1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 



viz.: that perfect combs are not always built in the brood-nest. 

 They may be crooked, or bulged, or drone-comb may be built. 

 The last is the greatest difficulty. When using the Langstroth 

 hive and contracting to only five frames, I never had any diffi- 

 culty in getting straight combs. The brood-nest was so nar- 

 row at the top that all of the combs were commenced at once, 

 grew at the same time, and were brought down to completion 

 as straight as so many boards. With the new Hoddon hive 

 the top of the brood-nest is wider, and the center combs are 

 more liliely to be commenced some little in advance of the 

 outer combs, and bulging is sometimes the result. 



Drone-comb is the result of either an old queen that can- 

 not keep pace with the comb-builders, or that the bees are 

 thinking, perhaps, of superseding, or of using a brood-nest so 

 large that the bees hatch from the first-laid eggs in the center 

 of the brood-nest, and the queen returns to re-HU the cells so 

 emptied before the brood-nest is filled with comb, and when 

 comb is built for store-comb (which would be the case if the 

 queen were not at hand to fill it with eggs), it is quite likely 

 to be drone-comb if honey is being brought in quite rapidly. 



As before mentioned, this system of management does not 

 leave the swarm in the best condition for winter. If there is 

 a fall flow, this condition can be easily remedied, simply by 

 adding more combs and allowing the bees to breed and store 

 honey to their heart's content. The same result can be ob- 

 tained by feeding, and in those localities where natural stores 

 do not always prove wholesome for winter, this lack of stores 

 is really an advantage, as there is no extracting to be done — 

 simply the feeding of sugar. To find bees short of stores in 

 the fall simply because the white honey has been stored in the 

 sections, is not objectionable, as the lack of honey can be sup- 

 plied with sugar syrup costing only about one-third as much 

 as the honey will sell for. What course to pursue after the 

 white harvest is past will depend upon circumstances, such as 

 whether there is a fall flow, whether it is suitable for winter 

 stores, whether an increase of colonies is desirable, etc. I 

 favor uniting the light colonies soon after the sections are off, 

 as this gives an opportunity for discarding imperfect combs 

 and poor queens, furnishes abundant combs and bees, and 

 lessens the amount of feeding that must be done. 



In the next article, " feeding back " will be explained. 



Flint, Mich. 



MR. J. n. mARVIIV. 



James Monroe Marvin, the subject of this sketch, and 

 whose photograph appears on the flrst pages of this issue of 

 the American Bee Journal, was born at De Ruyter, Madison 

 county, N. Y., July 4, 1830. In 1844 he, with his parents, 

 moved from New York to St. Charles, Ills., and he has lived 

 in or near this city from that time up to a recent date. In his 

 early life Mr. M. followed the business of painting, but during 

 that period he became greatly interested in both bees and 

 flowers. 



During his earth-life few men enjoyed a wider or better 

 circle of warm personal friends. In business matters he was 

 highly respected for his sterling integrity. He was of a bright, 

 cheerful and sunny disposition, and was always ready and 

 willing to do anything in his power for the happiness or ad- 

 vancement of his friends and acquaintances. He would strip 

 the blossoms from his choicest plants for the friends of the 

 departed, and without a thought of a pecuniary remunera- 

 tion ; and, when necessary, would cheerfully divide the con- 

 tents of his purse with the living. He was seldom known to 

 speak an unkind word of any person, and, if treated ill, would 

 simply say, and with a smile : " He couldn't help it '" During 

 the entire period of his life it is not known that he had an 

 enemy. 



As a practical, progressive bee-keeper he attained a very 

 high position among the fraternity, and for many years his 

 opinions on bee-culture were highly respected by all who knew 

 him. Just before and during our Civil War Mr. Marvin was 

 without doubt the most extensive bee-keeper in Illinois. At 



one time his home apiary contained nearly 600 colonies of 

 bees. Up to 1862 all of his bees were natives, and in box- 

 hives. In 1862 he adopted the Langstroth hive and the Ital- 

 ian bee. In the course of two or three years his large apiary 

 had undergone a radical change. For several years thereafter 

 he secured each year many tons of comb honey. In 1868 he 

 purchased a honey-extractor, and then for a number of years 

 confined himself mainly to the production of extracted honey. 

 Tons and tons of honey were thus secured each year. Finally 

 foul brood made his apiary a visit, and as no attempt was 

 made to fight the disease, his colonies began to disappear rap- 

 idly, and soon all were destroyed. For the past few years Mr. 

 M. had taken but little interest in bees, but instead he gave 

 special attention to the growing of small fruits and the pro- 

 duction of new varieties of seedling grapes. His vineyard at 

 the present time contains a number of very promising seed- 

 lings, but what will now become of them is one of the un- 

 solved problems. 



For many years Mr. Marvin was firm in the belief that 

 this earth-life is simply a preparatory state to a better and an 

 unending existence, and he tried to live accordingly. He often 

 said he was ready at a moment's notice to bid adieu to earth- 

 life, and that when the time came for him to depart he was in 

 hopes that he would not be afflicted with a long and painful 

 illness. His desire in that respect was gratified, for he de- 

 parted this life very suddenly on Friday, March 5, 1896. 

 While eating supper, and apparently in his usual health, he 

 was ta^fen with severe stomach pains, and in less than an 

 hour thereafter he was in spirit-life. 



Mr. Marvin left no family —he being a bachelor — but he 

 left one sister and three brothers, besides a multitude of 

 friends and other relatives to mourn his unexpected exit to 

 the mysterious beyond. M. M. Baldridge. 



St. Charles. 111. 



CONDUCTED BY 



, DR. C. C. MILLER. MARENGO. ILL. 



LQuestlons may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.l 



To Tbosc Who Desire Answer§ by Mail. 



Notwithstanding I have more than once said in print that 

 I cannot make answer by mail, I still get a good many re- 

 quests of that kind, and there seems to be a feeling that a 

 stamp enclosed puts one under obligation to send a written 

 answer. A little thought ought to show the unreasonableness 

 of this. If I answer one by mail there's no good reason why I 

 should not answer another, and as in most cases it would be a 

 little more desirable to have an answer by mail sooner than it 

 could be had in print, very few would want answers in print, 

 and a large part of my time would be taken up writing let- 

 ters. I'm glad to answer as well as I can in print, for in that 

 case I'm paid for it, and many others have the benefit of the 

 answer, so when you ask for an answer please always say in 

 what place you want the answer, and don't expect an excep- 

 tion to be made in your case. 



I know it often seems as if a man must be very unaccom- 

 modating who will not answer a question by mail that re- 

 quires only a few words, but sometimes an answer of three 

 words may require an hour of looking up the matter, and, 

 even if it didn't, there's no reason why you should be treated 

 any different from others. C. C. Miller. 



Large Hives and Swarming. 



I am troubled by my bees swarming too much every sea- 

 son. 1 am using the 8-frauie hives as recommended by so 

 many, and find by putting two together (making a 16-frame 



