164 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
HIVES. 
Continued from paffe 150. 
If any enterprising apiarist would undertake 
to obtain a specimen of every frame-liive now 
in use in Europe, America and Australia, and 
report a year hence on tlieir relative merits he 
would, I believe, sum up that report by a 
statement that hives are not so important a 
factor in beekeeping as intelligent manage- 
ment, and that with good management good 
returns can be got from any form of hive 
■when honey is plenty, lor all this there is 
something to be said about some of the new 
kinds of frame-hives. 
Beekeepers are yet a long way from agreeing 
as to the best size of frames even in the same | 
localities ; it is not to be wondered at, there- 
fore, that different sizes and forms are advo- | 
cated in different countries. And this is 
perfectly right we think, for the duration and 
intensity of the honey seasons are important ! 
matters when considering the size of frames — 
and these are very different in different 
countries. How different are the conditions 
of Queensland for instance and the south of 
New Zealand. The former with its almost 
perennial honey-flow, and the latter with its 
liberal but comparatively short harvest. Still 
for both these localities the Langstrotli frame 
appears to be suitable, and is widely adopted, 
The new hives that have attracted most 
attention are those known as the “ Heddon ” 
and as the “ Simmins’ Non- Swarming Hive.” 
The former is the outcome of a supposed ad- 
vantage in reversing frames (turning them 
upside down) soon after the honey-flow, com- 
mences. In its most recent form it consists of 
two or more boxes half the depth of the 
Lnngstroth, with shallow frames to corres- 
pond; only eight instead of ten frames are 
put in these boxes, the frames being the full 
length of the box and close-ended ; they can 
be 'made fast in the boxes by tightening 
screws at the sides, so that box and frames 
can be lifted, handled and turned over in one 
3olid piece. 
Some time ago a new hobby was started 
or reversing frames, in the first place to 
induce bees to fill the frames with comb, 
for in the ordinary way the combs are seldom 
built down and attached to the bottom, and 
when they are there is no doubt they are 
nmcb stronger and better for extracting and 
handling, as well as safer from collapse in 
very hot weather. In the second place by 
reversing we put all the honey at bottom 
instead of the top of the frames, and as the 
bees would at once begin to move this higher 
up it was stated that by reversing and putting- 
on supers with section-boxes or frames the 
bees would at once clear out the brood combs 
and move the honey to the supers, leaving 
plentv of room for the queen to lay, and thus get 
the stock into the exact state one wants it to be 
at tlte commencement of agood honey-flow-. Mr. 
Heddon subsequently found that if the brood- 
box was divided horizontally into tw-o parts, 
and instead of reversing the frames, the top | 
and bottom halves of the hive be changed, the I 1 
same object could be obtained with greater 1 1 
convenience. 
We have tried the Heddon hives this I 
season, and our experience is as follows *— 
Two new swarms were put into two hives in 
October ; the bees rapidly filled up the frames 
with comb, brood and honey ; as soon as ever ! 
the top combs wore widened for honey storage 
we exchanged the half-boxes by putting the 
top one at the bottom, and put on the super 
with section-boxes. The bees took the honey 
up to the sections at once, but before sealing 
them the bees swarmed. In looking for 
queen-cells to cut them out we found some 
little difficulty in finding them all ; much 
more than in the ordinary single frames, and 
in one case we had to take out the frames one 
by one for this purpose, and in replacing them 
it was almost impossible to avoid crushing 
bees on the tin ledges at the bottom of the box 
on which the frames rest. After swarming 
was over the bees got to work at the sections 
again, when a second tier was put on under 
the first one, all of which were rapidly filled. 
These hives are very convenient for working 
for comb-honey and handy to manipulate, but 
we do not find them so satisfactory generally 
as the simple Langstroth frame. We find it 
very difficult to find the queen, and although 
we have sometimes found her on the bottom 
board after smoking the bees well from the top, 
it has more often been necessary to loosen the 
frames and examine them one by one. All 
things considered, we prefer the loose Lang- 
stroth frame lor our management ; and we 
believe the Heddon hive will not make much 
way among beekeepers. 
The “ Simmins' Non-Swarming Hive” is of 
quite a different form, and it is difficult to 
describe it without drawings. The principle 
is as follows : — According to Mr. Simmins, 
bees will have no desire to swarm so long as 
they always have room for comb-building 
between the brood nest and the entrance. He 
provides this condition by placing the frames 
parallel with the back and front of the hive, 
keeping the bees and brood frames at the 
back with a division board, until more room is 
required, and then removing division board 
and filling the vacant space between entrance 
and the brood frames with fresh frames 
with narrow strips of foundation for starters 
only. As the bees fill in theee frames 
with comb they are removed and other 
frames with starters put in their place, 
so that the bees are always kept comb- 
building iu front of the hive, and the combs 
thus built are either put over the brood nest 
at the back of the hive for storage of honey 
for extracting, or are cut up to fill sections to 
be placed in a similar position for eornb- 
I honey. Mr. Simmins claims for this system 
