22 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to-day as the most perfect non-swarm- 

 ing attachment yet known to the pub- 

 lic. You will notice how I combined 

 the close passage principle, with tlie 

 principle utilized by the use of Mr. 

 Langstroth's entrance blocks, better 

 regulators than which never have 

 been, and probably never will be de- 

 vised. 



I consider the inventions of this 

 great man, inventions of over 20 years 

 standing, yet ahead of the age, or of 

 bee-keepers in general. 



Bowagiac, Mich., Dec. 24, ISas. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Fixed Frames. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



In the Bee Journal for Xov. 14. 

 1883, page -STo, in an article by A. 

 AVebster, I find this sentence. " Of 

 the improvements of the past, mova- 

 ble comb fj-ames must be retained, 

 but of an entirely different construc- 

 tion from tliose now in common use ; 

 and should he fixed, and reversible, as 

 well as movable."" I do not know Mr. 

 W. nor the amount of experience in 

 manipulation he has had during the 

 25 years he has kept bees, but I do cer- 

 tainly make issue with him on the 

 question of construction of frames, 

 and particularly in the matter of so 

 constructing them as to make them 

 fixed. The only frame that can be of 

 any real value to the apiarist, is a sec- 

 tional, hanging, movable frame, that 

 is so far from being fixed, that, not- 

 withstanding the inequalities of sur- 

 face in the face of the combs, either 

 in waviness or thickness, that it may 

 at any and all times be interchange- 

 able with any otlier, and in every hive 

 in the apiary. By tliis plan alone can 

 we be able to perform our labors 

 speedily, and without injury to our 

 bees. One of the principle points in 

 favor of the Langstroth frames, [and 

 by this I do not mean the standard 

 Langstroth particularly, but any form 

 of Langstroth frame) is that they are 

 interchangeable ; so much so, that no 

 matter what their position Ln the hive 

 relative to each other, they can be re- 

 placed after being removed without 

 regard to the position thev originally 

 occupied. To be enabled to do this 

 must be recognized as an immense ad- 

 vantage, and must allow the operator 

 to perform much more work, and in 

 equally as effective form, than he 

 could ppssibly do were he obliged to 

 carefully replace each frame in the 

 particular position from which he re- 

 moved it. Again in order to have 

 fixed frames, one of two things must 

 happen; either the frames must be 

 close fitting at tops or ends, or else 

 some arrangement must be made by 

 which the frames can be held in one 

 particular position only. Either of 

 these plans it seems to me would 

 cause far more labor than is needed 

 with imflxed frames to say nothing of 

 the liability of killing bees with close 

 topped or close ended frames, and the 

 liability or having the bees make them 

 fixtures in reality by a free use of pro- 

 polis. I have used the American 

 frame, and the first objection I found 



with it was the close fitting top. This 

 renders a side opening hive necessary, 

 and I must be able to remove any 

 frame at pleasure, without being 

 obliged to remove some or all of the 

 others first. In order to have a set of 

 frames fixed it becomes necessary to 

 have them spaced evenly, and all 

 apiarists of experience know that 

 while this idea may be beautiful in 

 theory, it is absolutely impossible in 

 practice, without making a large 

 amount of labor necessary, at a time 

 when it can illy be afforded. The 

 nearer we come to nature the nearer 

 we are to the right. Now I claim 

 that frames are not natural, and are a 

 disadvantage rather than an advan- 

 tage to the bees; we use them as an 

 improvement for ourselves, and in 

 using them we should follow nature 

 as closely as possible. Xow to follow 

 nature closely, we must make our 

 frames of such form that the bees can 

 perambulate over, under, and around 

 them, and this we cannot do if we 

 have them fixed, without a loss to our- 

 selves in some other important partic- 

 ular. But I need not follow out this 

 idea further. I have not written as I 

 have in a fault-finding or captious 

 spirit, but simply for the purpose of 

 drawing out fiom Mr. W. the whys 

 and the wherefores of his fixed frariie 

 idea. He may give reasons that will 

 commend themselves to us all. but 

 till he does so, I shall claim that fixed 

 frames are a positive disadvantage. 

 Foiboro, Mass., Dec. 2-5, 1883. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Come Over tolMacedonia and Help Us. 



