316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 15. 



loose or swinging frame, and use the Hoffman 

 now exclusively. If Mr. !Somerford has used 

 the Hoffman frame as made by me, and de- 

 scribed in Gleanings, will he please tell the 

 readers of Gleanings in how many colonies 

 and for how many years he has used them ? 



If he is of his friend Woodward's type, who 

 has sometimes to leave the close-fitting frames 

 apart a little, on account of ii'regular combs, 

 and can not interchange tlu^m vei\v well be- 

 cause his combs differ so. and as he can not 

 keep his hives level, the combs are out of true. 

 If he is that kind of bee-keeper it will. I think, 

 be better for him not to handle a spaced or 

 close-fitting frame: or. better yet. work the old 

 box hive. We have, in the working season, 

 from eight to t(ui thousand frames to handle 

 and in use, and any of them will fit in any col- 

 ony between any two combs. Is Mi'. Somerford 

 not aware of the fact that some of our most 

 practical and extensive honey - raisers have 

 used a close-fitting frame for a great many 

 years'? Please ask them whether the frame 

 they use is abominable and unbearable to them. 



I have no doubt that these successful men can 

 handle their close-fitting frames quite as fast 

 and conveniently as Mr. Somerford his swing- 

 ing or loose frame. Has Mr. Somerford ever 

 moved several hundred colonies to different lo- 

 calities and back again every season? If so. 

 will he please tell us how he would fix his 

 swinging frames to load and unload to take his 

 bees to different localities over rough and hilly 

 roads, or take his filled combs home for extract- 

 ing from the different apiaries as we have 

 to do ? 



My hired man (I often have a green or inex- 

 perienced man to do it) can. and has often done 

 all the moving of the bees to five and six differ- 

 ent yards in spring and fall, without any assist- 

 ance. 



If I used a loose swinging frame it would I'e- 

 quire such an amount of time, laboi-. and car(>. 

 to move the bees evei'y year, that I should not 

 want to do it at all. It would be " abominable 

 and unbearable " business, and I would give it 

 up. 



I>OES THE HOFFMAN FRAME KILL BEE,S ? I'KO- 



I'OLIS: DOES IT HINDKR OK ASSIST 



MANIPULATION ? 



In regard to bee-glue, I will say that we have 

 no trouble from it with our frames and in our 

 climate, when the frames fit as well as they 

 ought to. and are always pushed togethei- well. 



I, indeed, prefer the gluing together of the 

 frames by the bees to a loose shifting frame, as 

 I can lift and carry the hives more handily. I 

 hardly believe that Mr. Somerford gave the 

 Hoffman frame a fair trial: for if he had. he 

 would not say it kills bees. 



In examining or working a colony of bees, 

 the frames ought not to be pressed quite close 

 together until the work with that hive is done, 

 when all the frames of the hive should be 

 pressed together firmly in a lot. If a little 

 smoke is used before, to drive the bees down 

 where the irames are not close fitting, no bees 

 will be killed. Any person at all fitted for 

 the bee-business will soon handle such frames 

 without killing bees. 



In conclusion I wish to say. that, if a bee- 

 keeper can not become expert enough to handle 

 a close-fitting franu^. well, he should not dis- 

 courage others from trying them, because I am 

 certain there ai-e many in our great country 

 who are progressive and clever enough to make 

 a success in honey-raising by using improved 

 appliances or fixtures. Julius IIoffman. 



Canajoharie, N. Y.. Mar. 33. 



[I will say to our n^aders that Mr. Hoffman is 

 modest and retiring in disposition, and one who 



is but little inclined to push the merits of any 

 of his devices. He has no interest in bee-sup- 

 plies, and, in fact, never had. that T know of. 

 What he says above, I am sure was influenced 

 only by his free-hearted disposition to dio the 

 bee-keeping world good. He has used exten- 

 sively the loose hanging frame, and I think he 

 can prove every statement made, just as he did 

 to me when I visiti'd his place some six months 

 ago. His success with 600 colonies, and his big 

 crops of honey, secured largely by his own in- 

 dividual labor, means something. 



The reason why wo thought best to introduce 

 his frame was because, here and there all over 

 the countiy (when we were agitating fixed dis- 

 tances) bee-keepers were asking us to look into 

 its merits. So many of these came in, and they 

 argued with so much show of reason, that this 

 was largely influential in inducing me to make 

 a visit east, to see Mr. Hoffman handle his 

 frames; and the result was, that I was so thor- 

 oughly convinced of their mei'its I knew we 

 should be doing bee-keepers a good turn by of- 

 fering them to the public. 



J. H. Nellis advertised Hoff'man frames some- 

 thing like ten years ago: and after his journal 

 ceased publication in 1882, comparatively noth- 

 ing more was said in regard to them: but it 

 seems they have during these years been silent- 

 ly working their way throughout the countiy 

 among bee - keepers, solely on their' merits. 

 Supply-dealers may boom a poor article, and 

 get it generally introduced; b\it when an arti- 

 cle, without any booming foi- ten years, works- 

 its own way into favor.it must have intrinsic 

 value, or it would die out. 



I believe the Hoffman frame is better adapt- 

 ed to beginners tlian any other frame T know of.. 

 They can not help getting their combs spaced 

 right: and I know by experience that begin- 

 ners seldom if ever space loose frames properly, 

 and then they write to know why bees bulge 

 their combs so badly, or why their combs are so 

 crooked, etc. 



In the next issue Mr. Hoffman will show how 

 to handle the Hoffman frame, bv an illustrated 

 article.! " E. R. R. 



THE HETHERINGTON QUINBY HIVE. 



MR. ELWOOI) TELLS HOW TO HANDLE IT, ANI> 



EXPLAINS ONE OF THE SECRETS OF ITS 



RAPID MANIPUI-ATION. 



The junior editor of (Ji-eanings has can- 

 vassed the subject so exhaustively as to leave 

 little to be said on fixed distances with closed- 

 end frames. I was glad of an opportunity of 

 showing the workings of our hive to a practical 

 bee-keeper familiar with the swinging-frame 

 hive in its various modifications: for I had sur- 

 mised, as Mr. Root admits, that my statements 

 as to rapid andlsafe work were, by many, disbe- 

 lieved. However. I am pleased to know that 

 my advocacy for these many years of fixed dis- 

 tances and closed-end frames, while counted a 

 serious blunder, was attributed to nothing 

 worse than ignorance. 



THE TWO requirements OF A GOOD BEE-IIIVE. 



A good bee-hive must fill two requii'ements 

 reasonably well to be worthy of that name. 1. 

 It must be a good liome for the bees: 2. It must 

 in addition be so constructed as to be conven- 

 ient to perform the various operations required 

 by modern bee-keeping. The first of these re- 

 (|uirements is filled very well by a good box or 

 straw hive. Bees will store as much honey in 

 these hives as in any, and in the North they 

 will winter and spring as well in a straw hive 

 as in any other. They do not. however, fill the- 



