AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



erable number consider buckwheat the 

 finest honey in the world. Tbey like 

 that rich, strong flavor and dark color. 

 To them, no honey can stand in com- 

 parison with it ; and in regions where 

 basswood seems to be the chief source 

 of supply, no honey is considered equal 

 to it. It is well that there is this va- 

 riety of taste; because if everybody uni- 

 versally agreed that one kind of honey 

 was the best, honey from all other 

 sources would necessarily bring a lower 

 price ; but as it is, there are quite a 

 number of "best honeys" in the world. 



Closeil-Enl Frames Once More. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY F. L. THOMPSON. 



Mr. Demaree has written, and prob- 

 ably will write, so much that is good 

 and sound, that he can do more good 

 with a wave of the hand —and more 

 harm with a Podsnappian gesture — than 

 an ordinary man in a knock-down fight. 



On page 83 he has waved aside close- 

 -fitting frames with the magical words 

 '"self-interest" and " the worst of mis- 

 conceptions." Most users of close-fitting 

 frames, myself amonsr them, have no in- 

 terest in their sale. The manufacturers, 

 therefore, are aimed at. They may fight 

 their own battles. But how about such 

 men as W. Z. Hutchinson, R. L. Taylor, 

 P. H. Elwood, and many others ? "Self- 

 interest" and " jnisconception " are 

 shots wide of the mark. Such men are 

 at least as good authorities on hives as 

 the manufacturers, or as Mr. Demaree, 

 as he himself no doubt would cheerfully 

 acknowledge ; then why throw dust in 

 the eyes of beginners by implying that 

 there is only one side of the question ? 

 I could mention three of my neighbors, 

 practical and experienced apiarists, who 

 prefer closed-end frames after experi- 

 ence with the others. Considerations of 

 locality (such as the amount of propolis 

 gathered), of management, and espe- 

 cially of the kind of frames with which 

 one has already become familiar by long 

 handling, may go farther than any in- 

 trinsic merits or defects of the frames 

 themselves, toward biasing one's opinion. 



The instance given is misleading. A 

 beginner might say, on reading it, 

 "What! ant-nests in hives!! That 

 settles it. No close-fitting frames for 

 me." But if I should find an ant-nest in 

 such a place, my faith in close-fitting 

 frames would be unimpaired. Why ? I 



Because, having never yet found or 

 heard of such a case, except this one, or 

 any condition of things which could be 

 described as otherwise than "clean and 

 sweet" behind closed-end frames, I 

 would know that such an occurrence in 

 this locality, and presumably most other 

 localities, is exceedingly rare, and, con- 

 sequently, cannot seriously betaken into 

 consideration. By the way, closed-end 

 frames have been found more effectual 

 against the moth than the others. On 

 page 791 of Vol. XXXI, Mr. Mark D. 

 Judkins, of Osakis, Minn., gave some 

 pretty decisive testimony to this effect. 



Mr. Demaree says the frames were so 

 "stuck up " that he had to pry them 

 apart to get them out. As I have be- 

 fore explained, we expect some prying 

 to be done at certain seasons of the year 

 with closed-end frames. It is a disad- 

 vantage, but many have decided that It 

 does not outweigh the advantages to be 

 derived from their use. If the prying 

 in this case was no more than is ordi- 

 narily needed, it requires no comment. 

 But if they were stuck together so as to 

 need an instrument like a young crow- 

 bar to get them apart, as Mr. Demaree 

 seems to imply, one of two things was 

 probably true— either that locality sup- 

 plies an unusual amount of propolis, 

 much more than the average locality, 

 or the interior surface formed by the 

 end-bars was rendered very uneven 

 by some frames inclining one way 

 and some another, affording opportunity 

 to the bees to deposit much more than a 

 "slender line " of propolis along their 

 junctures, as is usually the case. 



If any prying at all is objected to, 

 yellow vaseline may be applied with a 

 brush to the edges of the end-bars be- 

 fore the frames are put in. This, and 

 tallow, have frequently been recom- 

 mended and found good, and ought to 

 be well known by this time. 



I find that I omitted the greatest ad- 

 vantage of closed-end frames. The 

 " bee-space all around " of the common 

 hanging frames, or of any frame not 

 closed more than half way down, is con- 

 trary to nature. Combs are naturally 

 joined by their ends, as well as by their 

 tops, to the receptacles in which they 

 are. This makes the space between 

 every two combs like a high, narrow 

 little room — a miniature hive, in fact — 

 quite independent of the other spaces, 

 or of the spaces between the last combs 

 and the sides of the receptacle. Add to 

 this that honey is a good non-conductor 

 of heat, and do you see the point ? 

 Division-boards are unnecessary. A solid 



