146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1919 



Tlie Hewitt combination hive, showing cover on 



brood-chamber and outside, view or arrangement 



for making a queen-mating nucleus. 



Altho I speak of the square hive as hold- 

 ing 13 frames (as it will with 1%-inch spac- 

 ing), this becomes such a tight fit when 

 propolis has accumulated that it seems more 

 practical to use only 12 frames and space 

 them 1^2 inches. To cover the exposed 

 frames a piece of 1x8 board is all that is 

 necessary, for the bees speedily close up any 

 cracks and make things weather-tight. 



In the side of the hive shown in the 



photograpli, it will be noticed there is a hole 

 closed by a cork above a small alighting- 

 board. This shows another use to which 

 this particular hive has been put. By using 

 a tight-fitting division-board and closing the 

 front entrance to where the partition comes, 

 a two- or three-frame queen-mating nucleus 

 is formed in a few minutes, and the bees 

 and combs are returned to the colony by 

 taking out the division-board when the nu- 

 cleus is no longer required. 



During the last few months many exten- 

 sive beekeepers have visited my yard and 

 most of them have noticed this big hive; 

 but so far no one has recognized the con- 

 veniences to which its odd shape adapts it. 

 All those who commented upon it would 

 prefer to use the same size of supers and 

 so eliminate the only advantage that ap- 

 peals to me. 



The advocates of the Jumbo frame and 

 the story-and-a-half brood-nest lay stress 

 upon the fact that a queen will place her 

 brood in the shape of a sphere, and the 

 deeper fi-ame will allow this to a greater ex- 

 tent than the Langstroth. Altho this may 

 be an advantage for a very short time in 

 early spring, there is no necessity for it 

 when the weather becomes warm and the 

 colony populous. In bee-trees it is quite 

 common to find brood-combs three feet and 

 four feet long and only six or eight inches 

 wide, and some of the swarms raised on such 

 combs are the equal of any produced in a 

 hive. The advantage of the square hive, 

 used in conjunction with the 8-frame supers, 

 will be not only in accessibility — and for 

 outyards where quick inspection trips are 

 desirable this is no small consideration — but 

 in having the same standard frame in both 

 brood-nest and super. 



Beekeepers attending the recent California beekeeping short course at the University Farm, Davis, Calif. 



