118 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1.5. 



bed, under date of October 30, 1851, I made this 

 record in a private journal still in my posses- 

 sion: 



" If tlie slats are made so that a 

 —, — ^ I and h are about % inch from the 



1 2 I sides of the hive, the whole comb 

 P'maybe taken out without at all 



disturbing it by cutting." 

 Before the above, but without date, occurs 



the following entry: 

 Bars, or Slats. " In the use of barred hives, eve- 



i ry thing will depend upon having 



1 the combs accurately fastened, 

 each to its proper slat. When the slats are 

 long, a small cross-piece extending half way 

 down will answer quite a good purpose." 



Then follows, under date of Oct. 30, 18.51, after 

 the words " disturbing it by cutting " : 

 a . b "If the apiarian has some 



2 I Is clean worker comb, he should 

 fasten it at (1, 3); if not, he 



— ' '^ should draw a thin line of wax 



across the center of the bar. If every other bar 

 can be furnished with a comb-guide it will ans- 

 wer every practical purpose, a h should be an 

 Inch wide, I4 in. thick; 1. 3. 3, c d, % in. wide. 

 If a b is not over 13 in. long, 3 may be dispensed 

 with; c d, about M of an inch from the bottom- 

 board. By the use of such a compound bar, the 

 removal of bars with comb, brood, or honey can 

 easily be effected. With the ordinary bar, the 

 work of removal is always difficult and often 

 impossible ; and this is the reason why hives 

 with bars, notwithstanding all their theoretical 

 advantages, have been so little used. It is very 

 obvious, that the box or boxes for the storage of 

 surplus honey may be furnished with these 

 bars." ..." The use of this bar will, I am 

 persuaded, give a new impetus to the easy and 

 profitable management of bees, and render the 

 making of artificial colonies an easy operation. 

 By the very great ease with which the bars 

 with their combs may be removed, a command 

 over the whole proceedings of the bees is ob- 

 tained which is truly wonderful. If a hive is 

 infested with the larviu of the bee-moth, all the 

 combs may be examined and cleansed in a short 

 time. To one unaccustomed to the scientific 

 management of bees, it would appear to be a 

 very formidable undertaking to remove a bar 

 with its comb full of bees. The timid or inex- 

 perienced may use a bee-dress, or resort to a lit- 

 tle smoke." "' The removing of the 



queen by means of these bars is very easily ac- 

 complished, and this and all other operations 

 may be performed without injuring a single 

 bee, thus preserving the apiary from constant 

 irritation, and keeping the bees always peace- 

 able. It is obvious, that the movable frames (I 

 now call them by the better name) may be 

 adapted to almost any hive, and that they will 

 be of the greatest practical benefit." 



It must be remembered, that, when I set down 

 these remarks, I had never seen nor even heard 

 of movable-comb frames for a bee-hive. How- 

 ever crudely expressed, they show at least- that 

 I was well prepared for the results which fol- 

 lowed their invention. It is very obvious, that 

 the idea of using movable frames could never 

 have occurred to any one unless he had become 

 fearless in the management of bees, by knowing 

 to what a wonderful degree they can be made 

 subject to human control. 



Up to the time of my reading Mr. Wagner's 

 manuscript translation of Dzierzon. I knew 

 nothing of European bee culture save what I 

 found in the works of Iluber, Bevan, and 

 Huish. I was satisfied that my hive and meth- 

 ods of management were far in advance of 

 any thing given by these writers, and, even 

 after learning how far they had been out- 

 stripped by Dzierzon. I still thought that my 



movable frame made a foundation for much 

 greater results than he had reached. Making, 

 therefore, the claims to embrace my newly in- 

 vented movable frames, my application for a 

 patent was filed in the Patent Office at Wash- 

 ington, on the Gth of January, 18.52. The orig- 

 inal specifications and claims of this patent, 

 which, from some modifications of my claims, 

 and the great press of business then before the 

 office, was not issued until Oct. 5, 1853, are so 

 exhaustive as to leave no room to question what 

 I claimed to have invented. 

 Dayton, O. L. L. Langstkoth. 



Continued. 



SPRING MANAGEMENT OF BEES, ETC. 



PLAIN DIRECTIONS FltOM l)(WIvITTI>E; SPREAD- 

 ING UliOOD, ETC. 



Several have written me, asking me to tell just 

 how I manage bees in the spring ; and as most 

 of them speak of taking Gleaning«, I will re- 

 reply through its columns, with the permission 

 of the editor. As 1 now feel in the matter, there 

 is only one thing which is really essential to 

 look after, as soon as the bees ai'e set from the 

 cellar, or in early spring, no matter which way 

 the bees have been wintered; and that is. to 

 see that they have plenty of honey to last them 

 till pollen becomes plentiful. This can best be 

 done on any cool morning by raising the cover 

 to the hive and turning back the quilt, or 

 whatever covers the combs, doing this careful- 

 ly, so as not to arouse the bees. If plenty of 

 sealed honey is seen along the top-bars of the 

 frames, the bees are all safe; and if otherwise, 

 they are not safe, and should be fed enough to 

 last four or five weeks, always remembering 

 that bees consume more honey at this time 

 than they do during the fall and winter months. 

 Having made sure that all have honey enough, 

 there is no further need of molesting the bees 

 till the weather becomes warm enough for 

 them to work in the fields or trees, gathering 

 pollen; in fact, I now believe that further dis- 

 turbance is positively deti'imental, inasmuch 

 as it often causes the loss of bees and brood, as 

 well as a greater consumption of honey, without 

 any proportionate gain to the colony. Six 

 weeks is a sufficient time to build up a fair col- 

 ony, to one sufficiently strong to store honey to 

 the best advantage; and as the clover does not 

 usually begin to yield honey here till about the 

 twentieth of June, from May first to the tenth 

 is soon enough to begin working for brood: and 

 it is better not to touch them, even now, unless 

 the weather is warm enough so that the mer- 

 cury reaches from 60 to 75° during the middle 

 of the day. With a temperature of less than 

 60°, brood is liable to be chilled in handling, 

 from which a positive loss is made, rather than 

 the intended gain. If the weather is fine about 

 this time, the internal condition of each colony 

 is inspected by taking the frames out of the 

 hives, cleaning the dead bees off the bottom- 

 board, should any remain in the coi'uers of the 

 hives ; seeing that each colony has a good 

 queen, and that there is honey enough in each 

 hive to last at least two weeks. A good queen 

 is of no more importance at this time than is 

 this two or three weeks of honey, which means 

 from six to ten pounds; for if the bees do not 

 have enough stores so they need not feel it 

 necessary to economize, a good queen and all 

 else will not make up the lack, for bees will not 

 rear much brood if they are obliged to econo- 

 mize for fear of starvation in the immediate 

 future. After seeing that all have a good 

 queen and sufficient stores, they are now left 

 till willow and hard maple bloom, when, if the 



