1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



69 



I can pack the bees in the chaff 

 hive in less than one-half the time it 

 takes to get them into the boxes and 

 fuss around trying to fix up corners 

 that I know will not leak, and the 

 bees are always more or less confused 

 by the sudden change in the outside 

 appearance of the hive. 



The greatest objection I have to the 

 use of boxes is the looks. They make 

 a very untidy looking apiary, and I 

 believe that a neat, tidy apiary helps 

 in making sales of both bees and 

 honey. 



If one intends to keep bees for 

 profit I am sure that the best hive 

 there is made is none too good, and 

 will prove to be the cheapest in the 

 end, just as surely as a good cow or 

 horse is the most profitable to keep. 



I have used several kinds of hives, 

 and after close comparison and a great 

 deal of study in trying to secure a 

 hive a cheap as possible, yet having 

 all the necessary requirements, I be- 

 lieve the Falcon Chaff Hive combines 

 more desirable features than any I 

 have ever seen. It is a very neat and 

 well proportioned hive. 



If we use the Falcon hive exclusive- 

 ly the outside appearance and size will 

 be uniformly the same, which I think 

 makes a neater looking apiary than 

 where there is a medley of one, one 

 and a-half, and two story hives, as is 

 the way we usually see the single 

 walled hive apiaries. It is a splendid 

 hive for out door wintering. With 

 the chaff coshion at each side to place 

 close up to the cluster the brood cham- 

 ber may be made large or small at any 

 time ; and if I want to examine the 

 brood combs I remove the chaff 

 cushion and division board on one 

 side of the hive ; this leaves about 2^ 



inches of space, making abundant 

 room to remove the first comb without 

 the bees being angered by getting 

 "pinched," as is often the case with 

 hives that do not have the chaff cush- 

 ions at side of the brood combs. When 

 the first comb has been examined 

 place it in the space the chaff cushion 

 occupied ; then the next one may be 

 removed and placed beside the first 

 and so on until all have been examin- 

 ed. They may then be replaced. 



Thus the brood combs may be 

 handled without being exposed to the 

 danger of robber bees, the rays of the 

 hot sun, or of being blown down by 

 the wind, as is the case when the first 

 one or two combs must be placed on 

 end again at the outside of the hive, 

 which is necessary with any other hive 

 I am acquainted with. Then there is 

 the advantage of having the bees pro- 

 tected during frosty nights in the 

 spring after the packing cases would 

 have to be removed. This I think is 

 acknowledged by all to be very desir- 

 able for the purpose of assisting the 

 bees in retaining the warmth necessary 

 for brood rearing and comb building ; 

 and again after the hot season comes 

 there will be no need of a shade board, 

 the chaff affording ample protection 

 from the sun. 



The Falcon chaff hive possesses oth- 

 er' very desirable features that I will 

 not mention here for the reason that I 

 wish to notice the objections to this 

 hive which some would make us be- 

 lieve to be intolerable. 



There are only two objections that 

 I know of : The first being the high 

 price, and second their bulk and 

 weight compared with the single 

 walled hive. The first objection, 1 be- 



