324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



country, doubtless without thinking themselves to be 

 utterly wrong. 



A little bit encouraged by the apiary at "Enjoy- 

 ment," near Alexandria, I took a walk into the 

 country near Cairo, to see the ruins of the apiaries 

 described, and with fear of being as inhospitably 

 received as our traveler. I went to the village, try- 

 ing every possible way to have at least a look at the 

 apiaries. As our traveler could see a hive only aft- 

 er giving a good bucksheesh, and would be told 

 nothing of the interior of the hive, could buy none, 

 and was even warned to draw back, his conclusions 

 were thus: "Bee-keeping in Egypt is going to 

 ruin." The village of Gizeh has the same empty 

 hives; but every one readily gave me information, 

 saying that bees were to be found only further out 

 in the country; that if I could take a donkey-driver, 

 the general way of traveling round about Cairo and 

 other towns in Egypt, he would show me what I 

 wished for, provided I paid the regular fare for the 

 donkey. We immediately agreed, and on donkey- 

 back I rode out into the beautiful clover - fields 

 which are irrigated by the waters of the Nile, and 

 once a year by the overflow of the Nile, toward the 

 middle of August. What I saw 1 will relate at an- 

 other time. Ph. Baldenspergeb. 



Jaffa, Syria, Feb. 11. 



To he continued. 



SHALLO"W HIVES. 



MORE ABOUT THAT SHALLOW WISCONSIN HIVE 

 THAT HAS BEEN IN USE SO LONG. 



Friend Root: — In mentioning my hive at the 

 Wisconsin Bee-keepers' Convention at Madison, 

 you say it "has a rabbeted top, similar to my Sim- 

 plicity hive, to keep out wind and rain." I want to 

 explain that the rabbet in my hive is not made to 

 keep out wind and rain, but to always keep just a 

 bee-space between the frames of two or more 

 hives when tiered up on top of each other. I now 

 have a hive of the first lot of 50 that I ever made. 

 1 made them in 1865. The frames had a full bee- 

 space, both above and below them, just as an or- 

 dinary one-story hive should have; but when I set 

 two or more of them on top of each other there was 

 a space of ^4 inch between the top and bottom of 

 the two sets of frames, and I invented the rabbeted 

 sides of the top and bottom of my hives to correct 

 this fault, and I have used it on all hives since the 

 year 1866, when I first used the above rabbet. The 

 only change I ever made in my hives was in mak- 

 ing the frames deeper, and in this respect I have 

 tried various depths, from 414 to 9 inches. But of 

 whatever depth, I used them in pairs. In your 

 original Simplicity you had the same difficulty, 

 and met it by making the top of your frames with- 

 out a bee-space over them; and in making- your 

 new Dovetailed hive I see j'ou have met the same 

 ditBculty by making the frames even with the bot- 

 tom of the hive, and making a bee-space under 

 them by nailing strips on the bottom-board. 



Now, in my plan th3re is always a bee-space at 

 top and bottom, with a plain cover ana plain smooth 

 bottom-board; and yet when two or more hives are 

 set on top of each other the necessary beespace 

 between them is maintained; and I consider it the 

 best thing for the purpose yet in use. If you think 

 it of interest, I will send you one of my hives that I 

 made in 1865, and one as I make them no.v. Mr. I. 



Ingmondson, of Leroy, Minn., removed his bees 

 from Langstroth hives to them in 1866 or '67. He is 

 dead, but I am making research as to what became 

 of his hives and bees. When I invented my hive I 

 was using Langstroth hives. I was agent for his 

 patent in this county, and have never regretted 

 changing hives, although I do not think them indis- 

 pensable to successful bee keeping. I first thought 

 the closed-end frames a big thing, because they are 

 reversible; but I did not like them after a fair trial, 

 and I don't think reversing pays for the trouble. 

 Forestville, Minn., Mar. 18. Barnett Taylor. 



Friend T., I beg your pardon for intimat- 

 ing that the rabbet between your upper and 

 lower stories was made to keep out wind 

 and rain. Since you suggest it, I remember 

 now, that, in devising the Simplicity hive, 

 this beveled shoulder was decided on more 

 for securing the bee-spaces you mention, 

 than to keep out the wind and rain. It 

 does seem as though the average bee-keeper 

 would never be satisfied with closed-end 

 frames or closed top-bars. 



ALFALFA A HONEY-PLANT IN UTAH. 



BEE-HUNTING ; BRUIN, AND HOW HE GOT HIS 

 SHARE. 



Being an interested reader of Gleanings, also 

 an amateur bee-keeper, I thought I would pen you 

 a line. I noticed an article in Gleanings from 

 D. L. Williams, of Idaho, on the subject of lucerne, 

 or alfalfa. What he says on the subject would ap- 

 ply to this locality as well, as it is raised here ex- 

 tensively, averaging from three to eight tons per 

 acre, also growing seed in paying quantities. I be- 

 lieve it produces more honey where it is necessary 

 to irrigate it. We usually irrigate six times 

 through the season, getting three crops of hay. 

 There are thousands of acres raised in this county 

 alone, and it is raised extensively all over the terri- 

 tory. That and sweet clover are our main honey- 

 plants. The bees work on it from about .luoe first 

 to the middle of October. 



My two brothers and myself own a sawmill in one 

 of the canyons east of Provo. We had some excit- 

 ing experience in bee-hunting last summer. First, 

 we found a large number of bees at work in the lit- 

 tle spring which supplies us with water that would 

 do A. I. Root good to imbibe on a warm summer 

 day. One afternoon we quit work earlier than usu- 

 al, and followed one of the lines that led up the 

 mountain, and in a short time we had located three 

 bee-trees, one of which was in a large black fir, 

 about four feet through. Next on the programme 

 was an advance on the peaceful inhabitants of the 

 trees. Armed with axes, pails, tubs, smudge, etc., 

 we scored an easy victory, carrying off for spoils 

 (on the double quick) a heavy load of bee-stings. It 

 would have done you good to see us taking steps 

 down the mountain, utterly regardless of any thing 

 but the wild desire to get away from that tree. We 

 finally manufactured veils, and with some misgiv- 

 ings returned to the tree, where we found the bees 

 all quiet. We hived them in good style, putting in 

 all the brood-combs, and getting about 100 lbs. of 

 good honey. We next proceeded to convey the 

 spoils, together with the stings we carried in our 

 hands, faces and hair, to the mill. I have cut quite 

 a number of bee-trees, but I never saw one equal to 

 this one in ]the stinging line. About sundown one 



