1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



489 



Some may object to the use of rosin; but 

 it is essential to have it in to help harden 

 the wax quickly, and make a sure thing of 

 it. I have used rosin in wax to fasten foun- 

 dation ever since the advent of foundation, 

 and the bees never objected to it. Some 

 may prefer something else than the wooden 

 paddle to apply the wax to foundation; but 

 by being careful to drop the wax from one 

 corner it is very quickly done; but when 

 the wax is too hot, and the tray held too 

 flat, there is liable to be trouble in having 

 the foundation pasted to the tray. If wide 

 frames are used instead of section-holders, 

 it is advisable to place them over the sec- 

 tions before the foundation is fastened. 



Meridian, Idaho, March 24. 



[Your plan will work; and, in spite of 

 the fact that it is a good deal of labor, it 

 may pay in the extra price secured for the 

 honey, for the honey would be "fancy." 

 Your tray and trough are all right; but in 

 my opinion you could have a much more 

 rapid method of fastening the foundation to 

 the sides and ends. A couple of hot plates 

 one to be kept on a lamp siove while the 

 other was being used), would do the work 

 more rapidly. A rubber bulb about the 

 size of an egg, with a tin tube secured in 

 it, could be filled with hot wax. A slight 

 pressure of the bulb in the palm of the hand 

 would deliver a small stream of wax and 

 rosin clear around the section, when the 

 next section could be filled in the same way. 



But, say — you didn't tell us any thing 

 about those bricks of candied honey shown 

 in the photos. I suppose you cut them with 

 a wire. — Ed.] 



HOFFMAN FRAME CONDEMNED; ITS WEAK 

 POINTS. 



Smokers, and bow tbey can be Improved. 



BY F. N. SOMERFORD. 



In your editorial on p. 121, in referring 

 to the many extensive bee-keepers who use 

 Hofi"man frames exclusively, do they not do 

 s' simply because the manufacturer forces 

 them into it by not sending out a suitable 

 frame with the hives furnished to dealers? 



You say, Mr. Editor, that in Cuba ten 

 Hoff^man frames are used to one of the other 

 styles. Such may be the case; but why is 

 it thus? Simply because they are forced 

 upon us by local dealers and manufactur- 

 ers. We can get no other that has any 

 strength; but Ihe Hofi'man is a weaker 

 frame than most parties think. Even yes- 

 terday, in shaking bees frcm frames while 

 extracting I shook the ends from two of 

 these frames, and they are miserably awk- 

 ward to handle. The ends or projections 

 are very short, and the end- bars are so 

 broad that they are a nuisance for uncap- 

 ping. They place too much wood between 

 the brood and the super for comb honey; 

 and as for their preventing burr-combs, I 



deny that heartily; for have I not been 

 scraping some of them this very day to put 

 excluders on? 



In the brood- nest they are a nuisance too, 

 except to a novice or a person not knowing 

 how to space frames. They are too hard 

 and unhandy to take out from the brood- 

 nest, because one can't push a frame or two 

 back on either side of the one he wishes to 

 lift out as with loose frames. By thus 

 shoving the loose frames over, one can be 

 drawn out without exciting bees or queen, 

 but not so with the Hoffman. I feel sorry 

 for a man who has hives full of bees with 

 H3fi"man frames who wishes to catch 

 queens 



Make the Simplicity frame stronger or 

 thicker at top, sides, and ends, and it will 

 be the frame. Mr. T. F. Bingham well 

 saj's, " A small good smoker is better than 

 a large bad or poor one," page 132. 



I have read after a great many critics on 

 the subject of smokers, and for more than 

 four years have felt like sounding a note 

 against the slipshod way in which Mr. 

 Bingham fastens bis smokers together. 



The fire-box is fastened on to two narrow 

 thicknesses of tin at each end, which have 

 not sufficient strength for holding a toy, 

 much less a tool with which to work. A 

 lady with a dozen hives for pleasure might 

 possibly use a Bingham smoker a season 

 without its becoming loose and shackly; 

 but the everj'-day bang and jerk and wear 

 and tear of bee-keepers who make their liv- 

 ing from bees, and devote their time to bees, 

 smokers, and honey, need something more 

 substantially anchored to its moorings than 

 is the Bingham smoker. 



Of the many smokers that I have used of 

 this make, I can't remember more than one 

 or two which did not break, either from the 

 fire-box or from the bellows. I have just 

 recoopered, riveted, or fastened down two 

 Bingham Doctors the present week. I have 

 four of them, and one Corneil in use. These 

 smokers would be all right if they were al- 

 ways kept as light as they are while stand- 

 ing on the shelves of a supply house. But 

 when loaded for business, with half-season- 

 ed wood, the weight is more than the 

 strength of those two little tin strips will 

 bear, so they soon become shackled, and 

 break off; and the larger the quicker, for 

 the larger ones. The smoke-engine is 

 weaker than the Doctor; so also is the Doc- 

 tor weaker than the smaller ones, because, 

 while making of greater capacity to hold 

 more, they weigh more when full, yet no 

 provision has been made to hold them to 

 gether by increasing their strength. 



I like the large smoker, but will never 

 buy another until something is done to 

 strengthen them. The Doctors are bad 

 enough, and for hired help and outyards, 

 hurry or rush work and robbers, and con- 

 stant every-day work, they are unfit as now 

 made. 



The hinge is defective too, as made on the 

 Bingham smoker; and of all smokers the 

 Corneil stands the wear and tear the best; 



