THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



261 



8 L-fraraes and one that has a cap 

 sufBcieiitly deep to cover two sets of 

 boxes when ''tiered up " as good a 

 hive as is i-equired, when properly 

 managed, to make beekeeping a suc- 

 cess? 



ANSWERS BY WILL M. KELLOGG. 



1. As regards the deep or shallow 

 frame for wintering, my experience has 

 been so strongly marked, and always so 

 in favor of the deeper frame, that to me, 

 there is no question which is the bet- 

 ter. Heat naturally rises, and spreads 

 latterly only when it can't go up. In a 

 deep frame, a very much larger portion 

 of the honey is above the cluster, where 

 the heat, rising and remaining, enables 

 the bees the more readily to go up to get 

 a fresh supply of food. In the shallow 

 L. frame there is scarcely ever over two 

 inches of honey above the brood (I have 

 used them by the hundred hives) and 

 this supply soon becomes exhausted, 

 when the bees have to move latterly to 

 the ends of the combs for food. In a 

 warm cellai-, or in a southern climate, 

 this objection would not hold good ; but 

 the warm cellar will not protect stocks 

 when removed to their summer stands, 

 and we often have sharp cold weather 

 after we have taken our bees out. As 

 to breeding and honey storing, again I 

 can see no advantage in a long, shallovv 

 fi-ame. In my expei-ience, and I have 

 had twenty years of it, the square, or 

 oblong, frame puts the brood in the best 

 possible shape, i. e., in a circle, for the 

 bees to care for, the queen to deposit 

 her eggs, and the beekeeper to handle 

 the frames. 



I have had very much less trouble 

 with queens entering boxes where I 

 used the deeper frame, and I had over 

 two hundred L. hives to experiment 

 with in a good rich honey flow. This, 

 to me, is plain evidence, of the queen's 

 desire to extend her brood nest upward 

 to complete the circle. 



I have always had little to do with 

 theory ; hard practical facts are what I 

 write of, and in this case I say that the 

 claim of increased surplus from using a 

 shallow hive, has never been sustained 

 in the least particle while using both 

 kinds of hive in the same apiary in large 

 quantities enough to thoroughly test 

 it. My claim for a deep frame over 

 a shallow one is this in brief. More 

 compact form of brood and hive, frames 

 and hives easier handled, food easier 

 got at in winter, less brood in upper 

 stories, and stronger combs. 



2. In my opinion "a plain simply- 

 constructed hive is the best," for 



any beekeeper, be he average or ex- 

 pert. All we need in a hive is a simple 

 box of four sides and a bottom, with 

 rabbets cut in the top edges of the front 

 and back to receive a set of simple 

 frames made of seven-eighths stuff all 

 around. This, with a simple cap to 

 protect the surplus arrangement will 

 get as nice honey, and as much of it as 

 a crimson and gold finished palace of a 

 hive. 



3. I have never been an advocate of 

 small hives. From one that is fifteen 

 inches square by tiiirteen inches deep, 

 inside measure, I can get just as much 

 lioney, as can be got from one that is 

 one-third smaller. Then, too, the small 

 hive invariably bothers more by exces- 

 sive swarming. I can tier up the lar- 

 ger hive easily. I consider a 10- frame 

 better in every way than an 8-frame, 

 especially of the L. pattern. I do not 

 like a deep cap deep enough to cover 

 two sets of sections, but prefer one 

 depth with extra rims to raise one or 

 two tiers higher, 



AXSWEHS BY PUOF. A. J. COOK. 



1. I question if a shallow frame, 

 when rightly managed, is not as safe 

 for wintering as a deep one. For 

 comb honey it is certainly better. We 

 wish honey above in sections not in 

 deep frames below. 



2. Yes, decidedly, and for all others. 



3. I think so; but after a fair trial 

 I much prefer the Heddou style and 

 would omit the cap. Then we can tier 

 up to our liking, and the hive is very 

 simple and excellent. 



Lansing, 3Iich. 



ANSWERS BY J. E. POND, JR, 



1. None whatever. On the contrary, 

 a frame of depth of the regular L. 9J 

 inches, I deem to be the safer for 

 wintering, as good as any for breeding, 

 and far superior to all for honey stor- 

 ing; and this after an experience of 19 

 years, during which time I have given 

 all styles and depths a fair trial. 



2. Yes, by all means, and the plniner 

 and simpler the better. The form and 

 size form the chief requisites of a per- 

 fect hive. 



3. Success can no doubt be achieved 

 with an 8-frame L. hive. The advan- 

 tages gained by the use of a 10 frame 

 are such that I advise that size even if 

 but eight frames are used, 



Foxboro, Mass. 



ANSWEPvS BY JOHN H, MABTIN. 



1. If beesai'e properly prepared for 

 winter I don't see as the shape of the 

 frame makes any material difl'erence. 



