AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



299 



Xhc Bee and the Cricket. 



GEORGE KENT. 



A bee, one day, in arbor lay 



Or rather was found humming'; 

 Busy and blithe, taking- her tithe 



Of " anise, mint and cummin." 



A cricket near was in high cheer, 



Chirping- in lively ditty ; 

 To work as drudge he thought "all fudge," 



For toil he felt no pity. 



'Twas Summer time, each in their prime, 

 One bent on mirth and pleasure; 



Wise to provide, the other plied 

 Her task, for Winter's treasui-e. 



The Summer's day liad passed away, 

 And Autumn brought "Jack Frost;" 



Bach In their turn began to learn 

 Of time to count the cost. 



The bee could show of cells a row 



Of Avell-filled sweetest honey ; 

 The cricket's song- had brought along- 



No food, "for love or money." 



The Winter came— for very shame, 

 The cricket was found dodg-ing 



In any nook where he could look 

 For rpiserable lodg-ing-. 



The bee was hived, and joyous thrived. 



In comfortable quarter; 

 Among- her friends her Winter spends 



In pleasure without barter. 



Now, which think you, on sober view, 



The wisest part has acted? 

 If you have doubt, don't find it out 



As cricket poor in fact did. 



—Little Pilgrim. 



Topics o! Interest. 



My Exprience witli Fixet Frames, 



BARNETT TAYLOR. 



In 1861, I was thoroughly possessed 

 with the idea of keeping bees in a more 

 scientific way. I secured "Langstroth 

 on the Honey-Bee," and studied it with 

 great interest. Previous to that time, I 

 had never seen a movable-frame hive, 

 and I at once resolved to adopt them, 

 but found no way of spacing the combs 

 the proper distance apart, except the 

 very slow and uncertain one of merely 

 guessing ; and, not being inclined to 

 trust to chance in anything, I began 

 experimenting to find some better way, 

 and, as a result, invented the frame 

 which I exhibited at Keokuk, last Novem- 

 ber. 



In the hive I gave to Mrs. Harrison, 

 the frame, you will remember, had wire 

 nails driven into the ends of the top bar, 

 and projecting % of an inch. On each 



end of the hive there is a strip of tin 

 projecting J^ of an inch above the rabbet, 

 with small notches, 1% inches apart, 

 cut in its edge, and in these the frames 

 rested on the wire nails. Small wire 

 staples in one end of the bottom of the 

 hive holds them in place there. 



All of my bees were kept in this kind 

 of hive when used with full brood-cham- 

 bers, until some eight years ago. I made 

 thousands of them and they became 

 common in this section of the country ; 

 and I believe they gave entire satisfac- 

 tion to everyone who used them, and 

 to-day, if I intended to use fixed frames, 

 I would adopt them (after extensive 

 experience with all the popular styles of 

 fixed-distance frames in use) without one 

 second's hesitation ; but I have been 

 using an improved rabbet, in connection 

 with hanging frames, with a device 

 showing just where to place each frame 

 instantly, without, in any way, interfer- 

 ing with the functions of plain hanging , 

 frames. I have over 100 colonies in 

 such hives now, and they give better sat- 

 isfaction, all things considered, than any 

 frame I ever used, and I shall try no 

 further costly experiments, but use this 

 kind of frame entirely in the future, 

 unless something shall appear that is 

 better than anything produced in the 

 past. 



To show that I have not reached this 

 decision without a fair chance of 

 arriving at reasonable conclusions, I will 

 give my experience with other kinds^of 

 fixed frames, especially the Heddon and 

 Hoffman (so-called). I made 100 hives 

 with entire closed-end frames, placed in 

 a suitable case, and when they were new 

 and empty I handled the frames with 

 the greatest pleasure; but when they 

 were filled with a crowded colony of 

 bees, and dampness had swelled the 

 hives and frames, I found them, after 

 three seasons of experience, so annoying 

 to handle, as compared with my old 

 frame, that I altered them all into hang- 

 ing frames by taking off the ends, and 

 adding new ends and top-bar. 



But 4 or 5 years ago there commenced 

 a great hubbub about the new famous 

 Hoffman frame. (By the way, I had been 

 using those half-closed-end frames in my 

 little double brood-chamber hives for 

 years before I ever heard of either Mr. 

 Hoffman or his great invention, and as 

 the frames in these hives are only 4z}4 

 inches deep, and scarcely ever handled 

 singly, they answered very well, just as 

 the Heddon frames do. But in the 

 future I shall use a suspended frame in 

 even these hives, as it has advantages 

 over either.) As I was just starting out- 



