664 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug 15. 



3. What is tlip greatest heat that honey will 

 ripen in without injury ? 



Last, Cal. Gilstrai- & Gilstrap. 



[We sent the above to INIr. J. F. Mclntyre, 

 Avho replies:] 



1. You may set the tank in the sun if you 

 cover it with white muslin, and do not let it 

 stand over two weeks; 115° in the shade means 

 135° in the sun. in California, where the air can 

 circulate; but in a hole or tank, the air gets 

 much hotter. I once spoiled half a tank of 

 honey by covering it with wire cloth, and let- 

 ting it sit in the sun about a week. My neigh- 

 bor had a hen lay in a nail-keg which stood out 

 in the sun during a hot day, and in the evening 

 the egg was cooked. Myself and neighbors all 

 set our tanks in the sun: but I intend to put a 

 shed over mine this spring. 



2. I have never made any careful tests, but I 

 have reason to believe that honey will stand a 

 higher tempei'ature if heated with hot water or 

 steam than it will if heated in the sun. I be- 

 lieve that the strong light has some effect on 

 the honey to make it darker, and that honey 

 allowed to stand in the sun soon acquires an 

 old strong flavor — becomes rancid, as it were. I 

 have frequently heated honey to 1(50 or 170° by 

 setting the can in hot water, without injury: 

 but I am sure that that amount of sun heat 

 would spoil the honey. I have great faith in a 

 " vacuum pan " for evaporating honey: and if 

 I knew where to get an air-pump of half hoise- 

 power capacity I would build one and try it. 



Fillmore. Cal.. Apr. 7. J. F. McIxtyrp:. 



FRAMES. 



DR. MILLER DISCUSSES THE HOFFMAX FRAME. 



Isn't it time we were having reports coming 

 in from different quarters as to success and 

 failure with different kinds of frames? For 

 after all the discussion it is hardly possible that 

 there has not been considerable experimenting. 

 Come on, friends, and tell us how you came 

 out: give us your successes and failures, espe- 

 cially the failures. 



It is hard to be fully settled, but Til tell you 

 about my experiments, as far as I've got. That 

 feature of the Hoffman frame that allows the 

 ends of the top-bars, and the upper ends of the 

 end -bars, to conu^ together in such a way that 

 the bees can get at the rabbets only fi'om "below 

 to propolize them, I am much pleased with, and 

 think whatever else may be about the frame, 

 one feature must be. that th(> ends of the top- 

 bars must be wide enough to touch. The great 

 advantage is. that you can slide several or all 

 the frames along together. 



But the thickness of the Hoffman top-bars 

 that I have had is '%. and I am not satisfied 

 with that. There are decidedly too many buir- 

 combs over them, and the top-bars of '< thick- 

 ness are just as clear, so far as I can judge, as 

 the slat honey-board. Possibly as they become 

 older they may not work so well, but that does 

 not alter the'fact that K is ahead. It may be 

 that one inch might be still better, but if X al- 

 ways works as well as it has done so fai', I think 

 I shall be as well satisfied as I am likely to be 

 with any thing in bee-keeping. 



Some top-bars have mortises cut in them for 

 tenons on the ends of the end-bars. That makes 

 a nice tit. but it weakens the top-bar at that 

 point, making it liable to split off. Decidedly, 

 no mortises for me. 



So mucli for top-bars. As for end-bars. I 

 don't know enough about it yet to know wheth- 

 ei' the Hoffman is all right, or whether end-bars 

 closed their entire length are better. To tell 



the plain truth. I don't know yet just how to 

 handle either. If, in putting one frame against 

 another, it is first to be rested on the rabbet 

 and then slid along, then the less of the end- 

 bars to touch each other, the less danger :of 

 mashing bees. But if the lower end of the 

 frame in the hands is tii'st to be placed against 

 the uppei- end of the next frame and then to be 

 slid down, then there is no more dangei' of kill- 

 ing bees if the end-bars touch their entire 

 length. Still, even in that case, the shorter the 

 part of tlie end-bar that touches, the quicker it 

 can be slid down. So far. then, the advantage 

 is on the side of having the cud-bars touch 

 only at the upper ends. But another thing 

 comes in. If the end-bars touch their entire 

 length, we have the closeness of the box hive, 

 and it may be that this is so important, espe- 

 cially at the North, as to overbalance the dis- 

 advantage in handling. Who can help to settle 

 this? 



So far. then, as I can see, the frame I want is 

 the Hoffman having a top-bar not less than "s 

 thick and a little more than an inch wide, hav- 

 ing end-bars possibly touching the entire length, 

 possibly only part way. 



As to one point in using these frames. I am 

 still in thedai'k. In using loose hanging fi'ames. 

 suppose the top-bars are one inch wide, and 

 they are spaced 1% from center to centei'. That 

 will leave ?§' space between the top- bars. I 

 believe it is the genei-al custom to leave the 

 same ^V space between the outside top-bai' and 

 the side of the hive. Now. in the hives that I 

 got \\ith Hoffman fi'ames. there was no piovi- 

 sion for any thing else than to have th(> top- 

 bars tit snug up against the side of the hive, for 

 of course if every thing is not wedged up tight 

 together we have no tixed distances. By the 

 way. there was nothing provided to wedge up 

 with. Well, when the loose frames with inch- 

 wide top-bars have % between the top-bar and 

 hive wall, if the comb is % thick there is yV of 

 an inch between the face of the comb and the 

 hive wall. But if a Hoffman top-bar is 1% 

 wide, if it is shoved up tight to the wall, thei'e 

 is just a quarter of an inch between the face of 

 the comb and the hive wall. Will that do? In 

 a hive with Van Deusen spacers I let one frame 

 fit snugly against the side of the hive, and that 

 side of the frame had cells so shallow that no 

 brood could be in it. Did it only happen in that 

 case, or would it always be so? If the frame 

 must be spaced out further from the hive, how 

 should it be done? I have nailed on little 

 pieces on the side of the hive, but I don't en- 

 tirely like that, for I don't like any thing that 

 makes one side of the hive different from the 

 other. I'd like to know how to fill up the other 

 side of the hive, also how to wedge up the dum- 

 my, etc. C. C. Mii.LEH. 



Marengo, 111. 



[Yes. doctor, it is time we were having reports 

 as to the success or failui'e of the different 

 kinds of frames, and I am glad you have started 

 the ball rolling. If some frames are great la- 

 bor-savers, and othei'S are not. those of us who 

 are earning or trying to earn our bread and 

 butler off' the bees want to know what frame 

 or fi'ames it is. 



The HotYman top-bar. with its widened ends, 

 is good, and I think' the majority of those who 

 give it an unbiased test will so agree. There 

 may be some difference of opinion regarding 

 the Old-bar, but I think that, if we accept his 

 top-bar. we all sooner or later will adopt the 

 end-bar substantially as Mr. Hoffman himself 

 prefers it. Mr. H. uses a deep frame, and 

 lience the widened part of the ends does not 

 need to extend down more than P^ inches on the 

 L. frame. It's my oi)ini(Ui. that the less that 



