578 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



July 



they were reversible, by the hundreds, for the past 

 8 years, and I have yet to find that trouble of not 

 being able to change them from hive to hive, end 

 for end, and from bottom to top. I did find plenty 

 of trouble with all that were l l / 2 inches wide, and, 

 as Mr. Hawk says, there is an invitation to elon- 

 gate the cells for honey with the H4-wide end-bar. 

 Before reversing-wires came into common use I let 

 my top and bottom bar project % at each end; 

 rabbets were used at the top and bottom that were 

 detachable, the hive being reversible as well as the 

 separate frame, making a space above and below 

 the frames. A reversible frame without a wide 

 end-bar loses half its worth, not only with me but 

 with many others. The space at the ends of the 

 frames is worth as much for its winter benefit in 

 preventing frost at each end of the hive as it is 

 worth for moving the hives from apiary to apiary, 

 or from stand to stand; the same projecting arm, 

 and l^-wide end-bars has been the main feature of 

 the shallow hives with frame of inside measure of 

 4, ^xlT'g, and double rabbets that were taken from 

 the half-story surplus frame of J. H. Nellis, in 1878. 

 Several of us tried the Wi wide brood-frame for 

 several seasons, and the Pa -wide side by side, and 

 the troubles that disgusted us with the l l A frame 

 were not found in the l 3 a frames. The first If lot 

 of frames were made by accident; and when they 

 chanced to come together they set us to thinking 

 about the difference between them. I know of six 

 apiaries where the l a 8 frames are used, and not one 

 will takeaframe \ l A wide, and they would be thrown 

 at you if you gave them to the apiarists. With the 

 shallow 4ft frames, inside measure, the 1\ frame is 

 too wide positively. There are 5 apiaries that I 

 know of where both the wide and narrow end-bars 

 are in use, and I know what their owners say; it 

 is, " Give me the 1% frame every time." Some of 

 them have been in use for eleven years, and the l l / 2 

 frames have been planed down to 1% wide; but 

 this much I am forced to say by practical use, and 

 from years of use too— give me the 4ft deep frame, 

 2 stories high. I am aware that there are twice as 

 many frames to handle separately, and that it is 

 twice the work to make them up; that they cost 

 more; but when I can handle five hives of two 

 stories each, in the same time that I can handle 

 three that are of the L. frame depth, it will pay the 

 difference in one season; then there is one point 

 that was shown to me ten years ago this summer: 

 Split the brood - chamber of an obstinate colony 

 in two, and place your crate between them, filled 

 with boxes full of full sheets of fdn., and your fdn. 

 will quite often change shape before morning. 



But here I must mention one point in reversing 

 frames that several years' practice has shown pos- 

 itively true. Tf half the frames, that is, if alternate 

 f rames are reversed, the honey is more sure to be 

 removed than if the whole are reversed, which is 

 an objection to the reversing of a deep frame, and 

 this same object is again shown in another form by 

 changing places with the shallow frame-cases. The 

 honey in the upper half of the top case is placed 

 between the brood, which is an objection to the 

 bees, and up to the sections it goes; and in the 

 spring again it tells in building up colonies: re- 

 verse alternate frames, and the queen will surprise 

 you with the increase of brood; and likewise by 

 changing places with the shallow frame-cases, the 

 empty space, like the honey, is brought between 

 the brood. These things have been tried all 



through the eighties by more than myself, and the 

 reversing alternate frame has shown the difference 

 here in the Grove Street apiary, and those of our 

 near neighbors here in New Milford. We have 

 whole cases of sections full of honey and capping, 

 while our neighbors all around us are saying, " My 

 bees are doing nothing." Our full cases that are 

 capping are counted by the dozens, and there are 

 only 7") hives in this apiary. The deep frame, when 

 the whole set are reversed, will quite often cause 

 the brood-chamber to be completely packed with 

 honey, when, if alternate combs are reversed, it in 

 all cases brings honey between the brood top and 

 bottom of the frames. The bees don't like it that 

 way, so they move it. H. L. Jeffrey. 



New Milford, Ct., June 19, 1889. 



Thanks, friend Jeffrey. I (Ernest) am 

 quite sure you are right in regard to the If 

 versus H inch spacing. I have been watch- 

 ing this very same thing very closely my- 

 self, and my observations confirm all you 

 sa? with respect to it. I have noticed, over 

 and over again, that even suspended 

 frames, when spaced H inches from center 

 to center, are bulged and distorted, general- 

 ly, when the same frames spaced If are nice 

 and even. The H-inch spacing, on account 

 of the irregularity from bulging and burr- 

 combs, makes it inconvenient, oftentimes, 

 to change the relative position of some of 

 the combs in the brood-nest. The bulged 

 surfaces will often come together, and 

 sometimes two concave surfaces. With the 

 If-inch spacing, these difficulties, as you 

 say, are scarcely noticeable. In regard to 

 inserting the super between the two brood- 

 cases, 1 will say that I have been trying 

 that very same thing, with the Ileddon hive. 

 I expected that the bees would start filling 

 out the foundation immediately. Although 

 the colony is a fairly strong one, ten days 

 have elapsed, and yet they have only just 

 begun to work on the foundation. Here 

 was an instance where theory seemed to be 

 strangely at variance with practice. I can 

 not understand it, because it seems strange 

 that, with the brood on both sides, the bees 

 should not connect the two with honey, es- 

 pecially when the queen herself is kept in 

 the lower section by a queen - excluding 

 honey-board. I feel almost sure that fur- 

 ther trials will make theory and practice coin- 

 cide. You intimate in your article that you 

 have been using divisible brood-chambers 

 clear through the eighties. You speak of 

 using shallow frames made by J. II. Nellis 

 in 1S78. You have told us just enough 

 about it to make us want to know more 

 about it. It is pretty evident that you are 

 an advocate of a shallow brood-frame ; and 

 as you have used them for a good many 

 years, your experience might be interesting 

 to the readers of this journal. — You say 

 that a reversible frame, without an end-bar, 

 loses half its worth, on account of its advan- 

 tages for wintering. If colonies are winter- 

 ed in the double- walled chaff hives, or single 

 walls in the repository, it seems to me the 

 closed uprights would not make any materi- 

 al difference in wintering. The Vandeusen 

 metal corners are giving most excellent sat- 

 isfaction here. The end-bars of these are 

 not closed, and no gummirg together. 



