208 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



HIVES USE© BY OIR EEAUHVG BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



T^j^'jRIEXD rs'OVICE : — I !im looUi!'.^' for your descrip- 

 j'f}'^ tion of the leuding hives in use. I do not care what 

 hi'.c "Blasted Hojjes" used, but I want a descrip- 

 tion ci the hive thnt such men as Doolittle, Pahncr, and 

 those who are making monej" out of bees, use. 



Jonx A. KixcJ. Janesville, Minn., July 2ith, '7G. 

 The hives used bj- the large bee-keepers are, 

 we believe, very plain aud simple. Those 

 used b}- Adam Grimm, were the ordinary Lang- 

 stroth with a portico, like those in general 

 use, except that, they were made lor S frames 

 iu.slead of 10. The dimensions of the frames 

 are about the same as those given in our list 

 0} diagrams. The lower story is only a sim- 

 ple box of such size that the frames hang in it 

 so as to come about ^-g of an inch from the 

 IjOtlom and sides. The upper story is simply 

 a l)ox open at the top and bottom, aud large 

 enough to set over the lower ; being therefore 

 large enough to contain one more frame. 

 When the hive is used for shipping bees, the 

 upper story is omitted. Our friend Bolin uses 

 in-incipally, the same hive made wide enough 

 — I4I4 inches — to hold 10 frames. Mr. Doo- 

 little uses the small Gallup frame, 11^^ inches 

 square, and without ever having seen his hive, 

 we can only say we suppose it to be about as 

 simple as those mentioned above or still more 

 so, as he uses no portico, if we ai"e correct. 

 The Gallup hives are usually made 18 inches 

 long, or so tbey will contain 12 frames, but we 

 believe friend D., uses and advises, a hive with 

 but nine of these small frames. We might 

 object a little to having hives so very small, 

 were it not for the invariable success that at- 

 tends his apiarj- ; in fact we do not know that 

 we have a single bee-keeper who has made the 

 yields of comb honey per colony, that Mr. 

 Dooiittle has. Our friend Davis of Holt, Mich, 

 uses about the same hive aud frame, and he 

 too, has made astonishing crops of honey .Capt. 

 Hetheringtou, L. C. Root, and many others 

 in Mr. Quinby's neighborhood use the closed 

 end Quinby frame of, or very near, the dimen- 

 sions given in our diagrams. To get an idea 

 of his hive, suppose we have a level bottom, 

 cleated to prevent warping. We will place 8 

 of these frames on the bottom board standing 

 them with the broad upright ends close 

 against each other. Now if the bottom board 

 is large enough to allow of a tier of honey 

 boxes being piled close up to each outside 

 frame, we shall have a fair idea of the Quinby 

 hive without the outside shell. This shell is 

 made of four broad boards cleated to prevent 

 warping, and having a strip of hoop iron nail- 

 ed to the ends of two of them, projecting enough 

 to enter a saw cut in the sides of the other 

 two, about one inch from the ends. The ob- 

 ject of this, is to make a tight box without top 

 or bottom, and for convenience in manipula- 

 ting the honey boxes the four boards are not 

 nailed, but simply held by a cast iron corner 

 piece, of Mr. Quinby's invention. By pushing 

 these downward, the boards are clamped fast, 

 but on drawing them up, the boards fall apart. 

 These side boards are made wide enough to 

 come above the frames sulHciently to allow of 

 a set of boxes on top of the frames as well as at 

 the sides. A plain flat clamped top covers all. 



Now when the honey boxes are all removed, it 

 is plain that we have left a vacancy : just 

 about what is wanted to cover them with 

 chafl" in winter. To protect the ends as well 

 as the sides of the brood combs, Mr. Quinby 

 directed that the eight frames be turned 3i 

 round for winter, thus leaving a space for 

 chafl' all round, and about G inches above the 

 brood nest. 



It is a hive of this description that has giv- 

 en us such good results the present season. 

 In order to open a Quinby hive, vre must re- 

 move the cover, and at least two of the four 

 sides. If no honey boxes are on, we mu.st re- 

 move the quilt or honey boards, and we are 

 ready to pr.v off the first frame from its neigh- 

 bor. If the hive has had bees in but a short 

 time, and the end bars are thin, this is not 

 very difficult, but it takes considerable time. 

 Each of the eiaht frames is removed in the 

 same way. Yv'hen the hive is to be closed, 

 you are to bring the ends of these frames to- 

 gether so carefully that no bees are killed. If 

 the weather is very warm, so that the propolis 

 readily gives way, it works much better than 

 when so cool as to make the frames snap, 

 when pried apart ; and a great many of our 

 bee-keepers saj' at once, that nothing would 

 induce them to u.se a closed end, or closed top 

 bar frame. Others after having had their pa- 

 tience tried with the evils of the suspended 

 frames, prefer to go slowly and patiently, and 

 use the former. The bad features of the sus- 

 pended frames, are that the bees are always 

 building little bits of comb outside the frames, 

 and that there is always that usele^ss loafing 

 air space filled Avith idle bees ; this space is 

 thought by mauj', to be a very bad feature in 

 wintering, and we confess to a feeling, that we 

 would much rather have the bees cu the 

 combs, and not standing about somewhere 

 else. Our friend Palmer of Hart, Mich., uses 

 both the Quinby and Langstroth, aud he once 

 remarked that the l)its of wax and comb 

 built on the outside of the suspended frames, 

 Vi'ould almost buiid the comb to hold the hon- 

 ey that we get with the extractor. No mat- 

 ter how ofteu we may scrape this wax oil", nor 

 how anxious we may be to have our frames 

 clean and smooth, the next time the hive is 

 opened, especially during a season like the 

 present, thej' will be found much in the same 

 state as before. The worst part of it, Is the 

 disagreeable propolis, and we have been to-day 

 wondering whether Vaex would take so much 

 pains to collect this, if their hives were not so 

 full of the modern crannies and corners. The 

 same question comes up in connection with 

 quilts, honey boards, or closed top frames. 

 Quilts are by far the quickest, aud easiest to 

 handle, but they very soon become covered 

 with propolis, and if the frames are not scrap- 

 ed often, the bees will get the v/ax upon them 

 a little higher each time, until finally they 

 will fight for the privilege of making small 

 m.ounds of honey on the top bars. Friend 

 Davis had a plan last fall, that we thought 

 very laborious, but since we have had a sea- 

 son so much like those in Mich., we have be- 

 gun to wonder whether his plan was n6t 

 pretty good after all. It was to have the tops 

 of the Irames close fitting at their ends, and 

 then to close up the mortise by a strip of 



