1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



933 



of the big bee-keepers from the States, who 

 was on a visit to the island, was there. He 

 came out into the yard, and saw a hive oi)en- 

 ed. The combs were fat and heavy. I'hey 

 were loosened, caught up by the ends, given 

 a shake, and placed in the super on the 

 wheelbarrow. He said, ' ' Is that the way 

 you get bees off the combs? Don't you have 

 a brush at all? You can't do that where I 

 came from." After watching for a short 

 time he said he thought bees could be brush- 

 ed off faster than when shaken. So he got 

 a brush, and the two worked together. The 

 result was, the man that had no brush put 

 two combs into the super on the wheelbar- 

 row to one of the man with the brush. 



Now, the Hoffman or the Miller self- 

 spacing frame is all right for some bee-keep- 

 ers. They are the ones who remove the 

 bees from the combs with a brush, and take 

 their time in uncapping. But take the Hoff- 

 man fi-ame as it is made to-day. Have seven 

 of them in a ten-framed super. Will they 

 stand a shake that will remove the bees? 

 They do not. Then w^hen it comes to uncap- 

 ping their combs they are fat and heavy. 

 The top-bar is covered with wax. The 

 M^hole comb should be cut down even with 

 the top and bottom bar. 



The way to get the wax from the top-bar 

 is to strike a quick downward cut with the 

 honey-knife. What is the result? It is, 

 after being shaken a few times they are 

 minus the ends of the top-bar. After being 

 uncapped a few times they are self-spacing 

 no longer. 



Now, it is not my object to try to change 

 everybody's ideas as to religion, politics, or 

 the style of frame he should use in a hive. 

 The Hoffman frame is all right in its place 

 — that is, for comb honey, and will do for 

 the small producer of extracted honey. 



Braceville, 111. Leslie Burr. 



They are the best frames ever made, all 

 things considered. Geo. E. Hilton. 



Fremont, Mich. 



HOFFMAN UNIVERSALLY LIKED. 



Referring to the matter of Hoffman frames, 

 I can't for the life of me see how such in- 

 telligent men as W. Z. Hutchinson, J. A. 

 Green, and others can feel that the Hoffman 

 frame is a nuisance, or even difficult to han- 

 dle. There never was a frame in use that 

 was so universaly liked and used, or one that 

 modernized bee-keeping to the extent that 

 this frame has. This applies particularly to 

 the great mass of bee-keepers, many of 

 them not having the experience of the above- 

 mentioned men. In other words it was and 

 is a God-send to the novice. I have had in 

 use at least 2500 of them at a time, and I 

 would not replace them with any other frame, 

 even if these cost $5.00 per 100, and the oth- 

 er were donated. It sounds too much like 

 "inch strips of foundation in the brood- 

 frames " being better than full sheets. I re- 

 member when this was advocated. No, don ' t 

 change; continue to put them in every hive 

 you send out for me and my customers, and 

 I feel I can safely say for the world, and you 

 will be doing the bee-keepers a favor that 

 will be appreciated by 99 out of every 100. 



HOFFMAN FAR AHEAD OF IHE UNSPACED. 



We have been interested in the discussion 

 of the Hoffman frame. We have used it 

 since its introduction, and for convenience 

 in handling we think it far ahead of the 

 unspaced frame. We are not troubled to any 

 great extent with propolis, and so have no 

 complaint to make on that point. From the 

 standpoint of the jobber, we find our sales 

 at least twenty to one in favor of the Hoff- 

 man, leaving the Danzenbaker frame out of 

 ths question. It strikes us that, if the hive- 

 cover question is settled in as satisfactory a 

 manner as the Hoffman does the frame 

 question, we shall have reason to rejoice. 

 Two of its worst features as named by Mr. 

 Somerford on page 489— "broad end-bars," 

 and top-bars so thick that "they place too 

 much wood between the brood and the super 

 for comb honey"— have advantages that 

 more than counterbalance. We can hardly 

 believe that manufacturers and dealers could 

 force an unsatisfactory article on the un- 

 willing buyer. There is no cemetery larger 

 than that of ' ' improved bee-hives ' ' and 

 things kindred. These bear evidence of a 

 bee-keeping public that won't be forced. 

 M. H. Hunt & Son. 



Bell Branch, Mich. 



TRANSFERRED FROM LOOSE FRAMES INTO 

 HOFFMAN. 



Mr. Root:— You wish me to state briefly 

 my experience with the ordinary loose thin- 

 top Langstroth frame as compared with the 

 Hoffman. I should not want to use the or- 

 dinary loose thin-top Langstroth frames any 

 more at any price. We transferred several 

 hundred colonies out of these frames on to 

 Hoffman frames the past spring. As we do 

 not have very much propolis here we think 

 that the Hoffman frame would suit us better 

 with a long top-bar and square edges to the 

 eni-bars instead of the V edge. 



Denver, Col. F. Rauchfuss. 



Hoffman frames are all right for me. I 

 took out frames this spring that had not 

 been moved for three years, and had no 

 trouble with them. Edward Wilson. 



Whittemore, Mich. 



[I thought at one time, as I was a manu- 

 facturer of supplies, that I would take no 

 part in the discussion; but some questions 

 ai'e raised that call forth some answer. At 

 the risk of being accused of grinding my own 

 ax I will attempt to state the manufactur- 

 ers' side of the matter. 



As I understand Mr. Green, the leader on 

 the negative side of this question, the prin- 

 c:ple of the Hoffman frame is all right, and 

 in the hands of a careful bee-keeper it will 

 give very satisfactory results in most locali- 

 ties; that it suffers from neglect and niis- 

 use, and, in his opinion, the old hanging 

 frame will suffer less from such neglect. 



