440 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July, 1922 



did not at that time have sense enough to 

 soise all that he said, because I was over- 

 whelmed with the idea of the Quinby hive 

 with Hetherington 's improvements. I re- 

 member the feeling of enthusiasm that came 

 over me as I went with Mr. Elwood from 

 apiary to apiary, and I was fast coming to 

 the conclusion that we beekeepers of the 

 West could well afford to adopt that sys- 

 tem — especially so as it provided a hive 

 that was expansible in size and that would 

 not kill bees. That to me at the time, and 

 to many others, was a revelation. 



I will not take time here to tell how Mr. 

 Elwood drove me over those York State hills 

 to his outyards. He would not let me use 

 my bike, as he said he wanted to talk with 

 me. And right here Mr. Elwood helped to 

 make some modern beekeeping history — 

 something that I have been wanting to tell 

 the world for the last ten years, and now I 

 am going to tell it. 



The Birth, of the Hoffman Frame. 



I was planning to go back and tell father 

 that I thought we ought to put the Quinby- 

 Hetlierington hive on the market, because I 

 believed it would ultimately supplant the 

 regular standard Langstroth equipment. I 

 was young then, and at that age, as is the 

 case with some others, my enthusiasm was 

 inclined to run away with my judgment. It 

 was right here that Mr. Elwood did the 

 beekeeping fraternity a signal service. I 

 can not remember his exact language, but 

 I shall quote him as follows: 



"I am glad, Mr. Eoot, that I have proven 

 to you that the Hetherington-Quinby system 

 is not a clumsy, impracticable, bee-smashing 

 outfit. But, much as I like it, I am not go- 

 ing to recommend it to the beekeepers who 

 already have, perhaps, hundreds and 'thou- 

 sands of hives built on Langstroth lines. It 

 would cost those beekeepers too much to 

 change over. I will take you to a man who 

 has a frame that I believe is adapted to the 

 regular Langstroth hive, and which, I be- 

 lieve, you could well afford to adopt." 



Eight here, with his eyes looking over 

 toward those everlasting hills, he stopped a 

 moment and resumed: 



"Young man, the beekeeping industry is 

 still in its infancy. There are wonderful 

 possibilities ahead of it. A great majority 

 of the beekeepers of the United States have 

 adopted the Langstroth system. I say to 

 you it is a good one, and no man who has 

 adopted that can afford to make a radical 

 change; but," said he, "I think it could 

 be improved." 



"Do you mean," I inquired, "that we 

 can have a hanging closed-'end frame and 

 put it in a Langstroth hive?" 



"No," he came back with an instant re- 

 sponse; "that would not work." 



He continued, "I will take you over to a 

 man named J. Y. Tunnieliff wlio has tried 

 to use closed-end frames in Langstroth liive- 

 bodies; but it is a bee-smasher; and in such 



a hive you will lose the benefit of the closed- 

 end frame. ' ' 



Then he offered the prediction that the 

 Ileddon hive that made use of that prin- 

 ciple would not be a permanent success. We 

 now know how well the prophecy came 

 true. 



We drove over to Mr. Tunnieliff 's, and 

 there I became convinced from that moment 

 that Mr. Elwood was right. After we came 

 away and were driving along the road Mr. 

 Elwood continued: 



"Now, Mr. Root, I am going to drive 

 you over to see Julius Hoffman of Canajo- 

 harie. I think he has a frame with partly 

 closed ends that is eminently adaptable to 

 the Langstroth hive. Considering the fact 

 that there are hundreds of Langstroth hives 

 where there is one Quinby, I want to rec- 

 ommend to you the Hoffman frame. ' ' 



To make a long story short, both of us 

 went to see Mr. Hoffman, and there I be- 

 came convinced that he had the thing I 

 was looking for — a self-spacing frame, part- 

 ly closed end, that could be used in the 

 hives then commonly in use. 



Quinby closed-end frame. This shows how the 

 brood-nest can be split up or dissected for exam- 

 ination. 



I tried the original Hoffman frame at our 

 Medina apiary, but found that I would have 

 to make some changes — changes that result- 

 ed in the modern Hoffman frame that is 

 sold now more extensively than any other 

 brood-frame in the United States. Indeed, 

 it has been made the standard by every 

 bee-supply manufacturer in the country, and 

 it has been the standard for tlie last 20 

 years. Like almost every good thing it met 

 with a good deal of ridicule. I never went 

 to a bee convention but that fun was poked 

 at me for adopting and recommending tliat 

 "liorrible bee-smasher," and "something 

 that did not work and never would work." 



Frankly, some of my friends will not 

 thank either Mr. Elwood nor myself for 



