THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



37 



On page 592 of Gleanings, L. Stach- 

 elhausen tells us that having found 

 out the advantages of closed end 

 frames, he will use no other. The 

 closed end frames have only to be 

 given a fair trial to prove their super- 

 iority over all hanging frames. All 

 the "rattle traps and nuisances" I have 

 mentioned in these articles will soon 

 give way to something better and 

 more simple. 



Friend Lowry Johnson also is of 

 my way of thinking, as his article in 

 the American Bee-Keeper for De- 

 cember, '91, page 182, will show. 

 Also Brother Quigley of the Missouri 

 Bee-Keeper, is advising his readers 

 that a board sealed down on top of 

 frames is better for wintering than 

 cushions next to the bees. See his 

 answer to a correspondent to his paper, 

 page 144. 



These articles end here, but I would 

 like the opinion of the reader on the 

 points taken in them. 



Concord Church, W. Va. 



A Talk on Bee Hives— Fixed 

 Races — Honey Crops, Etc. 



BY S. L. WATKINS. 



The production of honey is the 

 principal object that a beginner has 

 in view when he contemplates start- 

 ing in the apiarian business. Of 

 course, he generally buys a few box 

 hives and does the transfering him- 

 self ; which I think is a good idea, as 

 he gains considerable knowledge of 

 the inside of a bee-hive and of hand- 

 ling bees. Before he invests in bees, 

 he generally buys and reads a couple 

 of bee books and obtains a few cata- 

 logues of leading apiarian manufac- 

 tures, to see what style of hive is best. 

 If he is gifted with an average in- 



sight into the mystery of common 

 things, he will quickly choose the 

 hive and system that are most univers- 

 ally used, and will stick to that sys- 

 tem, and nine chances in ten he will 

 make a success of his bee business. 

 If, however, he is gifted with a vola- 

 tile nature, he will not be satisfied 

 until he has eight or ten different 

 style hives in his apiary at one time, 

 and will spend all the money he 

 makes in trying new apiarian fix- 

 tures, until he finally gives the bee 

 business up in disgust. I do not 

 mean to say that all new bee hives 

 are useless — far from it ; but gener- 

 ally speaking, there is a flood of new 

 style bee hives on the market which 

 are miraculously complicated and con- 

 tain numerous paraphernalia in the 

 way of wedges, glass doors, clasps, 

 useless bee spaces and other orna- 

 ments not worthy of mention. 



A hive that is too complicated will 

 never come into general use. Com- 

 petition in the honey business requires 

 that we use the cheapest appliances, 

 combined with the greatest excel- 

 lences. Here in this state (Califor- 

 nia) where hcney is so cheap, it would 

 be folly to spend $8.00 for a bee-hive, 

 because a $1.50 hive will answer 

 every purpose equally as well, the 

 hive does not make any difference in 

 the amount of honey gathered, bees 

 will store as much honey in a box 

 hive as in any frame hive ever de- 

 vised ; the queen and race of bees 

 make the difference in the amount of 

 surplus gathered. The simplicity 

 hive, with its various modifications, 

 is the hive that gives the best satis- 

 faction among advanced apiarists, and 

 when used with the Hoffman frames 

 it is hard to beat. To persons who 



