1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



731 



not buy some outlandish fixin's to handle 

 bees in if I chose to; and is it not a fact 

 that the reason there are more Dovetailed 

 (or plain Langstroth) hives with Hoffman 

 frames in use is because the practical bee- 

 keepers require them, and not because you 

 would any sooner sell them? And is this not 

 the case why you sell more eight- frame hives 

 to comb-honey men than ten- frame, because 

 the practical comb-honey men demand them, 

 and not because you insist on putting them 

 upon the market? 



In my thirty years of experience with bees 

 I |have handled them in nearly every kind 

 of hive or receptacle known to the craft, 

 from a coyote-hole to the divisible brood-nest; 

 and I want to say that, for handling bees in 

 large numbers, and producing comb honey 

 alone, there is no hive that gives me the 

 pleasure and profit that the simple eight- 

 frame Dovetailed hive and Hoffman frame 

 with short end-rests do. 



There are a few other hives and systems 

 that a man could handle on a large scale, and 

 keep all of the ten commandments; but 

 there are some in which I think it would be 

 an utter impossibility. I won't name any of 

 them, for I don't want to tie the grass across 

 any one's path to prosperity; for you know 

 there are those who for years have expect- 

 ed to perfect a hive and system where they 

 could touch an obscure button, and take a 

 different-sized section from any one else, 

 and out of a different hive from any other 

 used, and put it on the market at a different 

 price from what any one else could get; and 

 to these people I think the horoscope of time 

 still indicates a vast field of unexplored ter- 

 ritory. 



So, now, if I were just starting in the bee 

 business, and wanted to take advantage of 

 the market for carload lots of comb honey 

 during the interim, and before the many in- 

 ventors put their odd- sized sections upon the 

 market at such high prices, which would be 

 odd to us, I would adopt the old standard 

 eight- frame Langstroth hive (Dovetailed), 

 and with Hoffman frames with short rests. 



I would also adopt the old 4jX4i sections, 

 because it doesn't take any talking nor ex- 

 plaining to sell even a carload of them. 



The supers, such as are sent out for the 

 Dovetailed hives, are not practical where 

 one is doing much hauling around the coun- 

 try; the loose feature of the section- holders 

 is never used, but it is a decided nuisance 

 many times, and the J- inch-thick bottom slat 

 is too light, and nearly always sags, cutting 

 off the bee-space. 



My supers are made by nailing a thin 

 board, occupying the same place and space 

 as do the end blocks to the section-holders; 

 and to the bottom edge of these are nailed 

 pattern slats f inch thick, which never sag. 

 The pattern slats are sawed sV wider than 

 sections, so that when two are put together 

 it takes just a iV-inch separator; and when 

 these supers are filled they can be hauled 

 about or set down anywhere without rat- 

 tling out their contents. This super is the on- 

 ly change I would suggest from the regular 



goods offered by the trade. I would have 

 every hive in a thousand just alike, and eve- 

 ry cover and every super and hive-frame. 



I see some one has offered you an appli- 

 ance for working over Hoffman frames into 

 loose hanging frames. Please don't accept 

 his kind offer. Somebody might be tempted 

 to do so, for every frame so changed is, to 

 my mind, a step backward. 



Now, I have not adopted these simple and 

 uniform fixtures from any ulterior reasons, 

 but have had their adaptability forced upon 

 me by actual tests alongside of nearly every 

 invention, and I have passed through as 

 many periods of obstinate ignorance and ex- 

 perimentation as the average man; the same 

 with regard to the choosing between the 

 eight- frame and ten- frame hives. I surren- 

 dered to the eight- frame only after they had 

 repeatedly outstripped the ten- frame, and 

 then not willingly. 



All this was after years of handling all the 

 different frames such as the end-spaced 

 standing frames, reversible, Heddon, V- 

 shaped hanging, finger-spaced, etc., and I 

 still have an apiary in old Wisconsin, of 

 Watertown hives, with the top-bars dropped 

 into a notch with no possible way of moving 

 a frame except straight up. I don't know 

 the inventor; but if I were on a jury to try 

 his case I would convict him of malice afore- 

 thought; and yet that grand old veteran, 

 Stachelhausen, prefers that frame, and our 

 mutual and good friend Hutchinson has gone 

 wrong on the frame question. 



Why, if I had to use such frames and hives 

 with my thousand colonies, and lacking the 



fatience of the above-named gentleman as 

 do, I fear suicide would stare me in the 

 face. 



And now, Ernest, I would advise that you 

 keep offering to the trade these splendid 

 standard goods that you are now making; 

 for in my opinion the man is yet unborn who 

 will give to the world a better hive and sys- 

 tem than the Langstroth- Root- Hoffman com- 

 bination. 



Longmont, Col. 



HOW TO USE A SECTIONAL HIVE. 



Why such Hives give a Greater Range of Man- 

 agement, and hence Better Control 

 of the Bees. 



RY R. C. AIKIN. 



For years I have been an advocate of a 

 large hive. I am also ' ' in love with ' ' the 

 sectional or divisible- brood- chamber hive. 

 Most people, when we speak of a sectional 

 hive, think of it as a small one, while we 

 advocates of them claim their advantage to 

 be in their adaptability. So, Mr. Editor, 

 when I discuss the sectional hive, because it 

 can be made into a very small brood- cham- 

 ber that is no proof that I favor small hives. 

 In many localities, and in the hands of many 

 people, the ten- frame Langstroth hive is 

 none too large. A hive that is just right at 

 one time is not at another; and when it comes 



