May, lit 12. 



American Hae -Journal 



venience of the bees. E^lislia Gallup 

 told us years ago, when writing on this 

 hive qiiestion for the American Bee 

 Journal, that bees wouUl build just as 

 as much comb and store just as much 

 honey in a large nail-keg as they 

 would in the best hive that was ever 

 invented: and then asked why we did 

 not all use nail-kegs. Answering, he 

 said, "Because in this enlightened age 

 of the world, honey cut from nail-kegs 

 was not in mcirkiiab/e shaft:'' And 

 this marketable shape is the main rea- 

 son why the " log gums " of our fathers 

 have given place to the improved hives 

 and sections of the present day; not 

 for tlie reason that more honey can be 

 stored in these tlian in some of tliose 

 old logs which would hold from 200 to 

 400 pounds. It is only when we make 

 our liives so inconvenient for the bees 



are united in marriage and go out to 

 make a home of their own, want to 

 build that Jiomr to their own liking 

 rather than take the nicest home built 

 by some one else. Hence, hives almost 

 without number, have been launched 

 on the apicultural sea, the most of 

 which have been built for the purpose 

 of providing "a natural home for a 

 colony of bees." But, strange as it may 

 seem, more often than otherwise, the 

 apicultural road has been strewn with 

 the wrecks of blasted hopes and dis- 

 appiiintments. 



Years ago, when I lirst commenced 

 keeping bees, while passing through a 

 piece of woodland in early spring, I 

 was surprised to hear the loud hum- 

 ming of bees, such as is usually made 

 on the first cleansing flight after the 

 confinement of a long winter, and, on 



Motherwort U-eonurus lardiaca), LEAVES, FLOWERS. AND SEED Clusters.— See paje 137. 



that they can make no headway storing 

 surplus honey, or the hives so far from 

 the natural needs of the bees that they 

 can not winter well, that the limit is 

 reached and we become the losers. 



For these reasons a hive must be, to 

 a certain extent, a sort of compromise 

 between what the bees would like, or 

 make for themselves, if they could have 

 things just as they wanted them and 

 what the apiarist would like. And, to 

 my way of thinking, when Mr. Lang- 

 stroth put his hive and principle before 

 the world, he brought the greatest 

 boon possible to us in the way of such 

 a compromise. To be sure, all have 

 not been satisfied with this boon. And, 

 it is only natural, that every beginner 

 should think that he has "a flea in his 

 bonnet," which is the largest thing 

 known in the bee-keeping world ; just 

 as every man and woman, when they 



looking about, I found a strong colony 

 of bees in full flight from two holes in 

 a tree near by, the upper hole being 

 about 18 inches above the other. I 

 waited until fruit-bloom when I cut the 

 tree and transferred an extra-strong 

 colony from it into one of my hives, 

 opening the cavity of their home from 

 the back side, as I wished to preserve 

 these entrance-holes for future refer- 

 ence. Upon looking this log over 

 the next winter, when about to 

 make some new hives, I w'as sure I had 

 found something very valuable by way 

 of two entrances for all hives, and 

 something equally valuable by way of 

 upward ventilation for wintering, as 

 the upper entrance for the bees was 

 near the top of the cavity in the tree 

 which made the home for this strong 

 colony. 



So I went to work and made 10 hives 



on this "new principle" I had learned 

 about the " natural home for the bees." 

 Well, how did it result ? Six dead col- 

 onies out of the 10 the next spring, and 

 hardly as good results in section honey, 

 especially in the sections nearthis upper 

 entrance. After studying on the mat- 

 ter for some time 1 saw that this col- 

 ony had gone into a tree in the middle 

 of a large piece of timber, and was 

 located where the winter's wind never 

 even stirred the snow, while I must of 

 necessity keep my bees "in the open," 

 as it were, and the great ventilation 

 that was given with both entrances 

 open, causing a draft, took too much 

 Iieat away from tlie cluster of bees, 

 which resulted in the consumption of 

 large quantities of honey for "fuel" 

 purposes, and in this way the bees con- 

 tracted " bee-diarrhea," as well as be- 

 coming worn out of old age through 

 the activity required to oft'set this draft. 



Then, a year or two later, I found out 

 something which, to my mind, was con- 

 clusive proof that an upper entrance 

 was not needed to save the bees in their 

 travel to the supers. About the year 

 1873 I procured my first colony of Ital- 

 ian bees, and being alive with interest 

 in these bees. I was constantly " poking 

 my nose" into their hives to ascertain 

 whether they were really any better 

 than the blacks I had before they came. 

 I had requeened several colonies at a 

 time, so that when basswood was yield- 

 ing its best flow of nectar, young bees 

 from the Italian queens were numerous 

 from one to 14 days old, while the rest 

 of the bees, or those older, were all 

 blacks. Looking at the entrances of 

 such hives from 9 to 11 a.m., I saw none 

 but black bees issuing or returning, 

 those returning being very heavily 

 loaded. I thought here was a chance 

 of seeing these loaded black bees 

 crowding their way up between their 

 combs of bees in the brood-chamber 

 and into the sections, where I could 

 see them putting theirheads in the cells 

 as they unloaded this nectar therein. 

 Did I thus see .■" Well, no. And I do 

 not think I was ever more disappointed 

 in my life, for I had been told, as our 

 correspondent was, that bees needed 

 an entrance directly into the supers, 

 and my reason told me that this would 

 be true. What did I see was, 20 Italian 

 bees in these sections to one black, 

 and these young Italians were " as 

 busy as bees," poking their heads into 

 the cells, many staying thus for some 

 little time, others not so long, filling 

 the cells with nectar, while others were 

 building comb, drawing out the cells, 

 etc., so that the work inside the super 

 was as efficiently done by these young 

 Italian bees as was the field-work done 

 by the older blacks. This proved that 

 the supei-ctilrame was of no value, and 

 also proved that the bees which gath- 

 ered the nectar were not the ones 

 which deposited it in the sections. 



And I have had many proofs of a 

 similar nature while watching the bees 

 at work in an observatory hive, beside 

 which I have sat for hours, both by day- 

 light and witli a lamp at night. There- 

 fore, I now make all my hives without 

 entrances, as does our correspondent, 

 feeling assured that the entrance in 

 the bottom-board is all tliat is needed 

 when the best interests of the owne r, 



