July, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



459 



The pity is that not more beekeepers are 

 built along these lines. 



Two Schools in Beekeeping. 



In the CO's and 70 's tliere were two 

 schools of beekeepers. One advocated a 

 loose hanging frame without spacing-de- 

 vices, such as Mr. Laugstr6th invented and 

 leconinicnded. The other school advocated 

 and adopted an entirely different style of 

 hive and frame — a frame of the self-spacing 

 type with ends closed throughout. Hether- 

 ington, Elwood and many more in New 

 York belonged to the latter school. There 

 were some of the other school who were in- 

 clined to poke fun at them because they 

 liad adopted the bee-smashing (V) hive of 

 Quinbv, tlie frames of which were supposed 

 to be daubed up with bee glue, and which, 

 it was alleged, required hours for their man- 

 ipulation' when the others required only min- 

 utes. Neither Hetherington nor Elwood paid 

 very much attention to the jokes fired in at 

 them by the users of the Langstroth equip- 

 ment. They kept still and sawed wood; or, 

 more exactly, they kept right on producing 

 honey and making money. 



I may be pardoned for saying that it was 

 not until 1890 that the ill-founded notions 

 concerning the Quinby system were dis- 

 spelled. During that year I conceived the 

 idea of riding through the state of New 

 York on a new safety bicycle, something 

 that was more novel by far than the air- 

 plane of today. My objective point was 

 the locality of the Hetheringtons and the 

 Elwoods. I became convinced that there 

 were some very fine features connected with 

 the Quinby system which was later modified 

 by Mr. Hetherington; and with that end in 

 view I was not so very long in trundling my 

 two-wheeler from Buffalo to Starkville, N. 

 Y., the home of P. H. Elwood. I went di- 

 rectly to the hotel, but was told by the pro- 

 prietor that he had positive instructions to 

 tell me to go on to Mr. Elwood 's home. I 

 obeyed orders and arrived just about sup- 

 per time, somewhat leg-tired, dirty, and wet 

 with perspiration, but hungry enough to eat 

 of everything on the table, and I did. I 

 met there a family of boys and girls; a 

 mother who received me as one of her own 

 sons, and a father, a dignified cultured gen- 

 tleman who made me more than welcome. 

 He had been apprised of the object of my 

 visit, and with the greatest care showed me 

 how he could manipulate the so-called "bee- 

 smashing Quinby hive and frame." During 

 the week that I was with him he carefully 

 explained to me the advantages of a closed- 

 end frame — how the brood would be built 

 up to the end-bars because there would be 

 no side-eddying currents of air; how he 

 could hunt queens; how he could dissect the 

 hive, take it all to pieces and put it to- 

 gether again, and yet not kill a bee, and 

 that with no other tool than a common jack- 

 knife; how those bad (?) Quinby frames, 

 instead of being all stuck up with bee glue 

 so that they would have to be separated 



with a cold-chisel, could be separated and 

 liandled with ease. He showed how, wlien 

 he opened up a Hetlierington-Quinby hive, 

 the daylight would pour through the hive. 

 Wlicu he separated the frames he opened 

 up the hive at its ends, letting the light in. 

 When he got through with his manipulation 

 he put the frames together, even though 

 the bars were covered with bees, in such a 

 way as not to kill a single bee, and certain- 

 ly in much less time than it takes to tell it. 

 He then showed how, with a couple of pan- 

 els on the outside, he could, in connection 



The late P. H. Elwood. 



with just the frames, make a complete 

 brood-nest without a hive-body. Such a 

 hive, he demonstrated, could be made large 

 or small without the use of division-boards. 

 He also showed how he could put his comb- 

 honey supers or ' ' clamps, ' ' as he called 

 tliem, on top, and then over the whole a 

 telescoping cap such as is ordinarily used 

 to cover the brood-nest during cool weath- 

 er, but which, during the summer, is used 

 to shade the hive and the brood-nest. 



The illustration will show the original 

 Hetherington-Quinby hive such as I saw' 

 manipulated, and which I later saw my 

 friend, C. F. M. Stone, use in California. 

 In this connection it is interesting to re- 

 mark that Mr. Stone said his Quinby hive 

 was always strong, and always ready for a 

 crop of honey. 



Mr. Elwood gave me my first intimation 

 as to the value of powerful colonies; hut T 



