect reversible frame, if we lay aside the objec- 

 tions mentioned above. Not liking the loose case I 

 reduced the depth of the frames to seven inches 

 and dropped them into an ordinary hive, support- 

 ing them on hoop-iron strips nailed along the low- 

 er edge of the ends of the hive. Notwithstanding 

 these frames were wedged from the side, the prop- 

 olis soon made them difficult to handle, and they 

 are certainly as perfect bee-killers as one could 

 possibly invent; for when a frame is pushed down, 

 as described by Mr. Heddon on page 390 of Glean- 

 ings, May 15, 1889, it is impossible to avoid crushing 

 bees on the frame-support at the bottom. I write 

 in present tense, for one of those hives is still in 

 use in my yard; and several times every summer, 

 after reading how easy it is to handle the closed- 

 end frame if one only knows how, I go and try to 

 learn. To be more sure of success, I have had a 

 colony of splendid Italians in the hive for nearly 

 two years; but they get under the end-bars by 

 twos, threes, and half-dozens; and as the lrames go 

 into place, one never fails to hear the bones crack. 

 If the Hedtlon hive is made with a metal rest for 

 the frames, I consider it a waste of time to discuss 

 the question of easy manipulation of frames; it 

 must be a manipulation of liivex. 



In all my experiments with frames there were 

 two points kept constantly in view. For many rea- 

 sons I desired a reversible frame; and because my 

 bees were to be moved frequently I had determined 

 that the frame should be fixed firmly in its place in 

 the hive. The closed end frame answered these 

 conditions, but its objectionable features outweigh- 

 ed its good points. At this stage of my investiga- 

 tions you illustrated the VanDeusen metal corner 

 in Gleanings, and described the hive used by Mr. 

 O. J. Hetherington, of East Saginaw, Michigan. I 

 was favorably impressed with the device; and after 

 experimenting with it a little, I began putting all 

 my new swarms into hives supplied with the Heth- 

 erington frame. I am more than pleased with its 

 working. It is more easily handled than any other 

 frame in existence, and it is impossible for the bees 

 to fasten it with propolis because its bearings are 

 all metal, and are mere points. From each corner 

 of the frame, two metal points project '■>* of an inch, 

 spreading slightly until they reach a width of an 

 inch and a half, scant, at the widest part. The ';'„ 

 projection spaces the end of the frame away from 

 the end of the hive, and supports the frame by 

 resting upon a strip of metal nailed to the lower 

 edge of the end of the hive. The spread of the 

 projections tor, rather, shoulders on the projections) 

 spaces the frames from each other and from the 

 sides of the hive. In lifting out a frame or return- 

 ing it, it is impossible to roll bees between the end- 

 bars and the ends of the hives; and when moving 

 frames closer together the four conical shoulders 

 make it a difficult matter to crush a bee between 

 the combs, as is so often done with suspended 

 frames. T can handle these frames much faster 

 than I can suspended frames; and after hiving a 

 new swarm, the hive can be carried to any part of 

 the apiary, and put down with the assurance that 

 every frame is in its proper place. To move an 

 apiary, it is only necessary to shut the bees in the 

 hives, and they are ready to be loaded on the wag- 

 on. I do not see how a better reversible frame 

 could be made; for, top and bottom being alike, it 

 makes no difference which side is up; the hives 

 may even be stood on end for examination; a point 

 of considerable importance when one is in a hurry. 



lam not sure but I have one objection to this 

 metal corner; and that is, that it spaces the combs 

 Wi inches from center to center. As yet it has giv- 

 en me no trouble on that score, but I believe I 

 should* like it better if the spacing were only 1% 

 inches. The wide spacing is an invitation to the 

 bees to store rather more honey in the brood-cham- 

 ber than I want there; but by shaving off the elon- 

 gated cells and reversing the frames I have man- 

 aged the matter very satisfactorily. With a large 

 number of colonies this would be too much labor, 

 and I have about arrived at the conclusion that I 

 want the spacing reduced to \% inches. 



Any one using a suspended frame can easily change 

 to this without buying new frames, if the ones 

 he has in use are one inch shorter than the inside 

 of the hive. Saw off the projection of the top-bar, 

 nail a metal corner on each corner of the old frame, 

 and a folded piece of sheet iron on the bottom edge 

 of the ends of the hive, and the work is done. The 

 expense is but trifling, and it makes a hive that, in 

 my estimation, is far in advance of any other now 

 in use. 



I may as well mention here, that I use a frame 

 It! \ inches long and 7 inches deep, outside measure; 



