12 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



that the germ of the modern movable- 

 frame appears in this old book, only the 

 frame was a fixture. His straw hives 

 even, were provided with •' wooden tops' 

 made with a ''board the width of the hive, 

 half an incli thick, free from knobs." 

 Seven spaces or openings were cut in this 

 board, half an inch wide. If preferred, 

 ''a cheaper top may be made of narrow 

 slips of wood, wliich I name bars, six in 

 number designed to be laid across the 

 top of the hive, at half an inch distance 

 from each other; the outermost bars to be 

 one inch and a quarter wide, and the 

 others one inch and a half." Our author 

 says that some hive-makers complained 

 of difficulty in making hives of the sort 

 prescribed by him. but without grounds. 

 The person employed by him, after a lit- 

 tle practice, could make them as expedi- 

 tiously and easily as those of the common 

 sort. His ideas about hives were emi- 

 nently simple and practical, no "fancy 

 fixings" of any kind being employed. 



LARGE STOCKS. 



Our author believed in putting two and 

 even three stocks together for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining a larger proportionate 

 jaeld of honey than could be got from 

 single stocks. This method he called 

 " storifying," i. e. making two or three 

 stories, by placing one or two hives above 

 a lower one. His hives were so made as 

 to admit of this. Our friend, Hosmer of 

 Minnesota, can hardly advance an idea 

 on this subject wliich Keyes had not ven- 

 tilated more than half a century ahead 

 of him. Indeed, we half suspect flosmer 

 of having obtained old Keyes' book some- 

 where on tlie sly, and kept all its wisdom 

 in his own head, dealing it out in very 

 few words, at Conventions, as original. 

 We are confirmed in our suspicions by 

 finding that old Keyes considers "a 

 quart" of bees about enough to' winter in 

 a single hive. Hosmer has been supposed 

 to hold a kind of patent on the " quart " 

 theory, but here it is as far back as 1814. 



"SALVATION OF BEES." 



Keyes argues for this. The above 

 is his own phrase. He advocates the 

 plan of " storifying" for this, among 

 other reasons, tliat by its means, " the 

 family is perpetuated to any length of 

 time, without the cruel necessity and 

 trouble of destrojn ng indiscriminately 



both old and young." He pleads for the 

 "salvation of bees" as the more profitable 

 plan, going at great length into the argu- 

 ment, giving facts and figures, a la Jas- . 

 per Hazen. and concludes a full chapter 

 on the subject by saying : — "The old 

 practice of sufi'ocation, must be con- 

 demned as impolitic, and highly disad- 

 vantageous; for they must be very weak 

 who pursue a plan of conduct of small 

 profit, -when a better is offered of double or 

 treble advantage. The italics are his own. 



COMB VERSUS LIQUID HONEY. 



Though the extractor was unknown in 

 those days, the houej'^ market was in- 

 jured then as now by the impure honey 

 that found its way into it. Hence the 

 following most respectful advice :-"With 

 submission I would recommend to the 

 nobility and gentry to purchase none but 

 combs of hone}', to be drained at home. 

 Sophistications and impurities would 

 then be avoided, and such combs might 

 •be selected as ai'e fine, or according to 

 their own fancy. Were this condition in- 

 sisted upon, the markets would soon 

 abound with combs of honey instead of 

 pots. The introduction of such a custom 

 must depend on the patronage of the 

 gentry." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Mr. Keyes was alive to the advantage 

 of feeding bees in Spring even though 

 they still had stores. He says. "It enliv- 

 ens and strengthens them, and stimulates 

 their activity, causing them to breed the 

 earlier." He is very sensible on the dis- 

 eases of bees, giving the cause and cure 

 of dysentery about as correctly as Novice 

 or any other high, modern authority 

 could do. He well says: — "The failure 

 of stocks has in most countries been at- 

 tributed to witchcraft, or other supersti- 

 tious notions, instead of attributing them 

 to their true cause,— badness of weather, 

 or rather their owner's neglect or want 

 of skill." The chapters on hiving, driv- 

 ing, artificial swarming, deprivation, and 

 the monthly calender of operations, in- 

 dicate an amount of practical knowledge 

 and skill, we were not prepared to find 

 in a bee-keeper of more than half a cen- 

 tury ago. 



Lovers of the new and original, will 

 doubtless be ready to say, "enough of 

 this old bee-book, let us have something 

 of to-day." All right. But however 



