16 ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 
of the frames, then a board under cover, cleated so as to form two 
dead-air spaces; then our outside telescope top, which is kept well 
painted so as to prevent any rain from entering the hive. You may 
think this is taking more pains than is necessary. We think it has 
much to do toward helping the bees to give us a nice surplus during 
the summer. 
Don’t put your bees into winter quarters that will subject them 
to unnatural conditions. If you do you will lose many colonies, both 
during the winter and spring. It is almost impossible to save a colony 
that has been poorly wintered. We may talk and write of the thousand 
and one different things connected with successful bee-keeping; but 
when they are all summed up the whole combined is not of as much 
importance as perfect wintering. We could make more money the fol- 
lowing season from strong colonies when taken from their winter quar- 
ters if they were in nail-kegs than could be made from little weak sickly 
colonies in the best hive that was ever constructed. 
August, 1907. 
IF I WERE TO START ANEW, WHAT STYLE OF FRAMES, SUPERS, 
AND APPLIANCES WOULD I ADOPT? 
IN FAVOR OF A SELF-SPACING REVERSIBLE FRAME AND 4X5 SECTIONS. 
If I were to start anew I would try hard to adopt some one of the 
standard hives already in use, mainly for this reason: If I wanted to 
sell my bees and appliances I could find a buyer easier, and sell at a 
much better price, than if my hives and appliances were of an odd 
size. 
But, according to my ideas of a practicable all-purpose bee-hive, 
there are certain things of paramount importance that would have to 
be embodied in it before I could indorse any hive to the extent of 
adoption. First, I should want a loose bottom—one that is not perma- 
nently fastened to the hive. Next, a telescope top. These are a great 
protection to the upper part of a hive from the summer heat and the 
cool weather of spring and fall; and they never blow off in bad storms, 
which is another good thing in their favor. Then I should want the 
frames self-spacing, so no two could ever, through carelessness, be 
crowded close together; and I would have them reversible, with some 
simple arrangement so there would be no special top or bottom. The 
size of the hive I should prefer would be equal to a nine or ten frame 
Langstroth. 
In regard to the clamp for holding sections, and the size and shape 
of section, I think the Danzenbaker clamp-and-section arrangement for 
comb honey is far ahead of any other I have ever seen. 
There, my friends, when you make a hive with all those require- 
ments you will have, according to my idea, the best hive that has ever 
been devised. 
Since I was invited to partake in this discussion I have spent some 
time in examining all the catalogs of different hives I could get, and 
