372 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



^L\Y 1. 



wise or endwise, the work of destruction goes 

 on from combs rubbing or hitting each otlier. 

 or from frames scraping tli(^ side walls of tlie 

 hive. Also quite a few bees are crushed on the 

 rabbets. 



There is no need of looking for all the good 

 points in any one hive, for such will not be 

 found: but, rather, as in selecting a harvesting- 

 machine, look for a good combination of the 

 best features of many. In writing this I am 

 not endeavoring to prove that this is the only 

 hive tit to use, for there are many such. I wish 

 to show that this hive has many good points, 

 some of which it has never had credit of pos- 

 sessing. I believe the day of unspaced frames 

 is drawing to a close, and that the use of spaced 

 frames is to become quite general, either with 

 open or closed ends, or a compromise between, 

 as Hoffman makes them. P. H. Elwood. 



Starkville. N. Y., Feb. 211 



[Now that the merits of the Hoffman and 

 Quinby frames have been fairly presented with 

 engravings (the two best fixed frames, as I be- 

 lieve), the beginnei', in view of the merits in- 

 herent in each, may be somewhat confused as 

 to which one he should adopt, or vvhether, for- 

 sooth, he should choose either. In the first 

 place, at the risk of using an old stereotyped 

 expression ad n((useam. I will urge again, go 

 slow. What may suit one may not suit another. 

 Ti'y a few and decide for yourself. As between 

 the Hoffman and the Quinby systems, perhaps 

 I should make a suggestion right here. As ex- 

 President Cleveland once said, ''We are pre- 

 sented with a condition and not a theory." No 



Perhaps I should add that, in my eyes, the 

 Hetheiington-(Juinby hive does not look as 

 neat as the hanging- frame hive. Here is a 

 Kodak view that I took of one of the hives 

 when the bees stung 'me so unmei'cifully. and 

 caused their owner to retreat on a double-quick 

 pace. 



This shows one of Mr. Elwood's hives rigged 

 for comb honey. It seemed to me when I first 

 saw these hives, that they would tip over very 

 easily, being in appearance somewhat top- 

 heavy. Mr. El wood assured me, however, that 

 no such mishap had ever befallen them. A 

 stray calf once got into the apiary, and I pre- 

 sume, on account of the disposition of those 

 buckwheat hybrids, he became a little "ram- 

 bunctious." At any rate, he tipped over one of 

 the hives; but no damage was done. 



I might add, further, that a plain box with 

 hanging frames, either fixed or loose, tiers up a 

 little nicer than a series of closed-end frames 

 with panels for sides. Moreover, the feature 

 of hdiigiiKj frames, whether at fixed distances 

 or not, is something that the most of us famil- 

 iar with it \^■ould be very loth to give up. The 

 Hoffman is a hanging frame and has nearly all 

 the advantages of the Quinby, with some others 

 peculiar to itself: and I may add that the clos- 

 ed-end frames have advantages peculiar to 

 them not found in other styles. Supply-dealei's 

 ai'e willing to give bee-keepers whatever they 

 demand, and therefore leave the matter largely 

 for them to decide.] E. R. R. 



HETHEr.IXGTON-QUINBY HIVE. 



matter how much we may deHre to adopt the 

 Quinby svstem in toto, a great majority of us 

 have on 'hand our old-style hives that are 

 adapted for hdiKjuKj frames, and these old hives 

 we can not afford to throw away. If we make 

 any change at all. it will, of course, be wiser 

 and cheaper to adopt the Hotlinan frame, he- 

 cause it can be so readily adapted to hives al- 

 ready in use: whei'eas fhe closed-end frames on 

 the Quinby system, with its hooks, would I'e- 

 quii-e a change thi'oughout. In view of the ar- 

 guments that hav(^ Ix'en presented for both 

 systems, it is pretty hai'd to decider which one 

 we like the better: but the aforesaid con- 

 dition, namelv. old hives alivady in us(>. should 

 influence the decision in favor of the Hoffman 

 frames. 



HANDLING FRAMES. 



THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED METHOD; A HINT 

 TO BEGINNERS, FROM C. A. HATCH. 



As you are going to have handling of frames 

 with fixed distances in Gleanings, why not 

 have handling of other frames also? That 

 every bee-man is not proficient in handling 

 frames of even his own hives, I was convinced 

 by acting as judge at our State Fair a -few 

 years since. A premium was offered for best 

 method of handling bees; and, as I now remem- 

 ber, there were four contestants, some of them 

 veterans, and yet two of the four broke out 

 combs or cracked them badly in handling, sim- 

 ply to find the queen. Another thing that con- 

 viiices me that all have not the knack of han- 

 dling L. frames rapidly, is, that they use metal 

 corners, which entirely prevents rapid manipu- 

 lation in hunting for queens, examining brood, 

 or any operation whei-e single frames must be 

 bandied. I had a talk with Prof. Cook once on 

 this subject, and I found he used the same 

 method as here described in instructing his 

 bee-class, and so the method has good indorse- 

 ment. 



The right side of the hive is rather the best 

 position to operate from, for then you can hold 

 the smoker in the right hand to throw smoke 

 into the entrance, and you can set it on the 

 ground near by, and it is easily reached by the 

 proper hand to use. After having subdued the 

 bees, take your screwdriver, or whatever tool is 

 used for loosening the frames, in the right 

 hand, handle up and thumb up, as if it were a 

 dagger and you were going to stab. Take the 

 frame next to vou. First loosen by pushing the 

 screwdriv<'r handle from you. while the point is 

 between tlu^ fi'anu\s: giasp the frame at the oth- 

 er end with the thumb and forefinger of left 

 band at same time, and usually the fi'ame will 

 be loosened. Now take the right-hand end in 

 the same wav: and as you bring it up straight 

 out of fhe hive, move each thumb under the 

 projection of the top-bar, so that its whole 

 weight will come on the ends of the thumbs 



