THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



71 



to 29, when it rose to 46° ; but I kept 

 it there until it became cold again, 

 by using snow and salt. Tlie mer- 

 cury is about 3° lower outside of the 

 poom. When it is zero out-doors I 

 open the outside doors of the cellar to 

 purify the air. My bees have been 

 very quiet, and there are very few 

 that are dead— not more than a quart, 

 both inside of the hives and on the 

 cellar door, and tliey are dry, so that 

 there is not tlie slightest smell from 

 decaying bees, and there is not the 

 least sign of bee-diarrliea among ray 

 bees. 



I was much pleased with Dr. 

 Tinker's article on the hibernation of 

 bees, page .5, for it coutirmed several 

 observations of my own. My bees 

 bred late in November, and they are 

 wintering partly on sugar syrup. 

 They have about (i inches of oat-hulls 

 over them. These oat-hulls I ob- 

 tained from an oatmeal mill in this 

 place ; they were so clean and easy to 

 get that I thought they would be just 

 the thing. I never saw a liive opened 

 until April 7, 1885, when I got 1(J colo- 

 nies, which I have increased to 19. I 

 lost one by swarming out after being 

 hived. I secured 1.50 pounds of comb 

 honey. White clover did not seem to 

 secrete any honey, and for 3 weeks in 

 the middle of April it was so cold 

 that the bees could not fly. 



I have 2 acres of Alsike clover for 

 next year, and I expect to sow a 

 bushel of the seed the coming season. 

 I am glad that you are refuting that 

 nonsense about manufactured honey. 

 Give them the law ! 



Rockford,5 Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



yiiiiitjy StaiidiiiE-FraDies, etc, 



H. L. JEFFREY. 



On page 28, Mr. T. M. Coleman asks 

 for further explanation of tlie reversi- 

 ble frame mentioned in my report on 

 page 821 of the Ameiucan Bee Jouu- 

 NAL for 18S5. The real dimensions 

 of the Quinby standing-frame are, 

 two end- bars, lia niches wide, 11}^ 

 inches long, and J^-inch thick; the 

 top and bottom bars are nailed 14- 

 inch from the end, towards the cen- 

 tre of the ends. They are cut from 

 material ]i of an inch wide, J^-inch 

 thick, and 10 inches long, making the 

 inside measure IGxlOig inches. The 

 bottom-bar is only J^-inch thick, and 

 the frame is fastened to the bottom- 

 board by a hoop-iron hook. 



As mentioned in my report in, 1877 

 all of my hives and frames were in 

 use. and of the Langstroth size (HSg- 

 xOJs). with no material at hand Ht to 

 make frames of ; but there were fifty 

 or more of the above described Quinby 

 standing-frames on the place, and by 

 shortening the wide end-bar to gijj' 

 inches, from the original Wi, they 

 were made the Langstroth depth, and 

 by driving a stout nail in the end of 

 the frame, it made a hanging frame 

 with closed ends. These frames were 

 so used for the rest of the season, and 

 I think that in 1878 some of them 

 were used for nuclei hives, by laying 



a piece of lath on a board for each end 

 of the frame to rest on, and with 2 

 of the frames together and a piece of 

 board on each side, a string tied 

 around, a strip of board laid on the 

 top, a 2-frame nucleus was set up on 

 two standing-frames ; I believe that 

 several were made by setting the 

 frames against one side of some of 

 the occupied hives, with a division- 

 board to cover tlie exposed side of the 

 combs, and a few handfuls of earth to 

 make the entrance the right size. In 

 1878, if I remember rightly, some of 

 them were turned the bottom-side 

 upward, to see if the bees would not 

 fill the frame completely full of comb. 

 The next thing was to see if they 

 would be as likely to fill the lower 

 corners of the frames with drone- 

 comb, if the frame was turned bottom 

 upward, and several trials showed 

 that as apt as the bees are to fill 

 out the extreme lower corners with 

 drone-comb, just so sure they would 

 fill it with worker-comb if the frame 

 was inverted. 



