February, 1921. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



77 



reversed, being used with the deep side up. 

 The width of hive is 16% inches as made 

 in Ontario. This was intended for 10 frames 

 spaced 1% inches and a follower. -By dis- 

 carding the follower we get 1%-inch spac- 

 ing which we prefer. Frame spacers are 

 ''%-inch bed staples," driven one in each 

 side of the top-bar not more than one inch 

 from the ends. They are in the same posi- 

 tion at each end of every frame, so no mat- 

 ter which way the frame is turned they 

 always function. They are close to the ends 

 to reduce interference with uncapping 

 knives. Being placed with edges up and 

 down they slip into place without catching 

 on the next top-bar. I was brought up on 

 "finger spacers" — know all about them — 

 and would not revert to such a time-wasting 

 system on any account. I have tried over 

 a thousand Hoffman-spaced frames and still 

 have some wooden ears to trim off at each 

 annual round-up. I have studied every other 

 type of spacer on the market, and prefer 

 staples. Their only objections are a slight 

 cutting into the top-bar of the next frame 

 and a slight tendency to weaken the lug. 

 We overcome the latter by reinforcing the 

 lug with a nail driven thru the top-bar and 

 clinched. When used' in the extractor they 

 sometimes catch in the basket, and a care- 

 less uncapper may try to cut them off. The 

 advantages of staple spacers are the small 

 point of contact, eliminating interference 

 by wax and propolis, and the ' ' elasticity ' ' 

 of the system, by which term I mean that 

 we are not tied to the width of spacing the 

 factory happens to give us, and we can fix 

 up old frames of odd widths. 



After nailing, our hive-bodies are care- 

 fully ' ' jointed, ' ' that is, they are trimmed 

 on the edges with a long plane to make a 

 tight joint with the next one above and 

 below. Then metal frame rests are nailed 

 accurately by gauge to bring the top-bars 

 just even with the top of the hive. This 

 leaves a full bee-space under the frames. 



It makes it easy to scrape off the top-bars. 

 But that is not all; whatever goes on next, 

 be it queen-excluder with space turned 

 down, or super, or cloth and cover, or mov- 

 ing screen with deep rim, whatever it be, 

 it grips the frames firmly at the ends so 

 they cannot swing; and with spacers to 

 prevent side-shifting they need no other 

 fastening for any kind of migrating. In 

 wintering this arrangement provides extra 

 space below the frames for possible accu- 

 mulation of dead bees. 



Our hives were first planned with migrat- 

 ing in view. That is why we object to pro- 

 jecting cleats or handles — they interfere 

 with close loading on a truck. We have to 

 be content with hand holes only, but we 

 have them on all four sides. It is why we 

 object also to a projecting cover. The one 

 we use has a rim of folded galvanized iron 

 only, taking practically no side space. It 

 has the same iron over all, and inside is a 

 wooden tray with"%-inch felt or cork pack- 

 ing. The lower side is flat to rest evenly on 

 the frames, but has a piece of tough smootli 

 cloth between to prevent waxing. I never 

 could stand having to crack loose a cover, 

 even when waxed only around the rim. It 

 stirs up a spirit of opposition quite out of 

 proportion to the needs of the case. 



These are the main features of the hive 

 we use. Super and brood-chamber combs 

 are interchangeable. That is very conveni- 

 ent and the main objection we have to in- 

 troducing a deeper brood-comb. All combs 

 are built on well-wired foundation, and 

 faulty ones are sorted out and marked by 

 a simple mark on the top-bar to be used in 

 supers only. We endeavor to make Jie best 

 use possible of the brood-chamber space; 

 then if we can produce queens which the 

 present brood-chamber cannot accommodate, 

 it must be enlarged. From the beekeeper 's 

 standpoint the hive is made as simple and 

 efficient as we know how. 



Georgetown, Ont. 



TRANSFERRING IN THE SOUTH 



C. L. Sams and 

 'T)emonstratwn 

 North 



IT would al- 

 most seem 

 that the sub- 

 ject of transfer- 

 ring is out of 

 place in a mod- 

 ern bee journal 

 devoted to up- 

 to-date methods 

 for keeping bees. 



The average northern beekeeper would sup- 

 pose box hives and log gums to be a thing 

 nf the past, and that we had better look 

 forward rather than backward; but a tour 

 thru the southern States, especially North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 

 would convince him that these types of old- 

 fashioned beekeeping are very much in evi- 



His 'Methods in 

 Work Done in 

 Carolina 



By E. R. Root 



dence. In fact, 

 in some parts of 

 the Coastal 

 Plain of the 

 southe a s t e r n 

 States the box 

 hive or the log 

 gums are about 

 all one does see 

 in the line of 

 hpel^oeping. Since the war the high price for 

 both beeswax and honey has induced the 

 northern beekeeper to come south to buy up 

 these old gums, which he has been able to 

 get at from two to three dollars. Some of 

 these box hives full of black bees have 

 made, when transferred, splendid invest- 

 ments. I have known of a few cases where 



