THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



201 



most reasonable articles that I receiv- 

 ed last fall. I honestly believe that 

 the introduction of the Hoffman frame 

 has been a step backwards, but I also 

 wish to do justice to their manufactur- 

 ers, so I copy a few paragraphs from 

 the reply made by the editor of Glean- 

 ing's to his correspondent. 



The Hoffman frame, like every other 

 g-ood thing-, is not perfect. Supply- 

 dealers have learned that bee-keepers 

 are a peculiar lot. What one uses and 

 praises, another will condemn; and 

 the strange part of it is, the "condemn- 

 er" does not see how the "praiser" 

 can possibly use such a useless device. 

 We find examples of it in the prefer- 

 ences for kinds and styles of sections; 

 stj'les of separators; kinds of smokers; 

 etc. 



The reader will pardon what may 

 seem to be something like a trade talk; 

 but there are hundreds of people who 

 wise to know the truth on both sides, 

 and we have given both sides of the 

 question. Let me emphasize more 

 strongly than I have done already the 

 fact that a device that is regarded as 

 simply perfect by one bee-keeper may 

 be condemned to the extent of absolute 

 abhorrence by another one. Supply- 

 manufacturers have been compelled to 

 meet the need of various preferences 

 by furnishing several different kinds 

 and styles of frames — frames shallow, 

 frames Langstroth depth, frames 

 Quinby depth, frames unspaced, part 

 closed -end frame, and closed end 

 throughout, etc. The same variation 

 exists in the hives and in the supers. 



I think it is true that a great many 

 people buy articles because they are 

 recommended by the manufacturers. 

 For this reason they ought to be very 

 careful what they recommend; but 

 manufacturers have preferences just 

 the same as other folks have them, and 

 have a right to express them, and they 

 make no claim to infallibility. They 

 are also very anxious to know what 

 will please their customers, and to 

 furnish what is wanted, and I pre- 

 sume nothing would please manufac- 

 turers better than to have all custom- 

 ers suited with one style of frame and 

 hive. As it is, they must furnish 



everal styles, and, so long as custom- 



ers have a choice, there is not so very 

 much ground for complaint. 



There is one more point, however, 

 that I would like to mention, and that 

 is, if customers would be out-spoken 

 in regard to their preferences, espec- 

 ially when manufacturers are trying 

 to introduce something new, things 

 would sometimes go differently. So 

 many people have not the courage of 

 their convictions. If they don't like a 

 thing that some leader is pushing-, they 

 have not the courage to come out and 

 oppose it. To illustrate: One man 

 wrote me last fall, something as fol- 

 lows: "When the Hoffman frames first 

 were advertised and praised I bought 

 enough for 100 hives, and when I came 

 to use them, I was never so disappoint- 

 ed in my life. I don't see how any- 

 body could have praised them as they 

 were praised — certainly not if he had 

 used them. I had combs in them, and 

 it was a serious matter. Finally, I 

 took my knife and whittled off the 

 V-edge from every frame. It was a 

 big job, but there was no other way. 

 I have never said anything about this, 

 as Ernest Root is a pretty good fellow, 

 and I didn't want to hurt his feelings.'''' 

 I expect there are a whole lot of users 

 of Hoffman frames that are in exactly 

 the same boat as this friend, and I 

 wish to say to them, that I think I 

 know Ernest Root well enough to be 

 able to say that you will not hurt his 

 feelings in the least if you will write 

 to him fairly and kindly and tell him 

 of any point, about any of their goods, 

 that you don't like. 



I have no doubt that there are men 

 who prefer the Hoffman frame, but I 

 do doubt if there is a man in this 

 country, who, if filling the office of In- 

 spector of apiaries, would not soon be- 

 gin to recognize that great wave of 

 thankfulness that sweeps over the 

 heart when a hive-cover is raised and 

 the plain, straight, old-fashioned, so- 

 called, all-wood frames greet the eye, 

 — Ed. Review.] 



