THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



163 



is a very fine business. We are prepar- 

 ing to make honey production a spe- 

 cialty. We have tliirty-eight colonies 

 to start with tiiis year. Shall work 

 for increase, although we have our 

 hives so arranged that vve can double 

 up for honey, or divide for increase 

 with very little trouble. We use a small 

 hive and work frames very close for the 

 brood. Hives have loose bottoms and 

 we can add as many stories as wanted. 

 We got an average of one hundred 

 pounds fine honey per colony last year 

 from twenty colonies and nearly 

 doubled them with very little atten- 

 tion as we resided twenty miles from 

 them. Now vve are with them having 

 made this our residence. 

 St. irancis, Fla. 



Notes and Comments. 



Bv Hksry' Alley. 



It soon will be time to make plans 

 for the season of 1891. No doubt 

 many are thinking of making a change 

 in hives, or, at least, in trying some 

 new pattern. For several years we 

 have used more or less hives having 

 closed end frames similar in principle 

 to the Qiiinl)y closed-end frame; 

 though our frames are made of much 

 lighter material than the original Quin- 

 by frame. Mr, Ernest Root had an 

 idea that hives having closed-end 

 frames must possess some good points, 

 provided such frames could be handled 

 as rapidly and without killing bees, 

 as the hanging frame. 



When on his visit to the l)eekeep- 

 ers of New York State, Mr. Rout 

 made a pretty thorough investigation 

 of the matter and returned home well 

 satisfied that the closed-end -brood 

 frame is superior to the hanging frame. 

 Belovv we give his opinion and expe- 

 rience in his own words. 



"Well, after leaving Mr. Tuniclitf, 

 Mr. El wood and I started en route for 

 one of his out-apiaries, and were dis- 

 cussing fixed distances and the rapid- 



ity with which they could be handled, 

 as compared with the common sus- 

 pended or hanging frames. Said I, 'If 

 lixed frames can be handled as rapidly, 

 and at the same time without killing 

 bees as the hanging-frame, they will be 

 the frame of the futui-e.' Mr. Elwood 

 did not boast very much what he could 

 do — in fact, he did not make any very 

 great claims to the system, etc., which 

 he was using. Sometime ago, in an 

 article he said he could handle the 

 clos(Hl-end Quinby as rapidly as he 

 could the hanging-frame. I well re- 

 member at the time I did not doubt 

 his veracity, but I did somewhat ques- 

 tion his knowledge as to the manipu- 

 lation of the suspended frame. I told 

 him, as vve approached one of the api- 

 aries, that one'of tire privileges that 

 I had long desired was to see him, or 

 some other beekeeper using the Quin- 

 by Iraine, handle them as rapidly as 

 the hanging frame, and not kill the 

 bees. 



Mr. Elwood and I secured the lunch- 

 basket ; and after hunting around for 

 a good log to sit on, we [)artook of a 

 hearty lunch ; which, being dis[)atched, 

 we put on our veils and proceetled to 

 the yard. I had expected to see large 

 Quinby hives ; but, to my surprise, 

 the broodnestor brood chambers were 

 no larger, on the average, in cubic ca- 

 pacity, than are those in our eight- 

 frame dovetailed hives. I had sup- 

 posed that the York State beekeep- 

 ers, like the Dadants, advocated and 

 used large brood-chambers. So far as 

 I was able to discover, however — in 

 the [)roduction of comb honey at least 

 — they practise contraction, and use 

 brood-chambers no larger in capacity 

 than an ordinary eight-frame Lang- 

 stn^th hive. The frame being two 

 inches shorter than the original Quin- 

 by, six of these frames would be about 

 equivalent to eight of the Langstroth, 

 I should s:iy, without figuring. I was 

 surprised to learn that all, or nearly 

 all, of the bee-men of York Slate who 

 have adopted the Quinl)y closed-end 

 frame, like Mr. Elwood and Capt. 



