1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



151 



SC^UAIIE FRAMES, ETC. 



Q nest itn I. —Con\d wo not adopt Layeiis' plan 

 of bee culture by n'placing in his liive a style or 

 size of frame, say 14x123.2, or by using Daclant's 

 size of frame, l()>^xl{)>-2. mid still make a success 

 of it? What do yon think of the square frame? 

 I am assured by men of experience that the 

 Langstroth frame is not deep enough for the 

 cold climate of Canada. 



Answer. — If I have ever read of Mr. Layens' 

 plan of managing bees and about his hive, I do 

 not now call it to mind. Who of the readers 

 of Gleanings can tell us something about it? 

 But be his plan whatever it may, I wish to say 

 this — that there are few if any frames now in 

 use but that a man or woman of energy, and 

 love for bee-keeping, can take and make a suc- 

 cess with them. I believe in always having the 

 best appliances, so far as may be; but I wish to 

 put emphasis on the fact that it is the man or 

 woinan which puts the success into a thing, pri- 

 marily, and the best appliances come in as a 

 secondary matter. Although I have been an 

 advocate of the Gail up, or square form of frame, 

 all my life, still, as 1 have said before in print, 

 if I had .50 colonies on any style of frame now 

 advocated by as many as ;20 practical apiarists, 

 I would not consider it a p. lying job to transfer 

 them to another style of frame, provided the 

 hive containing these frames would accommo- 

 date the style of surplus airangement which it 

 was necessary to u>e. to place my liom-y on the 

 market in the mo-t marketable shape. No, no! 

 It is not all in frames, as some assert, but it is 

 ill the man or woman with energy, push, and 

 I'cal worth enough to surmount every obstacle 

 that stands in the way, and make a su.'ces-^ of a 

 thing in spite of a few minor hindrances. Look 

 at'Mr. Terry. Had he gone on to a rich fertile 

 farm, instead of a poor one. he probably would 

 have arrived at the sa,me wraith sooner; but 

 his success would not have been greater than 

 now — perhaps not as gi-eat— and. in all proba- 

 bility, the world would not have b^en benefited 

 nearly as much as it has been; for the overcom- 

 ing of that obstacle in tin; >hLipe of a poor farm 

 gave a certain " vim " to the success that led 

 him to tell others how it was dons and in this 

 tilling has come the greatest light to lh(! wo-ld. 

 Reader, if you find a difticiilty in your way, ami 

 succeed in overcoming said difficulty, doiit ke. p 

 the matter hid, but tell us about it. an I ilius 

 help the world. Don't be fooli-<h enough to say, 

 " no one will pay me for the telling," for that is 

 a selfish spirit, and selfishness never pays; for 

 in doing some kind act, or in trying to lift the 

 burden from some tired shoulders, comes a 

 wealth that inoney can not buy. 



Now a word about a s(juare frame for the 

 cold climate of Canada. In most of the locali- 

 ties in Canada where bees are kept, the mer- 

 cury does not go lower than it does here in Cen- 

 tral New York. As the older readers of Glean- 

 ings know. I have gone over this ground of a 

 shallow frame like the Langstroth not being 

 suitable for our cold climate, many times. Rro. 

 Root and myself had several tilts over the mat- 

 ter away back in the early seventies; and I 

 still think there are some few things in favor of 

 the square frame where bees are to be wintered 

 on the summer stands; yet, as I said above, if I 

 had .50 colonies on the Langstroth frame I should 

 consider it a losing job to transfer thein to a 

 square frame, hoping for better wintering after 

 they were on the latter. Since I purchased my 

 out-apiary, the same containing Langstroth 

 hives, I have modified my views to a great ex- 

 tent, and here wish to ask Bro. Root's pardon 

 for not smoothing off the corners of some of my 

 assertions more in our controversies of the past. 

 Where bees can be wintered in the cellar, the 

 Langstroth frame is not required to take off its 

 cap or make a bow to any of the others, even 

 in cold climates; and in a climate where bees 

 have a chance of flying every two or three 

 weeks during winter, no one has any occasion 

 for looking for a better frame. 



OLD OR NEW BEE-HIVES. 



Q((e.sfio7(.— Will bees stand the winter as well, 

 and be as healthy in old hives, or those having 

 been used several years, as in new ones? 



ulwswer.— When I first read this question it 

 seemed to me that the proper answer to give 

 would be this: Old hives in a good state of 

 preservation, with nodecayed spots and no open 

 cracks, should be as good as new ones for win- 

 tering bees, and the new ones as good as the 

 old; but after thinking a little I am not so sure 

 about that answer. Years ago I found out that 

 a single-walled hive painted on the outside 

 would not winter nor spring bees nearly a'S well 

 as an unpainted hive, on account of the moist- 

 ure evaporated from the food of the bees not 

 being able to pass through the pores of the 

 wood, as was the case with the unpainted hive, 

 this causing a dampness aboni the bees and on 

 the combs which was not in accord with the 

 best welfare of the inmates of the hive. All 

 old hives, after long use, b(^come so varnished 

 with propolis on the inside that this places them 

 in a condition similar to hives painted on the 

 outside; and in cases where the slow passing of 

 moisture out of the hives was not provided for 

 by way of chaff or sawdust cushions, etc., I 

 should exp<!ct that the bees would winter best 

 in the new hives, lint there is an item gener- 

 ally favorable toward the old hives, which is, 

 that they are more likely to contain old combs; 

 and it is generally conceded by all practical bee- 

 keepers, anJ was given to the public away back 

 in the fifties, by Qiiinby and others, that, other 



