1153 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Die. 15 



thousand two story extracting hives equip- 

 ped with Hoffman frames, and has already 

 three thousand in use, which will make, all 

 t )ld, 5000 two-story hives, or 90,000 frames. 

 His experience is, therefore, somewhat ex- 

 tensive. Some have thought that the Hoff- 

 man frame was not adapted for extracting. 

 As we have a good many more customers 

 who use it for this purpose, and extensively, 

 too, it would seem to be only a question of 

 learning how to use it. — Ed.] 



SPACING FRAMES. 



Staple-spaced vs. Loose or Nail-spaced Frames. 



BY MORLEY PETTIT. 



I see Dr. C. C. Miller is itching for a scrap 

 about frames with some other member of 

 the Pettit family (p. 936). Well, my time 

 is "scarce," but it will not take long to tell 

 why I like the Pettit style of frames better 

 than any others I have seen. The frame has 

 a fj-inch-wide by §-inch-thick top-bar and a 

 f-inch bottom-bar. The end-bars are 'i inch 

 wide part of the way down, then taper to |. 

 I like this shape because a wedge-shaped 

 comb pulls out of and shoves into the cluster 

 of bees so much easier. I consider Dr. Mil- 

 ler's only objection, that "bees sometimes 

 build past them or between them," very 

 weak compared with this great advantage. 

 The objections I see to the wide bottom-bar 

 are very strong, viz. : 



1. They rake and scrape bees as they pass 

 in and out of the hive, unless handled very 

 slowly. 



2. They catch dead bees in winter. 



3. If two frames are slightly out of square 

 they meet and are glued together at the 

 bottom. 



4. If a double brood-chamber is desired, 

 the queen does not so readily go up between 

 wide bottom-bars. 



Now about those nails and staples. I 

 fully remember the conversation to which 

 Dr. Miller refers. It was at the Chicago 

 convention two years ago, and I had been 

 wanting to meet the doctor and ask him 

 how he could prefer nails to staples. I cer- 

 tainly admitted that staples cut slightly into 

 the wood of the adjoining frame; but at 

 that time I had not tested the nail spacer 

 ■enough to be strong in my objection to it. 

 However, that winter I spaced a few sets of 

 frames with nails instead of staples. Those 

 frames have been an aggravation in the 

 yards wherever they turn up, ever since. 

 Your words, Mr. Editor, express it exactly. 

 The staple "permits of the frame sliding 

 into position better than a nailhead, which 

 has a tendency " (rather is sure) "to Jiook 

 or catch on the next frame." Having used 

 staple spacers four or five years I do not 

 find their cutting into the next frame does 

 any particular harm as yet. When it does I 

 can tack a piece of tin on the top-bar as flat 

 surface for the staple to butt against, rath- 

 er than have the flat head on the spacer. 



Final. y, Mr. Editor, you say that extract- 

 ed-honey men want, generally, no spacer at 

 all, on account of uncapping. I myself am 

 an extracted-honey man on a fair scale, and 

 would say to the more extensive men that 

 they don't know what they are missing. 

 Let me give a record day which will proba- 

 bly compare favorably with what others do. 



Between 10 A.M. and 6 P.M. my helper and 

 myself, without other assistance, took off, 

 carried down cellar, extracted, strained, and 

 put in barrels, 2000 lbs. of honey. The 

 honey was three-fourths capped. The ex- 

 ti'actor was a four-frame non-reversible. 

 The honey had to be carried in pails to the 

 strainer, which emptied into the barrel, and, 

 worst of all (?), every frame had staple 

 spacers. Once you know where the staples 

 are to be found on the frame, the danger of 

 running the knife on them is not worth con- 

 sidering compared with the gain in time of 

 having to take no thought for the spacing in 

 the super. I neglected to say that the su- 

 pers were all returned to the hives as we 

 went along, and dinner took at least half an 

 hour of the time. 



Now, if I seem to have attacked any one, 

 let him do his worst. No one sees more 

 clearly than I the fact that every one has a 

 right to his own way of doing these things; 

 and if you don't want staples and narrow 

 bottom-bars, you seem to me to be the loser 

 thereby. 



Belmont, Ont., Canada. 



[There, that is right— give it to the doc- 

 tor. I never could see how he could like 

 those nail spacers in preference to the smooth 

 staples that permit the frames to slide past 

 each other without any hitching or catch- 

 ing. I wonder if the doctor is the only one 

 who uses nail spacers to any extent. —Ed.] 



BEES ON SHARES. 

 A New Form of Agreement. 



BY CONTRIBUTOR. 



I have noticed lately several cases of dis- 

 satisfaction arising from having no written 

 agreement. I have drawn up several docu- 

 ments on lines similar to the one here given. 

 I have thought that this might be of some 

 benefit to those who do not know how to go 

 about drawing up an agreement. The one 

 I send you is very much abbreviated, but it 

 will give one an idea, and he can put in oth- 

 er clauses to meet his particular case or 

 needs. 



AGREEMENT TO KEEP BEES ON SHARES. 



The parties to this agreement are John 

 Smith, merchant, of Sunnyside (hereinafter 

 referred to as the proprietor), arid William 

 Brown, bee-keeper, of Greendale (hereinaft- 

 er referred to as the operator). 



Clause \.— Duration of agreement. 



The terms of this agreement come into 

 force on Sept. 1, 1904, and end on Sept. 1, 

 1909. 



2. Hives, appliances, and supplies. 



