American Hee Journal 



of the European languages. So our 

 conversation was not very animated, 

 but still we managed very well. When 

 I declared the bees of the hive open in 

 the photograph were "Italian bees," 

 and the one to the right " Carniolan 

 bees," he was very well satisfied, and to 

 my question, why he had no Japanese 

 bees, he replied, " No good." He 

 showed us also a small house where 

 pictures and illustrations, as well as 

 diplomas and like printed matter, were 



to wet ground, winter and summer, 

 since then, and they show no sign of 

 decay. 



I do not hesitate to express the opin- 

 ion that an unpainted cypress hive will 

 never decay. If not painted, the boards 

 may warp, as to that I do not know, 

 but shall another season, as in the 

 spring I shall put some into use. The 

 lumber is heavier than pine, but is 

 easily worked, and being compact 

 holds nails well. I think it the ideal 



Mr. S. Tamura. of Kioto. Japan, in His Ai'iarv. 

 Italian and Carniolan bees are kept in hives of American style. 



exposed in glassed frames, one of them 

 showing the features of " Langstroth ;" 

 in another the British Bee Journal 

 of April 1, 19t)!l, containing the picture 

 of Mr. Tamura himself. 



After we had been shown all about 

 the yard we were taken into his house, 

 a small Japanese building, where we 

 were treated to tea and sweets, and, on 

 leaving, he presented us with two 

 glasses of his honey. 



We were very well satisfied with our 

 call, and glad to have been able to 

 meeta progressive bee-keeper in Japan. 



Trieste, Austria. 



Cypress or Pine? 



BY A. F. BONNEY. 



IN THE American Bee Journal for 

 January, page 28, Dr. Miller re- 

 plies to an inquiry that " my 

 guess would be that pine should 

 have the preference, but I have 

 had no experience with cypress." 



The writer, not long ago, read that 

 in the city of New Orleans some cy- 

 press water pipes were taken up after 

 lying in the ground for 100 years, and 

 found to be as sound as new wood. 

 The cast-iron plugs which united the 

 log pipes were about rusted away. 



I do not doubt this, for cypress logs 

 are now being dug from the swamps of 

 the South to be cut into lumber. I 

 have hives of cypress bought two years 

 ago which have been sitting in damp 



lumber for hive stands and bottom- 

 boards, and it may prove to be for hives. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



[The above short article was referred 

 to an old carpenter of great experi- 

 perience, who was, in his young days, 

 a builder of sugar mills and plantation 

 homes in the country of cypress, 

 Louisiana. He says that although this 

 wood is a little heavier than pine, with 

 a closer grain, it is very serviceable 

 and durable, does not warp, and has 

 been used largely for shingles and 

 weather boarding, as well as for in- 

 side finish. The only possible objec- 

 tion to its use is the matter of price. 

 " Good cypress is a high-priced wood in 

 the North. But white pine will soon 

 be still higher priced. — Editor.] 



Ventilation of the Hive 



BY ISAAC HOPKINS. 



HAVING given much attention to 

 the ventilation of hives, and en- 

 deavored by a fairly exhaustive 

 series of experiments to find out 

 what part the bees play in it, if 

 any, and the best method of securing the 

 most perfect ventilation, I was much 

 interested in the article on the subject 

 by your able contributor, D. M. Mac- 

 donald, in the May, 1012, issue. 

 There is much in Mr. Macdonald's 



statements that I cannot accept, and 

 even our ordinary experience points 

 to an opposite conclusion. 



What I have to say is chiefly con- 

 nected with summer ventilation, though 

 it applies also to our winters, where, 

 in most districts of New Zealand, the 

 bees are more or less active all the 

 year around. I have no experience with 

 cellar wintering. Where I differ with 

 Mr. Macdonald, and where I feel sure 

 he is wrong, is in his insistence that 

 upward ventilation is necessary to se- 

 cure " a warm, dry interior (to the 

 hive), with a supply of fresh, sweet air 

 enveloping the cluster." 



Bees often take up their abode in 

 buildings, as Mr. Macdonald says, 

 where there is ample ventilation on all 

 sides, and the same may be said when 

 they build in the open, to the branch 

 of a tree. But this has no bearing on 

 the question of ventilating, where the 

 bees are domiciled in a confined space, 

 this being a ditTerent matter altogether. 



We cannot get away from the fact 

 that bees endeavor to stop every chink 

 of the hive, except the entrance, with 

 propolis, whether above or at the sides, 

 especially toward winter, and in dis- 

 tricts where I have lived among pine 

 trees, where gummy substances were 

 plentiful, the mats or quilts in spring 

 have been so plastered with propolis 

 that it has been difficult to tear them 

 oft' the frames — the hives were hermeti- 

 cally sealed above the frames. Our 

 friend has labored hard to prove there 

 is upward ventilation in hollow tree- 

 nests and straw skeps after the latter 

 have been propolized. In this con- 

 nection, I might ask him why the bees 

 propolize straw skeps, mats, and chinks 

 if it is not to stop upward ventilation ? 



Hollow-tree nests are common in 

 the New Zealand bush, and though I 

 am quite familiar with them, I have 

 never seen one that afforded means of 

 ventilation except by way of the en- 

 trance. 



In Gleanings in Bee Culture for Oct. 

 15, 1911, I gave particulars of a series 

 of experiments carried out by a friend 

 of mine (the Rev. J. R. Madan) and my- 

 self, in the months of January and Feb- 

 ruary, 1880, in Auckland, N. Z., latitude 

 37 degrees south. These being our two 

 warmest months, afforded the best 

 period of the year for carrying out 

 such a test, and the results arrived at 

 were very conclusive, so far as we were 

 concerned. Our tests were carried out 

 with a one story and a two story hive. 

 They were continuous, and e.xtended 

 over the best part of the two months. 

 We had as many as 17 thermometers in 

 use at one time, 12 inside of the hive 

 and 5 outside. Each of the 12 was in- 

 sulated, so far as any contact with the 

 outside air was concerned, as it was 

 possible to make them, and the hive 

 was prepared in such a way that each 

 instrument could be instantly with- 

 drawn for reading without opening it. 

 Readings of each thermometer, both 

 outside and within the hive, were taken 

 about every hour, from very early in 

 the morning until late at night, and 

 noted, together with the direction and 

 force of wind; infact, toth my friend 

 and myself being scientifically inclined 

 as laymen, we endeavored to el.minate 

 all possibility of error. 



We used different kinds of mats over 



