IS'.rj 



(iLKAMNtIs L\ I5KK (.TLTUllE. 



case yoii say not liiiiir altmil stiriiiijj iiiilil il is 

 tak<Mi fnim llic lin- ami hciiiiis to cool. 'IMial"s 

 ^ooil. Stiniiisi wliilf Imiliiiir will iiiaKr j^raini- 

 iatiMJ -iu^ar. Siiri'lii!; ai'tt'i' taKiiitr IVotn the tire. 

 if taUfii at just the risJtlit tiiiir. will cream it. 

 w hii'li is w liat I tliiiiU we want. 

 Marcniio. III. IOmma Wilson. 



i \Vc holicvc. Miss \\ ilsoii. yoii have ('Xplaiiicd 

 why .Mr. Draprr iiatl siioli Itad liU'U with his 

 iMiiily. I'lMsoiially. thr juiuor ciiitof lias had 

 MO <'.\pcri('iu'i> in making candy for bci^s. Th<! 

 aiticic on oanily In tlii' A 15 V liook was wiittcn 

 l>y .\. I. Koot. It is (uir impression, however, 

 tiiat iiedesire<i (o have it iiraniilate to a certain 

 extent. When lie sees this he will prol)al)ly ex- 

 l)lain.l 



FIXED FRAMES. 



>Ii:s. AXTKI.I, EXPLAINS THIMH QX'IXBY HIVE: 

 IIS XlEPHOl) OF .MANIPL'LATIOX. ETC. 



I have an idea tliat a large frame woiks bet- 

 ter as a lixed closed-end frame than a small 

 one wonld. as a large frame gives more spac(> for 

 the bees to gatlier in the center than a small 

 frame, and so is less liai)le to kill bees in manip- 

 ulating thein. 



Our (^uinby hive is just like Elwood's, as 

 shown in cut in (iLEAXixos. except that the 

 sides and ends are clamped together at the 

 cornel's iiisiead of being nailed as his is. and slip- 

 ped down over the top with the top nailed fast, 

 if I can rightly see it from the cut in (tleax- 

 iX(is. His hive-body. 1 see. does not come cl(>ar 

 down to the bottom-board eitiier, while ours 

 docs, and is lu'ld in place by a dowel -pin in 

 each side, tliat drops into a socket in tlie liot- 

 tom-l)oard. Onr hive has a Hat board on top, 

 tinned over w iih an inch rim around the sides. 

 When we work through u hive we take off the 

 top and take down the liack-board and unclasp 

 one front corner, which lets one side lean over, 

 as the dowel-jtin in the bottom holds it up. We 

 can then take out one frame or all the frames, 

 and replace them; then push up the side board 

 that acts as a vise and shoves the frames up 

 lightly. This is the hive we use in the honn^ 

 apiary : but tlie one wi' use at the out-apiary 

 holds twelve frames, and a dummy the width 

 of 3 franu'S. or 16 frames without the dummy or 

 tiller. The lirst hive w(> bought uirect of (^liin- 

 by, and we made about 1(X) of them: but linding 

 they were heavy to handle, and as w'e wi-;hed to 

 tier up instead of getting section honey at the 

 sides of the bees we mad<' smaller hiv<-s. hold- 

 ing r.' frames. Since tlu^n we have put in dum- 

 mies the width of three frames, and now use 

 only 7 frames to the liive. with the dummy and 

 super holding 31) sections resting on top. as we 

 found we got tlu_^ nicest com!) honey above the 

 bees. In the large hives at the out-apiary we 

 use only 7 or 8 combs with a dumnfy atone side, 

 and a division-board at the other side, which 

 leaves f nipty sfiace in theliivesduringsummer: 

 but in winter it makes an excellent outdoor 

 hive for outdoor wintering. Iiy setting the bees 

 in the center and lilling in the sidt's and on top 

 with chatf. We also lift the bees up from the 

 bottom-board about i}i inches. We used to turn 

 them around in the hive so as to have chaff on 

 all foursides. but that makes more work. 



