42C) 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



10,000 lbs. from about the same number of colo- 

 nies. 



Their escapes have been as thoroughly tested 

 as one season's work can test them, and they 

 are well enough pleased with them to manufac- 

 ture several thousand of them, and I presume 

 they will advertise and put them on the market 

 at once. S. A. Shuck. 



Liverpool, 111., April !». 



[Many thanks for your valuable article. We 

 are all anxious to know what we may expect of 

 the bee-escape; and, accoiding to your experi- 

 ence, our hopes of its iiiactical utility are not 

 disappointed. If othci-s slmll have (>xi)erience 

 similar to yours, it docs ind<'ed pi'oniise to work 

 a revolution in the methods of taking off honey, 

 and we have ali'eady had some good I'eports. 

 We, too, have been experimenting with different 

 styles of bee-escapes: but none do the work so 

 perfectly as the Poitcr, illustrated above. It 

 would get every l>ec out of the upi)er story, even 

 off combs of brood. With the Reese aiid Dib- 

 bern escapes, a few bees would be left, they 

 having evidently found their way back; and 

 once or twice we found them clogged with dead 

 bees. We have just received a few samples of 

 the Porter escape. They are beautifully made, 

 and the price is modei'ate. If this escap(^ 

 shall do as well as it has done for you and our- 

 selves, the two Porters deserve a vote of thanks 

 for a perfect bee-escape, and the right of ex- 

 clusive maruifacture, whether they have a pat- 

 ent on the same or not. We presume a good 

 many of them will be sold, and we should like 

 to have reports of where thorough tests have 

 be(;n made. The ])ropolizing feature of the 

 Reese and Dibbeni. as well as their occasional 

 clogging with dead bees, is ratlier against them. 

 Tlie two bi'ass spiings at the point I), in the 

 Portei', are so exceedingly sensitive, that, if a 

 bee were to touch them with its manibles. I im- 

 agine they would tremble so that the little pro- 

 polizer would become cross-eyed in trying to 

 keep track of the oscillations, and give the mat- 

 ter up in disgust.] E. R. R. 



A GROWL. 



CHANGI<:s; THE 8 OK 10 FRAME HIVE'. FAST 

 HIVE-BOTTOMS. 



Mr. Root: — Why don't you have a giowlers' 

 column in Gleanings? I should delight to be 

 a regular contributor' to that department. To 

 begin with, you have made a new hive. After 

 telling us all these years that a ten-frame hive 

 with beveled edge was essential to our health 

 and happiness, you then turn and say, '" We do 

 not any more recommend the Simplicity." It 

 reminds one of tln^ woi'ds of IVIi'. Ileddon, years 

 ago: "The practical bee-keeper will, sooner or 

 later, demand a readily movable hive, with fast 

 bottom." and then he at once proceeds to in- 

 vent and patent a new hive with loose bottom, 

 and one that is about as movable as a barrel of 

 sugar with the bottom fallen out. O consisten- 

 cy! Rut I am glad you are going to drop the 

 Simplicity. I never liked it. and have been 

 very glad to sell th(>. few I bought of you (on 

 your recommend) to my neighbors. But seri- 

 ously, now, I think a man in your position 

 should be very sure he has got something de- 

 cidedly better when he makes such a change. 

 With my limited exi)erience I certainly do be- 

 lieve the old-style ten-frame Langstroth is a 

 belter, safer, and more economical hive than 

 either the Simplicity or the Dovetailed. 



But one thing that is not sufficiently consid- 

 ered by writers in the bee-papers is, that differ- 

 ent locations and cii'cumstances require differ- 



ent management. For instance, my hives 

 nearly all stand fully exposed to the sun; and 

 by having a division-board on the south side of 

 my ten-frame two-story hives they require no 

 shade-board; whereas, if I used your eight- 

 frame hives, every one would require a shade- 

 board. Then, again, I prefer to winter most of 

 my bees out of doors: and if I used your eight- 

 frame hive every one would require an outside 

 case and cover. But the ten-frame hive, with 

 a chaff division-board on each side, and a bushel 

 of chaff above, makes a very safe winter hive. 

 I have not lost a colony in those hives in five 

 years, that was in a normal condition in the 

 fall; and my bees have increased in that time 

 from 20 to 100 colonies. 



If the bees are wintered in a cellar, and are 

 shaded by trees when out of the cellar, then an 

 eight-frame hive would not be so bad; but I 

 should prefer the old Langsti'oth. even then. 

 In my location we are about as likely to have 

 a yield of honey in September as any time. The 

 nights are cool, and the bees will invariably be 

 driven from the supers on your eight-frame 

 hives, at that season of the year. I have had 

 several of them in use for two years; and I 

 know that, at that season, the bees will not fin- 

 ish up the outside sections, or store nearly as 

 much honey in the supers as they will in the 

 T supers on the old t(Mi-frame Langsti'oth, with 

 an inch space between the super and outside 

 shell of the hive. If the honey were all gather- 

 ed in Junti or July this last objection would not 

 hold. 



1 must now tell you about anothei' thing. 

 You have talked to us about shoddy goods, 

 while, at the same time, you were sending out 

 thousands of brood -frames with a top-bar 

 scarcely three - eighths of an inch in depth. 

 Every novice who has used these frames has 

 recognized their Irailty from th(> first. To be 

 sure, the lighter the top-bar the more necessary 

 it was to buy your folded tin and wires to brace 

 them up; and if we did not use the tin braces, 

 it was very essential to use the honey-board. 



The Northern Illinois eonxcutioii is re|)oi't('d 

 as deciding that a small bee-space between top- 

 bars and sections is of more importance in pi'e- 

 venting brace-combs than a thick top-bar. 

 But, how are we to nuiintain th(> small bee- 

 space with a top-bar that will invariably sag 

 from ^« to a full half inch? Do you realize the 

 injury you have done bee-keepers by sending 

 out those weak frames? I suppose there are 

 millions of them in use, and not one in ten but 

 has sagged h inch or more. Can you suggest a 

 remedy ? A. C. Bugbee. 



Lochiel. Ind.. Mar. 18. 



[We used to have a " Growlei'y," but it died 

 out for some reason — may be for want of pat- 

 ronage. Do not be in haste to accuse A. I. R. 

 of inconsistency. It is the " boys " that have 

 abandoned the Simplicity hive with its beveled 

 edge, and who recommend, instead, the Dove- 

 tailed hive. If you will consult our price list 

 you will see we make the Dovetailed hive both 

 8 and 10 frame size; and if you will study its 

 construction you will discover that the bottom 

 of either may be made permanently fast or not, 

 as desired. But you say, " Don't like the Hat 

 cover, and want a portico." By consulting the 

 price list again you will see you can have a 

 gable cover and a i)ortico to the Dovetailed hive. 

 Now, please turn to "Frames." You will find 

 we do not recommend tojj-bars less than °^ of an 

 inch thick. Why ? because less than that 

 thickness is liable to result in sagging, and 

 then the important thing — a bee-space that 

 will prevent burr-combs — is changed. On this 

 point you are just right. We must have top- 

 bars thick enough to prevent sagging, and only 



