116 



i'HE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



WITH 



REPLIES by Prominent Apiarists. 



ReyersiWe Frames, 



Query, >'o. 204.— Do you consider the 

 reversible frame a good thing? If so, what 

 is the best and cheapest way to make them ? 

 Would it pay to change the frames of 60 

 colonies ?— J. C, Ind. 



Go slow in adopting radical changes 

 in bee-keeping, is my advice, especially 

 to beginners, l^et tlie old, experienced 

 bee-keepers thoroughly test these 

 novelties first.— H. R. Boakdman. 



It may be in the hands of the ex- 

 perienced comb- honey producer. 

 Change the frames of a very few colo- 

 nies, and try them, inid if you approve 

 of the change, then do it ; but go slow 

 until you can prove by practical ex- 

 perience whether you want to use 

 reversible frames.— H. D. Cutting. 



No. Reversing will do for people 

 who want all the honey in the supers, 

 and wish to feed their bees after the 

 crop. We want our bees to have 

 enough honey left in the brood- cham- 

 ber to live on, and breed without 

 feecMng. Reversing has been prac- 

 ticed in Europe for scores of years, 

 and is generally abandoned. — Da- 

 DANT & Son. 



Yes, but I consider a reversible 

 hive of far greater value, As to 

 which style of frame is the best, if a 

 reversible hive is not used, I am not 

 posted. I shall change more than 60 

 hives next season, and would not do 

 so unless I thought it would " pay." — 

 W. Z. Hutchinson. 



No, I do not. I do not deny that an 

 advantage is gained in reversing by 

 bringing the brood up close to the 

 sections (if it is not already up close, 

 as it generally is in the shallow frame 

 at the proper time); but the advan- 

 tage is not so great as to warrant the 

 time and trouble required to do it. 

 There are many annoyances as from 

 uneven combs, propolis, etc., that 

 make the whole operation disagree- 

 able, besides disturbing the colony in 

 . their work. I further consider that 

 there are solid reasons against invert- 

 ing hives. I conuot conceive of a 

 circumstance in which I should want 

 to either reverse brood-combs or in- 

 vert hives. The necessity for it 

 certainly cannot exist with a shallow- 

 frame hive.— G. L. Tinicer. 



For myself I should not make the 

 change inquired about. I can succeed 

 in gaining all that is claimed by the 

 advocates of reversible frames in an 

 easier way. Invertible hives and 

 reversing frames will both have their 

 day and then play out, in my opinion. 

 — J. E. Pond, Jr. 



I am not prepared so say that I do. 

 I have frames, and sectional parts of 

 hives in my apiary that can be readily 

 inverted, but I can see no rational 

 reason why it should be done, except 

 for the one short job of having the 

 combs securely fastened in the frames. 



In fact. I have seen but two argu- 

 ments in favor of inverting frames, 

 or hives, that are worthy of serious 

 thought, and the exception I have 

 named above is one of them. My an- 

 swers to your concluding questions 

 will be found on another page.— G. 

 W. Dejiaree. 



1. So far I have had no use for re- 

 versible frames. 2. Try 1 or 2 of the 

 60 with reversible frames, and then if 

 you like them and think it will pay, 

 you can change the other 58. Remem- 

 ber that practical experience is the 

 best teacher in all of these things. — 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I have not decided to use any such 

 frames yet, because I think that I can 

 have the principal advantages with- 

 out reversing. I should, however, be 

 not greatly surprised if, five years 

 from now, "all my frames were revers- 

 ible ; and still less surprised if others 

 gave up their use. Reversible hives 

 have some advantages that reversible 

 frames do not possess, and if I ever 

 go into the reversing business it will 

 likely be in that direction.— C. C. 

 Miller. 



Of all the suspended reversible 

 frames that I know anything about, I 

 prefer the one described on page 9 of 

 the American Bee Journal for 

 1885. It I did not prefer that one I 

 should use the one I did prefer. After 

 using thousands of them for two sea- 

 sons, I never expect to use frames 

 that will not reverse. — James IIed- 



DON. 



