94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



these 4X5 sections much more rapidly than 

 square ones. It is said bees are lilse people 

 in this respect. We never see a square house, 

 and, indeed, bee-keepers do not want a 

 square bee-hive, as much better results are 

 obtained with the present system. I have 

 very few cells in finished sections that are 

 not sealed, most of them all sealed, and built 

 as straight as a board right down to the 

 wood. Now, if all this is true in addition to 

 being able to secure one or two cents more 

 a pound for these sections, is it not a matter 

 worth the consideration of every practical 

 bee-keeper in the country? 

 Nisbet, Penn. 



«tt»« 



THE PLAIN LANGSTROTH FRAME— 

 WITH A PRELUDE. 



A Plea for Simplicity. 



BY E. N. WOODWARD. 



As we have been favored with so many 

 articles on the merits and demerits of the 

 Hoffman frame, 1 thought it no more than 

 fair that the plain Langstroth frame with its 

 simple construction and its easy manipula- 

 tion should again have an advocate. 



With this thought in mind I sat down to 

 express my conviction on this old, wornout 

 (always new) subject; but as I sat at my 

 desk I opened the August 1st number of 

 Gleanings, and, looking at the page at 

 random, I said to myself, "Surely this must 

 be some text-book illustrating some new 

 mathematical problem, with its cubes and 

 its squares, and right angles, triangles, par- 

 allels, etc.," but upon closer study I found 

 that they were quite simple devices for han- 

 dling hives, supers, and various things of 

 that kind, and, to all appearance, very good 

 in their way, and I wondered to myself what 

 the inventive brain of the modern bee-keep- 

 er would place before us next, and whether 

 we could afford all of this luxury, and make 

 use of all the new things offered us, and 

 make a paying investment of it. 



Now, in this north-central half of Uncle 

 Sam's Ijee-pasture, where we depend mostly 

 upon white clover for our surplus, and often 

 a failure at that, we must be a little careful 

 how we indulge in these new things, on ac- 

 count of expense. One man may exploit a 

 certain kind of hive (non-swarming), per- 

 haps. It is something new, and has some 

 good points, but is too complicated and ex- 

 pensive for practical use. Or some one may 

 develop a new system of management so 

 elaborate in detail that the thought of putting 

 it in practice makes it appear almost prohib- 

 itive. It is easy for us to preach to others: 

 but do we ourselves practice what we preach? 

 In other words, do we take our own med- 

 icine? I rather suspect not in all cases, ex- 

 cept in homeopathic doses. 



In these new things that come up, how 

 shall we determine what is truth and what 

 is error? Sometimes we ourselves are at 

 fault, and in trying to follow what may pos- 

 sibly be a truth we meet with disaster. As 

 a case in point, I tried to follow the Alexan- 



der method of strengthening weak colonies 

 by placing them over strong hives, and it 

 proved a complete failure. I shall not at- 

 tempt it again until I am convinced that I 

 was at fault myself. So I repeat, what we 

 are all after is truth. 



The teacher then should plainly show 



That truth alone is uttered; 



For man, to win success, should know 



Which side his bread is buttered. 



And now after drifting away for a time I 

 wish to resume my subject and have a word 

 to say in regard to the plain standard Lang- 

 stroth frame. What we want is a hive and 

 a frame and a system of management that 

 will bring dollars and cents into our pock- 

 ets. I am aware that this is not the popular 

 side of the question. There are two ex- 

 tremes. One man will choose a tall hive 

 with a deep frame, another man a shallow 

 hive with shallow frames. Mr. R. C. Aikin, 

 of Colorado, once said, "If bees were to 

 consult their own wishes they would choose 

 a hive thirty inches high." Is there not 

 some point where the two extremes may 

 meet — some happy medium where the wishes 

 of the bee and the convenience of the bee- 

 keeper may harmonize? We think that the 

 compromise is about on the line with the 

 standard Langstroth frame, pure and simple. 



I have used the Hoffman frame quite ex- 

 tensively, and I find by experience that the 

 objection to the plain frame is somewhat im- 

 aginary. It is the cheapest frame that can 

 be macie, and the easiest to handle. You 

 can remove any frame you wish, often with- 

 out the use of a smoker, and certainly with- 

 out the disturbance and the annoyance and 

 the stings that will come when we attempt 

 to move the first Hoffman frame. 



Now, " in this locality " attraction of grav- 

 itation is always in force. We set our hives 

 perfectly level; and if frames are well made, 

 and hung upon tin rabbets, they will hang 

 true and plumb every day in the week. 

 Again, at certain times of the year I wish to 

 space my frames differently for a reason and 

 a purpose which I think are very important. 

 When running for extracted honey I space 

 my frames in the super If inches. In win- 

 tering I space them 1^ inches. If I wish to 

 remove several frames from below and place 

 them in the extracting super above, it is eas- 

 ily done. But some one will reply, "You 

 can do all this with the Hoffman frame." 

 So you can; but when you space the Hoffman 

 frame differently you make a hanging frame 

 of it —just what I advocate, and the so-called 

 advantage of the Hoffman frame has lost its 

 merit. 



In regard to moving hives to out-apiaries, 

 I will just say that I have moved hundreds 

 of colonies on springs five miles and over, 

 with no damage whatever, and I have moved 

 them by the carload two hundred miles with 

 the same good result. 



In conclusion I will say that, for an all- 

 purpose combination, for comb and extract- 

 ed honey, the standard Langstioth hive and 

 frame has no superior, and, like many other 

 good things, will still rest upon its own merit. 



Hillsdale, Mich. 



