18i>4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



59 



if them might, be used for brood -chamber, ac- 

 ording to capacity of queen. They could be 

 iered up indelinilely for extracted honey, or the 

 upers and frames sent undisturi)ed to marl<et. 

 ,nd sold as comb honey, by lifting on a thin 

 ottom and top. This is for our local market, 

 ^here super and frames could be returned. 

 ''he usual super for holders and sections could 

 e used for surplus when desired. Should these 

 ve-inch supers prove unsatisfactory as brood- 

 hambers, the purchaser could utilize them for 

 xtracting-supers, for which they are far supe- 

 ior to the deeper frames, or simply strike off 

 ith a plane from the upper edge the extra 14 

 ich, and he would have the super as it now is 

 ) be used for section comb honey. 

 How nearly this might infringe upon the pat- 

 it rights of others, I am not able to say. In 

 oint of arrangement, dimensions, and adjust- 

 bilitv to hives of your own construction, you 

 ould occupy a great vantage ground, especiai- 

 • toward your own customers, and could afford 

 > pay proper and reasonable royalty. 



LANGDON NON-SWAKMEI? NOT A FAILUKE. 



Now one word for the Langdon non -swarm - 

 •. It was not altogether a failure with me. 

 he third day after pushing the slide on a colo- 

 y I would withdraw it, and push in a slide 

 ith a notch cut near one end, 1}4 inches long 

 Y % deep, thus affording ingress and egress to 

 le young bees on the side farthest from the now 

 jen companion hive. The bees coming out by 

 le cone from the hive on which the slide was 

 ,st pushed. Uikc the course by the third day, 

 lighting near the tunnel of the non-swarmer, 

 id turning immediately into the other hive, 

 he notch in the slide being farthest from the 

 tnnel, they never notice it. Thus, after the 

 lird day the young bees nearly ready for flight 

 id work when the slide was pushed, are re- 

 "ased, and work goes on in both hives until 

 le ftLrth day, when the slide is changed. I lost 

 ) queens, bees, nor larvae, and made some hon- 

 ■. I hough the last was decidedly an "off" sea- 

 ti in this section. 



Mr. Editor, stand by your " footnotes." 

 Glasgow, Ivy., Dec. t.'3. F. G. Railky. 



space would never get less than i\. However, 

 we are open to conviction; iind while we can 

 not remedy those hives already out, we can 

 make right those hives for the future, provid- 

 ing we have enough testimony that will show 

 us. without a doubt, that our present spaces 

 need changing. By following this policy we 

 shall get a trifle nearer, perhaps, to the right 

 thing than we have even yet attained to. 



Regarding the shallow-depth brood-chambers 

 or extracting supers, you have, perhaps, noticed 

 on page Vino what we have already advertised. 

 It is 4}^ inches deep, because the regular Dove- 

 tailed-hive super is that depth, and because it 

 was just exactly half the depth of a regular 

 body. You see, we chose that depth so that the 

 beekeeper, who has regular Dovetailed-hive 

 bodies, and desires to change to shallow bodies, 

 can do so by simply sawing them transversely 

 through the middle; they should be taken to 

 the nearest planing-mill, where they can be 

 sawed on a buzz-saw more accurately and 

 cheaply. After cutting out a rabbet in each 

 end of one of the halves thus made from the 

 body, the regular half-depth frames will fit. 



As you said at the outset of your article, we 

 desire to make all changes or innovations in 

 such a way as to make the least trouble to the 

 bee-keeper, and the least confusion when used 

 in connection with appliances already in use; 

 but the 5-inch depth would be at variance with 

 this policy. After all, how much advantage 

 would there be in adding the ^o inch to the 

 41^ inches, as you suggest, when so many good 

 points will be lost? 



Regarding the brood -frames, we make half- 

 depth Hoffman frames as you suggest; but we 

 think, for extracting purposes, the frames shown 

 at C C, page '.KX), Dec. 1. would be preferable. 

 These have top-bars •'n-inch thick and li^g 

 inches wide; end-bars ^4 x V^; bottom-bars are 

 ^\x^-k. This gives a clear comb space of_ 4 

 inches. The particular advantage of this bot- 

 tom-bar is that, when the super is turned upside 

 down, the combs can be more readily examined 

 without removing them from their position. — 

 Ed.J 



[Regarding bee-spaces, the majority of testi- 

 ony we have received seems to point toward 

 p '4-inch or scant Ji^-inch space as being the 

 ■^t. See what Mr. Ivretchmer has to say on 

 i- • ime point in the next column. Two or 

 ii • years ago, when the question came up. 

 '■ 'k space was roundly condemned, and ,5; 

 i> considered about right; but latterly we 

 iVf been asked to i-educe it to j^, because, it 

 IS said, it was the least liable of any of the 

 iaces to have propolis or burr-combs. We ad- 

 it that, if the space gets down to \, or that 

 oni through which a bee can not pass, propo- 

 wili be deposited. But we have intended to 

 i^v all our super arrangements so that the 



THE HOFFMA.V FKAMK AND ITS CONSTKUCTION. 



Friend Root:— After seeing your request for 

 further reports concerning bottom - bars to 

 brood-frames, I looked over considerable cor- 

 respondence, filed away with other letters con- 

 taining references on various subj(>cts, and my 

 own use of various forms of frames enables me 

 to make the following report: 



The top-bar. when liV inches wide, and from 

 X to K inch thick, and correctly spaced 1% 

 inches from center to center, does prevent brace- 

 combs between the frame-tops; and when thus 

 spaced, and the bee-space between frame-tops 

 and the bottom of tin- super does not exceed V4 

 inch, almost no burr combs an- to be found. 



