1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



337 



of an inch deeper than the frames gives a "i bee- 

 space at top and bottom, or both over and under the 

 frames. I had several methods for holding these in 

 position, a part of which I made, but none of which 

 may be just like Brother Hetherington's, and none 

 of which I will use room to describe. I also made a 

 hive on the Bingham i)lan. I made it a little deeper 

 and shorter, used a bottom-bar as well as a top-bar. 

 both being just alike; allowed the end-pieces of the 

 frames to extend "g above and below the top and 

 bottom bars, and clamped them together on the 

 tight-end-fltting plan, with the loop wire and key, as 

 invented and used by Mr. Bingham. I also made 

 upper stories of wide frames to hold sections, which 

 were clamped together in the same manner. 



Now, all this works pretty well, and looks quite 

 practical. The progressive bee-keeper naturally 

 relishes and is stronglj- attracted toward a change; 

 something new; something which he hopes is bet- 

 ter, all points considered. Just here is where we 

 get caught, unless we are wary, or ever on the alert. 

 We take the blessings we have been enjoying, as an 

 e\ery-day matter, of course. What we haA-c biggest 

 in our eye is another, and brand-new advantage. 

 We become so eager to gain it, that, almost before 

 we know it. we trade off two or three old comforts 

 for one little new one, and never realize the mistake 

 until we begin to miss the old advantages in 

 actual experience. Now, what is the advantage in 

 my last month's article, and Bro. Hethcrington's 

 plan of reversing the whole brood-chamber at onceV 

 It is this, and a good one too: It saves time, it does 

 not necessitate so complete an opening of the hive. 

 This is good, and can not l)e denied. This is the idea 

 that first caught me. Now, so far as I can see, this is 

 all. Let us see. what advantages there are to be en- 

 joyed by having- each frame reversible, that are not 

 enjoj-ed by the reversible-hive plan. 



1. We preserve that valuable advantage, " lateral- 

 ly movable frames." 2. That ease of manipulation, 

 and freedom from complication, which the hanging 

 frame has as compared with the close-fltting, or 

 Bingham-Quinby style. 3. A tight bottom-board, 

 which Is a great comfort when moving hives tor 

 any pur]>ose whatever, closes out all lodgments for 

 worms, and makes the hive many times stronger 

 and more durable. 4. Upon the reversible-frame 

 plan, the new style of frame will ever be inter- 

 changeable with the standard Langstroth frame. 



It may be argued, that Bro. Howes' frame is ex- 

 pensive. This is true; but it need not be, as I will 

 show you in the future. 



Brother Doolittle certainly deserves the thanks of 

 the honey-producers of this country for his pro- 

 tective article on page 306. Sooner or later all must 

 see this point; some, as an abstract principle; 

 others, not till they feel the sting of ruinous, over- 

 stocked prices. We the jiroducers are the support 

 of the journals. Why are they not willing to protect 

 us? James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., May 5, 1884, 



Friend H., you make a good point in that 

 paragraph where you speak of trading off 

 two or three old comforts for one little new 

 one. The same thing has been done in bee 

 culture a great many times, especially in tiie 

 matter of feeders, and also in various kinds 

 of frames and hives. What a medley of 

 frames have been in use. and how invari- 

 ably, almost, they have been swapped off, 

 goonej- or later, to go back to the old frame J 



I like new things as well as anybody ; and 

 may be I am a little swayed by that same 

 old' besetting sin, in my description of Bro. 

 Iletherington's hive on" another page. This 

 hive, also, has the lateral movement of the 

 frames, at least to a certain extent. The 

 frame has not the ease of manipulation of a 

 hanging frame. The bottom-board is se- 

 cured, but is not nailed permanently to the 

 hive, although the lower story might be 

 made in that way. These hives could be 

 used interchiingeably with Simplicity and 

 L. hives, I presume, but we could not have 

 both kinds of frames in the same story. — I 

 supposed our bee-journals were published 

 for the pxiJress puriiose of supporting and 

 protecting lioney-ynoducers; or.if you choose, 

 for considering their l)est interests. 



SOME HELPS TOWARD THE SALE OF 

 HONEY. 



AN IMPROVED HONEY-STAND. 



UR friend W. B. House, whom many of 

 you may remember, has been, for sev- 

 eral weeks back, at work revising the 

 A B C book. It is being revised pret- 

 ty much all the time, for that matter; 

 but just now we are adding a good deal of 

 I new matter, and quite u lot of new pictiu'es. 

 1 Below is an improvement on the honey-stand 

 I of friend Williams, which we illustrated a 

 I year or more ago. We make the carved 

 ] ends of .black-waliuit. The shelves are some 

 j clieaper wood with a strip of black-walnut 

 ! along the front. The back is made of cheap 

 ; wood, stained in imitation of walnut. 



AN IMFKOVE^IENT ON FRIEND WILLIAMS 

 HONEY-STAND. 



I Of course, our friends can vary the design 

 as much as they choose. The lioney-stand 

 makes a verv pretty ornament to set up some- 

 where in voiir honie or in your honey-house, 

 especially if vou have anv sort of a trade 

 in honev". The iais and pails are all ready 

 to luind over to 'a customer, and you can do 

 tlie lining and all tliat kind of work when 

 vou liave no customers around. The paste- 

 board box in the center'' of the upper shelf 

 has i)r()ved a wonderful help to us m selling 

 comb honev. It comes so natural to hook 



I your little linger inside that little loop on the 