The hives at the home apiary, holding but 7 

 combs, do not winter outdoors so w'cll as the 

 larger hives. We used to remove the dummy 

 and fill in with chatf. and chaff on top: imt for 

 two winters we have not used chaff in the hives 

 put into the cellar, and I think thesis do better, 

 as the mice worked in them .so badly: and warm 

 winteis it wasdifficult to keep them cool enough 



with from l:.'."> to l.V) in one cellar. We raise 

 them u|) also from the bottom-board. In these 

 large hives we loosen that viselike ai'iange- 

 ment and simply shove the frames up tightly 

 together. ^Vith care wc kill but very few liees. 

 .Mr. ('. I*. Dadant says in (Ji.EANixcis thi-y are 

 ■ pei'fect liee-mashers." and lu; has seen such 

 ini-n as Axtell handle them : but he is mis- 

 taken about ever seeing Mr. i\xtell handle iiees 

 in the (^)uinby hive, as he has never been at 

 our house, and Mr. .\xiell has never be^'u in 

 an apiary with him except in his own apiary, 

 and 1 believe he does not use the lixed frames. 



\\'itli care one does not n('ed to kill bees any 

 more with lixi'd frames than with the loose 

 frame. 1 should not think so. at least,, although 

 I havi>- never handled the loose; frames much. 

 With tight end-l)ars. and boards at t h(>. sides of 

 frames, one can mal<e a very warm liive for 

 winter without chaff when set in the cellar, or 

 packed with dry chaff and left out of doors. 



We keep our chaff from one yinir to another 

 rather than gather up fresh cliaif each year, as 

 it is more apt to be damp when freshly gathered. 



The movabhi side clamped at the corners is a 

 feature we very much like in .some respects. 

 AVe do not need to remove the supers on top to 

 know the condition of the colony. Simply un- 

 clasp one side and lake it out: lift out one or 

 more frames and set them back without dis- 

 turbing the surplus: but unless the frames fit 

 the hives loosely, w hen first made, or if they fit 

 tight, cari^ must be taken to keep the propolis 

 scraped off from both front and back board, or 

 they will get to fitting so tight it is not so easy 

 to clamo tlie corners. Mrs. L. C. Axtell. 



Roseville, Ills., Nov. 9. 



[Your hive differs from the Hetherington- 

 Quinby quite a little. Mr. Hetherington and 

 Ehvood do not use the loose sides and top, and 

 the clamping arrangement. AVhen they are 

 not running for surplus, that outside case, or 

 box, sits clear down on to the bottom-board. 

 We believe you said, in one of your former arti- 

 eles, that you did not kill bees, but that your 

 helpers would mash a good many when they 

 put on the end and side boards. This can not 

 occur with the Hetherington -Quinby hive. 

 Mr. Hetherington evidently regarded the origi- 

 nal Quinby as too large: and while he [ireserved 

 the depth of the frame, he shortened it by about 

 two inches. Mr. Elwood uses only six frames 

 on the average. We notice that you reduced 

 the size of your original Quinby. and cut it 

 down to seven frames.] 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



XARHOW VS. WIDE BOTTO.M-BAKS. 



Friend Root: — Tlie change; you have made in 

 bottom -bars is a good one. I have had a few 

 such frames in use several years, they having 

 come with some b(>es that 1 bought. I do not 

 know who made them. I adopted the narrow 

 bottom-bars and made all my thick-top frames 

 with them last year. I have not used many of 

 them in my apiary yet. but my experience leads 

 me to believe that the narrow l)ottoin-bar is 

 better than the %. There is less tendency on 

 the part of the bees to build brace-combs to 

 narrow bars, therefore the frames are more 

 easily and quickly handled. I have not observ- 

 ed any tendency in the bees to draw the comb 

 down closer to the bottom-bar tlian to the wide 

 — at least. I have not seen any combs connected 

 with the bottom-bar l)y the bee.s. 



