THr AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



149 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 uames indicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 pievious spring- and fall, or fall and spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 k.cated near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 *0 west; and this 6 northeast; "^ northwest; 

 o^ southeast; and P southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For fhe American Bee Journal. 



fide Frames witli Separators. 



16— G. M. DOOLITTLE, (40-95). 



For several years there has been 

 quite a cry against wide frames with 

 separators, some even going so far as 

 to predict that they would soon be 

 '' things of the past ;'" but after trying 

 most of the various arrangements 

 which are used to secure honey in 

 sections without them, 1 am satisfied 

 that there is one at least who will 

 continue to use wide frames and sep- 

 arators, a few years longer at least ; 

 for I believe them to be of real value 

 in securing a crop of comb honey in 

 the most marketable shape. While 

 speaking regarding this subject per- 

 haps it might be interesting to some 

 to know something of the past, and 

 how wide frames and separators came 

 into general use. 



Years ago, when I first commenced 

 keeping bees, I knew of no box for 

 surplus honey smaller than the 6- 

 pound box as then used on the Lang- 

 stroth hive. I next saw the Alley or 

 3-pound box,and afterward the Harbi- 

 son section, none of which pleased 

 me. I then made a box to hold 2}4 

 pounds, ajid prepared a hive so these 

 could be placed all around the brood- 

 nest, and at the top, but as I must of 

 necessity glass tliem before the bees 

 filled them, in order to keep the bees 

 from bulging the combs one into the 

 other, it was rather slow progress 

 which I made. In the winter of 1871- 

 72 I visited Mr. N. N. Betsinger, of 

 Marcellus Station, (a place 11 miles 

 from me), and while there he showed 

 me (as I believe) the first wide frames 

 with tin separators that were ever 

 known, which he had invented a 

 short time previous. As soon as I 

 saw them I said that this was just 

 what I had been looking after for 

 some time, and at once adopted them, 

 the use of which gave me the best of 

 satisfaction. 



These wide frames were so ar- 

 ranged that they could be used either 

 at the side of the hive or on top, or 

 both, at the pleasure of the operator. 

 Mr. B. never used them on the tier- 

 ing-up plan that I know of, yet he 

 might have done so without my 

 knowledge of it. In 1874 I made and 

 used several sets on the tiering-up 

 plan, by making the top and bottom 



piece alike and using a part directly 

 on top of the frames and each other, 

 « la Tinker, and a part with bee- 

 space between, a la Heddon. After a 

 few years' trial I became satisfied 

 that I could not obtain so much honey 

 by this tiering-up plan as I could by 

 using a single tier on top, in connec- 

 tion with side-boxing as I had first 

 planned, before I ever saw a wide 

 frame ; so I threw away all of my 

 open-top wide frames and worked 

 entirely on the plan I have given so 

 many times in the Bee Journal. 



Prior to 1876 wide frames had only 

 been used containing a single tier of 

 sections, as both Mr. B. and myself 

 used two wide frames with a bee-space 

 between when we wished them two 

 tiers high at the sides of the hive, 

 neither he nor I ever using a two- 

 story hive at that time. In March. 

 187G,at the request of Mr. A. I. Root, I 

 sent him a set of wide frames as I 

 used them on the standard Gallup 

 hive. Upon receiving it he wrote as 

 follows : " Yours is the nicest box 

 and case I have ever seen, and is the 

 most complete arrangement for comb 

 honey I have any knowledge of. If 

 the plan of the whole is of your own 

 invention, I would suggest that you 

 get them patented." I wrote him 

 that the wide frames (or cases as we 

 then called them) were the invention 

 of N. N. Betsinger, wlio had not seen 

 fit to patent them. Soon after this 

 Mr. Root came out with his " broad 

 frames" to be used in a two-story 

 hive, and from these sprang the wide 

 frames as they are generally used at 

 the present time. 



This using of two tiers of sections 

 in one wide frame is what has caused 

 apiarists to cry out against them, 

 while if only one tier had been used 

 in a frame and these tiered up, those 

 liking tlie tiering-up plan would not 

 have tried to substitute any other 

 arrangement for wide frames, it seems 

 to me ; for I find them better adapted 

 to the securing of surplus honey than 

 anything else, all things considered, 

 especially as they can be made for any 

 size of sections, and used on any size 

 of hive. 



