1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



583 



twice, and come right out and get dried (well 

 rubbed), and then go and ha%'e something to 

 eat. This acts much the same as HilFs " nasal 

 douche.'" as. when under water, a quantity en- 

 ters the nostrils, driving back the air till the 

 head is again above water. I have never man- 

 aged yet to get clean* of a cold by a fresh-water 

 bath. 



With regard to " what is the matter with our 

 Patent Office?" I may state that, in England, 

 owr Patent Office grants patents for the same 

 thing (and does not pretend to make any search) 

 to as many as like to apply: and it is only in 

 the case of an '' opposition " that the thing gets 

 settled right off as to who is the " true and tirst 

 inventor." It would seem as if your Patent 

 Office were going to get on to the same lines. 

 Hakoi.d'H. Lixdox. 



Liverpool. England. June. 18til. 



[Knowing the tendency of your bee-keepers 

 toward fixed distances. I have been watching 

 closely what has been said on the subject. The 

 W. B.'Carr ends have always struck me as be- 

 ing good. I judge they are stamped out: but I 

 notice the price is five shillings sixpence per 

 gross, which would make about SI. (53 in our 

 money — something over a cent apiece. This 

 would add two cents to tlie original expense of 

 the wood parts of the fi-ame and their use. 

 Still, that price would not be prohibitory. The 

 scheme for using wide or narrow spacing is 

 very unique: but I do not suppose that it would 

 pay a bee-keeper to change his hives over from 

 season to season. But as there are a few who 

 prefer l}^ spacing, or l^^. they can take the 

 wider spacing with these metal ends, instead of 

 II4. if they prefer. Yon say these metal pro- 

 jections do not interfere with uncapping. 1 be- 

 lieve you are right. In the main. I believe this 

 objection has existed moi'e in imagination than 

 in actual practice.] E. R. 

 ■ — • — ^ 



HANDLING HIVES INSTEAD OF FRAMES. 



FlilKXD GKAVEXHOKST SHOWS THE ADVANTAGE 

 OF SO DOIXG. 



Friend Root: — I was much delighted in read- 

 ing Gleanings for May 1, p. 38S. whei'e I found 

 a letter from Mr. A. F. Brown, and your foot- 

 note to it. Yes. you and Mr. B. have undoubt- 

 edly liit the point exactly : and never. I think. 

 was a word truer than yours : " Sooner or later 

 bee-keeping has got to resolve itself into the 

 handling of hives more and frames less." Y^ou 

 say further: "It may be truthfully said, that 

 old bee-keepers do not spend the time they once 

 did over their bees : and we think it is eqijally 

 true. that, as our industry progresses, bee-keep- 

 ers a.s- a class to-day. or in the near future, will 

 not spend the time over their bees they did a 

 few years ago : in other words, they will get a 

 thousand poiuids of honey with less labor."' 



Now. friend R., let me tell you why I rejoice 

 over your words. First, those words came from 

 one whose name is known to bee-keepers all 

 over the world : and because you fully know, I 

 believe, what you are speaking of as an author- 

 ity in bee -matters. Second, because I have 

 fought for that principle to which yon give ex- 

 pression in those words, nearly as long as I have 

 kept bees in movable-comb hives. Descended 

 from a family which was in the bee-business 

 for generations. I kept bees at first just as did 

 my forefathers in the old Liineburgian straw 

 skeps : and. I may say. with no less success- 

 than they. Our crop fi'om 60 to 80 colonies, 

 spring count, which were increased, by swarm- 

 ing and driving, to ISO or 240 colonies, was. in 

 the best seasons, from .3'.K)0 to t)000 lbs. of honey, 

 and from .50 to 80 lbs. of wax— a vield that is to 



this day not uncommon among our old-fashion- 

 ed bee-keepers in North Germany, especially in 

 the province of Hannover : and", what is "the 

 main thing, they get it at less cost of labor and 

 time than bee-keepers do to-day with their 

 movable-comb hives. 



At the time I became well acquainted with 

 Dzierzon"s writings and with himself. I got some 

 Dzierzon and Berlepsch hives, and kept bees in 

 them by way of trial. But I soon found out 

 something by this new method that did not sat- 

 isfy me in contrast with the old one. In the 

 course of several years I always got more honey 

 and wax in the old-fashioned way. with my old 

 Liineburgian straw skeps than with my accu- 

 rately constructed and skillfully handled Dzier- 

 zon and Berlepsch hives : and last, but not 

 least, with undoubtedly less cost, labor, and 

 time. What was the reason? Not taking into 

 the account that the bees did not do as well in 

 winter, nor thrive early in the spring in this 

 frame hive, experience soon convinced me that 

 the principal point was. that I could handle my 

 old skeps instead of individual fi'ames. and get 

 a thousand pounds of honey with less labor. Of 

 course, my experience would have prompted me 

 to abandon the movable-comb hive totally had 

 I been blind enough to misunderstand the great 

 advantages of the latter. What was to be done 

 under such circumstances, not to fall out of the 

 frying-pan into the fii'e ? All things considered, 

 I thought : How would it be if you combine the 

 great advantages of the Li'meburgian straw 

 skep with the superiority of the movable-comb 

 hive ? This idea was strengthened by Dzierzon 

 and Berlepsch. Both of them wrote at that 

 time in their works as well as in the Bienen- 

 zeitiiug (Bee Journal), that, if it were po.'i.sible 

 to furnish the Liineburgian straw skeps with 

 suitable frames, there would be no better hive 

 than such a one. in regard to wintering bees, 

 rapid increase in the population of colonies in 

 the spring, and. not least, easy manipulation ; 

 but the cylindrical shape and the arched top of 

 the old hive would not permit this. All right. 

 I thought : but. why not alter the shape and 

 enlarge the hive to a moderate movable-comb 

 hive? The result of my endeavor was the con- 

 struction of a hive of which yon will find some 

 pictures in Dadant's Revised Langstroth. It is 

 this : The old Li'meburgian skep with the 

 arched top. only larger, and not in the shape of 

 a cylinder : but by means of this it is furnished 

 with Ki movable fixed frames, nearly as large as 

 the Langstroth frames. Although Dzierzon. 

 Berlepsch. and other prominent bee-keepers in 

 Germany acknowledge the great value of this 

 hive, it is adopted, with few exceptions, only by 

 such bee-keepers as have kept bees in the old 

 straw skeps. and therefore they know by expe- 

 rience the great advantages iii handling bees 

 by turning the hive over and manipulating the 

 ivhole hive. On the other hand, this hive has 

 met more vehement opposition than all others. 

 But that is easy to understand. He who has 

 never handled bees in the Liineburgian straw 

 skeps. especially in the rational way. like the 

 bee-keepers of Noith Germany, can not have 

 the slightest idea of the advantage bees may be 

 handled with in such hives. 



The greatest objection to this hive has been 

 the inversion, or turning over, before one can 

 manage the bees. But by doing it in the right 

 way it is not a bit more troublesome than to 

 take off a well-filled super from a Dadant hive. 

 If you have those skeps standing on the ground 

 (as is always the case in America), you do not 

 have to lift the whole hive — only to turn it to- 

 ward you. Let it first rest on the front edge, 

 then on the front side, and at last on the top. 



Now. I don't intend to urge any of my broth- 

 er bee-keepers in America to accL-i)t this niova- 



