316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



therefore necessary to adopt an entirely differ- 

 ent construction. 



Mr. Beuhne is entirely correct in saying that 

 we can not expect a five-horse-power work out 

 of a one-horse-power engine. While it is true 

 the Beuhne uncapping-meiter could be manufac- 

 tured with a much larger heating surface, this 

 would necessarily maice it so expensive as to ren- 

 der its cost prohibitive. It was much more prac- 

 ticable to adopt a different construction that 

 would provide the necessary capacity at a mod- 

 erate cost. To that end tiiere was built a ma- 

 chine on the double-boiler principle, or the prin- 

 ciple of the common farina-kettle, making it large 

 enough to take care of a two or three thousand 

 pound extracting in a day during the time the 

 honey was gathered, or some weeks after. 



We may say that a large proportion of our 

 honey-producers in this country extract after the 

 season is over, and at a time when the honey is 

 cold. The Beuhne apparatus would not meet 

 this condition except to make it very large. — Ed.] 



A PROPOLIS-PROOF HIVE. 



A New Idea for Frames. 



BY A. W. FOREMAN. 



I am sure there are many bee-keepers who are 

 looking for a device by means of which a frame 

 can be kept free from propolis so that it may be 

 instantly remored independently of any of the 

 others. The drawing illustrates the frame and 



GROOVE 



hive that I have used two years with excellent re- 

 sults. I have never found two frames stuck to- 

 gether, nor any frame stuck in the hive. Fur- 

 thermore, the most careless person could scarcely 

 kill a bee in inserting or removing a frame. 



In fitting the hive for this frame I prefer to use 

 a regular ten-frame dovetailed hive, lining it as 

 shown, thus reducing it to a nine-frame hive. 

 This gives, at the same time, a double-walled 

 brood-chamber, which, with heavy building-pa- 

 per between the two walls of the hive, makes a 

 perfectly satisfactory arrangement for wintering 

 on the summer stands, and adds but little to the 

 cost of the hive. These linings are ji inch thick. 



It will be noticed that there are two screw-eyes 

 in the ends of each frame — one near the top-bar 

 and the other near the bottom bar. These screw- 

 eyes fit into a round groove in the lining at the 

 ends of the hives, and a small nail at the proper 

 height near the top of each groove prevents the 

 frames from sliding down too far. The lower 

 screw-eye is turned vertical while the upper one 

 is horizontal. In this way the lower screw-eye 

 slips past the nail down into the groove, and the 

 upper one rests on it. To reverse the frame, give 

 each of the four screw-eyes a quarter-turn. 



By putting the small nail at the lower end of 

 the round groove, and allowing the lower screw- 

 eye to rest on it, a somewhat more simple arrange- 

 ment would be afforded, as then the faames could 

 be reversed without change. However, there 

 might be a little more danger of killing the bees. 

 If this were done, all four screw-eyes would be 

 turned horizontally. 



I am aware that this frame will not satisfy 

 those who think there is an advantage in remov- 

 ing twe or more combs at a time, but I believe 

 the majority prefer to remove only one at a time. 

 Indeed, I often think that all the arguments I 

 have seen offered in favor of removing a group 

 of frames together rather than one a time are but 

 unconscious attempts to make oneself satisfied 

 with what he does not know how to improve. 



With chaff hives an additional inner lining 

 would not be necessary, as the round groove 

 could be kept in the regular inner wall of the 

 hive proper. In this way, full-length frames 

 could be used. We make hives that use frames 

 just 16 inches long, inside measurement. 



Whitehall, 111. 



[There are two serious objections to this meth- 

 od of spacing frames. 1. It requires either a 

 change of dimensions of the hive or of the frames 

 themselves. Odd-sized hives are a nuisance, and 

 always entail an added first cost. 2. Our corre- 

 spondent does not anticipate the most serious ob- 

 jection to this form of spacing — namely, that it 

 will not allow of moving the frames laterally back 

 and forth inside of the hive. If it is desirable to 

 split the brood-nest, and shove the two halves 

 apart, it would require the handling in the case 

 of a hive above shown, of every imii-'vidual frame, 

 and then putting it down into its desired position 

 one by one. This would entail an enormous 

 waste of time. 



This scheme of spacing devices in the hive has 

 been invented over and over again — has been 

 made the subject of numerous patents, both in 

 Europe and in this country ; but so far as we know 

 there are very few who use it, and most of these 

 give it up sooner or later. If our correspondent 

 wants frames that can not be propolized together 

 he should use staples or nail spacers, or some gen- 

 eral form of metal spacer that is made part and 

 parcel of the frame itself. Any spacing arrange- 



