498 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



it seemed as if tliey must liave lived for 

 some weelis without any, comparatively. 

 Accounts have been published in the same 

 line, all through our journals, and many 

 more could be picked up now if it were 

 worth while to look into the matter. Doo- 

 little has had something on this subject 

 already, and i)erhaps he may enlighten us 

 further. Perhaps we had better lay aside 

 jokes, khd ask in sober earnest how long 

 chilled bees may be kept alive. 



OUH P. BENSON LETTER. 



HEXAGONV HIVE. 



'P to the i)reseut time thair is (3) three strains 

 of hives; the box hive, the Langstroth hive 

 and the invertable hive. I hev now estab- 

 lished a noo strain, whitch malses 4 (four). It 

 is the Hexag-ony Hive. This is bound to sou- 

 porseed all others, bekoz it is natcheral to bees to 

 bild evry thing hexagony shape. A hexagony is a 

 square with six sides, and that's the way the bees 

 bild thair sells, so a hexagony hive looks natcheral 

 to them and soots their ideah and will attrack bees 

 wharever it is poot. In fact, it will attrack bees 

 from other hives, as it will be seen in the pickter 

 thay is more bees goin to the hive than is commin 

 away. In this way the hive is always kep strong. 

 Under the hive you see the base whitch is a hexa- 

 gony cut in 3. On the top is a hexagony surpluss 

 department. This is filled with hexagony hunuy 

 boxes. A hexagony hunny box is filled sooner than 

 enny other, bekoz it just fits the sells, and the bees 

 will fill it a good eel sooner. 



p. BENSON'S HEXAGONY HIVE. 



In the summer of 18 hunderd and 86 I made the 

 discuvvery that by turnin a hive upside down the 

 bees wood make just twicst as mutch hunny. You 

 see when they find the hive upside down they think 

 thev got in the roug hive, and if thay doant wurk 

 twicet as hard thay think thay will git poot out. 

 But the he.xagony Hive ken be inverted on (6) six 

 diffei'ent sides, so thay think it's (6) six diffei-ent 

 hives and thay will poot in 6 times as mutch hunny. 



Now sum buddy will go to wurk and git up a 8 

 square hive and think he ken git 8 times as mutch 

 hunny, but heal be phonled. A 8 square hive izzent 



natcheral, bee§ doant bild sells with 8 sides, and 

 thay will see through the desepshun. 



Kites for the Hexagony Hive fol" sail. State rites 

 is (')$) five dollars apeace. This will eutightel the 

 oaner to yuse the hive on his oan land enny whair 

 in the State. If he moves into a different State heal 

 hefto by anuther rite. But he mussent make enny 

 hives. He ken by the hives of me at cost. Thay 

 cost .5 dollars $ apeace, whitch barely pays for the 

 mateerial and my time a makin bl- them. My time 

 is middlin valyouable. 



This hive is a invensiun whitch I am not asham- 

 ed to go down to posterity. 



P. Benson, A. B. Sighentist P. S. Mr. Root, what 

 roilty wood you give for the excloosiv and sole rite 

 to make, sell, and yuse the Hexagony Hive? This 

 wood keep the thing so nobuddy else cood make or 

 yuse them, and wood pirty mutch giv you a monop- 

 pelly. P. Benson, A. B. S. 



Bli^?TED }l0PEg. 



AVANTED-A PARTNER IN BLASTED HOPES ; 

 SOMETHING ABOUT THE BEVELED EDGE. 



^f^^ RO. ROOT:— You ask for reports discouraging. 

 IPjl Well, here we come, complaining that our 

 f^ bees will not swarm, nor store any honey in 

 ■*^ the boxes above the brood-nest. I have 

 seven colonies in Langstroth hives, ten 

 frames, that have not cast a swarm in two years. 

 Tell P. Benson to send me some of the seeds of 

 that celebrated apple-tree of his. Now as to honey 

 for the family, that is just a rarity. I sent to Jas. 

 Heddon three years ago, and got 300 lbs. of his fine 

 honey, and we lived fat while that lasted, but that 

 has given out long ago. Tell Bro. I. R. Good, of 

 Nappanee, Ind., to move down here to my house, 

 and bring all of his bees with him. I want him and 

 his bees. If he can't come, tell him to send me his 

 bees any way. We are not overstocked here. I 

 have a fine apple-orchard of 100 or more trees un- 

 der which I can set our hives. I want a partner in 

 the bee-business— a male partner— one who likes 

 bees. I have a female partner for life in other 

 things, but she don't like bees. She sometimes 

 looks "bevel edged " at me, and says, "You had 

 better put down those old bee-journals and get 

 your Bible." Mine are all black bees, and they can 

 sting too. I tried to divide a colony yesterday 

 evening, and now my face is all swollen up. They 

 came at me zip, zip, zip, and then I skip, skip, skip. 

 Send me a male partner, or else put me in Blasted 

 Hopes. J- G- Nance. 



Belleview, Ky., June 3, 1887. 



Many thanks, friend N. We have heard 

 of women looking sharply at their other 

 half, but we never before heard of one look- 

 ing "beveled edge" at him. The term, 

 even if newlv coined in the sense in which 

 you use it, is full of meaning— at least to a 

 bee-keeper. Now, then, where is the male 

 partner who will offer himself to our friendV 



ALL, DEAD BUT TEN. 



I packed last fall in Doolittle chaff hives, and ac- 

 cording to his directions, 21 good colonics. May 11, 

 188T, all dead but two. As near as I can find out, 

 two-thirds of the bees in Fond du Lac Co. are dead. 



Lamartine, Wis., May 11, 1887. C. S. Nash. 



