838 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 31, 1903. 



down here along' the valley of the wooded part of the Mis- 

 sissippi river, where bees make a success ; but out in the 

 hills, where I live, 8 miles from the Mississippi river, [here 

 are only a few nectar-bearing plants. If I could get the in- 

 formation as to what to plant for my bees I would solve the 

 problem very soon ; but I don't know, and unless some good 

 sympathizer will reply to this, I shall have to remain igno- 

 rant. 



I love my bees, and have started out to understand their 

 habits and nature as far as possible by close study, and I will 

 be most grateful to any one who will reply to this article. I 

 am going to plant the following this fall to try them : 

 Alsike, crimson, sweet white, sweet yellow, and white Dutch 

 clovers ; and next spring, catnip, rape and buckwheat. How 

 will these do, as planned above ? I had some buckwheat 

 on hand, but could not plant it until about the middle of 

 September. It grew nicely and bloomed all right, as far as 

 I can tell, but the bees did not seem to care much for it. I 

 thought during such a scarcity here they would simply go 

 wild over it ; but I was the only one excited over the matter. 

 The bees took it very calmly, although they worked it for 

 the nectar. I don't think they gathered any pollen from it. 



CEDAR-BARK FOR SMOKER-FUEI,. 



Before I conclude this article, I wish to add an item on 

 smoker-fuel. I notice " Pennsylvania," on page 666, recom- 

 mends corn-cobs. I believe I have tried a little of almost 

 everything in the lasts or 6 years of my experience, and 

 have never found anything to equal the bark of the cedar- 

 tree. The outside bark of a live tree can be gathered, and 

 it is always dry, even on a rainy day. It is better than 

 corn-cobs for one reason, especially — it does not create the 

 heat that corn-cobs do ; while cobs may last a little, longer. 

 You can skin the bark readily from a dead post and store it 

 away in a dry place for future use. Nothing lights so 

 quickly, in the way of wood, as cedar-bark, and it never goes 

 out until it is all in ashes. You can lay the smoker down 

 for half an hour or more without the least sign of fire in it, 

 and give a puff or so and you have the smoke in large vol- 

 umes. It may somewhat depend on the kind of smoker. I 

 use the Corneil, improved. Cedar-bark is the fuel for that 

 smoker. 



Beginners, and especially lady bee-keepers, generally 

 use too much smoke, and, if I will be excused for giving ad- 

 vice, I will recommend that no more smoke than is abso- 

 lutely necessary should ever be used. It is a fact with me, 

 and I can't see why it should not be so in all cases. You 

 can handle bees so as to require little or no smoke. A 

 friend visiting me offered to wager me I could not enter a 

 hive and remove a frame without smoke. I took it up, but 

 I selected a hive into which I had recently introduced an 

 Italian queen, and had handled considerable. I not only re- 

 moved one frame, but eight, and found, and pointed out, the 

 yellow queen to him. You can make bees gentle by hand- 

 ling them properly. Smoke subdues them, of course, but it 

 also irritates them. Adams Co., Miss., Oct. 19. 



The Movable-Frame Hive vs. the Box-Hive. 



BY " A VIRGINIA BEE-KEEPER." 



I WAS very much and agreeably surprised to find my let- 

 ter on "Box-Hives vs. Modern Hives," (see page 750), 

 noticed and commented on by so eminent a bee-keeper as 

 Dr. Miller, on page 792. As he has asked a good many 

 questions in his kindly comment, perhaps I will be allowed 

 space enough to try to answer some of them, though I would 

 like to preface my remarks by mentioning that I feel very 

 much like a school-boy suddenly confronted by the head mas- 

 ter, and asked to give him information on subjects which 

 are his especial forte. 



First, let me quote a passage from my original contri- 

 bution : "To illustrate the expense connected with the 

 change from hox-hives to modern hives, / £;tve my own e a- 

 perience." 



