1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



51!) 



THE BUCKET HIVE. 



fNCLOSED you will find a circular. I wish you 

 could see the humbug Mve also. I took one of 



J my Simplicity hives out while Mr. Parker was in 

 our town, and made him own up that the Simplicity 

 Hive was the best he ever saw. The old gentleman 

 appears honest ; but such a hive! Just a square box 

 with some triangular pieces nailed to the top, and a 

 bucket turned over on top of the cover for surplus 

 honey. I told the old gent if I considered the bucket 

 of any account I would use it, any way ; he threatened 

 me with all parts of the law. He said Hoot would 

 call it no patent. Any way. he could not sell one in 

 this county. A. C. Morher. 



San Marcos, Tex., Oct. 4, 1880. 



There are some rather sensible ideas about 

 this bucket arrangement for surplus; but 

 the idea that a patent can prevent you from 

 having your honey stored in a bucket or any 

 other household utensil, if you want to, is 

 most ridiculous. As some parts of the cir- 

 cular are rather interesting, I give the fol- 

 lowing : 



HOW TO MAKE TOP OF HIVE. 



Take a board IS inches wide, % or 3^ of an inch thick; saw in 

 pieces HiV, inches long; nail strips on the ends 18 inches long 

 by 2 inches wide, and % of an inch thick; this will prevent 

 warping and splitting-; strike a circle in the center 11V, inches 

 in diameter, then four more, one at each corner; cut out a slot 

 on each side of the center circle (on the inside), two 2-inch holes 

 or slots; follow the ll'-i-inch circle with the holes or slots; these 

 holes are for the bees to work up through into the honey 

 department; you can use two sizes of buckets, the common size 

 Mich as yon find in every store, and a 9-inch bucket if you use 

 the larger size. My experience has taught me to use but one at a 

 time ; when I use the large ones, this bucket covers the holes or 

 slots; when using the 9-inch bucket, put on four at a time, they 

 cover the holes or slots also. 



HOW TO USE THE BUCKET. 



Sharpen a 6d. nail, and drive it through a tin piece of wood 2 

 inches long; stick the nail through a piece of honey; drive the 

 nail slightly in the side of the bucket at the top; when placed in 

 position oh the hive, this will cause the bees to go to work 

 sooner than they otherwise would. 



When the bucket sounds solid all round, it is full, and can be 

 removed. 



HOW TO REMOVE THE BUCKET. 



Take a long thin knife or trowel, run it under the bucket so as 

 to cut the comb from the top of the hive; tilt the bucket enough 

 to see if it is full and well capped; if the honey is not well 

 capped, replace the bucket, as the honey will foment if not well 

 capped; tilt the bucket so the comb will bear on the edges; this 

 in events the comb from breaking; if the bucket is full it will 

 weigh from 20 to 24 pounds. 1 have several hundred hives, and 

 they will average this year SO pounds to the hive. 



HOW TO GET THE BEES OUT OF THE BUCKET. 



Stick a piece of honey into an empty bucket, as directed; take 

 off the full bucket ; set on the ground near the hive; place the 

 empty bucket over the full one; tap the full one around the 

 Miles; the lues will, in a f e w minutes, all go up into the empty 

 bucket; then place- the empty bucket on the hive, and the bees 

 will soon go to work in the empty bucket; should the bees seem 

 to cluster an.l not disposed to leave the bucket, look for the 

 queen; she is sometimes in the backet; put her at the entrance 

 of the hive; after the bees go up into the empty bucket, set iton 

 the hive with the bees in it; but should all the bees fail to go up 

 into the empty bucket, which is frequently the case, remove the 



empty one and places pie f paper or cloth over the full 



bucket, and I he lues will go up on the paper; then shake them 

 off at the entrance .of the hive; should you have no empty buck- 

 et handy, use the paper instead of the bucket. 



Another way to get the bees mil of the bucket is to take the 

 bucket into a building near by, the darker the better, and knock 

 on the sides of the bucket, and the bees will come out anil go 

 back to the hive. Thebucketcan be used on any shapedhive 



with a level rarfi ; if you want to use the bucket on your old 



hives, cut a slot in the top •; orS inches wide, just so the bucket 

 will cover it; experience has taught me that the large boles 

 through the top is the best; the bucket idea has many advan- 

 tages over any other thing I have ever seen or tried. 



CHEAP ANIi ENDURABLE. 

 It is cheap, and can be bought at any store convenient to the 



bee-keeper. Holds the drip convenient for shipping; the mer- 

 chant will sell it oil less e. in m lission ; keeps out insects, and is as 

 good for i ■mi in ion use as before using for hone v. 



I use what I call a weather board to go over the top of the 

 bucket, to protect it from the gun and rain. It should lie made 

 of good lumber, free from joints and splits, 18x18 inches, strips 

 nailed on the ends to prevent warping. 



