154 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one man is entitled to all the credit 

 of the discoveries made, because all 

 or nearly all bee-keepers have had a 

 part iu making them, and have pre- 

 pared the fraternity at large for an 

 innovation in our methods, that with- 

 out this preparation of theapicultural 

 mind would have been impossible. 

 The credit, I am bold to assert, is due 

 rather to the great fraternity of bee- 

 keepers who, through their united 

 labors, have not only made discovery 

 possible, but now make the introduc- 

 tion of the new appliances and 

 methods certain. As the matter 

 stands, one bee-keeper is as much 

 entitled to the benefits as another, 

 and I trust and believe that all will 

 look upon it in this light, and hesitate 

 not by virtue of a just right to adopt 

 the improved methods as soon as con- 

 venience will warrant, and the revo- 

 tion in the construction of brood- 

 chambers and in our methods of man- 

 agement will demand. 



But first, what is the most practical 

 and advantageous method of dispos- 

 ing the brood near the sections, at 

 will V Beyond question it is the 

 proper management of the shallow 

 sectional brood-chamber ! Has it 

 any disadvantages V I assert fear- 

 lessly that it has not, neither in win- 

 tering, the laying of the queen, or iu 

 the manipulation of hives or combs ! 



Until about 5 years ago, a hive, the 

 brood-chamber of which was in three 

 shallow sections, each 5J4 inches deep 

 by 12x16 inches inside, has been in 

 this town and contained bees uninter- 

 ruptedly for 30 years. The colony in 

 its thin walls of" walnut had resisted 

 the cold and the buffeting of storms 

 for ?.0 winters, and it at last suc- 

 cumbed to the depredation of robber 

 bees that gained entrance by its many 

 rotten corners. It had always done 

 well, was generally on hand with a 

 rousing swarm in season, and be- 

 sides stored a liberal surplus for its 

 owner. When Father Langstroth, a 

 few years since, recommended a thin 

 walled hive for out-door wintering, I 

 was quickly reminded of this old hive. 

 (The pannels in the sides of each of 

 the cases were not over 14-inch thick.) 

 That it had not been manipulated on 

 the modern plan of tiering-up the 

 cases and the placing of the brood 

 next to the super, was no fault of the 

 hive. The combs were attached to 

 top-bars in each case on tlie Dzierzon 

 plan. 



REVEUSING HIVES. 



In a shallow sectional brood-cham- 

 ber I believe that there is no advan- 

 tage whatever to be derived from re- 

 versing its sectional i)arts. The plac- 

 ing of the brood next the super, and 

 any honey that may be in the upper 

 case below the brood, will accomplish 

 all that can be done. I shall there- 

 fore have no use for a reversible hive. 

 Again. as we shall not have occasion to 

 handle the frames very much, but 

 the sectional parts instead, it will not 

 be greatly to our advantage to have 

 the frames as readily movable as are 

 Langstrotli frames. On this account 

 a very simple case is all that is neces- 

 sary to hold the frames— a case with- 

 out ornamentation, clamps, screens, 

 or anything of the kind. Neither do 



we want a complicated bottom-board, 

 but all the parts of a practical hive of 

 this nature should be, and will he 

 made only of a few parts, and all very 

 plain and easy of construction. The 

 frames can be supported in the sec- 

 tional case on strips of sheet-iron cut 

 .5-16 of an inch wide and as long as tlie 

 case is wide inside, the strips to be 

 inserted in thin saw-cuts made 5-16 of 

 an inch from the inside lower edges 

 of the ends of the case and to enter 

 the wood only 3-16 of an inch. This 

 construction will give a proper bee- 

 space under the frames which should 

 extend to the top of the case. The 

 width of the end-pieces of the frames 

 should be 1?8 inches, and the thick- 

 ness }i of an inch, making a closed- 

 end frame to rest on the sheet-iron 

 strips. The width of the top and 

 bottom bars should be the same, and 

 may be p^^y inch in thickness. 



Here let me call the attention of 

 bee-keepers to the comparative cheap- 

 ness of these frames, if dovetailed at 

 the corners, to those in common use. 

 They need no nails, and a set of 14 

 for one hive can be put together in a 

 few minutes; and as they can easily 

 made with great accuracy, they will 

 always fit nicely in the cases. The 

 length of the frame might well cor- 

 respond with the 4,1.4x414 sections now 

 so popular. The outside would there- 

 fore be 17 inches long, and if made 

 just .5 inches deep, it will just take 

 one-half of a sheet of foundation cut 

 the regular size for the Langstroth 

 frame. The frames can be taken out 

 of the cases very readily, since, being 

 very shallow, the cases can be set on 

 end and the frames pushed through, 

 one or more at a time. Hence, the 

 worthlessness of all clamps -to hold 

 the frames will be apparent. 



