1878. 



GLEAl^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



299 



were too small. A very spry and ambitions 

 queen miglit fill all the cells the bees had 

 prepared for her, then set abont tilling them 

 the second time, as they sometimes do, and 

 then swarm oiit; but, with a quart of bees— 

 about 1,000, if I have figured rightly— things 

 will generally go along pretty well. 



If we are to have tliis quart of bees work 

 to the best advantage, something depends 

 upon the sort of hive they are domiciled in. 

 A single comb, long and narrow, so as to 

 string the bees out in one thin cluster, is 

 very bad economy. Two combs would do 

 very much better, but three would be a great 

 deal better still. It is like scattering the 

 firebrands widely apart; one alone Avill »oon 

 go out ; two placed side by side Avill burn 

 very well ; and three will make quite a fire. 

 It is on this account, that I would have a 

 niicleus of three, instead of one or two 

 frames. The bees seem to seek naturally, a 

 space between two combs ; and the queen 

 seldom goes to the outside comb of a hive, 

 unless she is obliged to for want of room. 

 Is not the Langstroth frame then a poor 

 shape for building up nuclei? and would not 

 the small Gallup be better? The L. frame is 

 a bad shape for two or three frame nuclei, 

 and, for that matter, I think the Gallup is 

 also. The one is too long, and the other too 

 deep; in one case, we have the ends extend- 

 ing beyond the cluster, unless we contract 

 the hive so as to crowd the bees out to the 

 ends, and, in the other case, the bottom of 

 the frame extends below the cluster. This 

 matter of deep and shallow frames seems 

 not to be very well understood, if I may be 

 excused for saying so much. If you will ex- 

 amine bees at the approach of frosty weath- 

 er, you will see, from the way in which they 

 draw up and condense, how their combs 

 need to be proportioned. To have them 

 stand the rigors of severe winter weather, 

 they should fill their hive as nearly as possi- 

 ble, and there should be no cold unfilled 

 spaces either at the ends, or underneath the 

 cluster. If their hive is so full that bees are 

 standing in the doorway, even during severe 

 cold weather, we need have little fear of 

 their suffering. Now, with a shallow hive, 

 they will come clear down to the bottom 

 board, and keep that warm as well as the 

 ceiling over head. With a frame as deep as 

 the Gallup, I have not succeeded so well in 

 making them do it. Nor can I succeed so 

 well with any frame, whose depth is as great 

 as the width. The warm combs are at the 

 sides of tlie bees, and the open ends between 

 the combs, are at tlie ends of the cluster. 



The diagram below will help to make it 

 plain. 



G A 



II 



GALLUP. LANGSTROTH. 



It is very plainly evident that the sides of 

 the clusters, A B and C D, are much better 

 protected than the ends, G II and E F ; and 

 also that the long frames protect the centre 

 of the brood nest much better than the short 

 ones. Taking this fact into consideration, 

 in connection with what has been said of 

 the importance of a shallow frame, and we 

 shall have just about the dimensions of hive 

 and frame given us by Mr. Langstroth; and, 

 if I am correct, all these thnigs were taken 

 into consideration, when he settled down on 

 his frame and hive, after years of careful ex- 

 periment in regard to different sizes. 



Well, if the L. frame is the best economy 

 for the average progeny of a queen, we must 

 have a smaller frame in just about the same 

 proportions, if we wish to work with nuclei 

 to the best advantage. As we cannot well 

 have a frame for a pint of bees, and another 

 for a quart and so on, on account of the 

 complication it would make in an apiary, it 

 behooves us to discuss well what sizes we 

 shall use, if any, less than our regular frame. 

 A frame as deep as the usual one, and as 

 wide as the ividth of our hive, makes a very 

 pretty frame for queen rearing. 



The Gallup frame would do nicely, and, 

 in fact, is much used for this purpose, but it 

 is too deep ; were it cut down to the size of 

 the L. frame, I should like it much better. 

 A frame has been suggested, and I believe 

 somewhat used, for a nucleus hive, of the 

 depth of the L., and just wide enough to go 

 crosswise, in the Simplicity hive. An ordi- 

 nary hive with a rabbet along the sides, as 

 well as across the ends, will hold these 

 frames or the usual L. frames, as may be de- 

 sired. If it should be desired to use this 

 small frame entirely in an apiary, the size is 

 exactly right to hold 6 of the lib. sections. 

 When used for queen rearing, 3 of these 

 small frames will make a very comfortable 

 nucleus. One of the prettiest queen rearing 

 apiaries I have ever seen, was composed of 

 about 50 three frame hives of this descrip- 

 tion. 



Although I have described this small 

 frame, and spoken of its advantages, please 



