1904 



CI.F.ANlvr.S IN HF.E CUL1LK1-. 



£41 



brood chambers, wh ch is very fir from be- 

 incT the case. 



Shallow hives are nothing' new. The tirst 

 I ever saw was about 35 v<ars ag^o; but it 

 was actually invented in the ISh century — 

 roug^hly speakinir, ISO a ears aofo. It was 

 hexagonal in shape, and six or seven inches 

 (ieep. It was a close approximation to the 

 modern Heddon, almost the only difference 

 being the frames were immovable. Such 

 hives are still made, but with the frames 

 movable, so there is nothing new under the 

 «5un. I tried the Heddon hive, but soon de- 

 cided that a single brood chamber was less 

 work f )r me. Besides, there was the objec- 

 tion of expense. A double brood chamber 

 costs just double the cost of a single one, 

 ?nd it is the same with regard to supers, 

 1 believe with Rambler that the Heddon 

 hive c mains some excellent features, and 

 is susceptible of considerable improvement; 

 in fact, would stand unr.valed. The Bing- 

 ham hive is a good one, and any one inter- 

 ested in this discussion can not do better 

 than read and reread what Mr. Bingham 

 s lys about his hive. I know what he sa s 

 is true. 



One of the first a't<mpts.to grapple with 

 the shallow hive idea was made tjy no less 

 a personage than A.. I. Root. ]f Mr. Grei- 

 ner has the back volumes of Gleanings he 

 will find this curious hive illustrated on the 

 front p lue of the issue for Sept , 1876. I 

 h ive tried a similiar hive of my own c^n- 

 s'ruction, and found it to work all right, 

 and for some purposes it is simply perfect. 

 Perhaps if I had a hive f tctory at my com- 

 mand I cjuld yet perfect this hive; but I 

 haven't, so we will pass it by to consider 

 more successful ones. Dr. Tinker's Non- 

 p ireil is also a shallow hive, and a very 

 successful one for comb honey production. 

 Then the Ditiz?nbaker hive is an excellent 

 example of the shallow hive — one to conjure 

 by. Only recently I saw it in use away 

 down near the equator, in Berbice. turning 

 cut the most beautiful sections from the nec- 

 tar of the cocoanut- blossom And there are 

 ether shallow hives — for example, the Ideal 

 super makes a splendid shallow hive work- 

 ed on the Heddon plan — in fact, none bet- 

 ter for hot countries, in the hands of a pro- 

 fessional. Several things have militated 

 against the success of the shallow hive. 

 First of all is the notion that bees winter 

 better in a deep hive. In my experience 

 there is not the slightest foundation for such 

 a belief. It is "notion," and very little 

 else. Another "notion" is the notion that 

 starters must be used with a hive run for 

 comb honey, whether the hive is shallow or 

 deep. Putting starters in any shallow hive 

 means pollen in the sections more or less. 

 There is no necessity for "starters" in a 

 shall w hive, hence anj' criticism based on 

 the use of starters is worthless. 



To get the full value out of a shallow hive 

 one must observe certain points usually ig- 

 nored by the advo;ates of deep hives. In 

 the o dinary Langstroth hive with Hoffman 

 frames certain losses occur that must be 



avoided in a shallow hive. First, there is 

 the loss caused by not having the combs se- 

 curely attached to the bottom bar. This 

 loss usually amounts to a tenth (f the total 

 capacitj' of the hive. By spacing 1 '4 inches 

 from center to center of the frames we can 

 accomplish another economy, say 20 per 

 cert of the hi.e, getting Wn frames in an 

 eight- frame hive or 12 in a ten-frame hive. 

 By this means we can cut down the height 

 of a hive 30 per cent, and still have a hive 

 large enough for all practical purposes. 

 Some may say that a l'4-inch spacing is 

 impracticable, and that is so if Hoffman 

 frames are used, for the Hoffman frame is 

 not by any means accurate. It is accurate 

 when first made; but later on, when the 

 edges have accumulated an amount of pro- 

 polis, they are very far frcm being accurate, 

 and that is the reason why a wider spacing 

 is necessary with all ordinary frames. 

 The Heddcn and Dmzenbaker frames cin 

 readily be spaced 1 '4 inches apart, with 

 considerable advantage. 



The next s'ep is where T difftr radio illy 

 with Mr. DaLzenbaker. and that is to have 

 all chambers, bro d, extracting, and section 

 comb, one size. This is one feature about 

 the Heddon worthy cf emulation. All the 

 parts of that hive are alike. There is con 

 siderable economy in having all bodies 

 alike in dimensions, and it simplifies the 

 work of a large apiary. Another great 

 gain can be made in having only two stories 

 instead of three or four. The Heddon hive 

 has four chambers when two would do 

 equally well. In d' signing the Danzenba- 

 ker hive it would have been easy to have 

 made both the honey and the brood chamber 

 of the same demensions, simply by making 

 the super a little deeper and the broo-i- 

 chamber a little shallower. I think a little 

 attention to these details would give us a 

 truly scientific hive, resulting in a complete 

 mastery over the bees, and yet allowing us 

 an extremelj' simple hive at little ex- 

 pense. 



I do not favor home- made hives, for it is 

 an almost invariable rule they are not ac- 

 curate enough for high-class bee-keeping, 

 and we need even greater accuracy than we 

 have at present. Similiar economies can 

 be effected in section supers, but that is 

 another story. Simplicity is a grand thing 

 in bee-hives, and we may always strive for 

 it. I remember the time when hives were 

 much more complicated than now, and 

 greater sinplicity is still possible in my 

 opinion. The super is a strikingly' simple 

 arrangement which can be utilized to an 

 even greater degree than at present. Nor 

 do all bee-keepers realize the wonderful 

 possibilities latent in good Weed foucda- 

 tion. By cutting down the drone-laying 

 capacity of our queens, and holding back 

 the swarming instinct, we can do much to 

 improve the present breed of bees. Accu- 

 rate hives, combs, etc., all make for the bee- 

 keepers' millennium, and this is the reason 

 why I trv to discourage the use of home- 

 made hives, starters, etc. Artificial fertil- 



