180 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



art of bee-keeping. I will endeavor 

 to state a few of the more prominent 

 advantages such a frame should pos- 

 sess. Firstvi'ould be the interchange- 

 ability of all frames. How great a 

 boon this would be I must chielly 

 leave to tlie makes of hives and the 

 vendors of bees to tell you. This 

 point cannot well be over-estimated, 

 especially now that bee-culture is 

 being taken up so extensively by some 

 of our leading farmers. 



A tew days ago I received a letter 

 from a cultivator of many acres in 

 Lincolnshire to the effect that he was 

 investing largely in bee-culture, ;ind 

 upon modern and approved principles. 

 And what a Held is opened to the bee- 

 keeper by tlie tliousands of acres of 

 mustard with its fragrant golden 

 bloom which this plant affords, the 

 fields of white clover, and other melli- 

 fluous plants? 



We must all rejoice that the farm- 

 ing interest at last is showing signs of 

 a growing appreciation of this long- 

 neglected industry ; and in this view 

 how highly necessary is it that, far 

 more so than at any other period, that 

 we sliould have a standard frame, as 

 affording the greatest facility for the 

 transfer and sale of bees, hives, and 

 appliances. Honey extractors would 

 come into more general use, since one 

 size alone would be required, and 

 their use would be greatly extended. 



Now a " standard frame ' does not 

 imply a 'standard hive.' The hive 

 may be of any size — i. e., may contain 

 any number you i)lease of standard 

 frames, hence the desirability of mak- 

 ing the frame, and not tlie hive, the 

 standard. Hence also it would ap- 

 pear best to state inside dimensions 

 of frame, since some may prefer to 

 use stouter material for frames tliau 

 others, and it is important that the 

 comb-surface should not vary. 



"As regards our shows, I would say, 

 do not make your ' standard frame ' 

 A sine qua non for hive competitions, 

 but give it the preference cceteris pari- 

 bus. ' It maybe expected that I should 

 state ray own views of the size and 

 form of frame most desirable, but 

 this, I think, is a matter that may be 

 well left to a committee to deal with. 

 I may, however, say that the general 

 view appears to be that a shallow 

 rather than a deep frame sliould be 

 adopted, providing the depth be not 

 less than ii]i inches, nor the length 

 than 12^4, in order that the frame may 

 receive six 1 lb. sections. 



Tlie shape I think of less impor- 

 tance, although as giving a decided 

 preference to a tapered frame I should 

 advocate a ' double standard,' in 

 other words a rectangular and a 

 tapered frame of the same superficial 

 contents, and from what I have stated 

 above, the size would most nearly ap- 

 proach the Woodbury frame. Shal- 

 lowed frames are most easy of mani- 

 pulation, better for extracting, are 

 more easily suspended in a vertical 

 position in the liive, and there is no 

 necessity for those abominations or 

 queen-destroyers, called racks, to keep 

 them in their places. It is said that 

 bees winter better in deep frames, but 

 witli our modern appliances for winter 

 and the contraction of the hive this 



objection has no force. Heat ascends, 

 therefore with a deep frame, when the 

 bees cluster ;i.t the top of the frames, 

 the space below will be filled with 

 cold air." 



The motion was seconded by Mr. T. 

 W. Cowan, and after some discussion 

 was adopted unanimously. The fol- 

 lowing gentlemen were nominated as 

 the Committee to carry out the resolu- 

 tion : Mr. C.N. Abbott, Mr. T. W. 

 Cowan, Mr. F. Cheshire, Mr. J. G. 

 Desborough, Mr. J. M. Hooker, Mr. 

 A. Neighbour, Rev. G. Raynor, Rev. 

 F. T. Scott. 



Bee Pasturage.— The Semi-Tropic 

 California has the following on this 

 subject : 



Very soon the warm, dry weather 

 will come and the planting of trees for 

 permanent bee pasturage should be 

 attended to without a day's delay. 