All framed hives or boxes for honey have proved a failure, for 

 general use. They cost to,, much. It takes a mechanic to make 

 them; they are hard and difficult to work after made; the honey 

 must be boxed before shipping, and then- is a constant loss from 

 dripping from the time they ore taki n from the hive until sold. 

 You never know how much the loss is until you are lost alto- 

 gether. 



Another objection is. the queen gets in the honev frames and 

 fills the middle frames with young bees; they have to be torn to 



pieces to get out the comb containing the young bees. The 

 queen will go up in the bucket, but you have a show ing, you can 

 see and cut out the comb, and set the bucket on the hive, and 

 thus let it be tilled, or replace the vacuum with comb, and ship 

 in this way. 



The queen seldom goes up in the honey department after the 

 swarming season. 



MuTII-TROOF HIVES. 



There is no such thing as a moth-proof hive. All old bee- 

 keepers will tell you that whatever will keep the moth out will 

 keep out the bee. The moth-worm does not keep out the bees, 

 (hie cause of the bees dying out is the queen becomes ban-en, 

 the bees commence dwindling; the moth then enters the hive, 

 and in a short time the bees die out or leave the hive. They 

 would die out if there was no moth-worm in it. I have mcii 

 bees die out and not a moth worm about the hive, and in a tew 

 days the hive would be full of moth worms. Another came is, 

 in the old-style hive, people are too apt to rob their bees too 

 late in the season, and then it is natural for them to die out. 

 Pay no attention to the moth preventative, even in my patent. 

 Tor if the bees are not able to protect thcimelves, they are not 

 worth having. Don't put the bucket on the hive until* it is lull 

 below. Take it off at the end of the honev season; some of 

 them will be partly lull of honev; put the wooden covers over 

 them to keep out dust, and set them away until next season. If 

 you have no wooden covers, tack a piece of cloth over them. 



Experience has convinced me that charcoal is the best thing 

 to set hives on. Throw up a ridge 10 feet wide, just enough to 

 keep the water from ttanuing under the hives; put a bushel of 

 charcoal 5 feet apart each way. pound it down level and set the 

 hives on. The coal will keep down grass and weeds, and ants 

 won't build in it. 



I first tried tin cans dipped in hot beeswax before putting on 

 the hives. The bees tilled them very prettily, but alter taking 

 them off, I found the honey would soon foment. My experience 

 is, that the wooden buckets are the best, and that honey « ill not 

 foment in them. 



The intelligent, live, enterprising citizen cannot fail to see 

 the many advantages in the hive as an artificial swarmer, and 

 the bucket, as used by me, as a safe, cleanly and dui able honey 

 package. 



For further information address or call on 



JESSE W. PARKER, Patentee, 



Columbia, Texas. 



N. B.— All persons using the bucket, or any part of my inven- 

 tion on any hive, new or old, without my consent, will be pros- 

 ecuted to the extent of the law. J. W. P. 



There, friend P., we have given you a good 

 advertisement free; the remarks about moth- 

 proof hives are pretty good, especially from 

 a patent-hive man. 



A LETTER FROM OEOUGE GB MMl . 



SOMETHING ABOUT BEES FOB HONEY, RATHERTH1N 

 BEES FOR LOOKS. 



fjp SEE in the May number of your valuable journa^ 

 ji|[ a communication from E. Gallup in reference 

 to the question of improving- bees. His opinion 

 is, that we should endeavor to breed bees that come 

 nearest in all respects to the highest standard of ex- 

 cellence. He says that, in accordance with his ex- 

 perience, and also with the experience of the late 

 Adam Grimm, the dark, leather-colored Italians in- 

 variably take the preference to the extra light-col- 

 ored. That this was my father's experience, I can 

 vouch for, and it has also been my experience during 

 the last two years. If bees are wanted that have no 

 superior for honey-gathering, breed the dark, leath- 

 er-colored Italians, or a good strain of hybrids; but, 

 if bees are wanted for sale, breed the light-colored 

 Italians. I found, when I sold off the 1400 colonies 

 of bees during the two years succeeding- my father's 

 death, that, although intelligent bee-keepers evinced 

 their complete satisfaction, there were yet many 

 who would have been better satisfied had the bees 

 been of a brighter yellow. This fact explains itself 

 when we consider who it is that usually buy bees. 

 But few practical bee-keepers buy their bees. If 

 they meet with loss they resort to increase, not to 

 purchase. It is the unskilled In the profession that 

 usually resort to purchase. They rarely, at the time 

 of purchase, know more about bees than that the 

 Italians are better than our native bees, and that the 

 former are yellow and the latter black. Of course, 

 the bees must be warranted pure, for he wants only 

 the best. When they arrive he is ignorant as to 

 whether or not they till the bill. If the color does 

 not suit his more experienced neighbor, he is not 



