30 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



after they are built, they would cease their 

 criticisms. I know of one bee-keeper who 

 says he prefers the Hoffman frame, but 

 prefers to leave out the follower, and then 

 spaces the frames clear across the hive. 

 Could any thing be imagined more ridiculous? 



Another prefers to push the follower and 

 half of the frame to one side of the hive and 

 allow the bees to build one thick comb in the 

 center to enable the operator to have one 

 place of easy access. 



Still another prefers to leave out the fol- 

 lowers and allow the bees to build a thick 

 comb at the side of the hive; but they gen- 

 erally build in a one-sided slab of honey that 

 is attached to the side of the hive and then 

 bridged across. 



You see in every case they entirely lose 

 the Hoffman feature. Many people have a 

 great deal of trouble with the hive-follower, 

 and some entirely condemn it. 



Because the ten-frame hive as put upon 

 the market is made so a follower can not be 

 used, is that any thing against the follower? 

 Because some people push the follower over 

 against the side of the hive and allow the 

 bees to glue it fast there, is that any thing 

 against the follower? In the one case it's 

 because the manufacturer does not allow 

 enough room to use a follower, and in the 

 other case the operator doesn't know how to 

 use a good thing when he has it. 



I know of many bee-keepers who work for 

 comb honey, and it matters not what kind of 

 hive or frame they have; if you want to ex- 

 amine one of their colonies you need a kit of 

 burglar tools and the patience of Job to get 

 into one of them at all. 



Why do not bee-keepers, it matters not 

 whether they are large or small producers, 

 put their fixtures, their whole plant, it may 

 be called, in working order at least once a 

 year? What would be thought of a manu- 

 facturer who would allow the sawdust, bark, 

 and edgings to fill up among his belts and 

 wheels and stay there year after year? or 

 the railroad companies who would allow the 

 brakes on the cars to go dragging, and grass 

 and weeds to grow across the tracks? There 

 is a difference between fussiness and good 

 order; but every bee-keeper should put his 

 whole fixtures in good working order every 

 spring. 



There is one way and only one way to have 

 Hoffman frames satisfactory — that is, to 

 have the combs built with the follower prop- 

 erly adjusted, and the hive sitting level; 

 then, ever afterward, properly adjust the 

 frames and follower after each and every 

 manipulation so as to retain the Hoffman 

 feature, which is, accurate spacing. 



I have long sance learned that we of the 

 common herd can not get what we want by 

 trying to influence manufacturers; but if I 

 were on a committee to change the Hoffman 

 frame I would only suggest making the end- 

 bars square on both edges, and would insist 

 upon retaining the short rest. The fact is, ' 

 bee-keepers need fixing over much more 

 than does the Hoffman frame. 



El Dorado Spring, Mo. 



[As I remember, Mr. J. A. Green and the 

 others who have criticised the Hoffman 

 frame have not complained of it because the 

 principle was not right, but because, in the 

 hands of the inexperienced or careless, it 

 was not handled properly, and therefore 

 was not so good a frame as the ordinary un- 

 spaced frame of the Langstroth type. 



You emphasize very clearly that there is 

 a 7-ight way and a ivrong way to handle the 

 Hoffman frame, and certainly three-fourths 

 of the trouble with the follower may be 

 eliminated if it is left up against the frame 

 and not against the side of the hive. 



It is difficult to make a really good thing 

 fool-proof; but I have always felt that the 

 Hoffman frames came nearer to that de- 

 sideratum than any loose, unspaced frame 

 that was ever devised. It can not be spaced 

 too close, although it may be spaced too 

 wide. In the ten-frame hive there can not 

 be much variation. It must come pretty 

 nearly right. In the eight-frame it will be 

 spaced equally correct providing a follower 

 is used. It can not be any other way. My 

 observation has always been that the inex- 

 perienced and careless would space the un- 

 spaced frames too close together, with the 

 result that nearly half the capacity of the 

 brood-nest was put out of commission. 



We are giving our customers this year 

 the option on a square or V edge; and we 

 expect this year to make more of the square 

 edge than of the V. The square edge will 

 make the Hoffman more fool-proof than 

 ever, because it will not make any differ- 

 ence how the end-bars are put on. They 

 must go right every time. —Ed. 



"THE HOFFMAN FRAME COME TO STAY.' 



' Its Special Adaptation to Incompetent Help in 

 the Apiary." 



BY T. F. BINGHAM. 



Being greatly pleased with the above head- 

 ing, and more pleased and instructed with 

 the management of it, and the indisputable 

 facts brought out by Mr. Editor, I beg a 

 few inches of space in your journal to ex- 

 plain some small points which may not have 

 been very clearly shown. 



Mr. Hyde makes his estimates on 1200 

 colonies of bees, which is a fair number for 

 a yearly experiment. He states that a man 

 can clean from 25 to 50 per day, and ought 

 to get wax enough to pay for his labor. His 

 heading indicates that incompetent labor 

 may have been employed; but as such work 

 was done in the spring, so as to have easy 

 manipulation during the rush season, it would 

 not be unreasonable, considering that the 

 incompetent help should use an incompetent 

 smoker and receive rheumatic hypodermic 

 injections sufficient for a lifetime, added to 

 that perennial pleasure every bee-keeper ap- 

 preciates, namely, the simple fact that a 

 honey-bee can do it but once. 



It would not be unreasonable to estimate 

 such labor at $2.00 per day, and that 25 col- 