 Some experiments point to the Loynnt 

 or Japanese plum as a very valuable 

 honey producer, blooming in the fall 

 or winter and producing a fruit tliat 

 is unequaled for jelly making. It 

 withstands Uie frosts and is an ever- 

 green, that Is ornamental as well as 

 useful. It would not perhaps be out 

 of place to again call attention to the 

 value of the acacia ; besides the bloom 

 it yields, which furnishes both pollen 

 and honey, the timber is valuable as 

 fuel, being equal if not superior to 

 willow, and the wood being verj^ light 

 and white is just the kind of timber 

 to convert into sections for comb 

 honey ; it can be prepared for that 

 purpose on a good foot power buzz saw 

 by any handy bee-keeper at home at 

 spare times, thus saving a money out- 

 lay that has been a considerable item 

 in the bee-keeper's expense account 

 heretofore. It will, on ordinary good 

 soil, grow to the size suitable to such 

 purposes in two years from the plant- 

 ing of the seed, which should be put 

 in the ground in the month of March. 

 Blue gum is another tree of equal if 

 not greater value, both on account of 

 its honey imxlucing qualities and its 

 timber. The handling of the plants 

 must necessarily require more atten- 

 tion than the acacia, but it will well 

 repay the attention and expense be- 

 stowed upon it, as when once well 

 rooted it will grow even in poor, sandy 

 soil, and in a few years altord timber 

 and tire-wood ; and the time usually 

 spent by the bee-keeper in clamber- 

 ing over crags and cliffs, and up almost 

 impassable canons to secure ins sup- 

 ply of fuel, if judiciously used in tree 

 planting would afford a better result 

 for his work, besides furnishing liis 

 bees with honey close at hand year 

 after year, and but little if any danger 

 of failure on account of dry weather. 

 When the blue gum is cut down for 

 any purpose, it will immediately 

 sprout from the root and make a 

 vigorous growth. This is not so with 

 the acacia ; but as it is no more trou- 

 ble to grow it from the seed than to 

 grow corn, the bee-keeper should not 

 complain. As soon as the -danger of 

 spring frosts are over, plant. The 

 delicate and agreeable fragrance of 

 mignonette, which is imparted to the 



honey produced from it ranks it as 

 of first importance among the flowers 

 to be cultivated by the bee-keeper. 

 During the month of March, or as 

 soon as danger from frost is gone, sow 

 the seed and spare not ; be assured 

 that nothing is better for bees, and 

 very few if any blooming plants are 

 better suited to our climate than mig- 

 nonette. 



Reversible Frame. — Mr. F. W. 



Burgess, Huntingdon, L. I., writes to 

 Gleaninc/s as follows on this subject. 



At the convention recently held in 

 Battle Creek, Mich., L. C. Whiting 

 read a paper about the coming hive 

 with reversible frames, etc., origin- 

 ated by Van Deusen, of Sprout Brook, 

 N. Y. It may interest some to know 

 that, a year ago, I made frames re- 

 versible, and have 'experienced the 

 benefits enumerated in this paper. It 

 can be applied to any frame with 

 comb in, it desired. I have my mate- 

 rial cut for frames for next year, and 

 all are to use tfie metal arm. I use 

 the L. frame with wires ; for the sup- 

 port in the center, I use a strip % 

 wide, of picture-back stuff— and by 

 its use secure openings by its side 

 through the cards for winter passages. 

 I have always pressed the wires into 



tlie wax by the use of an " excavator" 

 (everybody will know what that is, • 

 if tliey have ever been to a dentist), 

 bending the point to an angle of 45 

 degrees, and on that foot cutting a 

 slot to ride on the wire. Your button- 

 hook arrangement is the same. 



One great advantage of the rever- 

 sible frame is to secure the comb well 

 drawn out, and attached to both top 

 and bottom bar. 



1 will suggest, that with my frame 

 there is but little chance for the bees 

 to stick them down— a metal arm rest- 

 ing on a metal rabbet. Again, it will 

 always hang perpendicularly, there 

 being but one place of contact ; and if 

 desirable to raise the frames from the 

 bottom-board for winter, it is easily 

 done by placing blocks under the 

 lower arm. 



By turning one arm under the bot- 

 tom-bar, the other is secured flxed for 

 hanging on the rabbet, and vice versa. 



Spring Dwindling.— The London 

 Journal of Horticulture remarks as fol- 

 lows : 



Some bee-keepers are taking alarm 

 at the large numbers of dead bees 

 found in front of certain hives. These 

 are generally cases where a large pro- 

 portion of the stores had either been 

 of unwholesome quality, as honey dew, 

 or had not been properly sealed in 

 autumn from too late feeding. An 

 examination will generally reveal an 

 abnormal quantity of food. How 

 signilicant tlie fact that bees, as well 

 as plants, hasten to propagate their 



