520 



GLEANINGS In bee CULTLIllE. 



Aug. 



shall beabletoshow thclargestcolonios and swarms 

 in comparative!}- small hives; models of compact- 

 ness and economy; how we can bring- our hives out 

 at the close of the last honey-How, in a starvation 

 condition (all the honey ha\-ing- gone into supers, 

 the market, and the pocket-book), g^lving- us the 

 pi-ivileg-e of feeding just what we know will master 

 the wintering: dillicuUy; more marketaljle honey, 

 and a chance to feed without first going through 

 that trying ordeal of extracting, after all honey- 

 tiow is over. 



A few more weeks and we shall be able to report, 

 and give you a cut of wliat wethink the best revers- 

 ible frame yet shown up- James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., .July 11, 1884. 



Very gottd. Irieiid 11.; but! liad no thought 

 of laying aside our luinging Ininio for the 

 Iletherington or any other reveisible frame 

 just now. We are simply keeping it in the 

 apiary, and ean still report that it seems to 

 do tirst rate. ]Iut the hive has not yet been 

 put through all the uses to which we sub- 

 ject hives. ^Ve should be very glad Hideed 

 to see some samples and drawings of your 

 reversible frames. 



KEVEBSIBLE FRAMES. 



STILL, ANOTHER PLAN. ^ 



■JIP few woi'ds on the matter of reversible 

 9il^ frames. To be thoroughly jiractieal, a re- 



jpr versible frame must at least meet the fol- 

 '*^ lowing- requirements: 



1. The lateral movement must be as per- 

 fect as that secured in the use of the ordinary style 

 of suspended frame. 



3. The construction must be simple; in other 

 words, there must be freedom from loose machinery 

 and traps at the sides, which are only a temptation 

 to the bees topropolize, and which would entail con- 

 tinual labor to keep in order. 



3. To reverse the frame must consume no more 

 time than it takes to simply turn it upside down in 

 the hands, and then be at once ready to replace it 

 in the hive. 



4. Thei-e must be freedom from sharp points, 

 edges, etc., of tin, at the corners, which, besides be- 

 ing liable to become bent, ai-e disagreeable to 

 handle. 



.5. The reversing device must be Inexpensive, 

 and capable of being easily applied to the oi-dinary 

 Styles of hanging frames now in use. 



That I have devised a frame which fills the bill 

 exactly in all the foregoing- points, I leave to the 

 .iudgment of all who will read my description of it, 

 but especially to those who possess suflicient inter- 

 est in the matter to spare about .5 cts. in cash and 

 10 minutes' time to give the thing all that will be 

 necessary in the way of trial. To make the frame, 

 proceed as follows: 



The upper and lower bars should be of the same 

 thickness, ?« inch; the end-bars may be ^i. After 

 the frame is lightly nailed together, sufliciently to 

 keep its parts in position, carefully drive into each 

 of the 4 corners 3 wire nails, placing them about V2 

 inch apart, and parallel with each other; do not 

 drive the nails completely home, but leave 7-16 of 

 an inch projecting. It is by these pi-ojecting por- 

 tions of the nails that the frames are suspended on 

 the metal strips above the brood-chamber. The 

 wire nails should be about ^H inches in total length, 



and, if carefully driven into position, there will sel- 

 dom if ever be anj' splitting of the wood of the 

 frames. 



This completes the arrangement of the frame, 

 and we shall now observe a slight alteration from 

 the usual method pursued in nailing on the metal 

 strips on which the frames vest while in the hive. 

 Take ?. strips of good stout tin, the length of the 

 hive inside, and each strip being about 'a inch in 

 width; now fold each of these throughout their en- 

 tire length, so as to have three thicknesses of tin, 

 one edge projecting a little. Nail the strips thus 

 prepared into their place in the l)rood-chamber, 

 leaving a projecting edge for the frames to rest on, 

 of about In inch. 



If the inside length of the brood-chamber is now 

 accuratelj- measured it will be foinid that the sur- 

 face of llie two metal strips is about '» inch nearer 

 each other than the ends of the hive below; to se- 

 cure this result was the reason why the metal strips 

 were directed to be folded. Place the double folded 

 side next to the wood when the strips are nailed on. 

 This completes the changes in the hive; now for the 

 mo(lu>i nperamli in handling the frames: 



If we wei-e to attempt to place our prepared 

 frame in the hive in the manner in which the or- 

 dinary frames ai-e introduced, viz., by depressing 

 them in a horizontal position, the nails in the bot- 

 tom corners would strike the metal strips as soon 

 as they should reach their level, and arrest the 

 further progress of the frame; so, what is to be 

 done in this case? Simply tilt one end of the frame 

 slightlj' upward, and it will be found that, in this 

 position, the nail projections will clear the strips 

 beautifully; and as soon as this is accomplished, 

 the frame can be restored to the horizontal posi- 

 tion, and be depressed into the hive until the nails in 

 the top corners rest upon the metal strips. The 

 reason we arc able to resume the horizontal posi- 

 tion with our fi-ame is on account of the walls of 

 the hive being further apart below the metal strips 

 than directly between them, as we have before 

 mentioned. When resting in position in the hive, 

 the heads of the nails should come just over the 

 edge of the projesting metal strips, but no more. 

 They rest securely and firmly on the strip, and 

 form a support for the frame, so far as we can see 

 as strong- as the extensions of the top-bar in the or- 

 dinary forms of frame. 



In a future article I shall give what I believe to 

 be the advantages which accrue from using reversi- 

 ble frames. A. H. Button. 



Brussels, Ontario, June 4, 1884. 



I think, friend D., your plan is not alto- 

 getlier new, the same or similar device hav- 

 ing been suggested several years ago. The 

 frame, 1 believe, very mucli resembles the 

 Iletherington frame viiien finished, only the 

 device does not space the frames (and this 

 would, perhaps, be an advantage), and they 

 are suspended instead of resting on rabbets at 

 the bottom. One inconvenient feature of this 

 arrangement is. that the rabbet projects in- 

 ward beyond the level of the end-boards of 

 the hive, and this has always been consider- 

 ed objectionable, because, when the frame 

 is raised up, the bees are rubbed against this 

 rabbet, and any little projection of wax or 

 propolis is sure to knock against the rabbet, 

 and injure any bees that may happen to be 

 coming along. I had once decided that I 

 did not want any rabbet more than flush 