Now about making and using wide 

 frames : Get all the pieces out true 

 and square, after which nail them 

 over a true square form. If you wish 

 to use them on the tiering-up plan, 

 make both top and bottom 5-16 of an 

 inch narrower than the ends ; if to be 

 used only one tier high, then have 

 the top the thickness of the tin wider 

 than the sides or ends, for the sep- 

 arator is to be nailed on tlie ends. 

 After using several kinds of material 

 for separators, I prefer tin to any- 

 thing else. The nailing on of this tin 

 has much to do with our liking or 

 disliking wide frames, for if nailed on 

 loosely, so it can kink and bulge, the 

 operator will become disgusted with 

 them. Mr. Betsinger used to nail on 

 one end of the separator in its proper 

 place, when by means of a weight and 

 pully attached to the other end of the 

 tin it was drawn tightly when being 

 nailed. Instead of the weight, I used 

 (the first year or so) a hand vise so 

 arranged that I could pry over one 

 end of the wide frame, thus drawing 



the tin tight when nailing. While 

 ttius working, one day, I noticed that 

 in drawing the tin I often sprung the 

 top and bottom of the frame out or 

 in, as the case might be, and from 

 this I soon had a perfect way of put- 

 ting on tin tightly every tioie. 



I made a form a trifle shorter than 

 the frame was long, outside measure, 

 tliis form being perfectly true and 

 square, which f;ave advantage over the 

 vise method, tor with tliat the frame 

 was sometimes drawn out of true. 

 Next I made a block the size of the 

 inside of the case (except a little 

 shorter), and of the same thickness 

 as the ends to tlie frame, which was 

 tacked to the form. To use it, I 

 sprung or bent the top and bottom 

 bar of the frame a little, thus shorten- 

 ing it, until it went into the form, 

 wlien I laid on the tin separator, 

 placing a straight edge on top of the 

 tin and a weight on this. I now laad 

 the tin just where I wished it with 

 all bulging taken out of it, when it 

 was nailed fast to the wide frame. 

 Upon removing it from the form, the 

 top and bottom sprung back into 

 place again, thus drawing the separa- 

 tor as tight as a drum-head, I have 

 put on separators in this way for the 

 past 10 years, and like it very much. 



I have tried all ways of keying 

 these wide frames together, using 

 them in a clamp, e.;c., all of which I 

 did not like, as I wished a plan that 

 would allow of my using as few or as 

 many wide frames on a hive as I 

 pleased, from 3 up to 12, according to 

 the strength of the colony, for often 

 with the old plans we are obliged to 

 give too much surplus room to start 

 with. At last (about 4 years ago) I 

 accomplished what I was after by 

 procuring some rubber bands about 

 ?| of an inch wide. These I cut into 

 pieces 3 inches lon^. To one end I 

 attached a stout string (by means of a 

 slip knot) about 5 inches long, and to 

 the other end one about 18 inches 

 long. The short strings was firmly 

 tied to a nail driven into the end of 

 the board that comes against the out- 

 side of the outside wide frame, 

 another being attached to the oppo- 

 site end of this board in the same way. 

 In each end of the board wliich goes 

 on the outside of tlie opposite outside 

 wide frame, is driven a large-headed, 

 steel-wire carpet-tack. This tack is 

 driven in within about 1-32 of an inch 

 of its large head, so that when a 

 string is wound around it a little 

 more than once, it is clamped as 

 securely as if tied. The wide frames 

 are then placed on the hive, 2, 3, 5, 8, 

 or 12, as the colony requires, putting 

 on the outside boards to close all, 

 draw the rubber till a strong tension 

 is made, and wind the string around 

 the tack. In this way the wide frames 

 are held as in a vise, yet they give all 

 tlie lateral movement required, and 

 can be taken off as one case or sep- 

 arately, tiered-up, inverted, etc. 



Borodino,© N. Y. 



To e:ive away a copy of '* Honey as Food 

 and Medicine " to every one who buys a 

 packajreof honey, will sell almost any quan- 

 tity of it. 



