628 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 2, 1902. 



at the railroad office, having written ahead to the agent. 

 But through some misunderstanding, the tickets were not 

 there, and, as it took so long to make them out, and there 

 being other travelers as well who also wanted tickets, our 

 train simply pulled out of the station, and left us in Omaha : 

 Think of it 1 Our baggage was all in the car on the way to 

 Denver, and we four strangers " left " in a strange town 

 until 4:25 p.m., when the next Denver train would leave. 

 There we all were— Dr. Miller, Miss Wilson, and "Ye Edi- 

 tor " and " frau." 



We walked around the town until nearly noon, when we 

 had breakfast and dinner all in one. It was a good, big 

 one, we may assure you. In the afternoon we went out to 

 Hanscom Park, which is a beautiful spot indeed. 



When the 4:25 train came rolling in, you may be sure 

 we all were waiting for it. And we weren't bothered with 

 any baggage, either — all the extra baggage we had was two 

 combs that the " girls " bought in Omaha I But we didn't 

 worry any about our baggage that was on its way to Den- 

 ver ahead of us, for we knew that those two Root " boys " 

 would care for it all right. And they did. When we reached 

 Denver, which was about noon of Sept. 3, we found they 

 had taken it all up to the hotel, where it was awaiting its 

 owners. Easy way to travel, wasn't it ? Nothing like hav- 

 ing your baggage looked after well, and lugged around to 

 just where it is wanted ! 



Of course, we all were twitted quite a little during the 

 convention over being left in Omaha, but we simply replied 

 that we preferred to travel leisurely and see the country as 

 we went along. And we did. Besides, as our long journey 

 of nearly 1100 miles was thus broken in two near the mid- 

 dle, when we did arrive in Denver we all felt rested and 

 ready for the convention. 



Next week ve will go on with these notes. It may take 

 almost as long to write them out as it did for us to get to 

 Denver. But we got there, and had a good time, too. Dr. 

 Miller said it was the best and greatest trip of his life. Of 

 course, as he is only a little over 70 years old, he "don't 

 know " much more about trips than he does about bees ! 



\ Contributed Articles. | 



American and Britisli Styles of Frames. 



BY ¥. W. L. SLADEN. 



Though American bee-keepers may not have much to 

 learn from British methods, which are often more or less 

 the result of the peculiar climate of the British Island than 

 anything else, it will at least be of interest to study points 

 about bee-culture in comparison with one another, and the 

 two plans of which involve differences of principle. In this 

 connection there is perhaps no important article used in bee- 

 keeping in the two countries which differs so much in prin- 

 ciple as the brood-frame. As regards shape and size of 

 frame the British seem to agree with their American breth- 

 ren in preferring a somewhat shallow frame, one that is 

 considerably longer than it is deep. The same variety of 

 opinion is expressed in England as in America on this 

 much-discussed question, but in a decidedly less-pronounced 

 manner, most bee-keepers being satisfied that the size and 

 shape decided upon and adopted by the British Bee-Keepers' 

 Association is the best. This is a small frame, 14 inches 

 long andS'i inches deep, and there has always been a party 

 of bee-keepers who would like to make it deeper, although 

 in the light of recent tendency in America it would seem 

 that if it can be improved on it would be by lengthening it 

 rather than deepening it. 



A very remarkable thing about the British Standard 

 frame is the great length of the top-bar in comparision to 

 that of the frame itself. The former is 17 inches long. The 



top-bar therefore projects IN inches at either end, while 

 the latter is only 14 inches long. Shorter top-bars have 

 been tried but they have been abandoned by almost univer- 

 sal consent in favor of the long ones. The only way such a 

 long top-bar can be accommodated in the hive is by having 

 the walls of the brood-chamber, on which the ends of the 



Fiij. 1. — Vertical section through the top of the brooil-ehnrnber wall in the 



British fiive, showing part of the frante fitted with 



niftat end resting upon it. 



top-bars rest, of double thickness, with a space between 

 them, closed by means of blocks. (See Fig. 1). The chief 

 reason why the long top-bars are preferred in England is, 

 apparently, ease of manipulation, and certainly this is a 

 great advantage. 



It will be seen on reference to the figure that the upper 

 surface of the top-bar is flush or level with the top edge of 

 the outer walls of the brood-chamber. There is no bee- 

 space above the frames as is the case in most American 

 hives. (I do not say that this is an advantage in itself, but 

 it brings other advantages.) The frames are spaced the 

 correct distance from one another by means of a folded tin 

 metal-end (M) which slips on to the top-bar from the end. 

 It is difficult to convey a clear idea of the English bee-keep- 

 ers' metal-end in a few words, but it is sufficient for the 

 present purpose to say that it projects about '4 inch on 

 either side of the top-bar, and touches the metal-end on the 

 next bar over the whole surface of " M " shown in the figure. 

 These metal-ends in fact, being in contact with one another, 

 form an impassable barrier to the bees, so that they are un- 

 able to enter the space "S," and thus they cannot mess 

 with propolis the ends of the top-bars, which are in this 

 space. This is an advantage, for the top-bar can be made 

 to fit close between the outside walls of the brood-chamber 

 without fear of propolization, thus end-spacing is secured 

 without driving staples into the end-bars. 



But the greatest advantage that results from this large 

 bee-excluded space is ease of manipulation of the frames. 



On referring to the figure it will be seen that the block 

 " B." is fixed a little distance below the end of the top-bar ; 



W. 11. Carr" M,t,d Frame-End. 



this leaves a thumb-and-finger space (S) which is most use- 

 ful, as affording the finger such leverage that it is never 

 necessary to use a tool for separating or lifting the frames. 

 The regular thick top-bar Langstroth frame is, I believe, 

 supposed to be handled somewhere in the top-bar between 

 the uprights ; but those operators that I have seen at work 



