TMU ^MERICMH BE® JQURNSEr. 



199 



1. With starters, no ; with full sheets, 

 yes. 2. That depenils upon the size 

 and shape of the frame. A wire 

 stretcher from the upper corners to the 

 centre of the boltom-liar of the frame, 

 will be sufficient with heavy founda- 

 tion. — M. Mahin. 



I would advise wires alwaj's with 

 full sheets, but not with guides. Nar- 

 row guides are better than wide ones ; 

 3 or 3 cells wide is best.. — James Hed- 



DON. 



1. Yes, use 5 or 6 vertical wires to 

 the Langstroth frame. 2. Sow them 

 back and forth through the top and 

 bottom bars, and draw them just tight 

 enough to hold them straight. — J. M. 

 Shuck. 



1. Invariably with full sheets of 

 foundation. I would also use the 

 wired frames with starters, but have 

 them built between two straight combs. 

 I have had many combs built on wire 

 with only starters, but the building of 

 too many drone-cells is an objection. 

 2. I use 6 wires running from top to 

 bottom, and also diagonal wires and a 

 tin bar in the centre. — Paul L. Viau- 



LON. 



1. I would, if I had time to wire 

 them, especially for extracted honey. 

 2. I have used frames wired horizon- 

 tally, and also perpendicularly, and 

 can see no difference. Last season I 

 wired nearly all of my frames horzon- 

 tally, with three wires. — H. D. Cut- 

 ting. 



1. Yes. 2. With perpendicular wires 

 about 2 inches apart, the outside ones 

 being within J an inch of the end-bars. 

 Then if there is danger of the top-bar 

 sagging, the wire should be continued 

 from one of the upper corners down 

 diagonally through the middle of the 

 bottom-bar, and from that point up 

 diagonally to the other upper corner ; 

 then a piece of folded tin should be 

 sprung in at the middle of the top and 

 bottom-bars, to keep them the right 

 distance apart. — R. L. Tatlor. 



1. We certainly should not advise 

 wiring frames when starters are used. 

 When using full sheets of foundation 

 there is some excuse for wires, but 

 even then, in ordinary cases wiring is 

 not so necessary as some imagine. 2. 

 Wiring should be done from the top- 

 bar to the bottom-bar, about 2 inches 

 apart, with diagonal wire supports. — 

 The Editor. 



Always :VIention your Post-OflBce, 



County and State when writing to this 

 office. No matter where you may happen 

 to be for the hour wlien actually writing— 

 never mention anything but your perma- 

 nent address. To do otherwise leads to 

 confusion, unless you desire your address 

 changed. In that case state tlie old as well 

 as the new address. 



BROOD-COMBS. 



Liarge Combs vs. Divisible Brood- 

 Coin bg. 



Written for the American Bee Jmimal 



BT J. M. nAMBADGH. 



On page 37 of the American Bee 

 Journal for 1886, from the pen of 

 Rev. W. F. Clarke, will be found the 

 following : 



" The idea of manipulating hives 

 instead of frames, though it may seem 

 very simple to some, and superficial 

 thinkers may ■ hastily conclude that 

 there is nothing in it, is just going to 

 revolutionize bee-keeping, and ' don't 

 you forget it,' Mr. Pooh-pooh, who- 

 ever you are." 



The same writer on page 135, of the 

 same volume, in speaking of the new 

 Heddon hive, says : " That a new 

 revolution is upon us, becomes daily 

 more evident ; no power can check it, 

 and the sooner we fall into line, the 

 less we have to unlearn." 



A little further down the column he 

 continues: "That the new hive will 

 gradually supersede all others, and be- 

 come the ' standard of excellence,' is 

 one of the inevitables to which Mr. 

 Demaree will have to bow with the 

 best grace he can command." Still 

 further on he says : 



"This is what I want, and all I 

 want. It is ' long-looked-for come at 

 last.' I have dreamed of a hive like 

 this, and the reality surpasses the 

 dream. It will henceforth be a luxury 

 to keep bees. The hard, slavish work 

 is all taken out of the business, and 

 what remains is mostly pastime. The 

 danger now is that bees and bee-keep- 

 ing will become too common. Everj-- 

 body will want to rush into a business 

 so inviting. But little honey will 

 ' waste its sweetness on the desert air,' 

 in the ' good time coming,' etc." 



Was ever a hive so lauded at its 

 birth, before its swaddling clothes 

 were fairly donned ? Its praises were 

 echoed, long and loud, all over this 

 broad land ; and such undeveloped 

 "boys" as the Dadants and myself 

 could but hold their breath with won- 

 der and astonishment to see how like 

 a veritable cyclone it would sweep all 

 other hives from the face of the earth. 



Two or three years have passed 

 .since the birth of Mr. Heddon's cyclone 

 hive, and noticing the reticence of 

 those whom we expected to astonish 

 thS world with theii' wonderful achieve- 

 ments in the apiciiltural art, I framed 

 my article on page 804 of the A:meri- 

 CAN Bee Journal for 1887, thinking 



that I would develop something pro or 

 con, with the result of Mr. Heddon's 

 article on page 107 of the current 

 volume. My article was intended to 

 bring out the result in plain figures of 

 disinterested parties, who have used 

 all kinds of movable frame, and divis- 

 ible brood-chamber hives, that a dis- 

 criminating public might see which are 

 the most proUtable to the honey-pro- 

 ducers ; and now I ask that these im- 

 portant facts be given, and from dis- 

 interested parties. 



The reader should turn to page 86, 

 and read Dr. G. L. Tinker's essay on 

 " The sectional brood-chamber, and its 

 advantages." In a former article I 

 have fully refuted Mr. Cullinan's 

 theoretical etchings. I am by no 

 means prejudiced, and stand open to 

 conviction, but the means thereto 

 must eman.ate from disinterested 

 parties, who can show in black and 

 white the profits of the divisible brood- , 

 chamber to exceed those of any other 

 hive. Let us have light. 



I have just received the following 

 letter from Mr. Charles Dadant, which 

 is too good to be concealed, and which 

 will speak for itself : 



Friend Hambaugh : What do you 

 think of the article of our friend Hed- 

 don, about the large combs ? We are 

 mere boys since we are not able to see 

 the advantages of his invention of the 

 divisible brood-chamber, while such 

 full groivn men as Mr. Heddon and his 

 studenls prefer it. 



Some two or three years ago I wrote 

 in the American Bee Journal that 

 divisible brood-chambers were used 

 about 250 years ago, by Butler, who, 

 in his "Feminine Monarchy," shows 

 hives composed of three ekes. 



I know of at least twelve French 

 writers who described eke hives, one 

 of them, Radonau, in his Manual, pub- 

 lished in 1821 (67 years ago), advised 

 the use of well distanced triangular 

 bars above each eke. In 1845 (43 

 years ago), Chas. Soria, in his "Notice 

 sur la Ruche a Bspacement," (space 

 hive) advised to fix these bars above 

 and below every eke, so as to leave a 

 bee-space between them. Of course a 

 great many hives were made on these 

 indications. But soon after it was dis- 

 covered that these bars, hindering the 

 queen, decreased the crop ; so L'Abbe 

 Collin, in his (liiide, published thirty 

 years ago, advised not to place so 

 man}' bars, and to use a wire to cut 

 the combs before removing the ekes. 



Mr. Hamct, for 32 years editor of 

 the journal LWpiculteur in his Cours 

 T/ApicuUure, ailvises to manage a four 

 inch square hole in the middle of 

 these bars, not to so much hinder the 

 bees. Mr. Vignole also, in his book, 

 "La Ruche," advises to use large 



