250 



THE BEE-KEEPEKS' REVIEW 



to look, where to look, and how to 

 look, the finding of a queen, even in a 

 full colony, is no great task. 



HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



A Few Words About Handling Them. 



Ernest Root copies into Gleaning-s 

 some of U13' remarks about tlie needed 

 ability to space the ordinary, so-called, 

 all-wood frames; also some of my say- 

 ing^s about complications in hive-mak- 

 ing'. He then makes comment as fol- 

 lows: 



If Bro. Hutchinson has an idea that 

 the only merit of the Hoffman frame is 

 regular spacing-, then he has failed to 

 see some of its g^ood points. Person- 

 ally I never liad any trouble spacing- 

 the old-style Langstroth; but the g-reat 

 mass of small bee-keepers whom I 

 have run across either don't know how 

 far to space them or haven't that math- 

 ematical eye. I like a self-spacing- 

 frame after the pattern of the Hoffman 

 or full closed end — one that I can 

 handle in twos and threes. I do not 

 like, for example, to have to finite t over 

 each frame as one has to do with the 

 old-style Lang-stroth to g-et the brood 

 nest in proper shape. I have been out 

 working- with the bees more this season 

 than usual, and I have not yet used a 

 pry of any sort on our self-spacing- 

 frames (I don't mean that a pry is not a 

 convenience and even a necessit}' when 

 the propolis is cold.) 



As to the lock corner of the hives, it 

 certainly makes a strong-er joint; and 

 where the hive-bodies are handled 

 roughly or moved to out-yards this is 

 quite an item. 



Regarding- the hive-covers, we should 

 all like it if we could get back to the 

 old flat cover; but the scarcity of lum- 

 ber makes this impossible. It is not a 

 question cA preference, but a question of 

 availability and price. One can, in a 

 small way, perhaps, buy a few wide 

 boards for his own use — wide enough 

 to cover his hives, with a simple cleat 

 at each end; but the big factories can 

 not begin to do it, and are compelled 

 to use three-piece covers. Really I 

 cannot see that the three-piece cover, 

 Hoffman frame. Dovetailed hive, and 

 bottom-board, are any more compli- 

 cated than Mr. Heddon's divisible- 

 brood-chamber hive with closed-end 

 frames and thuinb screws, break-joint 



slat honey-board, and "drop" bottom- 

 board, which Mr. Hutchinson recom- 

 mends in his book, "Advanced Bee 

 Culture." If "simplicity" is so im- 

 portant a desideratum, then the Hed- 

 don hive (and a good one in my 

 opinion) should be discarded. 



It affords me pleasure to have my 

 Bro. editor admit that he has no trouble 

 in spacing the old-style Langstroth 

 frames. I fail to see how any one of 

 ordinary intelligence need have any 

 such trouble. If a man does have 

 trouble, let him do this: Let him care- 

 fully space the frames in a hive, and 

 then note the space between them. Let 

 him fix this in his memory and use it 

 as a guide. For instance, m3' frames 

 are spaced 1>2 inches from center to 

 center, and my frames are % wide, 

 that is, the top bars are that width, 

 which leaves a space of yi between the 

 top bars. When I am putting combs 

 into a hive, I begin at one side and 

 space them y% apart as I am pntting- 

 them in. I don't put them all in heher 

 skelter, and then even them up after- 

 wards. Of course, I may have to press 

 the last one or two a little closer to- 

 gether before 1 slip in the last comb, 

 then I press them back into place. 

 The point is, that I have in my mind's 

 e^'e that y% measure, and use it when 

 putting the frames in the hive, just as 

 the self-spacers woidd use nails driven 

 intothe sides of the frames. Of course, 

 it is not important that the frames be 

 exactly' Y% apart. They may vary \i 

 inch from this. It often h^pens that 

 the ability to make this variation is an 

 advantage. With self-spaced frame no 

 variation can be given. 



Lock-jointed corners make sti-onger 

 joints than those that are simply 

 nailed. Iron-bound corners would 

 probably be still stronger, but such 

 strength in a bee hive is wholly un- 

 necessary. If bee-hives were to be 

 used continually for shippinng goods 

 bj' express, then there would be good 

 reasons for making the joints as strong 

 as possible, but, as a rule, a hive sits 



