THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



373 



For the American Bee JouraaL 



The Honey-Bee. 



EMMA llASSETT HENNESSEY. 



*• Rnttor and lioney shall he eat. that he 

 may know to refuse the evil, and choose the 

 g:ood."' — Is.\ vii, 17. 



Where spicy shrub and cling-inj? vine 



Within the srarden's hound. 

 Seemingly coax the sun to shine, 



A j:rold-mine I liavc found. 



And all about a busy camp 

 Augments the yellow hoard. 



And guards froni every passing: tramp 

 The treasure snugly stored. 



But. see ! no seltish law doth hold 



Within the busy hive : 

 Benevolence pays out the trold 



For which no brothers strive. 



The greatest number's greatest good- 

 Such is the wise decree 



That binds the noble sisterhood. 

 Of queen and honey-bee. 



So quietl.v each busy life 



Lived to its quiet end. 

 For indi\'idu'l fame no strife — 



As t)ne the colors blend. 



And yet, proud man — great architect. 

 Bring compass, square and rule. 



And with your measurements, detect 

 The laws learn'd in this school. 



With nicety of hand and eye. 

 Gauge me this matchless skill— 



This indis'luble unity 

 Of multitud'nous will. 



These walls so delicate, j'ct strong ; 



So uniform and true : 

 These cells that predetermine long 



What sort of life slips through. 



And from your laboratories come. 

 Ye chemists grave and gra.y ! 



Translate for me the hive's soft hum — 

 Its secrets give away. 



The mysteries of death and life 

 Perchance are waiting here. 



The problems that occasion strife 

 Are surely now made clear. 



Ah, well ! since lab'ring brains evolve 

 No knowledge like the bee's. 



Woman is tempted to resolve 

 Ne'er to curtail her ease. 



Nor yield small homage to those schools 

 Which sap the springs of .youth. 



But bee-lines take, for life's best rules 

 To fountain-heads of truth. 

 — Manhattan, Kansas. 



For the American Bee JoiimaL 



Those Six-Frame Hives- 



G. 31. DOOLITTLE. 



I am asked by several to explain 

 still farther about those six-frame 

 hives I spoke of on page 69, as that 

 article did not go far enough into the 

 details so that all understood it. 

 l*In preparing the bees for winter 

 where but f! frames are used in the 

 hive, these frames occupy l)ut i) inches 

 of space, as }}£ inches to eacli frame 

 is the space I allow both in winter 

 and summer. These 6 frames are 

 either put close to one side of the 

 hive next to the slotted division-board, 

 and a movable division-board placed 

 next to them, or they are left in the 

 middle of the hive and a movable 



division-board placed each side of 

 them. 



These movable division-boards are 

 simply an inch board made to fit 

 loosely tlie inside of the hive, except 

 that they do not reach tlie bottom 

 within y^ of an inch or so. To the 

 top of this board is nailed tlie top-bar 

 of a frame, and then one of these 

 boards, or " dummies " as some call 

 them, will fit in the place of any 

 frame in the hive. They are used 

 solely for contracting the size of the 

 hive. 



After having the 6 frames fixed as 

 above described, witli these dummies, 

 the cotton cloth is spread on tlie top 

 (as I said on page 69), and down the 

 sides over the slotted division-boards, 

 just the same as would be done if the 

 full 9 frames were used. Some hives 

 have but 5 frames and a dummy, 

 others 6, 7 or S, as the case may be. 



To make it jilain, I should have 

 said in ray former article that this 

 cotton cloth covering is in two pieces, 

 each piece being long enough to cover 

 the top of the brood-chamber and ex- 

 tend down one side over the slotted 

 division-board ; thus requiring two 

 pieces 14 inches wide and 26 inches 

 long, to each hive. 



Thus it will be seen that there are 

 two thicknesses of cloth over the bees, 

 besides the chaff cushion. In the 

 spring, when I wish to spread the 

 brood, etc., all I liave to do is to re- 

 move the cushion and lift up the 

 strips of cotton cloth over the packing 

 at the sides, when the frames are 

 handy to manipulate. When I am 

 through, the strips are spread back, 

 and the cushion put on ; and thus the 

 bees are left snugly packed till they 

 become so strong that they need 

 combs put over in the S-inch spaces at 

 the sides, as I gave on page 69. 



