1903 



CLrAxixTJS IX r.r.r. ci" 



rn. 



801 



(the ten-frame) and tea Bingham hives. I 

 put a prime swarm in each alternately, 

 giving a full set of combs, and boxes on 

 top. I kept account of it, and the Bingham 

 averaged over Si. 00 worth more of honej'. I 

 tried a few of the L. hives the next year, 

 but they did not pay as well, so I put them 

 to extracting. That ended big hives for 

 comb honej' with me. 

 New Richmond, Mich. 



[That our readers may know a little more 

 exactly what the Bingham hive is like, we 

 reproduce a cut we made for it about one 

 year ago, and which appears in our ABC 

 of Bet* Culture, under the head of " Hives." 

 Mr. Bingham is a pioneer in the use of 

 shallow hives and closed-end brood-frames. 

 Indeed, I believe he holds the earliest pat- 

 ents ever issued on such a combination — 

 patents that have long since expired by 

 limitation. There are many features about 

 the Bingham hive that will commend it to 

 the practical bee-keeper, especially the one 

 who finds the Langstroth frame a little 

 too deep. 



I have had a feeling for years (perhaps I 

 am mistaken) that the closed-end frame 

 would be the onlj' frame used bj' bee-keep- 

 ers in the future. Propolizing and bee- 

 killing, formerly supposed to be insur- 

 mountable barriers in the experience of 



TIGHTENING THE WIRES. 

 Shall we Draw the Wires Taut? and if so, How? 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



those who have used these frames for years 

 — yes, and I might sa}' for a lifetime — are 

 not a tenth as bad as the advocates of the 

 open end frame have held. There are prob- 

 ably ten times as many closed-end frames 

 in use now as there were ten years ago; 

 and this statement is based on our experi- 

 ence as supi>ly-manufacturers during the 

 time stated. But perhaps not all people 

 may like shallow hives. — Ed.] 



To supply the "missing link," as the 

 editor rightly calls it, I herewith give a de- 

 scription of what I consider the proper way 

 of tightening the wires, with drawing to 

 explain more fully the operation. 



As an introduction, I will say right here 

 that I have never, until this summer, 

 had anj- practical experience with wired 

 frames, and that I have used full sheets for 

 brood-combs to a very limited extent only. 

 Last summer I used about IS lbs. of full 



sheets on wired frames, with the main ob- 

 ject to investigate and gather such infor- 

 mation as thorough work and close observa- 

 tion could furnish. After reading on this 

 subject all that I could find, and before I 

 had undertaken to do the work itself, I had 

 given the matter a thorough theoretical go- 

 ing-over, and had come to the conclusion 

 that, the tighter the wires, the better it 

 would hold the foundation. I could see no 

 reason why a looser wire should keep foun- 

 dation from bulging or buckling any better 

 than a tighter one; consequently I tightened 

 all my wires all they could stand. I made 

 them sing like "fiddle-strings," perhaps 

 not as high as the A or E pitch, but some- 

 thing like the D or G strings, until the 

 end bars were slightly sprung in. All my 

 frames have four wires, not because I con- 

 sidered them really necessary, for I think 

 three or possibly two, as Mr. Coggshall 

 uses, will do; but I meant to do a thorough 

 job, and follow Gleanings' advice, which 

 I think is "to put a wire every two inches. ' ' 



A few da3's ago I got the proof of the 

 pudding. I examined every comb of every 

 young swarm that I hived on full sheets (I 

 used about all of the 15 lbs. for that pur- 

 pose), and found practically every one as 

 even and true as a board dressed on both 

 sides. 



When I string the wire in Ihe frame I 

 take no pains to draw it tight — simply 

 thread it as you would a sewing-machine. 

 After the frame is taken from the wiring- 

 board it is naturally still looser, so that, 

 when all the slack is taken out, a couple of 

 inches may have to be cut off. 