This may be another question of '■'■ locality " \>-\\. the 

 facts in my own case were substantially as set forth in my 

 letter. That is to say, when I contemplated making the 

 change to modern hives, and after I had laid off the ground 

 for my apiary after having decided on the number of colo- 

 nies 1 would keep and the kind of hives I would use, I made 

 a rough estimate of the cost of the entire necessary supplies 

 for an apiary of SO colonies. This estimate I discussed 

 with the owner of the hives that I had on shares, and pro- 

 posed that the change should be made in the next four 



years, and also proposed that he should pay one-half of the 

 expenses and I would pay the other half, while the surplus 

 honey should be divided between us evenly. He decidedly 

 and emphatically refused, and I then offered to buy his bees 

 in the box-hives, as I did, and which I considered a much 

 better proposition for me. I stopped at four years, because 

 I do not, at present, intend to allow my apairy to grow 

 larger than that, spring count, even if I have to destroy 

 swarms, queen and all. 



" Are all the items given, fairly to be charged to box- 

 hives ? " I suppose you mean charged to modern hives ? I 

 think I should be inclined to say " 'V'es " to this question, as 

 it would be hardly worth while to make the change at all to 

 movable-frame hives unless one expected to use rather more 

 enlightened methods than those usually in practice by own- 

 ers of box-hives. You say, " The items must be charged, 

 not to movable-frame hives but to improved methods of 

 bee-keeping." Well, for that matter the movable-frame 

 hives themselves should also be charged to " improved 

 methods of beekeeping." 



In this locality it is almost a misnomer to call the farm- 

 ers bee-keepers, as they generally fail to keep them, losing 

 most if not all swarms, and little or no attention is paid to 

 bees, and little or no honey ever taken from them. I know 

 of a few " patent " bee-hives in use, none of which I would 

 accept as a gift, and several scattered box-hives, Thus, I 

 should be inclined to say that, barring the expense, which 

 I only stated as otie reason against modern hives, the nexe 

 main reason is that the farmers here do not give the time 

 neccessary to run an apiary successfully, and therefort 

 would be very little better off with all the latest modern 

 hives and appliances than they are with their old boxes. 



I may add here, that for 8 or 9 years I had been desirous 

 of starting an apiary, but had been deterred by the initial 

 expense of modern hives and appliances ; and the first 5 

 modern hives that I ever bought were purchased quite un- 

 expectedly, and almost accidentally ! Augusta Co., Va. 





Dr. Miller's Answers 





Send Questions either to the office of the American Bee Journal, 

 or to Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



As to Answers by Mall. 



Every now and then some correspondent asks a ques- 

 tion which he desires to have answered by mail instead of 

 having it answered in this department. ^ Sometimes he 

 seems to think his question is not of sufficient importance 

 to be answered in print, and so he will be satisfied with a 

 written answer. If the question is worth answering at all 

 it is worth answering here, for any one who pretends to 

 conduct a department of this kind ought to consider him- 

 self a fair target for any question on bee-culture not fully 

 answered in the bee-books, and he should be ready to 

 answer it here, if he can. 



A larger number prefer a private answer because they 

 think they might get it in less time. That might or might 

 not be, for I am generally so crowded that a letter I am not 

 obliged to answer may be delayed some time, whereas it is 

 a matter of business to answer questions in this department 

 as promptly as possible, no matter how crowded I am. Even 

 if there is an abundance of leisure, it will easily be feeen 

 that if it would be right to answer one by mail it would be 

 right to answer all in the same way, and that would take a 

 good many days o* every year without pay for the work. 



Another reason for answering here, is so that a number 

 can have the benefit of the answers, whereas an answer by 

 mail would be limited to an individual. 



A letter before me gives, however, a reason differing 

 from all others. The writer says the answers in the Bee 

 Journal are uncertain and unsatisfactory, and so he wishes 

 a private answer. I see no reason why answers in this de- 

 partment should be less certain than those sent in a private 

 letter. As to their being unsatisfactory, I am painfully 

 conscious that such is the case sometimes, from the simple 

 fact that I don't know enough to answer them any better. 

 But what reason is there to suppose that any more satisfac- 

 tory answer would be sent in a private letter ? I am paid 

 for answering questions in this department, and would get 



