AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



118 



lie did not wish to say any more then, 

 but experience proves that the Hoffman 

 frame was fast coming into favor ; also 

 that the thick top-bar liad many advan- 

 tages in a shallow hive. 



J. H. Larrabee said that he thought 

 the Heddon frame, as nuide, sagged. 



R. L. Taylor did not, and said that 

 the thick top-bar took up unnecessary 

 room in the hive. 



E. R. Root— The top-bar does not take 

 as much space as the old top-bar and 

 honey-board ; and with the top-bar as 

 now made, % inch deep, burr-combs 

 were practically done away with. 



M. H. Hunt exhibited a double top- 

 bar frame. 



W. Z. Hutchinson said that as near as 

 he could decide, the burr-combs was a 

 matter of spacing, and the secret was 

 more in bee-space, or the width of top- 

 bars. 



E. R. Root said that the frame, as 

 shown by Mr. Hunt, had been success- 

 fully used in their yard during the past 

 three seasons, both with and without 

 honey-boards. 



A. J. Acker said this was the first 

 convention he had attended, but his 

 experience was somewhat extensive. He 

 had in the past been troubled with burr- 

 combs, but was now using the heavy 

 top-bar, and had no trouble. 



H. J. Kusig found that when honey 

 was coming in fast, he was apt to get 

 burr-combs with any arrangement, and 

 some colonies were worse than others. 

 He thought that the black bees were 

 worse than the Italians. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, R. L. Taylor, and 

 A. J. Acker said their experience^was the 

 opposite ; the yellower the bee, the 

 more burr-combs. They seemed to want 

 to commence at the bottom and work up. 



C. E. Kelly asked : If we use a wide 

 top-bar, do we need a honey-board ? The 

 voice of the convention was " No." 



The Bicycle vs. the Horse for Out- 

 Apiary Trips. 



One of the obstacles in the way of 

 establishing out-apiaries is the expense 

 necessary to make the trips to the yards. 

 That expense usually invovles the keep- 

 ing of a horse and buggy ; and when it 

 is further increased by bad roads for 

 six months in the year (during which 

 time the capital invested in the horse, 

 buggy, barns, etc., are lying idle, to say 

 nothing of the daily labor), it becomes 

 quite a serious obstacle indeed. 



I have had experience in the horse 

 business, as some of you may know. I 



know what it is to have almost impassa- 

 ble roads for six or seven months in the 

 year, during which a horse cannot be 

 driven either for business or pleasure. I 

 know what . it is during this time to 

 clean the stable, doctor a horse for mud- 

 fever, for a month or six weeks ; I have 

 experienced the lively sensation of being 

 kicked clear across the barn, and then 

 on my back, panting for breath, wonder- 

 ing whether I had a whole bone or not. 

 I have been run away with a couple of 

 times, and know how exhilarating it is 

 to feel that life is hanging on a thread. 



I know what it is to have horses get 

 into bee scrapes, having had one killed 

 in one such, as you may remember — a 

 noble animal for which I was offered 

 $175 that very day. I know something 

 of the cost of keeping buggies, horses, 

 stables, etc., in repair. After having 

 had this experience, my ardor in the 

 horse business has gradually waned. 



I must make trips to out-apiaries ; 

 and to walk to them would be too slow ; 

 and to use one of my father's horses — 

 well, they were generally busy at culti- 

 vating, or something of the sort, in the 

 garden. 



As soon as I sold my last " high-flyer," 

 I forthwith bought a high-grade Safety 

 Victor bicycle ; and most of you know 

 the rest. After having ridden it several 

 hundred miles among the bee-keepers of 

 the East, I found it indeed a most 

 serviceable horse for making trips to our 

 out-yards. On arrival at the yard I 

 could leave it leaning against the fence, 

 and not ' be in mortal terror that the 

 thing would be stung by a bee, and cut 

 up some awful caper. 



I am no expert rider, but I found that 

 I could make trips to our out-apiary, 

 seven miles, in about three-quarters of 

 an hour, on an average. When I tried 

 to do something real smart, I rode ten 

 miles into the country, bought an apiary 

 of 80 colonies, returned home, all inside 

 of two hours. As it took me about 20 

 minutes to complete the bargain, the 

 total time on the road of 20 miles was a 

 little over 1}4 hours. But the roads 

 were good. 



On other occasions I have rode 80 

 miles in 3 hours ; 45 miles in 5 hours. 

 The latter distance was made over the 

 hills of York State. Now, this, no 

 doubt, may look like a big yarn to some 

 of the uninitiated bicycle riders ; but I 

 am stating absolute facts. I do not give 

 these figures to boast, but simply to 

 show what an average man has done 

 with a machine, after a little practice. 



Now, then, it will be seen that the 

 bicycle is a great time-saver in making 



