1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



■>03 



KEASONS FOR NOT USING THK 8-KUAMK HIVE. 



Some of the reasons for my not making the 8- 

 frame hive any more are, I get less box room 

 on top; 2. I have more room in the 10- frame, 

 and use as much or as little of it as I need, and, 

 as a rule, in most places, use but eight frames 

 when the boxes are on; 3. When we open the 

 brood hive in the spring, before boxing time, 

 the hive being one or more frames short, 

 we have plenty of room to move the frames 

 •sidewise by taking out the dummy - board, 

 which I always use, and fixed frames by all 

 means. I have used these two for 20 years; 

 4. Many times we find one hive short, with 

 honey or brood, and we want to supply this 

 need, and when we do not have a frame of honey 

 or brood at hand filled solid, as the case may 

 be. to supply the need, we put in two frames 

 half full, and the 10-frame hive will receive 

 them, while the small hive would not. We can 

 add or take frames from the large hive more 

 easily than from the small hive, and disturb 

 the bees and brood -nest less. The Langstroth 

 frame seems to be the standard; but I use a 

 frame about the same '^ize, only deeper, 143i 

 long by 1014^ deep, inside measure; and I make 

 my hives with a rim, so as to make them so 

 nearly square on top that I can turn my crates 

 either way, and it takes two crates of sections 

 to cover a hive; and to young swarms, or 

 swarms not strong enough to use the whole 

 hive, use only half of it at the time of first box- 

 ing. 



IMPORTANCE OF SIDE PLAY FOR FIXED FRAMES. 



I don't forget Dr. Miller, when he was at the 

 World's Fair, at the bee-convention, how he 

 acted out " Sockery." who set that old "pine 

 hen,^' and how he got on top of that " parrel," 

 and the head "proke," and let him into the 

 "parrel," and the barrel was so full that he 

 •could not get himself out of it, nor could his 

 wife pull him out; how the nails stuck in him 

 so that it made him scream '"dunder und blix- 

 in," and she really had to saw the barrel off of 

 "him. You see, he was in that barrel about as 

 tight as I have seen fixed frames in a bee- hive 

 when the la^^t frame was crowded in tight, 

 without any side play, so that, when the bees 

 get every thing glued up solid, the frames were 

 surely ./i.Tccl. So it would want Dr. Miller and 

 his wife, with a crowbar and handsaw, to get 

 them out; and if the bees were as cross as some 

 I have seen, I guess he would "d under und 

 hlixin " again. So, Dr. M., I want a little wider 

 hive than would be required for ten frames; 

 ■exact spacing, so as to allow enough for frames 

 swelling, bits of wax, etc.; in fact. I like about 

 ^ inch between hive and follower, and a follow- 

 er, every time, made of X lumber. Thin lum- 

 ber will spring when a thumbscrew is screwed 

 tight enough against the follower to set the 

 partly closed end frames so tight together that 

 it will squeeze the bits of wax out from between 

 them in warm weather, and thereby save 



scraping it off. The wax will get there more or 

 less if the frames are not kept wedged or screw- 

 ed together, which is not desirable at all times. 

 I prefer a wooden thumbscrew, notwithstand- 

 ing they are in the way some, but not so much 

 on some of my own hives, as mine have a rim 

 1>8 inches wide, 5 inches down from the top. 

 I make my caps of thin lumber, 8 inches deep; 

 these caps resting over the hive .5 inches give 

 me 2}4 inches room above the frames; and just 

 level with the top of the frames a handle is 

 cut through the cap with a wabble saw %■ by 4 

 inches, and a wire screen is nailed over the hole 

 inside of the cap. When I carry bees into the 

 cellar in these hives T leave the cap on; and 

 quilts made out of hop-baling are laid over the 

 frames, with a stick i.< inch square laid under 

 the quilt, to form a bee-passage. The moisture 

 escapes through the quilts, and passes out of 

 these ventilators into the cap. 

 Middleburg, N. Y. 



[We will explain to our readors that Mr. N. 

 D. West was present at the North American 

 Convention at Chicago, last year, and took con- 

 siderable part in the proceedings. After one 

 of his remarks, one brother said that Mr. West, 

 in his opinion, talked like one who had only a 

 few colonies. Then he went on quite elaho- 

 ratelv to show why frjpnd W. was wrong and 

 why 7(6 was right. At the close of his remarks 

 some one asked how many colonies Mr. West 

 had. and he very modestly replied, " Four hun- 

 dred in four out apiaries." This, of course, 

 raised quite a laiish on the other fellow. We 

 may explain further, that Mr. West is one of 

 the boe-keepers on whom we called on our first 

 bieyclf^-tour, and oup from whom we gathered 

 some idpas. He i< quite correct in urging that 

 there should beside play In hives designed for 

 self spacing frames; and principally for that 

 reason our eight-frame hive from the start was 

 made wide enough to take in a dummy, and a 

 little side-play room besides. The dummy is 

 first to be removed, and this gives room enough 

 to shove the frames over, enabling the operator 

 more easily to get out the first frames. 



With regard to thumb-screws. po=sibly if we 

 were using closed-end frames, a hi Heddon, we 

 should find them a necessity; but after having 

 tried them quite extensively with and without, 

 on the eight-frame hive, with self-spacing 

 Hoffman frames, we prefer, as does Mr. Hoff- 

 man himself, to dispense with their use. — Ed.] 



WHY THE EIGHT-FRAME IS PREFERRED. 



Friend Root: — I should like to give my rea- 

 sons for using the S-frarue L. hive in preference 

 to the 10-frame. I am a comb-honey producer 

 principallv; but when I wish to produce ex- 

 tracted honey I give the queen the two lower 

 stories of the 8-frame hive, and tier up as high 

 as necessary. The problem before me is, to 

 get the honey from my field with the greatest 

 ease and least work possible. Why is it not 

 just as well to work 1.50 good young queens in 

 8-frame hives as to work 12.5 in 10-frame hives, 

 provided you can do the work with greater 

 ease in lifting, have fewer unfinished sections, 

 etc.? Why make such an effort to get and 

 maintain a large amount of brood from one 



