TMW MIVHERICMM BE® J©lURf«KI<. 



39 



when shoit of stoves, or lacking in 

 bees. — The Editor. 



COI.OI%IES mrn>i)ii^« UP tT% 



Written for the Amerir/'.n Bee Journal 



Query 508.— Will bees build up as strong 

 in numbers by the use of sectional brood-cham- 

 bers of the Heddon reversible pattern, as they 

 will upon combs of as large size as the Simplicity 

 or Quinby pattern ?— H. 



Most certainly. — W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I should not expect much difference. 

 — C. C. Miller. 



I think that there is no doubt of it. 

 — A. J. Cook. 



I think so, but my experience is 

 limited. — G. M. Doolittle. 



Yes, if proper care is gixew them. — 

 A. B. Mason. 



I think there will be little if any dif- 

 ference. — M. Mahin. 



I have had no experience, but I 

 think that they will. — Mrs. L. Harbi- 

 son. 



I do not know, as I have never used 

 a Heddon hive, but I do not think 

 there would be much difference. — C. 



H. DiBBERN. 



If you give them sectional brood- 

 chambers as they require, I have no 

 doubt that they will. — P. L. Viallon. 



I do not know. I have never used 

 the Heddon hive ; only by experiments 

 can the matter be proved. — J. E. Pond. 



As this is a hot question, we would 

 say, try it with 2 or 3 colonies. We 

 have tried it, and do not want any 

 sectional hives. — Dadant & Son. 



They will build up as strong, but not 

 so soon. However, if the hives are 

 packed in chaff, the difference is not 

 great. — G. L. Tinker. 



I have had no experience with the 

 Heddon reversible hive ; but as I un- 

 dei-stand the question, they will not. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



I object to all cross sticks, or objects 

 of like nature in frames. I prefer a 

 regular Langstroth frame. — J. P. H. 

 Bro^vn. 



Yes, sir. The past season I had one 

 colony in the new Heddon hive that 

 produced of comb honey five times the 

 average of my apiary, and about twice 

 as much as the best of my colonies on 

 Simplicity frames, and it was because 

 of their numbers that they did it. — R. 

 L. Taylor. 



That would depend upon the man- 

 agement. If 10 frames were left in 

 the Simplicity, or an equal space in 

 any other hive in the spring, they 

 ought to build up faster in the Heddon 

 sectional brood-chamber if only one 

 were used at first, because that is con- 



traction. Contraction can be prac- 

 ticed with any hive. Therefore an- 

 swering the query in one word, yes. — 

 Eugene Secor. 



Yes, faster. J am now answering 

 from four years' experience. With 

 the new hive, with the divisible brood- 

 chamber, in two sections, bees breed 

 up stronger and earlier, and finally 

 produce more in the same capacity, 

 than can be obtained in any other 

 stjie of brood-chamber, provided the 

 same is properly manipulated. No 

 style of brood-chamber is its superior, 

 if the divisible brood-chamber is not 

 manipulated at all James Heddon. 



I have u^ed the half-depth-frame 

 oases for over eight years, and I have 

 used them for all purposes. When 

 used for brood-rearing in this climate 

 where the ^springs are early and 

 changeable, the colonies in them do 

 not breed up rapidly like they do when 

 in the standard Langstroth hives. But 

 when the weather becomes warm, 

 there is little difference to be seen in 

 the amount of brood reared. The 

 shallow sectional-frame cases are at 

 their best when used for the purposes 

 for which they were first devised, viz : 

 to take honey on the tiering-up plan. — 

 G. W. Demaree. 



With judicious management, we do 

 not think that there will be much dif- 

 ference. — The Editor. 



BROOD-FRAMES 



Deep Frames vs. Slialloiv Ones, 

 and Sectional Hives. 



WrUttn for the American Bee Journal 

 BY W. J. CULLIN.\N. 



This afternoon, as I was enjoying 

 the New-Year holiday (by " minding 

 the baby " while my wife went shop- 

 ping), I thought that I could not better 

 improve the spare time than by writing 

 to my favorite bee-paper ; and suiting 

 the action to the thought, I will begin. 



About ten weeks ago I tore myself 

 fi'om the town of my birth and the 

 scenes of my youth, and hied me to 

 this great "Chicago of the southwest," 

 better known as Kansas City. 



I left home with the intention of 

 going to California, and may still reach 

 that "land of sun and flowers," if the 

 accounts I get of fleas, poison-oaks and 

 hostile reptiles of the sea do not cause 

 my courage to fail me. Let this suf- 

 fice as a preface, for I started out to 

 answer an article f)n page 804 of the I 



American Hke Journal for 1887, 

 wherein Mr. J. M. Hambaugh enters 

 " a plea for large frames." 



It is well enough to analyze and di.s- 

 cuss every pliase of apiculture, and 

 when we have stumbled upon aiij'- 

 thing (be it new or old) that will 

 facilitate the labors, or add to the 

 Ijrofits of bee-keeping, lay it before the 

 great brotherhood and sisterhood, who 

 in the pursuit of this noble calling are 

 yearly adding to our national wealth, 

 and contributing to the comfort, 

 health, happiness and luxury of their 

 fellowmen. Mr. Hambaugh does not 

 claim that he has anything new to 

 offer in the shape of a hive, but is 

 simply comniending that which is old, 

 or giving his preference, as it were. 



Mr. H. says, that in transferring 

 bees " from nail-kegs, log-hives, bee- 

 trees, etc., he has found the same prin- 

 ciple to govern all, i. e., lai-ge, deep, 

 roomy combs, with stores above, brood 

 beneath, and combs spaced from IJ to 

 2 inches from centre to centre." I 

 would ask, did he not find those combs 

 of all shapes and sizes, made, and 

 shaped more with a view to filling the 

 repository in which they were built, 

 than to honor any whim or require- 

 ment of the queen-mother ? For it is 

 well known that bees in their wild or 

 natural state inhabit caves, built under 

 ledges of rocks, in the sides of houses, 

 in chimney-flues, and in all manner of 

 places, and as they show an utter ab- 

 horrence to a vacuum (when they have 

 honey to fill it), they always fill the 

 pai'ticular space, be it round, square 

 or^oblong, thus forcing the queen to 

 deviate from her characteristic circu- 

 lar movements, suiting them to her 

 particular surroundings. I have fre- 

 quently seen Langstroth frames filled 

 completely full of brood ; and again, 

 I have seen a patch of eggs in one 

 corner of a frame, while the other 

 three were empty — showing that the 

 queen does not always move in a cir- 

 cuit, but readily adapts herself to her 

 surroundings. 



The Quinby frame, which is the 

 frame Mr. H. alludes to, is too large 

 and unwieldly for extracting, as well 

 as slower of manipulation at all times. 

 I think that Mr. H. forgets himself 

 when he says, "We should imitate 

 nature in the construction of our hives." 

 Does he go to an old hollow-tree or 

 cave for measurements when he wishes 

 to begin the consti-uction of his Sim- 

 picity or Quinby hives ? No ; he will 

 consult his table of measurements on 

 paper, which, by the way, contain not 

 one single feature of the hollow-tree 

 intact. He and others have changed, 

 altered and improved upon the pioneer 

 homes of the honey-bee to such an ex- 

 tent that the one resembles the other 

 onlv in the form and construction of 



