1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



593 



have been replaced by millions of pounds of 

 honey we have no right to say there is no 

 market for honey. Give honey back the 

 place it once had as a sweetener, and our 

 people will have back a greater measure of 

 health. The public must, of course, be pro- 

 vided with what it wants; but our keynote 

 should be to educate them to use what they 

 need and what is best for them. 



BRICK HONEY. 



It is in our interest, and the interest of 

 the people, to advocate for the table either 

 comb honey or honey which has been sealed 

 until granulated. For fancy trade we might 

 put it into jars like cream cheese, and imme- 

 diately run over the top a thin film of melted 

 paraffine, the object being to exclude the air 

 and retain the aroma of the hive. When 

 granulated solid, as in large barrels, the 

 block can be cut like cheese, with a wire, 

 and retailed. I know of no better way of 

 marketing, and you can in this way give a 

 customer the most value for his money. 



AID FROM THE GOVERNMENT. 



Unfortunately for us as bee-keepers, gov- 

 ernments do not do us justice. We can join 

 hands with you over the line, which we as 

 Canadians hope will not be effaced as long 

 as man's government lasts, and we can feel 

 with you that we have a grievance in com- 

 mon. Governments levy taxes upon the 

 wealth obtained by bee-keeping, but, unlike 

 other branches of agriculture, they rarely 

 help us to solve our diflftculties in production 

 and marketing. The past history is that, in 

 nearly every case, for political or other 

 expediences' sake, incompetent parties have 

 been appointed in the rare instances where 

 any thing has been done. The government 

 betrays its trust in this, and we as bee- 

 keepers are worse off than before. Results 

 in experiments have been given out where 

 the expert bee-keeper can see under the 

 veil, and gnash his teeth that his profession 

 should be thus belittled ; and the poor novice, 

 swallowing in his verdancy all that comes 

 from such a source, like the blind leading 

 the blind, is brought into the ditch. If we 

 want to make the best showing in market- 

 ing we must have government aid, and have 

 the aid other departments of agriculture are 

 getting, and which a branch of agriculture 

 having power to produce wealth merits, and 

 not have our governments, by their lack of 

 action, blazon it abroad that bee-keeping is 

 not worthy of or a rewarder of the highest 

 agricultural intelligence and application. 



Bee-keeping is a business. It requires 

 experience, application, and intelligent care 

 to succeed in it. The sooner we impress this 

 upon the bee-keeper and prospective bee- 

 keeper the better for our honey markets. 



[The government of the United States is 

 now doing much more for apiculture than it 

 ever did before. There are three or four 

 salaried officials in the pay of Uncle Sam 

 who devote their whole time to the general 

 subject of bees. New plans are under way 



for a new and larger work, and it will not 

 be long before bee-keepers will have no rea- 

 son for complaint for lack of attention to 

 their industry proper. 



The foregoing is full of valuable as well as 

 seasonable suggestions, and our readers will 

 do well to give it careful thought.— Ed.] 



HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



Recent Arguments Answered by the Inventor. 

 BY JULIUS HOFFMAN. 



After promising to write more about the 

 Hoffman frame and V edge I looked over 

 back numbers of Gleanings, and found 

 that so much has been written about the 

 frame, pro and con, by more able writers 

 than I, it took the wind out of my sails, and 

 I hesitated to say any more about the sub- 

 ject. However, as I have used the frame 

 which is known by my name for over 30 

 years, I wish to say that I do not know of 

 any other frame that could induce me to 

 make any change. 



MODIFIED BY THE ROOT CO. 



To give the reader a better understanding 

 of why The A. I. Root Co. thought proper 

 to modify the frame so far as the top-bar is 

 concerned, I will mention that the hive I 

 use is rather cubical in shape, the top-bar 

 being only 12 in. long, hanging across the 

 narrow way of the hive, in rabbets only vV 

 wide and deep. 



The depth of frame is 12 in, outside by 11 

 wide, the projection of the top-bar resting 

 in the rabbet only i inch on each end. The 

 manufacturer of the Hoffman frame (The 

 A. I. Root Co.) for the very good purpose 

 of making the Hoffman frame adaptable to 

 the at present existing style of hives, made 

 the change of the top-bar, differing from 

 what I use. 



UNSPACED FRAMES CONDEMNED. 



To say any more about the advantages of 

 self-spacing frames I think is unnecessary, 

 as, for the practical bee-keeper, the loose 

 swinging frame is out of date, although 

 some would-be bee-keepers will still say 

 that a loose not self-spacing frame can be 

 spaced by fingers or eye measure speedily 

 and correctly, and that a fixed-distance self- 

 spacing frame is not as easily interchange- 

 able. Mr. Editor, you know as well as I do 

 how the combs in a colony of finger-spaced 

 frames look after being worked for a time. 

 Only an experienced worker could ever space 

 them as accurately as they should be, not 

 mentioning the careless or beginners, and, 

 of course, combs will be in bad shape for in- 

 terchanging, while the self-spaced are of a 

 more uniform thickness, and better fitted 

 for interchanging. 



FORGETTING TO CROWD FRAMES TOGETHER. 



Mr. J. A. Green, Oct. 1, 1904, says that 

 the Hoffman frame is not the frame for av- 

 erage bee-keepers, as they will forget to 

 crowd the frames together when finishing 



