JLNE 15, 1913 



enough, it might not be out of place to say 

 that it might trouble you to i^rove that I 

 ever said it was economy to leave off paint. 

 It was you that gave economy as my reason 

 — not the first time I've been libeled. But 

 if you go to hunting up proof I'll help you 

 enough to refer you to " Fifty Years among 

 the Bees," p. 80, where I say, " I suppose 

 thej^ would last longer if jDainted, but hard- 

 ly enough to pay for the paint." My real 

 reasons still remain : Doolittle and the health 

 of the bees. 



I've just been down through the apiary, 

 and I didn't find a single hive with gapping 

 corners, nor even with the least inclination 

 toward it. I mention this, not because of 

 its bearing on the above controversy, but 

 because, years ago, so much was said against 

 dovetailed hives because the corners would 

 not stand. If mine are still perfect after 

 all these years without paint, it hardly seems 

 a valid objection. [We accept your cor- 

 rection in regard to the covers. You remind 

 us that you have always advocated the 

 painting of these when made of wood. We 

 admit that the dovetailed hives will not gap 

 at the corners, even if unpainted; but a 

 large number of people use hives not lock- 

 cornered nor dovetailed — some factory -made 

 and many home-made. Shall these people 

 be encouraged to use paint? and is it not 

 true, doctor, that, before you began using 

 dovetailed hives, your old unpainted hives 

 that were not dovetailed, gapped at the cor- 

 ners? If so, was it because of a lack of 

 paint? But aside from the economic side 

 of the preservation of the hives, is it not 

 true that an unpainted hive assumes a gi'ay- 

 black hue — a color that becomes almost pure 

 black ? Such hives out in the sun will often 

 drive the bees out of them, and stop honey- 

 gathering altogether. Some years ago, as 

 you may recall, we tested out on a hot 

 sunny day the external temperature of the 

 wood of old unpainted hives, some paint- 

 ed Venetian red, and some painted with 

 two coats of white lead. The day selected 

 for the test was very warm — between 95 

 and 100 in the shade. We placed the bare 

 hand on the white painted hives, and found 

 the surface was merely warm, while the sur- 

 faces of the dark hives were almost hot 

 enough to blister the hand. Colonies of the 

 same strength were contentedly working in 

 the hives painted white, but were clustered 

 out badly in front of the dark ones. We 

 can not now recall the difference in temper- 

 ature, but it was considerable. 



It may be argued that an unpainted hive 

 should be kept in the shade; but does not 

 experience prove that shade is detrimental 

 to the early spring development of a colo- 



4C1 



ny? While we have not definite figures to 

 show, is it not also true that, other things 

 being equal, a colony in a painted hive out 

 in the open will work more hours in the 24 

 than one in an unpainted hive? If the 

 latter were kept in the shade, the variation 

 might not be great; but would that colony 

 in the shade be as far along as one out in 

 the open where the sun could get it ? If we 

 remember correctly, Mr. E. W. Alexander 

 and other prominent beekeepers have made 

 the statement that a shaded colony will not 

 fly out as early in the morning nor be as 

 strong at the beginning of the honey-flow 

 as the one out in the open. 



This is a fruitful subject for discussion. 

 It is not a question whether Dr. Miller, the 

 editor, or anybody else is right; but it is a 

 question for the beekeeper to solve, whether 

 there is economy in the use of paint, in the 

 greater durability and the condition of the 

 colony for honey-gathering at the beginning 

 of the honey-flow. Dr. Miller and the edi- 

 tor are both willing to be " jabbed," provid- 

 ing the truth can be brought out. 



That Dr. Miller might have the "last 

 say " or last " jab " we sulimitted the fore- 

 going to him, and hero is his reply. — Ed.] 



I've read over what you say more than 

 once, Mr. Editor, have studied it carefully 

 to find a weak spot where I could give you 

 a jab, and find you so strongly entrenched 

 that I feel a good bit like surrendering un- 

 conditionally. Yet I have something of a 

 fasthold in the winter welfare of the bees. 

 As my cellar is now warmed, I think it 

 would make little difference — perhaps none 

 — but before tlie furnace was in it I think 

 damp and mold could be so much worse in 

 the painted hives in winter as to make up 

 for the advantages of paint in summer. I 

 may also offer that in my dovetailed hives 

 that have failed through age the first fail- 

 ure is nearly always at the edges, inside 

 rather than outside, where no paint is ap- 

 plied in i3ainted hives. 



In my possible downfall I may take a 

 grim satisfaction in reminding you that you 

 failed to give one argument on your side. 

 You saj' bees don't begin work so early in 

 the morning if their hives are in the shade; 

 but you failed tg say that bees in the shade 

 stop work earlier in the evening. I had 

 marked proof of that when in former years 

 bees were brought out of the cellar and the 

 bees of the out-apiaries were massed tem- 

 porarily northeast of the shop. In the even- 

 ing there was a plain line of demarcation, 

 each colony ceasing its flight just as soon as 

 it came into shadow. If you had any gi-ati- 

 tude about you, you'd give me a nickel for 

 furnishing this missing argument. 



