268 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1920 



LONG IDEA HIVE AGAIN 



Its Value to the ^een Breeder in 



Control of Swarming One of Its 



Excellent Features 



By E. R. Root 



THE Long 

 Idea Hive — 

 Oh, what a 

 name! Is it a 

 long hive or a 

 long idea? Al- 

 tho the name is 

 not descriptive, 

 yet it has stuck 

 for nearly 50 



years. For the benefit of some of our more 

 recent readers I will say that the hive in 

 question is practically a three-story ten- 

 frame hive on a horizontal plane all spread 

 out in one story. In other words, it is a 

 25- or 30-frame hive, and hence the name — 

 Long Idea. 



This hive was exploited as early as 1865, 

 revived in the early 70 's, dropped again and 

 revived once more in the 80 's; dropped and 

 revived again in every decade until, like 

 Banquo's ghost, it will not down. Perhaps 

 the man who used it most continually, and 

 for the greatest period of time, was the late 

 0. O. Poppleton, of Florida, who began us- 

 ing it in the early 70 's in Illinois, and later 

 continued to use it along the St. Johns 

 Eiver, Florida, almost to the day of his 

 death, which occurred Oct. 4, 1917. In 1913, 

 when I went thru southern Florida I ran 

 across the Long Idea Poppleton hive in nu- 

 merous places. There were a few who got 

 a vision of its possibilities; but most bee- 

 keepers after seeing the thing condemned 

 it, even before trying it. Several said they 

 did not see how any intelligent beekeeper 

 like Poppleton could use such a monstrosity, 

 and even I began to pity him till I saw 



there was meth- 

 od in his mad- 

 ness. 



Let me say 

 right here, be- 

 fore I go fur- 

 ther, that I am 

 not advocating 

 the hive for gen- 

 eral adoption. 

 For certain limited uses it has features the 

 discussion of which will help us to clear up 

 the swarming problem. One thing sure — - 

 that a thing that will die and come to life 

 again, and keep on dying and as often come 

 to life again every few years, must have 

 some value. In any case it should be clear- 

 ly understood that its use is limited to the 

 production of extracted honey and queen- 

 rearing. It is entirely unfitted for the pro- 

 duction of honey in sections, and not adapt- 

 ed to the needs of large honey-producers. 



As a let-alone hive it has no equal. For 

 women and old men, or anyone else who can- 

 not lift heavy supers of extracting combs, it 

 is ideal. For the fruit-grower, the man who 

 has bees only for the purpose of pollinating 

 his fruit trees, it is nearly perfect, because 

 lie wants something that will work for 

 nothing and board itself, and that will re- 

 quire a minimum of labor. 



Having now made it clear that I am not 

 advocating this hive for general adoption, 

 I shall proceed to elaborate more upon its 

 merits and where it can be used to advan- 

 tage. 



Merits and Use of Hive. 

 The illustrations given herewith show 



Fig. 1. — The Long Idea double-walled liive, holding 25 Langstroth frames, as used by the Pritchards for 

 cell-building. The double walls and tray of packing give ample protection during winter. It is & very 

 easy operation to open this hive and get at any part of the brood-nest because there is no super or upper 



story in the way. 



