1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



157 



question. They have been, and are still, being used 

 by many practical bee-men, all over the country; 

 and I have yet to hear of any person having once 

 tried them, who is not enthusiastic in their praise. 

 All who have given them a thorough trial have been 

 convinced of their great advantage. 



Mr. G. W. House, in Gleanings for January, 1884, 

 page 21, saj's: "After this season's work, 1 am con- 

 vinced that the reversible frame will come into gen- 

 eral use, as soon as their simplicity and easy manip- 

 ulations are understood, especially so with t hose who 

 keep Italians, and work for comb honey; for ex- 

 tracted hanej' they are no better than others." 



While I admit, that no more extracted honey can 

 be obtained by using reversible frames, still I con- 

 sider them far better, especially for those who de- 

 pend principally upon natural combs, or foundation 

 not in wired frames; as, by their use, the bees are 

 compelled to build the comb solid, all round the 

 frame, instead of just fastening it to the top-bar, 

 and only part way down the sides, leaving nearly 

 one-half the comb entirely unfastened to the wood, 

 thereby rendering it easily broken out, particularly 

 if well filled with honey. If others have never been 

 troubled from this cause, I know one who has; and 

 I considered it such a nuisance that I determined to 

 have solid comhs, or quit extracting. 



I first tried having the combs built in deep frames, 

 and then cutting off the end-bars to the required 

 depth. This was a partial remedy; but it was a 

 great deal of trouble; it took too many deepliivcs, 

 and it kept too many col jnies comb building, exclu- 

 sively, with lots of other objections easily imagined 

 by the expert. I soon found that revcrsino the 

 frames was a complete remedy; but how to do it, 

 with hanging frames, was a question. Nearly all the 

 reversible frames were Hubcr, or standing frames, 

 while hanging frames made to reverse were imprac- 

 ticable, by being too expensive, difficult to manipu- 

 late, or both. 



After repeated experiments, I at last hit upon a 

 device which completely removes the objectionable 

 features from the reversible hanging frame; and I 

 offer it to the bee-keeping fraternity with full confi- 

 dence of a favorable rpception from all who will 

 give it an impartial trial. 



I claim for the reversible frame, as I make it, the 

 following points of superiority; viz.: 



1. The comb is stronger than the old style, being 

 better fastened to the wood, and less liable to break 

 out. 



3. It neutralizes the sagging of the top-bar, there- 

 by doing away with diagonal wires. 



3. More combs can be used in the brood-chamber, 

 when working for comb honey, giving the queen 

 more room, which means larger colonies, with less 

 liability to swarm. 



4. It does away, to a great extent, with the bother 

 of extracting from the brood-chamber to prevent 

 crowding the queen. 



5. It compels the bees to store all surplus in the 

 sections, instead of the brood-chamber, thereby in- 

 creasing the yield of salable honey, with corres- 

 pondingly greater profits to the producer. 



6. It is cheap, and may be attached to any hanging 

 frame, by cutting off the projecting arms; and, if 

 the bottom-bar is too weak, replacing it with a 

 heavier, or by strengthening it by a strip slipped 

 under, and tacked fast. 



7. It is as easy to use or manipulate as the old 

 style, and may be reversed as quickly as toreturn it 

 to the hive, just as taken out. 



8. It is durable; will last a lifetime, and cannot 

 get out of order. C. J. F. Howes. 



Adrian, Mich.. Feb., 1884. 



If any of the friends want my opinion in 

 regard to this matter of reversible frames, 1 

 shall have to say that I am not prepared at 

 present to decide. I want to see them used 

 in the apiary. Reversing sections partly 

 filled is an idea that I gave a good many 

 years ago in the back volumes of Gleax- 

 iXGs. "We had a case made to reverse. 

 When reversed when honey was abundant, 

 it caused some of the combs to lop down 

 and curl over. If we had waited until the 

 sections were nearly tilled, of course we 

 should have had no trouble. 



"HOW DOTH THE BISY BEE?"' ETC. 



HOW MANY TRIPS DO THE BEES OF A FAIR COLONY 

 MAKE IN A SEASON ? 



EN the spring of 1883 I had one colony of bees 

 which, by the first of May, were very strong, 

 ' and in an excellent condition for work. They 

 were bright Italians, being blooded stock from an 

 imported queen. Having nothing with which to oc- 

 cupy my idle hours, I concluded to devote a part of 

 the time in trying to determine the amount Of labor 

 performed bj' this colony of bees during the months 

 of May, June, July, and August, in their outdoor 

 work. In order to accomplish this task, I set apart 

 five days in each month (or twenty days in all), com- 

 mencing my labors at 5 o'clock A. m., and closing 

 them at 7 p. m., on each of the twenty days, select- 

 ing the brightest and warmest days in which to make 

 my observations, and using one minute in each hour 

 in gathering the data on which to found my conclu- 

 sions. The entrance to the hive was arranged in a 

 way to enable me to count (quite accurately) the 

 bees as they entered the hive. This counting was 

 done by seconds of time, making, after each count, 

 careful memoranda of the result of each minute of 

 time used in the investigation, and at the close of 

 my observations for the season I was able to deter- 

 mine, from the grand aggregate, the average num- 

 ber of worker bees entering the hive per second, for 

 the daily periods below mentioned: 

 From 5 A. M. to (> a. m. one bee to the second. 

 " 6 '• " !) " two bees to the second. 

 " 9 " "4 p. M. four " " " 

 " 4 P. M. " 6 '• three " " " 

 " C " "7 " one and one-half " 



—making the daily average of worker bees entering 

 the hive to count 153,150, for a day of fourteen hours. 

 For the months of Maj-, June, July, and August, we 

 had 50 good working days, 25 favorable, and 15 only 

 tolerable; the average was about 75 good days as to 

 weather, but all very poor in the secretion of nec- 

 tar. 



During this period of 75 days, the grand total trips 

 made by my working bees was eleven millions four 

 hundred and ninety-flve thousand two hundred and 

 fifty trips (11,495,2.50). 



This colony gave me 60 lbs. of surplus honey in 

 sections. From the published experience of those 

 who know much about bees, I presume, from perus- 

 ing their opinions as published, that it would require, 

 for the support of a strong colony, and the rearing 

 of brood, and building of comb, during the breeding 

 season, about 60 lbs. of ripened or capped honey, 

 which is a very reasonable quantity. This amount' 



