62 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



cork. I don't like chaff. I would prefer cut 

 straw, but I think I would prefer the long, 

 stringy sawdust, made in cutting cedar 

 shingles, to either chaff or any other kind of 

 sawdust. I regret now I did not test it with 

 the others. ^ 



The cost of such hives would not be an 

 objection to those who are willing to go to 

 the expense and trouble of giving either 

 spring or fall protection. I think they need 

 not cost more than about double as much as 

 single-walled hives of the same kind. 



An overcoat worn by a laborer in the har- 

 vest field has been used as an illustration to 

 show that in the heat of summer double- 

 walled hives are too warm. They are not 

 analagous cases. One of the purposes 

 served by perspiration in animals is 

 to keep the blood at an equable tem- 

 perature, because when the body is kept 

 covered with moisture there is rapid eva- 

 poration, and evaporation causes cooling. 

 The overcoat encasing the body of the har- 

 vest hand would interfere with rapid evapor- 

 ation, but there is nothing analagous to this 

 in the hive. 



The effect of a good double-walled hive is 

 to prevent rapid changes of temperature. 

 At all times when the temperature of the air 

 in the shade is lower than the normal tem- 

 perature of the brood-nest, non-conducting 

 walls are advantageous, because the bees 

 will require less food, and exert less labor, to 

 keep up the proper heat for vigorous brood 

 rearing. 



Objection is taken to double-walled hives 

 because in certain quarters there is talk 

 about handling hives instead of combs. The 

 leading bee-keepers in the Mohawk Valley 

 in York State have conveniences for the 

 rapid handling of combs which the bee- 

 keepers in Michigan do not seem to appre- 

 ciate to any great extent. These York State 

 bee-keepers use closed-end frames, but they 

 have no such nonsense as rims with thumb 

 screws, or iron rods with nuts, to clamp 

 their frames together, limiting the number 

 of frames one can use to the requirements of 

 the clamp. They hold their frames together 

 with cords, and the number of frames they 

 can thus clamp together may be two or 

 twenty, in fact limited only by the length of 

 their string. I can take up three such framfs 

 at once and hook them in place, take up and 

 place three more the same way, and so on 

 till the story is full, and then fasten the 

 gtrings, I have a strip of band sheet iron at 



the upper edge of one of the side boards, and 

 on this I hook another story crosswise of the 

 first. I often have four storys of ten frames 

 each, and the strings are sufficient to hold 

 frames plumb, if the bottom boards are 

 level. These frames have other advantages 

 " too numerous to mention " in my limited 

 space. 



If any of your readers are thinking of 

 trying the closed- end frames allow me to 

 advise them to send for a sample frame or 

 hive to W. E. Clarke, Oriskany, N. Y., or 

 some other reliable person who has got past 

 the experimental stage in their manufacture. 

 Let them adhere to the pattern rigidly, and 

 not fall into the usual weakness of bee- 

 keepers of trying to make improvements 

 before they understand what they already 

 have. It is unnecessary to discard other 

 hives now in use. By a little ingenuity 

 closed-end frames may be used for surplus 

 on almost any hive. For instance, with very 

 little trouble an upper story of fifteen closed- 

 end frames may be placed crosswise on the 

 double-walled L ingstroth hive described 

 above, but want of space prevents my going 

 into particulars. 



It is in the surplus storys we handle 

 frames most, and for cheapness, conveni- 

 ence, and saving of time in manipulation, I 

 do not know of anything as good as the 

 closed Qiiinby frames. 



Lindsay, Ont. Feb. 27, 1891. 



[It is evident that I did not make my 

 meaning clear in regard to the harvester 

 encumbered by an overcoat. I did not in- 

 tend that the figure should be used to illus- 

 trate any iihase of the /ipa^ question, but that 

 the bee-keeper whose bees are in chaff 

 hives, is as badly hampered in his man- 

 agemenf of the apiary, as the laborer would 

 be in his movements, by the wearing of an 

 overcoat. 1 



Protecting Single-Wall Hives Permanently 

 with Planer Shavings. 



L. O. WHITING. 



OUR special subject for March is of 

 great importance to bee-keepers in 

 this part of the State, on account of 

 the level country, which makes it almost im- 

 possible to have cellars free from overflow. 

 I have tried chaff hives, air spaces, tarred 

 paper, building paper with air spaces added, 

 and have, after experimenting largely, come 



