336 



October, 1914 



American Hee Journal 



tribute in no small degree to the inter- 

 est and success of the meetings of the 

 association, and it is safe to count 

 upon always meeting a large represen- 

 tation of the faithful. 



Mr. Spicer provided a substantial 

 lunch which was thoroughly enjoyed, 

 under the trees. President C. H. Root 

 gave a talk upon his special hive cover, 

 "which never warps, cracks nor blows 

 off." Mr. Hornor, of Philadelphia, also 

 contributed a paper, after which there 

 was a general informal discussion. 

 Secretary (and inspector) Carr made a 

 photograph of those present, which 

 was very successful. 



The spirit of sociability which per- 

 vaded the meeting added greatly to the 

 enjoyment, and mention was frequently 

 made of the next meeting. The annual 

 meeting will be held in December at 

 New Brunswick, in the Entomological 

 Building of the New Jersey State Agri- 

 cultural Department. C. D. Cheney. 



Lyndhurst, N. J. 



Long Idea Hives. — Won't you please 

 publish a description with your opinion 

 of the" long idea" hive as used in 

 Europe ? Eugene Baker. 



Los Angeles, Calif. 



The name " long idea " is essentially 

 American. In Europe these hives are 

 called " horizontal," because they are 

 single-story hives, without supers. The 

 hives upon which supers are used are 

 called "vertical " in contradistinction. 



The systems of apiculture mostly in 

 vogue throughout the world locate the 

 brood-nest in one bodyand the storage 

 apartment or supers in one or more 

 additional bodies, placed over the 

 brood-chamber. Differing from these 

 leading methods are two extremes, the 

 horizontal hive system without supers, 

 and the sectional hive system in which 

 even thebroodchamber is divided into 

 two or more stories. Among the latter 

 are the Heddon and Danzenbaker hives. 



The horizontal hive, of which the 

 Layens is the main type, is a hive with 

 deep frames, usually deeper than long, 

 and containing from 16 to 30 frames. 

 The Layens frame measures 13's inches 

 in width by Iti's in depth, outside. The 

 indside measurements are 12;'s by 14-'4. 

 These measurements are taken from 

 Bertrand's " Conduite du Rucher" 

 (Management of the Apiary). 



It is self evident that sectional hives 

 must have very shallow frames while 

 horizontal hives must have very deep 

 ones. Hence the deep frames used by 

 Layens. The principal claims for these 

 hives are : 



1. Their simplicity. There is only 

 one kind of frame and one kind of 

 body in the apiary. The colony spreads 

 out horizontally, and more frames are 



added as necessary. When the honey 

 is extracted, every frame may be re- 

 moved which does not contain brood. 

 With the help of dummies, the hives 

 accommodate the smallest as well as 

 the largest colonies. 



2. Swarm prevention. The brood 

 may be removed from the entrance and 

 empty combs placed there so that the 

 field workers have to pass over or 

 through them to reach the brood-nest. 

 It is claimed by the supporters of this 

 method that this is one of the best pre- 

 ventives of swarming. It is true. 



3. Better wintering. Those who use 

 deep frame hives are unanimous in 

 saying that the bees winter better in 

 them than in shallow hives, because 

 they have more honey above the 

 cluster. 



The disadvantages are as follows: 



1. The single story hive does not per- 

 mit of comb-honey production. We 

 have ourselves tried the placing of sec- 

 tions in side frames and almost inva- 

 riably the bees have failed to fill the 

 lower part of the sections, and have 

 soiled them much more than sections 

 located above the brood-chamber. 



2. It is much more difficult to remove 

 deep combs from a brood-chamber 

 than shallow ones. Those who are ac- 



fi^Ai.:^^.:/ -r-f,- .'r:aK,^jt!C<rM :■'..„..■■; ■?■ ;;5»*L^,a^&>ayL».i^t^.i■^L.^^r.-^■.^;^■.«wi.J^ 



Exi'EKi.MENrAi. Apiary of Mr. lioiK maru in Hukch'ndy.— Nute thk IIokizontai. " I.oni; Idea" Hivks on -riiE Ruarr 



