December, 1914. 



421 



American l^ee Journal 



hives are made about 13 inches wide 

 and 13 inches deep, and from 3(i to 40 

 inches long, inside, and hold 20 or 

 more frames of the size and shape of 

 the old American style of frame, about 

 12 inches square, which, he says, is 

 better ttian any other for this style of 

 hive. I had supposed so deep a frame 

 impracticable, as the depth would re- 

 suit in the killing of many bees in 

 handling them ; but as he has them 

 constructed, I find they can be handled 

 as fast and as safely as the ordinary 

 Lingstroth frame; indeed, I believe 

 even faster. 



The lower bar of the frame is set 

 in a slot in the lower end of the end 

 bars, and allowed to project '4 inch 

 beyond the end bars, so that in lower- 

 ing the frame into the hive there is 

 always a bee space between the lower 

 corner of the frame and side of hive. 

 A staple would answer the same pur- 

 pose. Then the top bar is wide enough 

 to come together, forming a closed 

 frame on top, which keeps the bees 

 from depositing propolis around the 

 ends of the top bars and sticking them 

 up. The comb is attached to the top 

 bar near one edge, whilethe other edge 

 of the top bar projects over the bee- 

 space between the combs. Each top 

 bar has two small slots cut in it, onen- 

 ing into the bee-space between the 

 combs below. These slots are covered 

 with narrow pieces of ^2 inch boards. 



His hives also have a shallow tele- 

 scopic cover that protects the frames 

 from the storms and the excessive 

 heat of summer. An entrance 12 

 inches long by H inch deep in the bot- 

 tom of the brood-chamber midway 

 from each end gives the bees all the 

 ventilation they receive. A loose- 

 fitting following board to hang at the 

 side of the frames completes the hive. 

 I should have stated that staples near 

 the bottom of the frames keep them 

 the proper distanceapart, at their lower 

 end. 



Now for the working of this hive 

 The brood is kept near the center of 

 the hive, close to the entrance, while 

 the end combs are for surplus honey. 

 He uses no queen excluders in them, 

 for he believes the more room the 

 queen has to lay in, and the more brood 

 she produces, the larger the force to 

 gather honey. 



In opening these hives you have to 

 lift the cover and then lift one or two 

 of the narrow boards that cover the 

 slots in the frames. Then it is easy to 

 ascertain the strength of the colony. 

 A little smoke through these slots in 

 the frames drives the bees down into 

 good liehavior, with much less danger 

 of being stung than where the spaces 

 between the frames are all open. It is 

 easy to move the frames aside, as the 

 top bars come together, and there is 

 no propolis at the end to hold them. 

 Usually one or two frames are left out 

 at one or both ends, and a division- 

 board placed beside the comb, so any 

 given frame can be removed from 

 these hives about as quickly as from a 

 hive of Langstroth frames, and far 

 quicker and easier than from those 

 containing Hoffman frames. The sur- 

 plus is stored at each end of the hive. 



In extracting, Mr. Poppleton only 

 extracts from one end at a time, so 

 that if the supply should suddenly cease 



the bees would not be short of stores. 

 In the climate of Florida, combs must 

 be stored on the hives to keep the wax 

 moth from destroying them, and one 

 of the great advantages of this hive is 

 that you can readily get into the brood- 

 nest at all times without removing a 

 heavy super. I found in looking over 

 such a yard with most of the surplus 

 combs in, I could do it nearly as rap- 

 idly as I could 1-story Langstroth hives, 

 much to my surprise. 



Another advantage of these solid top 

 bars is that in getting surplus comb 

 honey the small slots, while large 

 enough to let bees work through 

 fre ly, would very largely prevent the 

 so-called travel stain; but Mr. Popple- 

 ton takes his crop almost who'ly by 

 extracting. The idea of a solar wax 

 extractor is original with Mr. Popple- 

 ton. 



The climate of Florida is especially 

 adapted to" this apparatus for rendering 

 wax ; their January being about as 

 warm as our northern June. While a 

 solar wax extractor even in Florida 

 does not remove all the wax from old 

 combs, yet it is exceedingly useful to 

 throw in pieces of comb or wax that 

 are too small or of too little value to 

 pay to melt with water by itself, yet 

 can be saved in this way that would 

 otherwise be destroyed by moths. But 



its greatest value comes as a combined 

 wax extractor and capping melter. Mr. 

