1210 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



one set of deep ones, these shallow standing 

 frames have very little more lumber in the 

 two sets than is used in the one set of deeper 

 ones. The top and bottom bars are much 

 lighter, and also murh more simple, and re- 

 quire less work or complicated machinery to 

 make. A few more nails are used, but not 

 enough to add two cents to the cost of a hive. 

 When the whole hive is considered it is less 

 complicated and of fewer pieces than the 

 regular Dovetailed hive, except in the mat- 

 ter of frames; and the hive for equal capaci- 

 ty need not cost to exceed ten cents more 

 than the standard. It ought not to cost any 

 more, and will not if properly made. 



But here is a fact commonly overlooked in 

 comparing cost. Almost every one looks at 

 the first cost of fixtures and not at the run- 

 ning expense. An ox team with the yoke 

 and an old worn-out or otherwise cheap 

 plow is much cheaper than a plow of best 

 make, and new, and drawn by a good team 

 of horses; but who wovild think of hiring a 

 man at a cost of $1.50 a day to operate the 

 ox outfit? The running expense would soon 

 make the ox team by far the more expensive. 

 A divisible-brood-chamber hive is but very 

 little if any more expensive as to first cost; 

 and when it comes to the operating it is 

 cheaper. 



If it were necessary to handle the frames 

 one by one in the two-chamber hive as often 

 as in the deep style there would be a serious 

 objection in that point; but the handling of 

 frames is reduced to a minimum, and that 

 (objection does not hold. When it comes to 

 the question of hunting for queens the api- 

 arist is not practical or bright in his profes- 

 sion if he finds it necessary to hunt through 

 the two sets of combs for them except in a 

 small per cent of cases. It is possible with 

 queen-excluders, with a judicious use of 

 smoke, or with common-sense judgment, to 

 find nearly every queen without handling 

 more than one set or part of one set of frames. 

 It is also possible to make examination, and 

 determine many things about condition, with 

 the least exposure and time. This hive re- 

 quires no more outlay of cash to purchase 

 and operate than does the standard hive, and 

 it gives a number of advantages not found 

 in the others. 



WEAK POINTS OF SECTIONAL HIVES. 



If the hive be used in two sections there is 

 a strong tendency to build a row of drone- 

 cells between the two sets of frames. These 

 to some extent tie the two bodies together, 

 yet not so much so as to make it hard to sep- 

 arate them. I admit this makes some little 

 annoyance, but it does not occur at all times, 

 and is aggravated by a crowded condition. 

 1 have never found it a serious matter by any 

 means in many years of practice. If the 

 hive be used three sections deep, there is also 

 some disposition to build store-cells between 

 the parts; but this will not be serious if the 

 management is right. 



The real facts are, that, even with the 

 common hive and modern L. frames, to let 

 a colony get too badly crowded will cause 



the building of comb around the ends and 

 above the top-bars, and even beneath the 

 bottoms of the frames until it is almost im- 

 possible to remove them. The frame I use 

 and the one I recommend for the sectional 

 hive is a closed-end standing one. With 

 such a one there is never any building 

 around the ends. The building between 

 bodies is a slight objection; but, as indicated 

 above, an intelligent and proper use and 

 manipulation with a proper spacing reduce 

 that to a very small consideration. 



About the only other weak point is the 

 larger number of frames to contend with; 

 but that, too, ceases to be at all serious for 

 all of the ordinary brood-chamber manipu- 

 lations; and it is the question of the brood- 

 chamber we are considering. That is the 

 part that is attacked by the critics. The 

 apiarist may arrange his surplus fixtures to 

 suit his notion. If producing extracted hon- 

 ey he can use deep frames if he wishes, but, 

 of course, the objection would be raised of 

 two sizes of frames. I do not by any m ians 

 advocate this, and believe all would be bet- 

 ter to have but one frame. To extract from 

 shallow frames does make extra handling of 

 parts, and would be an objection; but the 

 majority produce comb or section honey, 

 and with all such the objection does not 

 hold. As for the production of extracted I 

 expect to treat that subject in a subsequent 

 article, and from another standpoint, so I 

 pass it here. 



There have been many changes in the 

 past few years in both methods and appli- 

 ances, and few would think of going back to 

 the old lines; but while this is a fact, and 

 well, yet it sometimes happens that, with 

 improved appliances, we may better apply 

 old-line principles in a new way, and be the 

 gainers thereby. Why should we think it 

 strange if, with the divisible-bi'ood-chamber 

 hive, or some other modern appliance, we 

 would simplify modern practice? 



When I was a boy the mowing-machines 

 we used on the farm were heavy and both 

 crude and complicated as compared with 

 the ones now in use; we compare the old and 

 the new, and wonder why we did not think 

 of the ideas used in the new— they are so 

 simple. We want to simplify hives and 

 methods. The old appliances taught us 

 many things, and now that much more of 

 the nature and habits of the bee is known 

 we can shorten and simplify methods and 

 get better results. 



Loveland, Col. 



In a former issue we alluded to the news- 

 paper furore over the death of a boy, alleged 

 to be the result of a bee-sting. Our repre- 

 sentative in Philadelphia now informs us that 

 the report of the post mortem by the doctors 

 of Frankford hospital has been issued, and 

 the finding is that the immediate cause of 

 death was cerebral tetanus, and that the sting 

 of the bees had nothing to do with it. 