Then, to trv the matter further, I 

 made 2 or 3 Langstroth hive-bodies, 

 rabbeted top and bottom with Js-'nch 

 square cleats 1-inch apart in each end 

 of the hive, and cut from some of my 

 Langstroth frames the drone-comb in 

 the lower corners. Half of the combs 

 were hung in the bodies in their 

 proper position, and a cleat tacked 

 across the ends. The hive was then 

 set up on its end, and in the odd 

 spaces combs were inserted from the 

 bottom ; thus the combs 1, 3, -5, 7, and 

 9 were tops upward, and 2, 4, 6, 8. 10 

 were bottom upward. As soon as the 

 hive was put in its proper position, 

 every comb which was bottom upward 

 was filled out with worker-comb, and 

 the others were filled out with drone- 

 comb. The hive was then set upon 

 its end again, and the combs drawn 

 out, the drone-comb cut out, and the 

 hive turned so as to bring the frames 

 bottom upward, when worker-comb 

 was built. After trying the Lang- 

 stroth hive-bodies in 1880, 1881 and 

 1882, 1 learned that it was a positive 

 law that the bees would move the 

 honey to the sections from the re- 

 versed frames, when in its place eggs 

 were deposited, actually making the 

 colony stronger in bees and stores as 

 the result. Thus I gained two points, 

 viz., frames full of worked-comb, and 

 the comb built firmly in the frame. 

 I also received a strong hint as to how 

 to get sections finished up and not to 

 extract from the brood-chamber. 



Now as to the closed-end frame : 

 1 observed that the combs were filled 

 out with brood faster in the spring; 

 that the hoar frost did not collect on 

 the ends of the hive and project be- 

 tween the combs as it did on the reg- 

 ular narrow end-bar frame ; that the 

 bees were not as apt to tty out on 

 those bright winter days because of 

 the space between the frame and the 

 hive; that every cold spell in the 

 spring was not as plainly felt; and 

 that in packing for winter the frames 

 were pressed closely together and 

 packed firmly, with leaves. If a hive 

 was moved, there was no swinging of 

 frames to irritate the bees. A comb 

 with a queen-cell on it and a board 



each side, would save a queen and 

 much inconvenience. The nails for 

 the projecting arms gave place to a 

 strip of hoop-iron with a hooked end 

 and a screw in the centre of tlie 

 frame, and various other devices to 

 invert frames, until 188-5 when rever- 

 sible wires were used, and so far 

 they " fill the bill" satisfactorily, so 

 that 1,000 pairs will be tried the com- 

 ing season. 



In 18S3 I made a few frames the 

 Langstroth size, with ],?^-incli end- 

 bars ; in ISSI I made a few more of 

 them, and in 1885 I worked them in 

 25 hives under various conditions, as 

 a test for myself, and I used them 

 with the vilest hybrids and the gen- 

 tlest Italians and pure blacks to see 

 how they worked ; two or three others 

 making similar tests with/ the same 

 frame are satisfied, and expect to 

 dispense with all but the reversible 

 Langstroth frame with l^^-inch end- 

 bars. The reversible frames have 

 advantages enough to over-balance 

 all objections. 



EEVEESIBLE HIVES. 



On page 37, Rev. W. F. Clarke 

 says, " Come on, Macduff !" So I will, 

 but on the same side. I have not 

 seen a description of Mr. Ileddon's 

 hive, or know aught of it except what 

 I learned in that article, and from 

 Oleanings; and if I have a correct 

 idea of the hive, he is not alone, as 

 there have been several hives in Con- 

 necticut of the same principle and 

 construction ; that is, with a horizon- 

 tal dividing brood-chamber. I believe 

 that some are now in existence, one 

 being a movable-comb hive built in 

 1879 or 1880, the others of older pat- 

 terns. In 1878 I transferred a colony 

 from an old hive of that plan with 

 slotted top and bottom. The prin- 

 ciple, thoueh old, is susceptible of 

 many advantages. Though I have 

 not seen Mr. Ileddon's new book or 

 circular, yet I can substantiate many 

 of his cliums from what I have seen 

 of the principle of the hive, and, 

 patent or no patent, I expect to try 

 some hives of that principle this year. 



Washington Depot,"o Conn. 



Fur tlie American Kee JoumaU 



Mr, Heioii's New Bee-Hm. 



31. ALVES. 



It seems that Mr. Heddon's new 

 hive is on a boom. Mr. Hutchinson 

 will run all of his next season's 

 swarms into them, while the Rev. W. 

 F. Clarke, with his refreshing enthu- 

 siasm, predicts that a revolution in 

 bee-keeping is impending, and with 

 glowing words, kindred to his an- 

 nouncement of the hibernation theory, 

 in true chivalric style, throws down 

 the glove and challenges each and all 

 comers to raise it. Now, the writer 

 has no disposition to meet the " shin- 

 ing lance " of the Reverend gentle- 

 man, nor to disparage the hive, but 

 thinks that we should not be too 

 hasty in throwing away what we have 

 already found reasonably good. 



Perhaps those who have been trying 

 to follow the bright inventive genius 



