6S 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



that had any business to live any louger returned to 

 the hiveatnigrht. 



My object was to cure dysentery, which was 

 caused, I think, by long confinement and suffoca- 

 tion. They voided freely, and I think the cure 

 would have been permanent if I could have left 

 them there all the time; but I was obliged to carry 

 one back to make room for others; and as the 

 weather was very severe, the disease soon re- 

 appeared. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Jan. 22, 1S83. 



I hardly need say, friends, that when we 

 get where we can build np colonies at plea- 

 sure, regardless of the season of the year or 

 the temperature outside, we are practically 

 through with the troubles in wintering. 

 Late experiments, and facts furnished, seem 

 to point strongly to imperfect ventilation as 

 the main cause of all our troubles ; and as 

 the sub-earth plan enables us to bring in 

 any amount of pure air, without having it 

 cold either, we are pretty near success in 

 that direction. Our friend George Grimm, 

 on another page, seems to have a pretty clear 

 head in regard to the need of pure air, no 

 matter where bees are kept. 



A $25.00 BEE-HirE. 



SOMETHING THAT COMBINES THE ORNA&fENTAI. AVITH 

 THE USEFUL. 



'OT many days ago a gentleman of pleas- 

 ing address was hunting the proprie- 

 tor of the bee-hive establialnnent. If 

 he was not disappointed in tfie looks of the 

 man, I rather tliuik he waa somewhat in his 

 manners, when he found him very averse to 

 even stopping to examine into the merits of 

 a hive gotten up to embrace all good things 

 known about hives, and some not already 

 known. However, as our friend seemed to 

 be a man of means, and energy as well, he 

 soon had the combined brains of the estab- 

 lishment, including square and compass, pa- 

 per, pencils, old bee-books, back volumes of 

 bee journals, etc., all at his command. Mr. 

 Gray drew squares and circles, and planned 

 hexagons and other geometrical hgures, 

 while your humble servant ransacked his 

 books and brain. Soon the " edilice" began 

 to take shai>e, and in a week or two, under 

 his daily supervision, Mr. .St. John, of Wil- 

 lougliby, O., had the pleasure of beholding 

 the hive you see on next column, as the cre- 

 ation of his own brain. 



The hive is a two-story one, and has ten 

 frames above and ten below. Both stories 

 are just alike, and yet the lower frames will 

 lift out through the upper story, so you see 

 the old chaff -Yiive problem is solved — after 

 a fashion. The fashion is. in having frames 

 of Sve different sizes, for the hive is hexago- 

 nal in shape, inside as well as outside. If 

 you will turn back to p. 306 of the June No., 

 and look at that cheese-box bee-hive, you 

 will see justhowthe frames hang. By draw- 

 ing out one of the two central frames first, 

 and moving it toward the middle, the top- 

 bar passes through easily, and after this 

 frame is out, it is very easy indeed to lift out 

 the others, even if you do not take all out of 

 the upper story. 



There are lli doors to the hive, each with a 

 lock and key. In the winter time, each lit- 



tle closet, as it were, contains a chaff cush- 

 ion ; and one is also put under that impos- 

 ing cover, which is made of tin, after a sort 

 of oriental pattern. Well, in the summer 

 time each little closet contains 8 Simplicity 

 sections. Over the sections, to keep the 

 bees from building against the door, is a 

 light of glass. Thus you see our friend can 

 take visitors out on bis lawn, toward the 

 close of the day, and, opening these twelve 

 doors one after another, display to their as- 

 tonished and admiring gaze bees working 

 the snowy comb in every one of them. I 

 told him that, if he had a good Italian queen, 

 one equal to the task of filling those ten 

 combs with brood, his hundred, or hundred 

 and twenty-five 1-lb. sections would not be 

 enough for all the bees to work in. At this 

 he gave me a scathing lecture on the cruelty 

 and inhumanity of taxing these little friends 

 of ours to such an extent as to drain their 

 very life blood out of them, in letting them 

 make 200 lbs. to the hive, or even 100 lbs. I 

 had to give n:> the task of trying to convince 

 him it didn't " hurt 'em" to make two or 

 three hundred pounds in a season, so you 

 can try your hand with him if you choose. 



ST. John's hexagonal bke-hive. 



You will notice he has a space under the 

 bottom-board, as well as at the sides and on 

 top, and he claims this space is needed to 

 give them plenty of pure air, and I am sure 

 I do not know but that he is right. The bees 

 go int othehiveby going first into this "cel- 

 lar kitchen," and then crawling up through 

 holes in the ceiling. I suppose the drones, 

 or any other dissatisfied members of the 

 hive, will always come down here to grum- 

 ble, instead of standing around in the way, 

 among the women foliis and children up- 

 stairs. The cover is stoutly hinged, so it is 

 a much easier matter to get at the contents 

 than you might suppose. If you want to 

 know any more about it, or want such a 

 hive, write to friend St. John. 



