.T.WT-ARV. 1922 



GLEANINGS IN REE C U L T t' R E 



])iii£^ tlirii the country on n i>aii' of wagon 

 wheels. Even the dogs paid their respects 

 by grabbing at my ankles. 



On this same bicycle trip T discovered 

 the Hoffman frame — that is, a sort of cross 

 between the old-style Langstroth and the 

 closed-end Qiiinby. That frame as now 

 modified by me has lived to become almost 

 universal. This apparent egotism on my 

 part may be softened by the remark that 

 there are some who think i-t the worst frame 

 ever devised. I found also on that trip 

 the closed-end Quinby frame and hive. I 

 ran across these at the home of P. H. El- 

 wood, then of Starkville, up among the hills 

 of Herkimer County. I spent several days 

 with him, and at the conclusion of my visit 

 I became convinced that these frames could 

 not only be handled rapidly, but that, too, 

 without the nuisance of bee glue or of bee- 

 smashing. In fact, I saw Mr. Elwood actu- 

 ally go thru dozens of his hives rapidly 

 without smashing a bee — simple as could be 

 if one only knew how. At the time, in a 

 series of articles in this journal I described 

 the Hetherington-Quinby hive. Of course 

 it will be understood that Captain J. E. 

 Hetherington, who then had about 3,000 of 

 them, had slightly modified the original 

 Quinby hive and frame so that it was more 

 workable for the commercial beekeeper. 



It should be understood that the Quinby 

 frame proper is not a hanging frame, but a 

 standing frame, resting upon the bottom- 

 board, upon one end of which is fastened 

 a piece of strap iron about % inch above 

 the floor. Every Quinby frame had at one 

 corner a piece of strap iron hook which en- 

 gaged the aforesaid piece of strap iron. The 

 purpose of this arrangement was to keep 

 the frames in alignment and to secure them 

 in an upright position upon the bottom- 

 board. Eight or ten of these frames were 

 hooked on to the bottom-board as shown by 

 the illustration, when two wooden panels 

 covered the two exposed sides. A common 

 string was looped around and tied. On top 

 of the whole were placed supers for box 

 honey, for this was primarily a comb-honey 

 hive. Mr. Quinby and Mr. Hetherington 

 were firm believers in warm hives. They 

 therefore had an outer case and a rim that 

 telescoped over the whole. When a second 

 super was put on, another rim was put in 

 place, and an ordinary "cap" telescoped 

 over the whole. This arrangement made a 

 double-walled hive, very warm, and exactly 

 suited for the production of comb honey. 

 The inner wall consisted of closed-end bars, 

 -the two side panels, the outer wall of the 

 rim, and cap before mentioned. 



The important feature of this hive was 

 the construction of the entrance. The bot- 

 tom had a large opening which could be con- 

 tracted during cold weather. This opening 

 connected with a sort of sub-floor so that 

 the bees would enter the hive by going un- 

 der it — at least; that was the general de- 



ls 



sign used by Mr. Elwood. Others had an 

 opening in the sides wiiicli allowed the bees 

 to pass on this sub-floor up thru the hole in 

 the bottom-board of the hive proper. 



There are not many, comparatively, who 

 are using closed-end frames in New York; 

 and I am told the main reason is because 

 the Hetherington-Quinby closed-end frame 

 hive is not a regular equipment, and can 

 not be purchased at any beehive factory. 



Two years ago while I was visiting ('. F. 

 M. Stone of Lamanda Park, Cal., near Pasa- 

 dena, he showed me one of those old hives 

 that he secured from O. J. Hetherington, a 

 brother of J. E. Hetherington, who, as I 

 said, had at one time some 3,000 colonics 

 on these same closed-end frames, being at 

 that time the largest beekeeper in the 

 world. I considered this old Hetherington- 

 Quinby hive as a real souvenir and a curi- 

 osity. And yet it was something more than 

 a curiosity, because the colonies in this hive 

 were always strong and prosperous. He at- 

 tributed this to the fact that the frames 

 are closed-end, and that the hive is double- 

 walled — a combination that is also rare in 

 California. I said to Mr. Stone, "I wish 

 you would open up this hive and let me 

 show thru the camera its construction and 

 just how you handle it." 



Quinby closed-eud frame. This shows how the brood- 

 nest can be split up or dissected for examination. 



He had been told by O. J. Hetherington 

 how to manipulate it, and his mode of pro- 

 cedure was precisely that of P. H. Elwood, 

 and presumably that of the renowned and 

 brilliant Captain Hetherington himself. 

 First, Mr. Stone, as shown by Fig. 1, lifted 

 the cap that covered the hive proper. After 

 lifting the lower frame that surrounds the 

 bottom of the hive and the super he pro- 

 ceeded to loosen the string that held the 

 panels around the closed-end frames. He 

 then showed, exactly as Elwood had donn 

 nearly 30 years before, how these frames 



