1898. 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOLRNAt,. 



563 



the light; but if in old, blaclj combs it cannot be detected 

 after the cells are sealed. Now, if I had a lot of thumb-taclfs 

 with the letter P on their heads, I could stick one on the top- 

 bar of each such frame and let it remain there till spring, 

 leaving the comb in the hive without any " care as to worms," 

 and next spring I could put my hand right on it when wanted. 

 See! 



Like Dr. Miller, I keep a "queen-book" in which is re- 

 corded the age, race, strain, etc., of queens, but in order to 

 keep track of tbem it is necessary to know " where they are 

 at." I don't like numbering the hive-bodies, as it is an odd 

 trick of mine, when handling a colony, to move it off the 

 stand, placing an empty body on the stand, and handling the 

 frames over into it ; and my numbers would have to be con- 

 stantly changed ; therefore I number the standby driving a 

 flat stake of hard wood into the ground at the back of the 

 stand. I number these stakes with a hammer and cold-chisel, 

 using the Roman notation. When it comes to, say, XXXIX, 

 there is considerable chiseling to be done. Oh ! for a thumb- 

 tack to stick on the bead of that stake, and save all that 

 " monkey work !" 



When the hives are placed in the cellar for winter, a cor- 

 responding number on a thumb-tack could be stuck on the 

 hive-body, and every hive placed on itsoldstandin the apiary, 

 if desired, with just no bother at all. And there are a thou- 

 sand and one other places where they could be used with 

 pleasure and profit to the apiarist. 



Words, instead of single letters, could be used to desig- 

 nate certain operations, abbreviating the longer words. For 

 instance, when a queen commences to lay, a tack with the 

 word " eggs " on it, in connection with another containing the 

 date, would be suBicient. "Q'l's" would auswer as well as 

 the word " queenless " in full, and so on, ad infinUum. 



The boiiy of the tack ought to be short, perhaps not more 

 than H of an inch, while the head could be from % to 'H of 

 an inch in diameter, the latter size, perhaps, the best. 



Hi, there, you " Rootvillians !" You windy fellows who 

 stamp " A. I. R." on everything you make, here's the " root" of 

 an idea which I should like to see you make 



'■ Bravely to burgeon, and broadly to grow," 



till we should have a system of keeping records of operations 

 in the apiary easier, quicker, and more effective than any I 

 have yet seen. Will you help us out? Or, if you won't, will 

 some one else "? Perhaps you think I have " thumbtacks " on 

 the brain. Well, I haven't got them any more than I have 

 " bees in my bonnet." If you object to thumb-tacks "on the 

 brain," please give them to us in a box, as outlined above. 

 The old Scotchman's advice to his son, "Be aye sticking in a 

 tree, Jock; it'll be growing while ye're sleeping." I would 

 modify thus: Be aye sticking in a thumb-tack, Jock, it'll 

 save ye lots of heart-burnings. 



At any rate, for all kinds of records which are kept on 

 the frames, these tacks would be invaluable, as it is almost 

 impossible to make a legible mark with a lead-pencil on wood 

 which has the least bit of wax or propolis on it ; and constant 

 cutting or shaving off .the frames is, to say the least, bad prac- 

 tice ; and lots ot time can be saved by being able to put your 

 hand on the frame you wantat once, without havijig to handle 

 a number of frames to find it; while the time saved over 

 scraping and writing is no small item of itself. 



Crow Wing Co., Minn. 



A Consideration of Extractiug-Frames. 



BT S. A. DEACON. 



" Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?" 



That great English bee-master — Mr. S. J. Baldwin— says 

 In his " Bee-Keepers' Instructor:" 



" Shallow frames for supers are recommended by some as 

 the best for extracting purposes, and they would have you be- 

 lieve that by their use an increast harvest of honey may be 

 secured. That the bees can fill a 5-inch comb quicker than 

 one of 8 inches is, of course, undeniable, but I fail to see the 

 advantage of having a given number of the former filled in, 

 say five days, if the same number of the latter are filled in 

 eight days. My experience has proved that this is the case, 

 and, therefore, I contend that there is an immense advantage 

 in using one size of frame only for all purposes. The neces- 

 sity for extracting and interference is less frequent, vexatious 

 complications are prevented, and, above all, swarming may 

 be more easily controlled, as the combs from the top hives, 

 after extracting, can be exchanged for those below, and thus 

 the cause of swarming removed." 



