1874. 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
20 
inches from n board forty five inches in length. 
We really hope our carelessness has annoyed 
no one, and would plead as an excuse that the 
importance of the matter induced us to crowd 
it in hastily at the last minute. The 45 inches 
should read 46, and the cover 80 inches long. 
That the matter is one of deep interest to 
many may be gathered from the following com- 
munications. 
Friend Novice On page 21 last No. of Glean- 
ings, in describing your standard hive you sav “but 
if only Just as much honey can be secured with it etc.” 
That was just what troubled me on • year ago, and so 
I made three one story hives, three foot long, and 
they gave the best satisfaction of any hives I ever 
used: had the entrance at the end, and by placing the 
brood in the centre, or back of the centre, I found the 
bees would store the honey in the back end every 
time before lllling empty comb in the front end. Al- 
though it was a poor iionev season, one swarm gath- 
ered (51 lbs. in three days ; up to Aug. 1st, 215 lbs, then I 
divided ami made three good swarms that gathered 
stores enough for winter. 
I have concluded to make hives as follows : for sum- 
m »r, one story hives not less than three feet long, for 
winter, Simplicity hives 12 inches wide, to hold eight 
frames, which 1 think will hold b ees and stores 
enough for wintering inside. lilt SHY Palm Kit; 
Hart, Mich. Feb. 2nd, 1874. 
Our opinion is quite favorable to your plan. 
Those eight frame hives which we think will 
1)2 plenty large enough for wintering, will also 
answer a very good purpose for starting colo- 
nies before they get so large as to demand a 
full hive. Will not a 80 inch hive instead of 
three feet, answer for the majority)* 
Fit t end Novice:— Gleanings for Feb. rec'd about 
two hours ago, and among the many important sub- 
jects noticed is the Standard Frame question. I use a 
frame about the size of friend Gallup's and like it on 
m any accounts better than larger frames, but if Bee- 
keepers could be induced to agree on, and adopt a 
Standard Frame, it would be of great benefit to all 
Bee-keepers and Manul.icturers of hives also. My 
ideal frame would be a shallow one for summer, ami 
a deep one for winter, and the only way I have thought 
of to combine the two desirable features, is to take 
the Langstroth or Qulnby frame and use them hori- 
zontally for summer and perpendicularly for winter. 
I intend to experiment the coming season with Quin- 
bysize, ns that just fits my hive one way. 1 propose 
to set the hives on end soon as the basswood season 
is over, so as to give the bees time to arrange their 
brood and the late honey or sugar syrup , in the proner 
position for winter. I' have always noticed that 
swarms with plenty of sealed honey immediately 
above the cluster, keep the most quiet and winter the 
best in every respect. The swarm spoken of on page 
22 that wintered in a nail keg so successfully, un- 
doubtedly had plenty of sealed honey immediately 
ab >vc the cluster owing to the shape of the keg ; now 
the same swarm hived in the same keg, and kept, in a 
horizontal position, with the same exposure, would 
have stood a slim chance to winter. 
fhis subject will bear a good deal of agitation, so 
let s hear from all. Yours for a Standard. 
Mexico, N. Y. Geo. T. Wukklku 
I’. S.— If you want any hives manufactured to fill or- 
ders from the Eastern States, I would like to make 
*0010 arrangement with you that would be satisfactory 
t‘> both. I can make them “with knot holes or 
without.” G. T. W. 
Reports of bite years seem to favor hives 
with a depth of frame from 9 to 10 inches, for 
wintering, rather than taller ones, and we are 
not sure the keg would not have wintered 
equally well on its side. 
Mr.Quinby gave the plan several years ago, 
in the Agriculturist , of standing frame hives 
J>n end in winter, but we believe few practiced 
Bees in winter seem disposed to cluster at 
tlie top of the hive whatever may be its shape, 
find a hive rather shallow with a close tight 
quilt over the frames seems to afford them the 
best facilities, for brood-rearing. 
ON THE SIZE OF THE FRAME. 
Dear Novice:— I have been very much surprised 
in seeing in your circular, that if you were to choose 
among the different frames used iii this country, von 
would give tlie preference to Langstroth, then to 
Adair, then to American, and after these three, to 
Quinby. 