 Poppleton tells me it is surprising the 

 large amount of honey that remains 

 among the cappings after all has 

 drained out that will do so. He has 

 sometimes secured a barrel of honey, 

 through his solar wax extractors, from 

 his cappings. which sold at same price 

 as that from the honey extractor. 



I have not written the above expect- 

 ing these ideas will be adopted by 

 others, but rather to show how one 

 may use hives and apparatus very dif- 

 ferent from what we are accustomed 

 to think the best, and succeed quite at 

 well as we do, and perhaps even better 

 than we would with our own hives and 

 fixtures. It is also to show that to 

 succeed and secure the best results one 

 must think for himself and not follow 

 blindly the lead of others, but adapt 

 himself to circumstances and condi- 

 tions with which he is surrounded. 



Mr. Poppleton's hive and system of 

 management are well adapted to the 

 southern States, where extracted honey 

 is produced, and would prove success- 

 ful for this purpose as far north as the 

 Ohio river by removing the surplus 

 combs in winter and enclosing the 

 brood combs within close fitting divis- 

 ion-boards. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



Dr. Miller*s 



Answers^ 



Send Questions either to the office of the .American Bee Journal or direct to 



Dr. C. C. Miller. Marengo. III. 



He does not answer bee-keeping questions by mail. 



Reason tor Poor Yield from One Colony 



I have 5 colonies of bees Four colonies 

 did well; igoliSJoers filled and one ? su- 

 pers We have one that filled the brood- 

 chamher but never started in the super It 

 is a colony from last year What can be the 

 matter with it ? Minnesota. 



Answer.— Without knowing more about it 

 it is hard even to make a guess. If it had the 

 same chance as the others in every respect, 

 the likelihood is that it had a poorer queen. 



every day in the year that they were out " is 

 absurd Kven if bees were bad enough it is 

 absurd lo think of fruit being on hand from 

 March to November, or of washings being 

 hungout every da of thewe^k. The truth 

 is that only once in the year is there any 

 serious trouble with clothes hung out. and 

 bees never break the skin of sound fruit, 

 only emptying oui what birds or wasps have 

 first bitten, and which would spoil anyway. 



Bees Specking Clothes and Bothering Neighbors 



1. Will bees speck clothes after they have 

 had their cleansing flight in the spring: if 

 so under what conditions ? 



2 Will a high board fence prevent bees 

 from bothering neighbors? 



^ How far will bees go from the hives in 

 spring and speck clothes ? Iowa. 



.•\NSWERS.— Sometimes they will do so 

 after having been confined to the hive for 

 several days, but never to the same extent 

 as in the general cleansing flight in spring. 



2. It will help, and may prevent it entirely, 

 something depending upon the lay of the 

 land. 



3. I don't know Most of the bees empty 

 themselves close to the hives, so that 

 clothes within a rod would be badly soiled. 

 As nearly as i can recall. I should say it 

 would not be a tenth as bad 5 rods away, 

 with little trouble 10 rods away, while a 

 very few bees might fly 15 or 20 rods away 

 before discharging their feces. 



The clipping you enclose, saying that 

 bees "soiled washings and destroyed fruit 



A Good Breeder — Requeening in the South 



I. What are the qualifications of a brerder 

 in regard 10 age. size color, number of etgs 

 laid in cenain specified lime, etc.? Is there 

 any standard ? 



2 In testing, how long should I hold the 

 watch on her 10 figure out a correct test ? 



3. During the laying season, does shelay 

 both day and night ? 



i Here in the South, where we have to 

 breed up for two or three flows each sea- 

 son, and you only have to breed up for one 

 flow, should we not requeen each season ? 

 Tennessee. 



Answers.— I. I don t remember that I ever 

 heard of any standard. So far as I know 

 every one has his own standard. The chief 

 thing is that the worker progeny of the 

 queen should excel as storers This, you 

 will see. cannot be set down as so many 

 pounds exactly, for seasons vary, and 200 

 pounds might be no better one season than 

 20 in another. The only thing you can do is 

 to compare her work with that of others in 

 the same place. You can hardly tell what a 

 queen will do until she is a full year old. and 

 not always then. Size does not cut much 



