34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 16, 



fight, and never ate another drop, but just " done gone and 

 died." 



Now, is it reasonable to suppose that when they returned 

 they filled themselves, and then clustered in that part of the 

 hive where there was no honey, and there died ? Perhaps 

 bees in Missouri are so stupid, but I think mine at Bethesda 

 are not quite so foolish — at least I hope not. 



Another point : I have known bees to carry down pound 

 after pound of section honey in the dead uf winter, when they 

 were short of stores ; aud if my memory is not at fault, I say 

 they did not fly out while thus engaged. I would ask Mr. 

 Cotton, candidly, did they carry that honey down and consume 

 it ? or did they merely store it, awaiting an opportunity for a 

 flight to make a meal of it '? I hold to the former idea. 



If it were not for drawing out this article, which is al- 

 ready too long, I could point to several other circumstances 

 along this line, in support of my contention, but I will save my 

 ammunition for future friendly battle. I said in my former 

 article, that I was satisl3ed Mr. Cotton's idea would not hold 

 good at Bethesda ; his last article has not led me to change my 

 mind in any way ; but I might modify it a little by saying 1 do 

 not think it well. 



Mr. C. asks me what the bees do with so much food as I 

 speak of. I don't know. I never was inside the hi ;e to watch, 

 but I suppose they eat and consume it, and certainly absorb a 

 large portion of it, because it was in the hive in the fall, and 

 was not there in the spring. What else could they do with it, 

 unless they carry it out of the hive to be wasted, which is not 

 their nature ? 



Now if I am wrong in any of my statements, I wish to be 

 set aright, for you know Rochefaucald said that no person is 

 more frequently wrong than he who will not admit he is 

 wrong. Bethesda, Ont. 



Some Subjects Reviewed and Commented Upon 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



BeeKeepeks' Associations. —Referring to page 809 

 (189o) Hon. Geo. E. Hilton writes : " If a bee-keepers' organi- 

 zation could be efl:ected in every township within 200 miles 

 of me, it would pay me to employ Uco assistants to assist in 

 the organization." Which leaves me quivering with curiosity 

 for further explanation. How would it pay him '? Lecturing, 

 selling supplies, or what? 



Dadant with His Big Hives.— Chas. Dadant certainly 

 makes a strong showing in favor of plenty of room in the 

 brood-chamber, and I'm looking with interest for some reply 

 from the advocates of small hives. I'd like to see the two D's 

 lock horns — he of Borodino and the Frenchman. What about 

 a big lot of bees reared too late to work on the harvest ? Even 

 if it be admitted that the 8-frame hive is too small, why, Mr. 

 Dadant, can't we use two of them for each colony ? 



The New Adornments. — No. 1 of the "Old Reliable" 

 for 1896 looks quite dainty with its new head-dress, neck- 

 ribbon and bracelets. If I should desire any change, it would 

 be to have the name in very plain type on the first page with 

 no ornamentation whatever. But that might be too severely 

 plain for the general taste, and the general taste should be 

 consulted. There's a wee bit of conflict between the title 

 page and the headings of the other pages, there being no 

 "The" in the title on the first page. I think I like the new 

 name better, though come to look it up there's nothing new 

 about it. At any rate, the shorter name is better. 



The Pun of Bee-Keeping. — I want to thank P. L. 

 Thompson for some of the things he has said, and said well, 

 in his article, " Specialty vs. Mixed Bee-Keeping," on page 1. 

 I'm not entirely certain that I know exactly what "specialty" 

 means when applied to bee-keeping, but I am certain that a 

 man may be happier in a pursuit that accords with his tastes, 

 and that keeps him constantly on the alert with inviting prob- 

 lems, than if he had no other thought than making money. 

 And I'm not in sympathy with the sentiment that the love or 

 enjoyment of a pursuit goes out of it as money comes in. 



Bee-Master will never live to see a class of bee-keepers 

 who keep bees for the love of it, if no such class now exists. 

 If it were not for the love of it I should have been out of it 

 long ago, for I could, and did, make more money in other 

 ways. 