J. HASBROUCK. 



Dear Journal.— You recommend- 

 ed to US a short time ago some mis- 

 sionary work in a dark corner of our 

 state and while I have been planning 

 how to undertake it, I have acciden- 

 tally found demand for all my efforts 

 nearer home. It happened on this 

 wise. You must know that I have 

 found out that it is best, in the home 

 market, to select with care the grocers 

 whom you allow to handle your honey. 

 Well, in hunting for an additional 

 man of the right kind the other day 

 at our country town. I went to see a 

 grocer who had been recommended to 

 me as having a large trade in honey. 

 I found that he had a stock, of which 

 he handed me down some to look at, 

 remarking tliat one lot granulated in 

 jelly-cups, although labelled ''honey," 

 "with the name of an enterprising bee- 

 keeper of this county, was some 

 " stuff '" fed to bees and" then "slung'" 

 out by a ■' patent machine."" 



I concluded my opportunity for mis- 

 sion work had come and so Itold him, 

 that we. who write for the bee papers, 

 had said over and over again that the 

 granulating was the best test of puri- 

 ty. The heathen told me, " that shows 

 you don't know anything about it."' 



I told him that Mr. L. C. Root, who 

 had made a book about bees and 

 honey, had just been saying that 

 there ^^•asn■t anything— not even glu- 

 cose — which could be fed to bees with 

 any profit. I told him I was at a loss 



to see the use of the bees in the opera- 

 tion—that I thought he or some other 

 man who didn't keep bees could put 

 the '-stuff " directly into the jelly- 

 cups, if there was any money in the 

 business, and that the bee-keeper who 

 had to support the bees and do all the 

 useless labor of first giving the "stuff" 

 to them and then taking it away 

 again could not compete with him. 



He then handed down some liquid 

 honey and said that was the genuine 

 article that all his customers would 

 rather give 20c for, than 10c for the 

 other. It bore the label of a gentle- 

 man near the village containing a 

 "notice" to this efl'ect : " The pro- 

 ducer wants it distinctly understood 

 that this is drained honey and not ex- 

 tracted. Extracted honey is a cheap 

 article fed to bees in patent combs, 

 and afterward slung out by a patent 

 machine, when it soon becomes sour 

 and unfit for use."' Isn't that depravi- 

 ty for you V Well as soon as I recov- 

 ered my equinimity, I labored long 

 and patiently with that man to con- 

 vince him that extracted honey was a 

 much cleaner, and if properly ripened, 

 nicer article than drained honey, but 

 all to no effect. He insisted that ex- 

 tracted honey and any honey that 

 woidd granulate would not sell. He 

 had tried it many times and always 

 with the same result. I'm discour- 

 aged. Send me Dadant or some of 

 your pamphlets— honey as food and 

 medicine. 



On the " hint" of Mr. Shankland, I 

 will amend the report of the N. J. 

 and E. B. K. A., by adding that the 

 meeting was held in New "i ork — New 

 Jersey you know is only the garden 

 patch" to the great city, and that the 

 president is Li. W. Thompson, of Stel- 

 ton, N. J., and a great bee-man he is 

 too, I tell you. When I visited him 

 last, about two years ago, he had 70 

 colonies — not a hybrid colony among 

 them — in the finest looking apiary I 

 ever saw, which is managed entirely 

 I believe by his accomplis'lied daugh- 

 ter, who beats us all in charming 

 those new races, and making them 

 roll in the honey. Mr. Thompson is a 

 man, whose acquaintance, if once en- 

 joyed, no bee-keeper, at this time, 

 especially if he is young and stirring 

 and good'looking, can afford to neglect. 



Bound Brook, N. J., Dec. 20, 1883. 



Translated by Arthur Todd. 



A Method to Cure Foul Brood. 



GEORGES DE LAYENS. 



In the spring of the year 1883, I 

 inspected several of the hives sur- 

 rounding my apiary, in order to be 

 thoroughly aware "of the state my 

 neighboriiig colonies were in. 



In an apiary of 5 colonies, aU in 

 frame hives, one had foul brood very 

 badly ; I transferred the bees into a 

 new"hive without any combs, and fed 

 them with a syrup mixed with acid, 

 and the colony appears to have been 

 perfectly cured. 



In another apiary of 20 colonies all 

 in common straw skeps, 4 died this 

 spring of the disease. 



A third apiary of 2.5 colonies was 

 also attacked ; of which 4 were so bad 