"Whf n the bees are wintered on 5 or 

 6 combs, they are so left till the combs 

 are filled with brood and crowded with 

 bees, when they are spread apart and 

 an empty comb placed in the centre 

 as needeil, and so on till the ''dum- 

 mies " are all out, and the brood- 

 chamber is tilled with 9 frames of 

 brood. This item of leaving the 

 chaff packing all on during the 

 changeable weather of spring is a 

 great help in building up our bees in 

 the spring. 



I am next asked about those slotted 

 division-boards. These are made of 

 clear lumber I4 inch thick, and are 

 kept in place by a saw kerf }4 inch 

 wide and I4 inch deep, being cut on 

 the inside of the hive 5 inches from 

 either end. This saw kerf is made 

 before the hive is put together, which 

 is easily done by passing the boards 

 over a saw set a little wabbling, and 

 by having the saw-table raised so that 

 the saw cuts but I4 inch deep. If you 

 do not have access to a buzz-saw, it 

 can be done by hand by sawing in 

 two places, and then trimming it out 

 with a 14-inch chisel. 



When the hive is nailed together 

 these boards will slip down into the 

 grooves cut for them. The slots 

 should be placed in them so that one 

 shall come at the top of the bottom 

 tier of sections, just under the top- 

 bar of the section, and the other at 



the bottom of tlie top tier of sections, 

 just above the bottom piece to the top 

 sections. The board should also be 

 narrow enough so there shall be a 3-4- 

 iuch passage way into the bottom of 

 the bottom tier of sections, and the 

 same at the top of the top tier of sec- 

 tions. In other words, make this 

 board so that it shall take the place of 

 two separators. I could give the ex- 

 act size I use, but that would be of 

 little use, as there are almost as many 

 different sizes of sections as there are 

 bee-keepers. 



After you have once got these 

 slotted boards right for the hive, you 

 can slip one of ttiem out to be used as 

 a pattern. i3y adjusting the gauge on 

 your saw-table so the wabbling saw 

 will come just right, the slots are cut 

 as fast as one can handle the boards. 

 For a few as a trial, the slots can be 

 cut with a carpenter's slitting-gauge. 



If from any reason I wish to use 

 this hive for extracted honey instead 

 of comb honey, I remove these slotted 

 boards, and ttieu I have a 15-frame 

 hive for this purpose, and in case of a 

 large colony, it can be used as a two- 

 story hive, which gives 30 frames, and 

 which is generally ample room for 

 any colony. 



Again, I am asked the size of the 

 sections which I use. I formerly used 

 the section which is ei^xSyxS, outside 

 measure. Two of these were placed 

 in a two-bo,x case with a separator 



Two-box Case. 



nailed to one side, as shown in the 

 illustration. These cases are now 

 called " wide frames," I believe. I 

 now use the same wide frames for 

 sections ; but instead of using the 

 prize sections, I use three smaller 

 sections in place of two, which gives 

 a section 0^^x6,14x2, outside measure, 

 and weighing, when well filled, 1% 

 pounds. In all of the Eastern mar- 

 kets these sections sell at the same 

 figure as the one-pound sections. 



By the above engraving it will be 

 seen that the top-bars of these wide 

 frames project as does the top-bar to 

 our brood frames. In the .5-inch space 

 is nailed a cleat to either side of the 

 hive, in just the right position, so that 

 the first wide frame put in h angs on 

 these cleats, as a frame hangs on the 

 rabbet to the hive. Two nails are 

 driven into the top of all these wide 

 frames, one at each end, so as to pro- 

 ject J4 incli, and the next wide frame 

 rests on them, thus preventing the 

 killing of any bees when the wide 

 frames are set one on top of the other. 



These nails are also so driven that 

 the open side of the wide frame is al- 

 ways inclined toward the slotted di- 

 vision-board ; and thus they allow of 

 a frame of unsealed brood being put 

 behind them, as I gave directions on 

 page 69. When no brood is in this 

 space, a board which I call a " fol- 

 lower," is placed next to the wide 



