1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



699 



varied somewliat. as some of the hives had no 

 exchidi-rs. and consequently brood in upper 

 story, and I find that we need not expect any 

 escape to work satisfactorily where this is the 

 case. The one single cone did very well. One 

 double cone worked pooi'ly; but. perhaps, this 

 was owing to circumstances or the disposition 

 of the bees. Three double cones did very well 

 where there was a queeji-excluder, in nearly 

 every case. The Dibbern star, sent out a year 

 or two ago fi-om the Home of the Honey-bees, 

 did poorly, though there was a small patch of 

 sealed brood in the upper story. But when I 

 came to the Porter spring it just "took the 

 cake." As nearly as I could tell, there were 

 about fifteen bees in the super. As the darkey 

 i>aid. I counted all but one, and she frisked 

 around so 1 could not count her. All were ptit 

 on about 6 p. Ji.. and supers taken off about 9 

 next day. The supers were carried into the 

 honey-house without brushing off the bees 

 remaining, and placed close to one window 

 having a bee-escape as shown on page .5(31, 

 Gleaxixgs for July 1. The sash were removed 

 to allow the bees to alight directly on the 

 screen, and all combs containing no brood were 

 vacated in a short time. 



I could now lay off my hat. roll up my sleeves, 

 and go to work extracting in a businesslike 

 manner, instead of running in and out, cairy- 

 ing combs in buckets, brushing Ix^es. getting 

 stung, etc. We did not have enough No. 1 

 honey-boards to reach round for exti'acting colo- 

 nies: but we do not intend to be without a full 

 supply in the future. I believe that the time 

 is coming when few extensive producers of ex- 

 tracted honey will be without them. For comb 

 honey, the honey-board is not needed; and 

 while I am not yet converted to the Hoffman 

 frame, I would recommend tlie tliick-top-bar 

 frame, and the abolishing of the honey-board 

 for comb-honey production. We get along 

 without honey-boards, even over the metal- 

 cornered frames, vvith % top-bar: and in only 

 one case did the queen enter a few sections. 



To producers of extracted honey I would say, 

 use the No. 1 queen-excluding honey-board. 

 Then use bee-escapes to I'id the supers of bees: 

 and if a few remain, place them in the honey- 

 house near a window with a bee-escape, and do 

 away with brushing bees off the combs, and the 

 consequent stings and hard work; for there is 

 nothing more laborious about the apiary than 

 bending over, shaking and brushing iDeesoft' the 

 combs. 



I now wish to name one of the advantages of 

 the Poi'ter spring bee-escape over others;- viz., 

 being instantly changeable from one board to 

 another. With the Simplicity hive, an escape- 

 board for removing comb honey sliottld not be 

 larger than a T super, so that an empty super 

 may be placed over the brood-chamber, the 

 escape-board over this, and the full super on 

 top : but for removing extracting-supers this 

 is not practical, as the board should have a rim 

 to fit the hive-body; and with a supply of both 

 kinds of boards, one set of escapes will do for all. 



I tested two escapes — the Dibbern star and 

 my three double-cone — to see how many bees 

 would return after leaving them on about 24 

 hours. I found that many bees would return 

 through the Dibbern star; over the three-cone 

 escape the robbers had gained an entrance 

 between the escape-board and the upper story, 

 so that I could not tell. There were quite a 

 number of bees in the upper story, but most or 

 all of them seemed to be robbers. I did not try 

 the Porter on the back-action principle, as I 

 considered it of no use to try, for the bees have 

 no crowbars with which to pry the springs 

 apart and return. 



I may tell you later what a colony of bees will 



do, with the queen confined to seven Simplicity 

 frames, provided there is room for expansion 

 and contraction. S. E. Miller. 



Bluffton. Mo., Aug. 10. 



[Thanks, friend M. The evidence is accumu- 

 lating that there are great jjossibilities in the 

 bee-escape; and it begins to look now, at least 

 for many of us, as if the old nuisance of shak- 

 ing and brushing combs could be dispensed 

 with. I presume, for very large apiaries, es- 

 pecially for out-apiaries, it will be necessary to 

 brush and shake the combs, for extracting; but 

 certainly in our home yards the bee-escapes 

 may be used to great advantage; and they may 

 also in out-apiaries, providing one can afford to 

 drive to an out-yard the night before, and put 

 on bee-escapes; then the next morning go down 

 and take off the honey. If the bee-escapes are 

 already at the yard, and one has a good Victor 

 Ijicycle. the time of going to and from the yard 

 will be reduced to a minimum. This is no idle 

 theory, for I have had experience right in this 

 line— not in putting on bee-escapes at night in 

 an out-yard, but in making long trips in a short 

 time. While I c(m make a trip to our yard, 

 seven miles away, in .30 minutes, I never take 

 over 45: and I am not fatigued, either, for a 

 good day's work.] E. R. 



CLOSED-END FRAMES IN A TIGHT-FITTING 

 HIVE. 



DOES SWELLING, THE RESULT OF MOISTURE, 

 CLOSE UP THEIR END PLAY IN THE SPRING? 



Ernest Root, in Gleanings for July 15. con- 

 tends that, the deeper are close-fitting frames, 

 the greater is the difficulty of manipulating 

 them in a tight-fitting case, a la Heddon. He 

 says that deep frames catch and draw out by 

 " hitches." as in the case of a bureau drawer if 

 it fits snugly and is not pulled out perfectly 

 straight. I am inclined to agree with Ernest in 

 this matter; not so. however, when he says that 

 the right amount of " play " or space can not be 

 maintained between the ends of the frames and 

 the outside ciise on account of the effects of 

 moisture. Lumber does not swell ciidivise: and 

 by halving together the corners of a hive in 

 such a manner that the inside of the end pieces 

 comes against a shoulder cut in the ends of the 

 side pieces, the hive can never be any smaller 

 i?i.sir7e in the direction of its lcngth.no matter 

 hoio much the lumber swells. Now for the 

 frames. Their top and bottom bars extend 

 their extreme length, and can never be any 

 longer from swelling. The ends of the top and 

 bottom bars fit into notches cut into the ends of 

 the end-bars, or uprights, and are nailed fast, 

 the nails being driven within >% of the end of 

 the top or bottom bars. The end-bars ai-e % 

 thick, and perfectly free to swell in either di- 

 rection from where they are fastened by nail- 

 ing. In other words, they can and do swell 

 both ways from the nailing. Outside of the 

 nailing, at each end, is 3s of wood that can 

 swell in such a manner as to lessen the dis- 

 tance between the ends of the frames and the 

 outside case. This is all the wood there is 

 about the whole hive that can swell in such a 

 manner as to lessen this space. One-fourth 

 inch of ordinary pine wood will never swell un- 

 til it is more than ^ thick, while }^ play can be 

 allowed if necessary. 



My Heddon hives and frames are made ex- 

 actly as I describe them. When I put them 

 into the cellar in the fall I always loosen up 

 the screws, as I well know that the end-bars 

 will swell crosswise of the hive. Ordinarily 

 the screws press the frames back about ^ from 

 the sides of the hive. When taken from the 



