GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



FlO. 4. — Mr. Poppleton's gasoline-launch which he used in his migratory beekeeping on the southeast coast 



of Florida. This launch was capable of carrying about 50 Long Idea hives at a time, besides bedding 



and cooking appliances. In the height of the season Mr. Poppleton ate, slept, 



and extracted in this launch. 



worked on the tiering-up plan. The very 

 fact that Mr. Poppleton has used it suc- 

 cessfully these many years, and almost all 

 alone, would show that it is not so bad after 

 all. 



The frames have closed tops. One of 

 these stands in front leaning against the 

 hive — ^see Fig-. 2. Mr. Poppleton is holding 

 another one in the other picture, Fig. 3. 

 The top-bar has two longitudinal slots two 

 inches long by % wide. In ordinary prac- 

 tice these are kept closed by strips of wood 

 running transversely over these holes clear 

 across the whole top of the hive. It Avill be 

 seen, then, that the bees cannot get to the 

 top of the frames, and, of course, they 

 cannot glue the top-bars into the rabbets. 

 All the warm air is kept below. The cover 

 can be removed at any time without a bee 

 coming out. A screwdriver or knife-blade, 

 as soon as the cover is removed, will spread 

 the frames for the purpose of examination 

 or for extraction. Very little bee-glue holds 

 them together, from the fact that the gluing 

 operations are confined wholly to the under 

 side. 



Now as to the awkwardness and bigness 

 of the hive. Mr. Poppleton explained that, 

 in order to make bees pay in Florida, the 

 colonies must be very populous. As a matter 

 of fact, this same principle in apiculture 

 applies almost everywhere. No crop of 

 honey can be secured unless we have pow- 

 erful colonies — ]iowerful or.ough to send 

 out a good field force when the honey-flow 

 comes on. An ordinary tpn-frame Lang- 



stroth hive alone will not hold such a colony. 

 In order to give sutiicient room, the liive 

 must be tiered up, one, two, three, or four 

 stories high. 



Right here Mr. Poppleton claims a big 

 advantage over those who tier up. Instead 

 of giving eight or ten frames all in a bunch 

 he adds one, two, or three as the colony can 

 stand. His expansion of the brood-nest is 

 gradual, while the expansion on the vertical 

 system is " steady by jumps." 



Well, then, we will suppose that he has 

 built his colony up to 24 frames capacity, 

 and is just ready to move his bees to where 

 the pasture is good. It has been argued 

 that the ten-fi-ame hive is big enough to 

 handle — too big, indeed, to lift with com- 

 fort. Talk about hives three times as large, 

 toting them down to the boat, and then 

 toting them out again on the land! it looks 

 ridiculous. But it is not as bad as it seems. 

 If one has to handle a big bulky weight it 

 is much easier to have that weight in a 

 horizontal oblong form like a trunk than to 

 have that same form or shape standing on 

 end. If we were to handle a trunk stand- 

 ing on end the handles would be placed 

 midway up and down of what is ordinarily 

 top and bottom. But, no; an ordinary trunk 

 is made a good deal after the shape of the 

 Long Idea hive, with handles in the end. 

 Said Mr. Poppleton, "An ordinary single 

 ten-frame hive is unwieldy for one man to 

 handle alone; but I can handlo with a helper, 

 whom I can hire for tlie c'< nsion. ;;ii oblong 

 box two and a half times the weight easier 



