318 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVju 



ned to do so the last afternoon, but mat- 

 ters were rushed through and no afternoon 

 session held, thus the old man lost his op- 

 portunity. Some of my readers may know 

 that father Langstroth, several years ago, 

 made Mr. Heddon a long visit, and most 

 thoroughly examined the Heddon hive and 

 its working in the apiary. After that he 

 ■wrote a long article giving his views upon 

 the hive. It was favorable to the hive, he 

 considering it one step in advance of his 

 own invention. Since then there have been 

 vague reports that he had been " influenced, " 

 that he was an old man in his dotage and 

 had been persuaded to make the visit, and 

 then given presents, etc., etc., whereby he 

 was induced to make the report that he did. 

 Those who started such stories certainly 

 did not know father Langstroth. What he 

 particularly wished to do was to refute 

 these statements — to show that he was 

 wholly disinterested. When the convention 

 was over he said " Never mind, I can give 

 it through the journals," but he was called 

 away before doing so. 



THE ILLNESS OF OUR DAUGHTER. 



For quite a long time our daughter Ivy 

 has been suffering from a complication of 

 disorders ; and about September 1st. bilious 

 fever was added to the list. This was soon 

 overcome, and she was, apparently, better 

 than she had been in some time ; then, sud- 

 denly, there came a relapse accompained by 

 a brain trouble. For six weeks now I have 

 been by her bedside almost constantly — 

 soothing her when it was possible and at 

 times being compelled to use force in con- 

 trolling her. Only those who have passed 

 through such experiences know how terrible, 

 terrible they are. At present the symptoms 

 are less violent, but both mind and body 

 are yet in a very bad state, and it will require 

 weeks, perhaps months, of the most careful 

 watching, treatment and care to bring her 

 back to health. 



Under the circumstances," getting out the 

 Review is a difficult matter. No one can 

 imagine the twists and turns that have been 

 made in getting out this issue. There is not 

 much chance of " catching up " until Ivy is 

 better. The twins work away bravely at 

 type setting whan they can get away from 

 the household duties that are now thrown 

 largely upon them, but there is no "papa" 

 with them to help and advise. 



I would not trouble my readers with these 

 matters were it not that if the Review is late, 

 or lacking in any respect, I wish its readers 

 to be willing, as I trust they will, to 

 overlook the defects, and just as soon as I 

 can I will make it all up. 



i^'jlK'm^^i^^^^M 



HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



Gleanings for Oct. W, contains nearly two 

 pages on this subject from Dr. Miller and 

 the editor. It is apparent that the doctor has 

 now used these frames long enough to dis- 

 cover what a really formidable glue trap 

 they are. He says there is such an accumu- 

 lation of propolis that each frame is practi- 

 cally 1-16 of an inch wider, making the total 

 extension of the frames, when together, }4 

 inch. This crowded things so that it was 

 difficult to get out the first comb and he 

 thought that it might not be a bad thing if 

 the hive were % of an inch wider to accom- 

 modate this widening of the frames from an 

 accumulation of propolis. He further says 

 that by squeezing long enough and hard 

 enough the V edges can be made to cut into 

 the soft propolis, and the frames thus brought 

 into place, but that such an amount of pro- 

 polis makes it difficult to pull them apart. 

 The editor admits some would prefer frames 

 a little less " fixed " in cool weather. In his 

 despair the doctor had some frames made 

 the same width all around, that is, top bars, 

 end bars and bottom bars all l^i inches in 

 width. To find some spacing device there 

 was a struggle that ended in the use "tem- 

 porarily, " of finishing nails— those naughty 

 nails that dull the honey knife and catch on 

 to everything, especially the wires of a 

 comb basket. 



I don't wish to discourage the doctor nor 

 my good friends at Medina in their efforts 

 at improving our implements, but it has 

 always been a wonder to me how bright, 

 practical men like these could be led to 

 adopt the Hoffman frame. I know that 

 there are other bright practical men who 

 use this frame, and it may be that I am too 

 dull to discover its merits, but to me it 

 seems like a cross between the loose hang- 

 ing frame and the closed end frame, but 

 lacking the highest merits of both. 



The doctor asks for advice in regard to 

 self-spacers. The most satisfactory with 

 which I am acquainted are closed-end 

 frames ; closed the whole length, plain and 

 smooth with the edges pressed so firmly to- 



