1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



931 



late to correct a mistake, and it likewise 

 seems to me that you have made a 

 serious mistake which makes an immense 

 amount of trouble, and detracts largely from 

 the value of your hive in allowing so little 

 room for follower and bee-space. A quarter 

 of an inch added to the width of the hive 

 would probably be enough to correct both of 

 these faults, and I can not conceive of any 

 good reason why this should not be done, ex- 

 cept that it might make necessary expensive 

 changes in your machinery or methods of 

 manufacture. To the bee-keeper, even when 

 supers or parts of hives ai-e to be used inter- 

 changeably with those of older manufacture, 

 it would make no practical difference, except 

 the almost impei'ceptible one of looks. If 

 the hive is wider than the super, or vice ver- 

 sa, by only }$ inch on each side, very few 

 would ever notice it unless their attention 

 were specially called to the matter, and it 

 would not make a difference of an ounce of 

 honey in the year's crop, while the saving 

 in time and vexation might be very great. 

 The necessary additional space might be se- 

 cured by making the frames a trifle narrow- 

 er, or by making the sides of the hives thin- 

 ner, but I do not recommend either of these 

 plans. 



I do not know that I have ever seen any 

 of your latest pattern of followers; but can- 

 dor compels me to say that all of the hives 

 I have been able to recognize as of your 

 manufacture have contained the very flimsi- 

 est followers I have seen. As to followers 

 in ten-frame hives, there are but few of such 

 hives here. I remember one lot of about 35 

 ten-frame hives that had followers in. As 

 they had been used only one season, they were 

 handled with but little trouble, though I ad- 

 vised the owner to leave them out. 



It not infrequently happens that the fol- 

 lower is wedged tight against the frames, 

 and wedges and all propolized so thoroughly 

 that it is almost impossible to get any thing 

 out. 



I do not think that there is an excessive 

 amount of propolis used here — certainly 

 not more than I have been accustomed to 

 elsewhere; and the fact that many, myself 

 included, get along all right with frames 

 having close-fitting ends, shows that propo- 

 lis has nothing to do with my condemnation 

 of the Hoffman frame. I have said that the 

 trouble is not so much with the frame as 

 with the way it is used. I should also in- 

 clude with this the way it is put together. 

 The Hoffman frame should be nailed up so 

 that one Vedge is on each side of the frame. 

 Of those who pay any attention at all to the 

 way they nail them up, perhaps the majori- 

 ty put both sharp edges on the same side. 

 When the proper way is explained to them, 

 these latter say that they expect always to 

 put them back the same way. If they do 

 this, of course it would not make much dif- 

 ference; but they are very liable to get 

 turned around sometimes. Whenever two 

 sharp edges come together they are very li- 

 able to slide past each other, which increases 

 the difficulty of handling. 



The other eccentricities which inspectors 

 sometimes come across, such as putting 

 frames together without any nails at all, 

 should perhaps not be considered the fault of 

 the frame, though they make more trouble 

 with this frame than with some others. 



In my criticisms of the Hoffman frame I 

 have tried to be perfectly fair, and at the 

 same time tell the whole truth, for I feel 

 that that is what you want and what the in- 

 terests of bee-keepers require. 



Grand Junction, Col. 



WHY THE HOFFMAN FRAME IS POPULAR IN 

 CUBA. 



It would be quite interesting to know all 

 the reasons why in Cuba mostly all kinds of 

 frames have been gradually discarded by 

 the bee-keepers to give place to the Hoff- 

 man, which, with very few exceptions, we 

 might say is now exclusively used in that 

 island. 



I have used almost all kinds of frames, 

 and finally decided to adopt entirely the 

 Hoffman for use in my apiaries, which for- 

 merly I used to manage personally. Now 

 being engaged in other business I have to 

 rely almost entirely for the management on 

 outside help under the management of an 

 apiarist. In Cuba it is quite a difficult mat- 

 ter to obtain competent help to work with 

 bees; and especially at extracting time we 

 have to make use of help that is not familiar 

 with the handling of frames. All apiarists 

 should know how difficult it is for such help to 

 space properly the frames back into the hive 

 after they have been extracted. When you 

 have to employ such help, or for a beginner, 

 I do not know of any frame better than the 

 Hoffman, as one might say that it helps it- 

 self to be spaced right. Unless this helper 

 is very careless he is sure to place back and 

 space right the frames if the apiarist has 

 been careful to show him practically once 

 before how to do it. It certainly is a satis- 

 faction to know that all the frames are 

 properly spaced in the hives. 



A great deal of attention is being given to 

 the inconvenience of the thick top-bar of 

 the Hoffman frame. I have read with in- 

 terest the different opinions of the several 

 writers on this subject; and from my per- 

 sonal opinion, based on my past experience 

 in the handling of the different kinds of 

 frames, I give credit to the thick top-bar 

 for causing fewer buri'-combs. Before I 

 adopted the Hoffman frame I used largely 

 the old-style thin top-bar, and my experi- 

 ence was that in no time the bees invaria- 

 bly had the top-bars of the frames in the 

 lower story so tightly fastened to the bot- 

 tom-bars of the frames in the upper story 

 that a great many bottom-bars broke off 

 when the frames were being taken out for 

 extracting. This was such a nuisance, and 

 caused so much inconvenience, that I would 

 have considered advisable the change of the 

 bottom-bar into a thicker or stronger one. 

 Since the adoption of the Hoffman frame I 

 have no cause for this complaint, although 

 the bottom-bar in the Hoffman frame is not 



