DECEMBER 1, 1912 



Fig. 1. — P. A. Knoll's winter ease for six colonies. 



in that tree. I hives them ! Three years 

 ago ! Ten hives all from one swarm ! I 

 no sell very much honey. Honey good on 

 panny cakes. Honey good for colds. Many 

 colds last winter. I come down with one 

 too ! Very sick ! Most die ! I takes a little 

 honey; me better soon. I no sell very 

 much honey. Honey good on panny cakes. 

 Honey good for colds. Three years! ten 

 hives, all from one swarm." I congratulat- 

 ed him on his success, and felt sure he was 

 telling me the truth when he said he sold 

 vei'y little honey, as certainly not more than 

 one of his hives was made so as to take any 

 surplus, and that one very poorly adapted 

 to that purpose. 



Speaking of frames, I have found all 

 sorts and kinds — a 

 very much larger pro- 

 portion of Hoffman 

 than of the Lang- 

 stroth, however. And 

 then there are styles 

 that I am not wise 

 enough to name. I 

 found one set made 

 two inches wide, top, 

 ends, and bottom-bar, 

 and placed in the 

 brood-box tight to- 

 g e t h e r. Evidently, 

 when an attempt to 

 put a colony in such a 

 hive was made, there 

 was no way found for 

 the bees to get inside 

 the frames, so a little 

 wood had been whit- 

 tled off from the bot- 



765 



tom-bars so they could 

 get through. 



Another time I 

 found that the propri- 

 etor of some twenty 

 old box liives was go- 

 ing to do thing's right, 

 and was making his 

 own hives, but seemed 

 to have no very clear 

 idea of how things 

 should be. 1 noticed 

 that his frames were 

 two or two and a half 

 inches wide, and sev- 

 en-eighths of an inch 

 thick, top, ends, and 

 bottom - bar. These 

 frames were to rest on 

 seven - eighths - inch 

 cleats nailed to the 

 ends of the brood-box. 

 Another farmer had 

 made his own movable-frame hives, for he 

 said he was a carpenter; but I had to call 

 for a hammer and cold chisel to get into 

 them, although they were of the Langstroth 

 type of frame. It has seemed passing 

 strange that those who have had no experi- 

 ence in beekeping, or at least in making 

 improved hives, should not first go or send 

 to some factory and get some standard hive 

 for a pattern, and then, if they wish, make 

 their own like it. 



I have S23oken of the difficulty of getting 

 into hives having Hoffman frames; but 

 this is trifling, compared with what I have 

 experienced in some places where the old 

 style of Langstroth hive and frame was in 

 use, for I could almost always tip up hives 



Fig. 3. — The front opened during hot weather^ 



