534 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



as I use it for my hives, and which has be- 

 come known among bee-keepers as the Hoff- 

 man, I will hereby do so. To answer how I 

 came to devise my frame, I shall have to 

 begin this little history by going back to 

 about 50 years ago. I was then quite a 

 young fellow, but kept a few colonies of 

 bees given to me by father. Hearing then 

 of Dzierzon, his new methods, and his Ital- 

 ian bees, I made up my mind to see him. I 

 walked to his place at Carlsmarkt, which 

 was only about two hours' walk from my 

 home, and had the fortune to see the "great- 

 est bee-keeper of Germany." Dzierzon at 

 that time had revolutionized bee-keeping all 

 over Germany by inventing a practical mov- 

 able comb. The combs were simply made 

 movable by being built to a bar furnished 



with a starter, suspended and movable in 

 grooves cut in the sides of the hive. These 

 bars were spaced by wire nails on one side, 

 and practically self-spacing. 



Later the Baron of Berlepsch invented a 

 movable frame — about the same time, I 

 understand, that Langstroth invented his 

 frame in this country. The Berlepsch is a 

 spaced frame, made so by projections on top 

 and bottom bars. For hives as they were 

 mostly used then in Germany, being worked 

 from the side or back of the hive, the Ber- 

 lepsch was practical, and a great improve- 

 ment over the Dzierzon bar, but would not 

 do for hives worked from the top, as are 

 used in this country entirely. 



Coming to this country in 1866 I brought 



along a colony of Italian bees, and after a 

 time made up my mind to make bee-keeping 

 my business pursuit. I began with the Ber- 

 lepsch frame and hive, but soon found that 

 I should have to change to a top-opening 

 hive, and could not use the Berlepsch 

 frame. I next tried the standing Quinby 

 frame. Although the Quinby hive and 

 frame is largely used yet in New York 

 State by extensive and successful bee- 

 keepers, I did not, for some reasons, adopt 

 it. Then I tried the Langstroth, the best- 

 known hive in America, but soon found 

 I must have a spaced frame for rapid han- 

 dling and accurate spacing, and, what is 

 not less important, not to be a swinging 

 frame on account of moving the hives. 



I then constructed a frame with a top-bar 

 of the Berlepsch style; the side-bars 1| wide, 

 close-fitting the whole depth of the frame; 

 the bottom-bar I wide. 



This frame suited me fairly well ; how- 

 ever, after a fair trial I found there was 

 more close-fitting about it than needed. So 

 I narrowed the lower half of the side-bars 

 to I wide, like the bottom- bars. Longer 

 experience, however, induced me to have 

 the close-fitting part of the side-bars only 

 one-third the depth of the frame. This I 

 found sufl^cient to secure straight hanging 

 of the frames, and to reduce the squeezing 

 of bees in handling, to an inconsiderable 

 degree. Soon after, in order to reduce the 

 contact of frames more yet, without sacri- 

 ficing any of the self-spacing features, I 

 devised the V shape on one edge of the side- 

 bars, so that the V edge will meet the 

 square edge of the joining frame. The 

 frame as I have it now I have not been able 

 to improve, and it works better in my style 

 of hive than any other I know. 



After the frame I use had come to your 

 notice you thought well enough of it to 

 manufacture and introduce it to the bee- 

 keeping world, which you have done with 

 remarkable success. 



You have by this time modified the original 

 Hoff"man frame somewhat, so that Jacob H. 

 Nellis made the remark in Gleanings once 

 that you had modified some of the Hoffman 

 out of it. However, I have no doubt that 

 the frame as you make it now will suit best 

 all round. 



By the sample received I must say work- 

 manship and material are a great credit 

 to you. As there has been quite a discus- 

 sion going on in Gleanings about the Hoff- 

 man, and in particular the V edge, I will in 

 my next, if room is allowed me, say more 

 about the V edge; also about division-boards 

 and wedging, brace-combs, about spaced 

 frames being interchangeable, how to han- 

 dle spaced frames, etc. 



Canajoh^rie, N. Y., Feb. 24. 



[It is true that we have modified the 

 frame from the original Hoffman pattern 

 adopted by the inventor; but conditions 

 made this almost an absolute necessity. 

 The original had widened-end top-bars like 

 those shown in the lower diagram. These 



