84 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



still believe will in time be generally 

 adopted, my great difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in getting combs built true 

 throughout their whole surface, the 

 reason being that loose-hanging 

 frames could not be made to hang 

 absolutely true. The question then 

 arose, how shall we avoid this diffi- 

 culty ? In the American hive the 

 question was solved, but I did not 

 want a deep hive. In the "Lang- 

 stroth." the "American" plan might 

 be used, but I did not want a side 

 opening hive. Then what should I 

 do ? I wanted my frames top- bars, 

 and all to be just % inch wide. The 

 only plan I could adopt was to wedge 

 the frames true with the sides of the 

 hive, and then if the hive was set 

 plumb the comb would be built plumb 

 also. Now this would be all well 

 enough when but two or three colo- 

 nies were kept, but with a large apiary 

 it would almost require a mau to a 

 hive to keep the work up. The Hoff- 

 man frame more nearly solves the 

 problem than any method I have yet 

 seen. I solved it in my own hives by 

 nailing triangular pieces outo -ides of 

 frames. This of course would accom- 

 plish the object perfectly, but caused 

 considerable labor, which is wholly 

 done away with by using the Hoff- 

 man frame. 



It is possible that there is still a 

 chance for improvement, but I do not 

 see to-day how it is possible to get up 

 a frame that will work better or cause 

 comb to be better built than will the 

 Hoffman frame. 



North Attleboro. Mass. 



If bees were not of great value they 

 would not have been provided with 

 the sting. — Iowa Homestead. 



Comb Honey. 



BY W. S. VAXDRUFF. 



However great may be the demands 

 for extracted honey, and whatever 

 favor it may gain among our apiarists, 

 comb honey will always be in demand, 

 commanding a price far above that of 

 extracted honey. Beautiful comb 

 honey, as now put up in one pound 

 boxes, will always attract buyers and 

 command fancy prices. The securing 

 of a large crop of comb honey de- 

 mands considerable time and atten- 

 tention, and without good strong col- 

 onies, rightly managed, the apiarist 

 will fall far short of the goal. To 

 get a colony of bees in the right con- 

 dition requires a preparation on the 

 part of the apiarists several months 

 beforehand. He should begin early 

 the Fall previous, by seeing that the 

 colony has a good, young, prolific 

 queen ; have -them go into winter 

 quarters with plenty of bees and 

 stores. 



When spring arrives see to it that 

 they do not run short of provisions, 

 but keep them well supplied, and by 

 the time the honey season arrives you 

 should have a booming colony of bees. 

 Now unless they are properly man- 

 aged, although with the best of a 

 honey season, you will fail to get a 

 crop of honey. They should be given 

 the sections early, and get them 

 started to work in them as soon as 

 possible. If you have some sections 

 left over with partly finished combs 

 in them you can usually get them 

 started to work immediately, and you 

 will get along nicely so long as they 

 don't swarm ; but they often swarm 

 before they finish the sections. Now 

 on the right management of the 



