THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



gauging the size of the brood nest while the 

 supers are on. 



Mt. Vebnon, Iowa. 



Dec. 22, 1888. 



Wide Frames in Foil Hives. 



H. K. BOAEDMAN. 



'r BRIEF review of my experience in 

 adjusting sections on the hives will 

 show that I favor wide frames in full 

 hives. Notwithstanding, you decide 

 in your editorial introduction that this is not 

 the best way. And now I am going to pro- 

 test against your way of pre-judging a sub- 

 ject. It is not the way to get the fullest ex- 

 pression from your correspondents. It re- 

 quires some courage in a modest man (like 

 myself) to pick up the gauntlet and espouse 

 a cause that has already been decided. (Lost) 

 As you say, the two jn-incipal methods of 

 adjusting sections on the hives are by cases 

 and by wide frames in hives full. The case 

 to hold sections was among the first meth- 

 ods employed by me to secure honey in small 

 frames or sections. This was before I had 

 ever seen or heard of securing honey in sec- 

 tions. I used small frames, nailed. I called 

 them frames as I had never seen them used 

 inside of large frames which afterwards gave 

 them the name of sections. They were of 

 the same width as the brood-frames, and ad- 

 justed in a case the size of the top of the 

 hive. Little did I then think that I was 

 coming so near future methods that would 

 compete for precedence. I afterwards used 

 these sections in the brood frames in full 

 hives, spacing them % apart, just the same 

 as they were in the cases. Thus you see I 

 had the open-side sections. But there being 

 nothing to hold the frames at a uniform dis- 

 tance apart, I had some little trouble in get- 

 ing the combs built uniform in thickness — 

 separators being unheard of at this time — ; 

 but, with all the imperfections of this early 

 method, I am doubtful if I have ever been 

 able to secure as large yields of honey by 

 any improvement since. This might be a 

 suggestion favorable to open-side sections. 

 Following the use of these sections in full 

 hives I adopted the wide section in wide 

 frames, with wooden separators, which has 

 given me better results, under all circum- 

 stances, than any other style of surplus fix- 

 ture that I have tried. But hearing so much 

 in favor of the cases, and that, too. from 

 prominent bee-keepers, I was not satisfied 

 without giving them a trial. Accordingly, I 

 procured a sufficient number to give the 

 matter a fair test, and put them to use by 

 the side of the wide frames. I was some- 

 what elated by the results of the first year's 

 experiment; and the next year I procured 

 more cases, so that I had 800 or 400. My 

 home-apiary was run almost exclusively with 

 the cases; while, in my out-apiaries I have, 

 after a few unsatisfactory attempts with the 

 cases, used the wide frames almost exclu- 

 sively. I can easily understand how anyone 

 who has used either system only could prefer 

 it; but I am at a loss to know how any prac- 



tical apiarist, after giving both methods a 

 fair trial, could abandon the wide frame sys- 

 tem in favor of cases; especially in large api- 

 aries or where out-apiaries are managed by 

 hired help. The wide frames in full hives, 

 as I use them, require less attention during 

 the honey and swarming season than the 

 cases. 



My surplus fixtures, whether in hives or 

 cases, are all prepared early in the season 

 and, as far as possible, adjusted upon the 

 hives at the beginning of the honey season. 

 And here appears one of the special advanta- 

 ges of the wide frames: I feel satisfied when 

 a hive full of sections is adjusted upon each 

 colony that, except in rare instances, no fur- 

 ther attention in regard to surplus will be 

 needed until the end of the season. That is, 

 unless a colony swarms, when the surplus is 

 to follow the swarm. 



In order to get the benefit of the case sys^ 

 tem — tiering-up as needed and only as fast 

 as needed — I found the management quite 

 different. The crop of surplus is frequently 

 all gathered in a few days; and often the 

 swarming mania breaks out in perfect mad- 

 ness at the same time. Now, in order to do 

 justice by the case system, I found it neces- 

 sary to make examinations of the surplus 

 departments almost constantly; and, in an 

 apiary of 100 colonies, at such a time, the 

 work and care of properly adjusting the 

 cases on the hives would keep one man pret- 

 ty busy most of the time. Of course, the 

 cases could be piled on all at once without 

 regard to the prospects, or the progress of 

 the colonies; but, in so doing, the principal 

 advantages of the case are defeated. With 

 the wide frames in full hives, at such a time, 

 the whole at ention of the bee-keeper can be 

 given to the swarming; and I have often 

 found that this alone furnished enough to do 

 and to think of without watching the prog- 

 ress of the surplus. So I do not agree with 

 you that the use of cases better enables the 

 bee-keeper to manage an apiary during a 

 regular "honey shower", as you term it, but 

 the wide frame system does. 



There was one important result that I felt 

 quite confident of securing by the use of the 

 case; I thought I should be able to have the 

 sections all finished up more closely, and not 

 have so many left unfinished at the end of 

 the season to carry over to the next year. 

 But in this I have been disappointed, as 

 much the largest per cent, of unfinished sec- 

 tions have, each year, been from the cases. 

 Again, in removing surplus from the colonies 

 I defy competition with wide frames by hives 

 full by any style of surplus arrangement 

 with which I am acquainted. 



I have always taken great pains with my 

 surplus comb honey after it has been remov- 

 ed to the honey house, giving it all as good 

 a chance as possible, but the surplus in the 

 wide frames has always shown a decided ad- 

 vantage in curing and ripening, in the same 

 room. 



And now I have one more imperfection to 

 point out in the case and a coriesponding 

 advantage in the wide frame. You know, 

 and so does every practical bee-keeper, that 

 the partly filled sections that are to be car- 

 ried over to the next season must be extract- 