This operation does not seem consistent with what 
you have writ ,en, on the American hive, in the A. B . ,/. 
for June 1872, page 274 where you say the bees raise 
more brood in tlie shallow, than in the high frames. 
Beside. If you like the L. frames because they have 
1.7 & inches in length, how is It you do not like the Q. 
frames? Is it because they are 7 „ longer? If you do 
not like the Q. frames because they are 2 !„ higher than 
the L. how is it that you prefer tlie Ada i which is of 
the same size, and the American, which is even 1 ?. 
inches higher? 
Before pronouncing your judgment did you try all 
these shapes of frames ? If so, von have obtained re- 
sults very dilTerent from what 1 have experienced. 
For ten years 1 have used both sizes, Qulnby and 
American ; and after a trial carefully made. 1 conclu- 
ded, three years ago, not to augment any more the 
number of my hives with square frames, 12 by 12, mid 
to make only Quinby hives, accordingly, I have since 
peopled a second apiary, six miles from my residence, 
wii.li Quinby hives exclusively. To day, in m\ home 
apiary, you will find more than one hundred Quinby 
hives, ready to receive my swarms, and not one 
square frame hive newly constructed. 
For six or seven years, I have tested the laying abil- 
ity of my Italian Queens. For that purpose all my t 
hives, destined to produce honey, have been made 
with a capacity for eleven Quinby frames, or if Amer- 
ican, sixteen. Last season i bail* here eighty stands, 
which I intended for gathering honey ; about forty of 
each kind, besides my hives destined to make 
8 warms and raise queens. By tlie first of June three 
of my Quinby hives had between seventy and seventy 
five thousand cells containing brood ; while the best 
of my Americans had about ten thousand cells of 
brood less. Yet. both kinds had equally young and 
prolific queens, the same pasture and tlie same care. 
Besides, eight Quinby frames have a greater area 
than ten Langstroth, or eleven Adair, and are usually 
equal to twelve American. Do you not think that the 
work is more quickly done with 8, than with 10 or 
even 12 frames in the hive ? 
The area of comb lilted with brood in the frame is 
always in spring like a sphere flattened at the bottom 
part. The bees, in spring, experience some hesitation 
to lengthen the brood nest, at the bottom; because 
the bottom of the comb is always colder than the 
sides. Hence tlie queen finds always more cells, 
warmed and ready to receive her eggs, at the sides, 
than at the lower part of the comb. 
Lastly, it takes more bees to surround and warm 12 
frames than 8, for instance, the compass of a Quinbv 
frame measures 5.))$ Indies, and for 8 frames 47(5 
inches, while the 12 Amerie tii frames measure 57(5 
inches, and it takes 15 per cent more of bees to pro- 
tect the same quantity of brood, and in the Lang- 
stroth hive 10 per cent, more than iii the Qulnby. To 
conclude : 1 cannot admit, without protest, yi ur opin- 
ion, as to the measure of the frames, for, in niy opinion, 
you are mistaken in your classification. 
For the benefit of your readers, I will tell you how 
I have solved the problem of making nuclei/ to raise 
queens, with my great Quinby frame, wiLlimn cutting 
the comb. 
I have contrived to make fedine lYatnes, divisible at 
will in two equal parts, all fiiy "hives, destiued to raise 
queens, receive some of these divisible frames. I 
have also some small hives, or nuclei, lit to receive 
these half frames, when I want to people one of these 
small hives, I take a frame, containing brood and 
honey ; divide it in two piirts/and insert ft in a «mall 
nucleus with parti ion board." Thus the Quinby hive 
gives only one frame, while thO" nucleus, gels two. 
PADANT’S I>I VISltflJ/FR AM E : XO l'ATUNT. 
When the two parts are united, the buckle A, of wire, 
of the frame witn the tongue, enters in a bm ton hole 
pierced at (’; a small nail, easily removable, entering 
m the buckle at maintains the two parts together. 
The same device can as well lit the L. frames. 1 have 
used it at least eight years, with the best results. 
Hamilton, Ills., Feb. 4th 1874. Ch. Dadant. 
Reply on page 85. 
