256 A Modem Bee-Farm 



An important development in the economical production of 

 honey, upon which I have been working for ten years past, 

 promises at last to be a decided success ; but as I must wait 

 for a full trial during the coming season, I regret that I can 

 not give particulars in the present edition of this work. 



Wells' System. — It is among the most likely of possibili- 

 ties that three years hence this plan will be a thing of the past. 

 We have only to look at the higher results obtained from single 

 hives to see that greater economy is secured all round by the 

 use of one queen only to each working stock. 



Wide or Close-end Frames ha^'e been through various 

 experiments under my hands since '75, and in '78 I was 

 awarded a Special Prize for a hive of this class at South 

 Kensington. The original block is as Fig. 68, and the main 

 features were that the frames could be inverted as a whole \ 

 they had an inner side rail, while the outer ends were put on 

 in reverse position so that the combs could lay close against 

 the cage of the extractor. Another point was the arrangement 

 of a crate of sections under the brood chamber, such as the 

 Conqueror hive now has situated in a more convenient manner 

 for working. 



Quinby had great success with wide or close-end frames \. 

 Capt. Hetherington, one of the largest bee-keepers in America, 

 uses them exclusively ; and besides others, we have Mr. 

 Heddon with his shallow chambers unknowingly following the. 

 character of the far-famed Stewarton horizontally divided 

 brood chambers. 



