252 



glea:nings in bhie cultuke. 



Apr. 



fore. I asked him to supgest one. He answered, 

 "As it is two hives in one, I should call it a dual 

 hive," which so aptly describes it I gladly accepted 

 the name, and I give Mr. E. K. Root the credit. Mr. 

 A. I. Root agreed to make the hives for me. I gave 

 him a trial order, and they were altogrthcf so much 

 better than any that 1 have had made before, that I 

 am now having lOCO hives made for myself, and can 

 increase it If more are wanted. The lumber is good, 

 and the work I know will be good, made by the very 

 best of machinery by men skilled and trained to ap- 

 preciate the nice fittings required to make a per- 

 fect bee-hive. Mr. A. I. Root is responsible for that. 



I have two separate patents now granted, anoth- 

 er pending, that give me the right to say who shall 

 make it and know it is well made; and I am deter- 

 mined to sell them in the flat so cheap that no one 

 need wrong themselves or me by making a poor 

 hive; and while they are strong enough to last a 

 *life time, they are so light that they can be shipped 

 1000 miles for thn same freight tbat other hives can 

 be sent 200, so as to have them all made in one place, 

 and all alike. I will be responsible for this. 



Washington, D. C, Mar. 24. F. Danzenbaker. 



Friend D., we are glad to know that you 

 have succeeded in carrying bees so well on 

 the cars. Very likely the same preparation 

 would enable ttiem to stand the long ship- 

 ments we have tried to make to Australia 

 and the Sandwich Islands. Are we to un- 

 derstand that you gave them full ventila- 

 tion all the time from the whole bottom? 

 If so. I am rather at a loss to understand 

 why they did not roar or buzz as they did in 

 your former experiment. The use of paper 

 to keep out frost in the spring, when bees 

 are breeding very rapidly, is old. You will 

 find a description of it in Gleanings some- 

 thing like fifteen years ago. It was adopted 

 by a great many at one time, and there was 

 a good deal of enthusiasm about it ; but aft- 

 er a while, quilts and enamel cloth took 

 their place, and now our learned doctors (?) 

 are talking of throwing even these aside 

 and using only -a plain flat board over the 

 brood-combs. May be it is all right ; but it 

 reminds me every little while of what Josh 

 Billings said : '' What is the use of knowing 

 so much when so much that you know is not 

 true?" Never mind. You succeeded in 

 traveling with the bees for 21 days with only 

 51 dead ones out of a good-sized colony.— In 

 regard to patents, if your motive in getting 

 them is to be sure that all the hives that are 

 used are accurately and properly made, I do 

 not know but that it might be a pretty good 

 thing. But we hope we shall never see you 

 going around among the farmers, trying to 

 sell " individual rights." 



CONDUCTED BY KRNEST R. ROOT. 



PREPARATIONS FOR HAULING BEES. 



It has been some time since I inserted 

 this department. In tlie mean time a few 

 have written, wanting to know why I drop- 

 ped it. Why, bless you, I have not intend- 

 ed to do so; but there have been so many 

 good articles that I wanted to have inserted, 



I could hardly see how I could make room 

 for it. There has been so much inquiry in 

 regard to moving bees, how to prepare the 

 hives, etc., that I feel constrained to tell 

 some of mv experience, because the time is 

 fast approaching when many of us will be 

 moving our bees to out-apiaries. 



FASTENING THE TOP AND BOTTOM- 

 BOARD FOR HAULING. 



Before telling you very much about our 

 method I present to you forthwith an en- 

 graving which will explain the method and 

 modus operandi. 



DOVETAILED HIVE, PREPAKED BEADY FOR HAUL- 

 ING BEES TO AN OLT-APIABY. 



To save time, we first cut twice as many 

 lengths of iute twine, i inch in diameter, as 

 we have hives to haul. These lengths will 

 just reach around a Dovetailed hive trans- 

 versely, and tie in a bow knot, in the direc- 

 tion of the dotted line. Now, then, with a 

 certain number of lengths thrown over the 

 shoulder, we proceed to a hive, lift the front 

 up. slip one lenglh uiider, dr»w it around 

 the hive tight on the dotted lii"^, and tie it. 

 The rear is looped in like mauner. Now, 

 then, to stretch the twine taut we draw the 

 tops of the loops toward each other, in such 

 away that the cord that was at first perpen- 

 dicular is now stretched to the hypothenuse. 

 After having diawii them as far as you can 

 with your fingers, we take a hammer and 

 drive at the angle on both sides of the cover 

 until the diagonal part of the cord begins to 

 sing like a fiddle string. Now, the cord we 

 use will hold, before breaking, about 200 lbs. 

 With the hammer we can stretch the cord 

 to the breaking-point if we so desire. I 

 merely mention this to show what a tremen- 

 dous pressure can be exerted. But we will 

 not stretch it to a breaking-point, but only 

 give it a tension of perhaps 100 lbs. on each 

 diagonal of the cord, which would make a 

 pressure of 400 lbs. on the cover and bottom 

 against the body of the hive. Now. you 

 might suppose that, after the cord is slipped 

 from a perpendicular to a diagonal, it will 

 have a tendency to resume the perpendicu- 

 lar again ; but if you will try the experi- 

 ment on the hive you will find that the fric- 

 tion is fsreat enough to keep the cord at 

 whatever diagonal you may drive it. While 

 doctors Miller and Mason were here I show- 

 ed them this method of fastening, and they 

 both acknowledged its practicability and 

 strengtli. 



Last fall we moved the bees in the bass- 

 wood orchard home ; and before setting out 

 with a team and platform spring wagon. 



