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WIDE FRAMES. 



Are tliey 



aii}' Better 

 T Supcri? 



than the 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



On page 184, Mr. J. V. Caldwell 

 discusses the matter so fairly that I 

 take pleasure iu replying to his chal- 

 lenge. I have a very kindly feeling 

 toward the wide frame for the good it 

 has done, and I assure you that I 

 would not to-day have hundreds of 

 them lying idle in my shop loft if I 

 had not found something to take their 

 place that has proven itself a good 

 deal better. But that does not prove 

 to you that thej- are better, friend 

 Caldwell, only that I think so. You 

 say that they have only one fault that 

 you know of, the difliculty of taking 

 out sections. That alone would not 

 condemn them. It is a very difficult 

 thing to get a single section out of a 

 tight-fitting wide frame, but the whole 

 frame can be emptied with compara- 

 tive ease, especially if made as I think 

 the best way. And let me say right 

 here, that if I were to go back to wide 

 frames again, I would have them one 

 tier high, top-bar the same width as 

 the bottom, and with a bee-space be- 

 tween the top of the section and the 

 top-bar, as Mr. Oatman used them. 



Now let us see your points. You 

 think it no advantage that " anj- width 

 of the 4} section can be used." I 

 doubt if jou know what you are talk- 

 ing about as well as I do. Some years 

 ago I had the same season 4|x4] sec- 

 tions of five different wjdths— had 

 them by the hundred — so I kfioiv. 

 Well, if you knew tlie trouble I had 

 with those different widths, and how a 

 few would lie over unfinished of each 

 kind to torment me for two or three 

 years, and how I finally burned some 

 of tliem to get them out of the way, 

 you would say more emphatically than 

 over, " I want just one size of sec- 

 eions." So I think we will shake 

 liands on that. 



But I cannot agree with you on the 

 next point. When you want all the 

 sections out of a super, it surely is an 

 advantage to be able to take them all 

 out in a lump. I hardly think that 

 you mean it is not, but you mean that 

 it is easier to take part out of a wide 

 frame super than out of a T super. 

 Well, that depends. I can take a sin- 

 gle section out of a T super in less 

 time than I can out of a wide frame 

 super, but if the wide frame contains 



four sections (and I do not believe it 

 is best to have more than four sections 

 in a frame), and especially if there is 

 a bee-space over the sections and un- 

 der the top-bar, I can take the four 

 sections out of the wide frame a good 

 bit sooner than out of the T super. 

 But it is a rare case that you want to 

 take just the one frame out. Before 

 the end sections of a frame are 

 finished, the middle sections of the ad- 

 joining frame are finished. 



As a general rule you do not want 

 to take sections out of a super until 

 the majority are finished, the corner 

 sections and perhaps a few others are 

 left unfinished. In that case, whether 

 wide frame or T be used, you are 

 likely to take out the whole affair, pick 

 out the unfinished ones, and put them 

 in another super to go back on the 

 hive. Or with the T super you can 

 easily, with the proper machine, push 

 the sections all out except about one- 

 fourth of an inch or so of the bottoms 

 of the sections, pick off the unfinished 

 ones, and then let the finished ones all 

 slide right back again into their old 

 super. Taken altogether, I think the 

 convenience of taking out part or all 

 the sections, as desired, is very much 

 in favor of the T super. 



" The T super contains too many 

 loose pieces." A fair criticism, but it 

 is hardly fair to say " while the wide 

 frame is compact, and has no loose 

 pieces whatever," for you are not to 

 compare the T super with a single 

 wide frame, but with a super of wide 

 frames. In a T super of 24 sections, 

 there are five separators and three T 

 tins — eight loose pieces. In a wide- 

 frame super of the same capacity, 

 there are six wide frames, or six loose 

 pieces, for each frame is a loose piece 

 just as much as each T tin is a loose 

 piece. So the T super has a third 

 more loose pieces than the wide frame 

 super, and I think the T tins are a 

 little more troublesome as loose pieces. 



"The wide frame also protects the 

 sections on all sides from the bees, and 

 to accomplish the same result with the 

 T supers, a lot of pieces must be laid 

 on the top and the bottom of the sec- 

 tions." You are surely laboring under 

 a misapprehension. I would not put 

 a lot of loose pieces on the top and 

 bottom of the sections, because there 

 is less propolis on a section in a T 

 super than in a wide frame. The bees 

 thrust glue in between the top-bar and 

 the section as also at the bottom, and 

 they put very little glue on a plane 

 surface to which they have free access. 



In addition to the matters mentioned 

 I may sa}' that the wide-frame super is 

 more expensive. That, however, did 

 not weigh with me, for I had the wide 

 frames, and it was more expensive to 

 change. The wide frame super is 



longer and deeper, so it takes up more 

 room, and it weighs more. I have 

 wide frames for sale, but no T supers. 

 Marengo, Ills. 



SELF-HIVERS. 



Proposed Experiments with Self- 

 Hivini 



Written for the American Uee Journal 

 BY W. HARMER. 



I will begin by asking a conundrum, 

 viz : Why is La Grippe like the self- 

 hiver ? My answer is, Because it has 

 come into existence in difierent parts 

 of the country at the same time. But 

 I hope that the self-hiver will stay 

 longer than La Orijipc. I think that 

 it will, as there is much need of it. 



I have already thought out the same 

 plan as described in Mr. Sawyer's 

 article on page 183, who asks for the 

 views of some practical bee-kee])er. I 

 claim to be one, as by it I get my 

 bread and butter. I have kept bees 

 about twenty yeai's, and have had in 

 that time a great deal of experience 

 with them, as I was intensely interested 

 in their work, and longed to be able to 

 make a special study of their habits 

 and methods of work : this longing is 

 about to be realized, as I commence 

 this season with nothing else in view 

 as an occupation. 



About three years ago, as I was 

 working my bees for extracted honey, 

 I found that where I had lifted the 

 most of the brood into the upper story 

 of a colony, and shut the queen below, 

 they were not inclined to swarm, and 

 in nearly every instance they had in 

 due time a young queen in the super, 

 which I made use of by carrying all 

 the bees to a new stand. I was satis- 

 fied that if I had cut a little hole in the 

 top storj', I coilld have had two fertile 

 queens in the one hive, or two com- 

 plete colonies living together. Here I 

 saw food for thought, and also a great 

 benefit to be derived from experiment- 

 ing along this line, but I always had 

 "too many irons in the ffre" (poultry, 

 small fruit-growing, etc.) until now ; 

 but the experiments have been going 

 on just about the same, and Mr. Doo- 

 little has come out "on top of the 

 heap." If you don't believe it, just 

 read his book. 



I will now give my views of Mr. 

 Sawyer's plan, by describing ir\y plan, 

 which 1 have decided to try the com- 

 ing season. It is as follows : 



Cut (b}' measurement or pattern) 

 before the hives are put together, a 

 IJ or 2 inch hole in the sides of the 

 hives ; place two hives on one stand, 

 side by side, one facing east and the 

 other west ; then before swarming 



