54 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



judgment of them is wholly theoret- 

 ical — save so far as based on general 

 experience with other hives. But if 

 such objections occur to any of us 

 and they concern points not yet cov- 

 ered in descriptive articles, we can 

 draw forth explanations only by mak- 

 ing our misgivings known. Two of 

 these hives have closed-end frames. 

 Unless experience proves my fancy 

 wrong, they would not gain popular- 

 ity here. The removal and replace- 

 ment of frames must involve a small 

 amount of friction that would amount 

 to some degree of hindrance. The 

 turning of thumbscrews, necessary 

 in both, is another item which in 

 large apiaries must be appreciable 

 when extracting. In one of these 

 hives the divided chambers and 

 frames render it necessary to handle 

 twice the number of frames to extract 

 the same amount of honey. As with 

 the Quinby hive; the bringing of 

 frames together when closing the 

 hive must cause delay or needless de- 

 struction of bees ; and the standing 

 of frames in the super upon those in 

 the brood-chamber must have a like 

 result when replaced after the opera- 

 ator having shaken tlie bees down 

 into the hive in extracting. It may 

 occur that you suspect foul brood 

 without detecting it. You will not 

 want to exchange frames from hive 

 to hive. You Wjil, therefore, need to 

 extract from eac h colony, leaving the 

 super empty and safely closed till 

 you return and replace the same 

 combs you had taken out. Unless 

 these hives have outer cases (which 

 are expensive and otherwise needless 

 in this country) they can not thus be 

 closed without frames. One of the 

 hives alluded to has hanging frames 

 suspended in the middle, with ordi- 

 nary end-bars that admit of lateral 

 movement. While this hive might be 

 handled more rapidly than the closed- 

 end hives in some respects, yet the 

 replacing the one-half case every 

 time the hive is opened must be an 

 inconvenience and a source of 



slaughter for innocent bees. I hope 

 next season to give two of the hives, 

 the Shuck and the Alley, a trial. 



And, if such were permissible in 

 your columns, I would like to see re- 

 ports from parties who have already 

 used any of these styles and also ar- 

 ticles from the inventors. This sub- 

 ject, though old, is ever new, and 

 friendly discussion leads to sokition 

 and decision. 



With beekeepers in this state, con- 

 siderations as to size and shape of 

 frames and hives are based upon 

 convenience and amount of surplus 

 without need of regard for wintering; 

 In earlier days, very little uniformity 

 prevailed ; but, at present, many odd 

 sizes have been discarded. The 

 Harbison is a tall hive, but the brood- 

 chamber portion is nearly cubical. 

 In Los Angeles county I believe 

 there is quite a tendency toward the 

 Adair size of the Langstroth — eight 

 to ten frames ii^ deep by 13I. At a 

 meeting of the Ventura county asso- 

 ciation some years ago, a majority 

 agreed to secure uniformity by 

 adopting the standard Langstroth. 

 This size now prevails quite gener- 

 ally in that county. Mr. Langstroth 

 could scarcely witness a more grati- 

 fying testimony to the merits of his 

 •invention than by visiting, in Ventura 

 county, the many metropolitan cities 

 of bees whose domiciles perpetuate 

 his name. And the effect might be 

 still heightened, after looking at an 

 apiary, such as that of Mr. Wilkin, 

 when he went to the odds and ends 

 pile and saw the various styles that 

 had been used and cast aside. In 

 conclusion, let me repeat that I do not 

 deliberately attack any hive, but that 

 I criticise what to me seem to be 

 drawbacks. If the " Api" were to 

 have a series of articles from men 

 like L. C. Root, A. I. Root Bing- 

 ham, Shuck, Heddon, Demaree, etc., 

 each giving his experience with the 

 hive he is identified with, and ex- 

 plaining how in using it he avoids 

 the objections most likely to be 



