1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



165 



the operation of a great number of 

 colonies, and it may be through this 

 school that his hive reached Poland. 

 The hive itself shows that the cli- 

 mate of Poland is very much like that 

 of the colder regions of North 

 America, for it is built with double 

 walls and packing between. The 

 frames stand on end in the hive and 

 are gotten at by opening the little" 

 door, that can be seen at the side of 

 the hive. To remove the ones at the 

 far side it is necessary to take out 

 each comb between. Originally the 

 hive was not intended for use with a 

 super, the idea being to extract from 

 the outer combs, but the honey flows 

 here are short and heavy and so the 

 owner had bored holes in the top and 

 placed an 8-frame Langstroth super 

 above, which the bees were busy fill- 

 ing with honey. The entrance to the 

 hive is through the round hole in the 

 front. The large cover, which is 

 here shown above the super, is in- 

 tended only as a shade, as there was 

 another flat cover over the frames in 

 the super. 



As will be seen by the rest of the 

 picture, the Langstroth hive is sup- 

 planting these hives, here as else- 

 where, being so much easier of op- 

 eration. 



The place where these Polish hives 

 score is in wintering, for the tall 

 space within resembles very closely 

 the form of a hollow tree, and this is 

 the natural wintering place for a col- 

 ony of bees. The double walls with 

 their packing hold the heat well. 



The owner wintered his bees in a 

 cellar and sometimes did not take 

 them out till the first of May. Winter 

 losses were small, and the bees soon 

 built up in the spring from the abund- 

 ance of natural pollen in the woods 

 around. The large hives held plenty 

 of honey. 



He said that these hives were bet- 

 ter for honey, but that the Lang- 

 stroth were "better for swarms." This 

 looks as if they were all managed on 

 a let-alone plan, and naturally the 

 shallow hives would be the ones to 

 swarm, where the large, cool, deep, 

 Polish hives would keep their forces 

 together. 



Manitol)a. 



Stretched Foundation and Sagging 

 Combs 



ISy A. C. Miller 



What a merry time the boys are 

 liaving trying to devise sundry and 

 coni])lex (and incidentally expensive) 

 methods for wiring frames. Some of 

 tlum arc frankly resurrections of 

 ancient ways, long since discarded. 

 It is almost a crime, certainly not far 

 from an unkindness, to throw a 

 wrench in the machinery of their con- 

 triving. But unless a real beekeeper 

 is inventing or trying to invent some- 

 thing he is not happy nor really in 

 good standing with the fraternity; so 

 the wrench should be withheld. How- 

 ever, in these days of high costs 

 every saving is welcome and so per- 

 haps I will be forgiven for spoiling 

 some of the painfully devised schemes 

 to prevent the evil of stretching. 



Now listen, and pay strict attention 

 to this very simple, almost a1>surdly 

 simple system. Just use heavier wire, 

 No. 26 or No. 28, the former is the 

 better. Yes, I know it is rank heresy 

 to advocate that which was long ago 

 said to be too heavy, but the old 

 "say so" never did appeal to me. Good 

 Dr. Miller, you know, calls me an 

 iconoclast, and I am rather proud of 

 it when I can uproot a wasteful prac- 

 tice, be it ever so well fathered. 



Do you hear that awful noise? It 

 is the wail of the boys who have al- 

 ways been told that No. 30 wire is 

 the only proper thing to use, and, 

 dear things, they believe it, too, and 

 he who assails their honored beliefs 

 strikes them in a very sensitive, aye 

 vital spot. I am sorry, boys, but it 

 cannot be helped, for facts are facts. 



The supply men will tell you they 

 have no heavier wire in stock nor 

 can they get it for you in time to 

 use. Kindly thank them and run 

 along to the nearest hardware 

 store and buy plain annealed iron 

 wire of the desired gauge and forget 

 that it is not tinned. No, you do not 

 have to have tinned wire, not when 

 you use the heavier weight. Tinned 

 wire has some advantages, but it is 

 far from being essential. 



You will probably have to buy the 

 wire in coils, so be careful to put the 

 coil on some sort of a reel, so that 

 you can unwind it without snarling; 

 the heavier wires are not so trouble- 

 some as the light, still you should 

 take reasonable care. Then stretch 

 the wire so that all tendency to curl 

 and kink is taken out of it, cut into 

 lengths suitable for a frame, and 

 proceed to thread the frames. You 

 won't die of shock, but you will be 

 mightily surprised that you ever used 

 the old plan of wiring direct from 

 spools. 



After the wire is in the frames, 



make one end fast and take out all 

 the slack before making the other 

 end fast. Now you have a really good 

 and suitable grid t which to fasten 

 the foundation. 



There are a few other items worth 

 knowing — I know they are, because 

 I know them. The first is, just en- 

 tirely forget anything like a wedge 

 for fastening the edges of the sheet 

 of foundation. Yes, I know that is 

 savoring of an unkindness to the me- 

 chanics who so lone: and laboriously 

 and expensively to us, devised those 

 wedges, those nice little appliances 

 which so often do not get securely 

 placed and fail to hold the important 

 top edge of the foundation. Just drop 

 the foundation into the groove and 

 fasten it there with a little melted 

 beeswax and rosin, three parts of the 

 former and one of the latter. Paint it 

 along with a brush, and forget any- 

 thing like a wonderful wax tube, or 

 spoon. With a brush you can secure- 

 ly fasten the sheet in place in half the 

 time it takes to put a wedge in place, 

 and when so stuck it stays for sure. 

 The ne?ct thing to know is to use an 

 electric imbedder, absolutely the only 

 thing for a truly alive beekeeper to 

 use. If you have electric lights on 

 your place, cut the imbedder into the 

 circuit, for it will work faster and 

 better than with batteries and will 

 not lay down just when you are in a 

 hurry, as batteries sometimes do. 



When you start to make the wax- 

 rosin mixture, melt the two separate- 

 ly and strain the melted rosin into the 

 wax, stirring until it is all in. This is 

 to get rid of dirt and sediment which 

 is usually in rosin, and to get a com- 

 plete mixture of rosin and wax, for 

 if it is not so mixed at the start the 

 rosin is pretty sure to go to the bot- 

 tom, and while the brush will get 

 stuck on it, you won't. 



Providence, R. I.. 



Foliih bee bives. 