1. I do decidedly. 2. I think so, but 

 you had better try a few first and see 

 if you think so. I tried them for one 

 year, then changed part, and at the 

 end of the second year I resolved to 

 change all. Now coines the reversible 

 hive, which will make me wait till I 

 try it.— A. J. Cook. 



Cariiiolans vs, Italians, 



Query, No, 205. — Is the Carniolan race of 

 bees any better than the Italian bees ?— F.W. 



Those which I had were not as 



good.— G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



My experience with them has been 

 too limited to enable me to say that 

 they are better.— W. Z. Hutchinson. 



The reputation of the Carniolans 

 for swarming is a serious objection. — • 

 C. C. Miller. 



That is a question on which authori- 

 ties differ. Time will tell.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



I never have tried them. They be- 

 long to the dark or black race of bees, 

 and all black bees are inferior to the 

 yellow bees.— G. W. Demakee. 



We do not think so. We tried them 

 in 1876, and discarded them. They 

 are black bees, rather large, and quite 

 prolific— Dadant & Son. 



If they are a better race of bees 

 than the Italians, they have not yet 

 proved themselves so to be. They are 

 essentially hybrid bees that the in- 

 breeding of a thousand or more years 

 of natural selection has failed to pro- 

 duce uniform markings. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



I do not know just how tlie races 

 that you mention compare, because 

 they are different in so many charac- 

 teristics. But when the Carniolans 

 are compared with the best Italians 

 or German bees, I believe that the 

 Germans will prove to be the best. — 

 James Heddon. 



They are said to be far more gentle, 

 and equally as good honey-gatherers ; 

 the queens fully as prolific, and the 

 workers very hardy indeed. The only 

 drawback (if it is such) is said to be 

 that they have a strong inclination to 

 throw out swarms during the honey 

 season. This last, I think, is owing 

 to their nature not being well under- 

 stood.— J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Dart Capplns of Honey, 



Query, No. 206. — Why is my honey cap- 

 ped over so as to appear so dark ? It seems 

 to be of good color and nice flavor, but it is 

 capped over so very darkly as to be un- 

 salable. I practice both side and top storing. 

 — H. J., Mass. 



I should like to know more of the 

 particulars before deciding. There 

 may be something in the strain or 

 variety of bees.— VV. Z. Hutchinson. 



Because the cells are full and the 

 honey touches the cappings. Where- 

 ever the honey does not touch the 

 cappings, it looks lighter. — Dadant 

 & Son. 



If the combs look watery it is be- 

 cause the honey is filled too close to 

 the cappings, and if not caused by 

 dampness, but comes so from the 

 hive, you had better change your 

 strain of bees. If the cappings them- 

 selves are dark, like old comb, it may 

 be the surplus is too near the brood- 

 combs, and the bees carry some of the 

 dark wax from the latter to the sur- 

 plus.— C. C. Miller. 



Probably it is fall honey. Per- 

 haps it remained in the hive too long 

 and was soiled by the bees. It hardly 

 if ever pays to sell honey in the comb 

 that is capped in the fall. It is better 

 to extract it and use the combs for 

 light honey the next season. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



It is impossible without a sample 

 of the honey to do more than guess. 

 It may be darkened by being travel- 

 strained, or the honey may be swelled 

 against the cappings ; or, if old dark 

 combs were in the surplus depart- 

 ment it might be mixed with the 

 cappings.— II. R. Boardman. 



Perhaps the bees used wax taken 

 from dark brood-combs to seal the 

 surplus honey with. I have seen 

 newly built "brood-combs that were 

 near to old black combs show dark 

 capping as though the bees had 

 drawn on the old combs for wax to- 

 cap them with. If you had taken the 

 trouble to uncap a section and extract 

 the honey, you could . have seen 

 whether or not only the capping was 

 of dark color.— G. W. Demaree. 



When I used side-storing hives I 

 had the same trouble. I have never 

 been able to get white capped honey 

 at the side of a hive, or at any point 

 in the hive where the field workers 