It would not appear to have occurred to Mr. Baldwin that 

 there is not likely to be much. If any, swarming after the sea- 



son's honey is extracted ! And tho I do not profess to 

 know much about it — my object in penning these remarks 

 being, in fact, to elicit information from those far more ex- 

 perienced than myself in the production of extracted honey — 

 still, I should think that to remove two or three hundred of 

 Mr. Baldwin's 10-deep-frame supers full of honey, from api- 

 ary to bee-house, would necessitate the laying down of a tram 

 along the rows of hives, and the erection of a traveling crane ! 

 Is it to this weighty objection that we owe the universal use of 

 shallow extracting-frames in the United States ? Or, on what 

 ground have they the preference ? Be the cause what it may, 

 what I particularly wish to know is, what decided A. I. Root, 

 for instance, to make the dovetailed hive's extracting-frames 

 only -iJ-2 inches in depth ; and the Dadants, for instance, to 

 make theirs 6 inches ? I suppose there is some intelligent ex- 

 planation ; if so, will Mr. E. R. Root or Mr. C. P. Dadant 

 kindly furnish it — and obligingly reply to this, as also to what 

 follows, in the columns of the American Bee Journal ? 



In anticipation of their reply I may say that I have in my 

 mind a very humorous picture which appeared some years ago 

 in the London Punch. An amiable-looking old geutleman is 

 seen at the door of a marquee greatly interested evidently in 

 the cricket match being played. He seeks information from' 

 an athletic but not highly intelligent looking cricketer as to 

 the meaning, or origin, or cause of use of a certain term used 

 by the players, thus : 



Old Gent — " Why is a ball like that called a ' Yorker,' 

 sir?" 



Professional Player — "A 'Yorker,' sir? Oh, when 

 the ball's pitcht right up to the block,'' — 



Old Gent — " Yes, yes — I didn't ask you what a ' Yorker ' 

 is" — (with dignity) — "I know that as well as you do. But 

 why is it called a ' Yorker ?' " 



Professional Plater — "Well, I can't say, sir. 1 don't 

 know what else you could call it." 



It may not be very complimentary to either Mr. Dadant 

 or Mr. Root to say that I expect no more intelligent an answer 

 to my query than, " Well, I don't know what else depth you 

 could make them ;" but, really, I find it impossible to con- 

 ceive any intelligent reason for fixing upon either of these 

 two greatly-varying sizes. If the frame used by such veter- 

 ans in the pursuit as the Messrs. Dadant is the besf size, what 

 defence can the A. I. Root Co. offer for giving us those e.r- 

 tremefy shallow frames ? What has governed the choice of 

 these particular sizes in either case? Is it due to the fact 

 that in the case of Root's dovetailed hive two supers are just 

 equal in size to one brood-body ? I fail to see any advantage 

 in that — whatever it may have for the supply manufacturer — 

 and think it would have been more sensible to have made the 

 frames b}4 in place of 43^ inches, so that two would go easily 

 into the extractor-basket — Cowan's. Dadant's frames, again, 

 are a trifle too deep to admit two in this basket, which I find 

 measures 11 H' inches — thus taking comfortably two of the 

 Heddon frames, and which are of the sensible depth of b% 

 inches. Root's — i. c the dovetailed hive's extracting-frames 

 — are absurdly shallow. 



Another matter in connection with extracting-frames : 

 An important consideration in the construction of an extract- 

 ing-super and its frames is, one would think, bulk and weight ; 

 that it should be as light and handy as possible, commensurate 

 with the requisite strength. Those obtained from the supply 

 dealers are unnecessarily heavy, with their %-inch sides ; % 

 inch being thick enough for anything, the ends only being % 

 thick, and cleated with perpendicular pieces ^k2 at each 

 corner. That is how I make mine; and put together with 2- 

 inch wire-nails, they will last quite as long as the unnecessarily 

 heavy, clumsy dovetailed Root super. The cleats afford so 

 much surface, or such a thickness for nailing, that they are 

 less liable to warp than are even the thick sides of the dove- 

 tailed super. 



These thin sides allow, moreover, of 9 frames In thesuper. 

 In place of the now too loosely fitting 8 ; and it would allow of 

 UDother very necessary improvement, viz.: increast width of 

 the shallow extracting-frames by 1/16 of an inch each. As 

 It is, these extracting-frames are the same width as the brood- 

 frames, whereas they should, or might with advantage, be 

 fully 'g inch wider; for the veriest tyro at bee-keeping knows 

 that the honey-combs are always built thicker than the brood- 

 combs. This extra width would, moreover, save 10 percent of 

 the labor of capping and putting in and taking out frames In 

 process of extracting. 



Another fault with the dovetailed super is, that the side 

 frame lies close against the side-wall of the super ; whereas 

 two little cleats, or offsets, '6 16 inch thick, should be tackt 

 snugly into the corners, keeping the side or end frame that 

 distance away from the sides of the hive, and allowing 