Again, if we are to handle hives 

 rather than frames, I can see no ad- 

 vantage in having so many frames in 

 each sectional case. I think that we 

 will find 7 enough, though many may 

 prefer 8 or 9 frames to the case. It 

 will be then very light to handle, but 

 to further lighten it I would make 

 the sides only % of an inch thick and 

 the ends %, and make the usual hand- 

 holes in the ends or nail cleats across 

 the ends a little above the middle 

 line to handle them by. 



The bottom-board I would make 

 out of 3^-inch stuff, with a cleat of 6- 

 inch stuif across each end, the rear 

 piece to be 2 inches wide and the 

 front piece .5 inches ; the board to be 

 cut m inches shorter than the hive is 

 long, and the wide cleat nailed across 

 2 inches from the end. This would 

 give an entrance of % inch across the 

 front. If blocks are nailed on each 

 side to go under the front corners of 

 the hive, ordinary entrance blocks 

 can then be used. 



Sectional hives containing only 7 or 

 8 frames in earli section will be so 

 light that we will find it an easy task 

 to carry them back and forth from 

 cellars in wintering,where the bees can 

 be placed under our full control and 

 wintered in a scientific manner, which 

 we shall never be able to do in out- 

 door wintering where we cannot reg- 

 ulate the temperature at will. Only 

 one of the sectional cases, well filled. 



will be necessary for each colony for 

 the winter. 



To operate a sectional hive of shal- 

 low frames successfully, we shall need 

 a honey-board with strips of per- 

 forated-zinc set in thin saw-cuts made 

 in the edges of the slats composing 

 the board. This construction and 

 use of perforated-zinc is my invention, 

 but it is free to all to use. As any 

 kind of a sectional-case or super can 

 be adjusted to this hive every bee- 

 keeper will be expected to use his 

 favorite. 



The capacity of two of the sectional 

 brood-chambers will about equal the 

 8-frame Langstroth hive, but many 

 would prefer to use three of the parts 

 in building up colonies for the honey 

 harvest. The frames alone are made 

 to reverse, but we will need to reverse 

 them but once, and that simply to get 

 the frames filled out with comb plump 

 to the sides all around. Ordinary 6- 

 inch boards can be split and dressed 

 to % of an inch for the sides of the 

 cases, and we shall have no trouble 

 to get whole boards wide enough for 

 the bottoms and covers and yet there 

 will be ample room tor top-storing on 

 the hive. For a very cheap hive we 

 will never get a cheaper, and a better 

 hive for large results may not be 

 possible. It will hardly be'necessary 

 to add in conclusion that this hive is 

 not patented or patentable except in 

 one or two features, which are my 

 inventions, and are hereby freely 

 given to the public. 



New Fhiladelphia,o O., Feb. 7,1886. 



OCR CLUBBING LIST. 



We supply the American Bee Journal 

 one year, and any of the following; publica- 

 tions, at the prices quoted In the last column 

 of figures. The first column gives the regu- 

 lar price of both. All postage prepaid. 



Price of both. Olul> 

 The American Bee Journal 1 00. . 



and Gleanings in Bee-Culture 2 00.. 1 75 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine 3 00 . . 1 75 



Bee-Keepers' Guide 150.. 140 



The Apiculturist 2 00.. 1 75 



Canadian Bee Journal 2 00.. 1 75 



Texas Bee Journal 2 00. . 1 75 



The T above-named papers 6 50.. 5 50 



and City and Country 2 00 . . 1 50 



New York Independent 4 00. . 3 .30 



American Agriculturist 2 50.. 2 25 



American Poultrv Journal . . .2 25. . 1 75 

 Journalof Carp Culture 150.. 1 40 



and Cook's Manual 2 25. . 2 00 



Bees and Honey (Newman). ..2 00.. 175 

 Binder for Am. Boo Journal. .1 75.. 1 60 

 Apiary Kegi.=iter— 100 colonies 2 25.. 2 00 

 Dzicrzon's U(*-Iiook(cl(ith).. .:! 00.. 2 00 

 Dzierzon's Bee-Book -(papen. .2 50.. 2 00 

 Quinby's New Bce-Keeping ..2 50.. 2 25 

 Langstroth's Standard Work .3 00.. 2 75 

 Root's A B C of Bee-Culture. .2 25. . 2 10 



Alley's Queen-Kearing 2 ."jO.. 2 25 



Farmer's Account Book 4 00.. 3 00 



Guide and Hand-Book 1.50.. 1 30 



Heddon's book, "Success,".. 1 50.. 1 40 



Wlicu Renewiua: your subscription 

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