932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



OCT. 1 



thicker than was the one on the old-style 

 frame I used before. The thickness of the 

 top and bottom bars of the actual Hoffman 

 frames taken together does not really take 

 any more space than the thin top-bar with 

 a thicker bottom-bar would have taken. 

 This last change, if I had made it. would 

 not, probably, have remedied the building of 

 burr-combs between the frames of the lower 

 and upper stories. 



I would not claim that the Hoffman frames 

 will prevent burr-combs entirely, nor that 

 the reason first given is of the same value 

 to the small or intelligent apiarist that 

 works his bees himself without any assist- 

 ance, as it is to me. 



In shipping bees I do not know of any 

 other frame that will equal the Hoffman. 

 In Cuba, where the country roads and con- 

 veyances are not of the best, the moving of 

 bees is quite an item to be considered, es- 

 pecially as most bee-keepers, sooner or later, 

 with the fast increase they obtain, have to 

 consider the establishing of apiaries or the 

 selling of bees. Prevention of increase in 

 Cuba soon becomes a problem, and it is not 

 unusual to see an intelligent apiarist increase 

 from a comparatively small number of hives 

 up to the thousand mark. 



In the last four years I have shipped to 

 different points of the island over three 

 thousand nuclei besides a large number of 

 full colonies of bees, either by steamer, 

 rail, or by carts over rough roads; and in 

 case of either strong colonies or nuclei I 

 have always attained the best result with 

 the Hoffman frame. It requires less work 

 and time to prepare the same for shipment, 

 all that is needed being a small strip nailed 

 across the projecting ends of the frames, 

 and it will remain fastened and better se- 

 cured than any other frame I have used. 

 In fact. I have not had a single comb broken 

 on Hoffman frames, while in the same ship- 

 ment I must say some combs in other kinds 

 of frames broke. 



I notice that some objection is being 

 raised to the Hoffman frames on account of 

 propolis; but we do not find this objection 

 in Cuba; in fact, apiarists using well-made 

 hives are not really much bothered with 

 propolis. The bees seem to put all their 

 energy into gathering propolis to cover 

 cracks and crevices in the hives; but we do 

 not find any trouble of this kind with the 

 frames. F. H. de Beche. 



THINKS IT THE BEST FRAME NOW IN USE. 



Mr. Root:— If I differ with any of your 

 correspondents I give you fair warning that 

 they must give up, for I can't. I presume I 

 am punching up a hornet's nest, but never- 

 theless let us have the plain sohd facts. 



In 1893 a number of your subscribers, 

 among whom was one Dr. C. C. Miller, ad- 

 vised that the top-bar of the Hoffman frame 

 be made IJ inches wide, and full J inch deep 

 at the sides. Why was that? Simply be- 

 cause a deeper top-bar gave better results 

 by the exclusion of burr-combs, and cut a 



great figure in lessening brace-combs, or 

 combs built between the top-bars. This 

 was, in my judgment, a step in the right di- 

 rection—that of making the most correct 

 bee-space in which the bees are the least li- 

 able to build comb or deposit propolis. 



I am sincere when I say that, in my opin- 

 ion, all things combined, the Hoffman frame 

 is by far the best frame now offered to the 

 bee-keeping fraternity. I note in the Bee- 

 keepers' Review that Mr. Williamson says 

 experience fails to apply when it comes to a 

 movable frame. For rapid handling, my ex- 

 perience proves, too, that the Hoffman frame 

 is the best one for rapid handling in pairs of 

 2, 3, and 4. Mr. Abbott also says that I 

 pronounced the Hoffman frame a humbug 

 ten years ago. If Mr. Abbott is correct in 

 his condemnation of them, then I have to 

 confess that the rank and file of the bee- 

 keepers prefer to be humbugged. It is the 

 strongest frame we have, and destroys the 

 least number of bees, and kills fewer queens 

 while manipulating them. 



As for hired help in the apiary, I should 

 like to call attention to the fact that we 

 have to hire all kinds of help to do the 

 work with 5900 colonies of bees; and what 

 kind of spacing would take place with 

 frames not self-spacing? With the Hoff- 

 man, one can not do bad spacing. I believe 

 if those who condemn the Hoffman frame 

 so strongly would use nine frames in a ten- 

 frame hive, with two plain division-boards, 

 all trouble would flee like the dew before 

 the sun. 



Section-cases come off almost as clean, 

 and free from brace-combs, as when put on. 

 The hive can be quickly arranged for ship- 

 ment with the Hoffman frame— no nails to 

 run the uncapping-knife against. All in 

 all, the Hoffman frame has many advan- 

 tages over the disadvantages of self-spacing 

 frames. Give us cold facts, and let us not 

 improve this good frame backward, as have 

 been the bee-smokers. A few more such 

 improvements on smokers as we have had of 

 late, and we practical bee-keepers will be 

 obliged to resort to the old turkey-wing and 

 rag. C. E. Woodward. 



Guanabana, Cuba. 



HOFFMAN FRAMES NOT STRONG ENOUGH. 



On page 694 is the following : ' ' By the way. 

 Hooper Brothers use nothing but Hoffman 

 frames for extracting. Indeed, they con- 

 s'der them far superior to any other. It is 

 a mistaken notion that such frames are not 

 adapted to hot countries, or wide spacing to 

 get fat combs for extracting. The fact 

 that some of the largest producers in the 

 world use them shows that they are not so 

 difficult to handle as those who have not 

 used them extensively suppose." 



In answer to their style of reasoning, that, 

 because a man is a large producer, he knows 

 just what is best, or the best way to do a 

 thing, I will tell something that happened 

 in Cuba. 



Extracting was going on at a ranch. One 