I'm not so sure about that paragraph that begins, "Spe- 

 cialty means broad-mindedness." No doubt, as the writer had 

 it In mind, it's all right, but I have known those who stuck so 

 exclusively to a specialty that they were narrowed by it. But 



the next paragraph, beginning "Specialty means happiness," 

 I'll swallow whole without blinking. 



Do Pield-Bees Play?— On page 824 (189t>) Wm. S. 

 Barclay endorses, as well he may, the idea that long life in a 

 strain of bees is a thing to be desired, but when he broaches 

 such a revolutionary idea as that there may be such a thing 

 as field-bees fooling away part of their time in play, one is led 

 to say, " Why, bees are models of industry, and never play 

 after they commence work in the fields." Did ever any one 

 during harvest time detect in the act of playing in front of 

 the hive a worker with ragged wings? There ought to be 

 something more than circumstantial evidence to make one ac- 

 cept such a revolutionary idea. And yet it has always been 

 admitted that there was a difference in the industry of differ- 

 ent colonies? Now if one colony maybe more industrious 

 than another, it follows that one colony may be less indus- 

 trious than another, which is only another way of saying that 

 one colony may be more idle than another ; from which it is 

 not such a very long step to saying that a colony may be so 

 idle in character that some of its field-bees will play instead 

 of work. It will do no harm, at least, to inquire whether such 

 a thing may be, or not. 



California Through Prof. Cook's Glasses. — For years 

 I've read the glowing accounts of matters and things in Cali- 

 fornia — its climate, flowers, fruits and bees— and have re- 

 mained proof against all its blandishments, but after reading 

 Prof. Cook's article on page 2, with the thermometer within 

 nine degrees of zero here, oranges 40 cents a dozen, and no 

 strawberries for months, to say nothing of 150 pounds per 

 colony, and the good society and all, I could hardly help think- 

 ing maybe it might be a good thing for a young fellow like me 

 to take a fresh start in a new spot, especially after ray wife 

 saying, " Let's sell out and go." Say, Professor, hold on. 

 "No more o' that, an' thou lovest me." It won't do for every 

 one to pack up for California ; some one must stay to help 

 gather the nectar in latitude 42^ north. 



Black Bees. — "Get some black bees," says S. M. Robert- 

 son, on page 13, in view, I suppose, of the fact that I've had 

 t»vo years of failure and he's had two of the best seasons he 

 ever saw. I'd like to accommodate you, Mr. Robertson, but 

 please give me some reason for getting the black imps. With 

 the bees I have, I've done twice as well in a good season as 

 you have in your best season. And I live in a poor honey dis- 

 trict. I've had blacks a plenty, and they don't do as well as 

 Italians. 



Opening Hives. — Queer that so many replies on page 15 

 seemed to resent the question there given as an implied charge 

 that they opened hives too much. No less than eight of them 

 refuse to answer the question, and poutingly say they don't do 

 it at all unless they ought. Why, who said you did ? 



Marengo, 111. 



Advantages of Divisible Brood-Chamber Hives 



BY REV. WM. ANDERSON. 



Apropos to the discussion in the American Bee Journal on 

 the question of the best hive for general use, I may be per- 

 mitted to give my experience, covering a period of 12 years, 

 during which I have experimented with nearly all the hives 

 which have gained a reasonable degree of popularity. 



I began bee-keeping when a mere boy, in my native coun- 

 try — Scotland — by transferring bumble-bees' nests into old 

 kettles, pans and boxes, and had them as neatly arranged in 

 our flower-garden as the best-kept modern apiary. Later, 

 I became the happy owner of a straw skep, and still later, 

 together with my brother, purchased several American Lang- 

 stroth hives. 



On coming to this country, 13 years ago, I began keeping 

 bees in several different kinds of hives, all modifications of 

 the Langstroth, including the Simplicity, the Baker, and the 

 old Heddon, etc. 



When the New Heddon hive was placed on the market, I 

 purchased a sample and tested its merits for two years by the 

 side of the others. One after another my loose frame hives 

 were broken into kindling-wood, and replaced by the New 

 Heddon. I now have all my bees in the latter hive, number- 

 ing 30 colonies, and I will give my reasons for preferring the 

 New Heddon to all others I have tested. 



I need scarcely say that I have no ax to grind in the mat- 

 ter, and that I owe Mr. Heddon no other debt than that grati- 



