May 18, 1905 



THB AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



359 



this, and every one of them that takes a bee-paper had triod 

 this shook-swarm method. .Some had trouble with swanus 

 deserting, and some because they would not work, and I met 

 oijly two who called the method a success. 



I have for years, during the swarming season, thouglit, 

 studied, worked, and even dreamed nights, about some plan 

 or way that colonies could be swarmed so as to overcome the 

 objections I have named, b\it even in my dreams 1 ncviT 

 hoped or expected to obtain the success I have secured. In 

 reality, though, no credit is due me, for it was not any of tli<' 

 countless plans, methods, or devices I tried with this obje.-t 

 in view that was the means of my discovering this method — a 

 method or plan which is such a singular success that I sup- 

 pose but few will believe what I shall say about it. At least 

 I, who have spent practically all my life with bees, would not 

 believe what 1 shall say if I had not the proof of my own ex- 

 perience. 



A year ago last summer I was going to " swarm " a col- 

 ony, but upon examining the bees I saw they had two or three 

 queen-cells, so, as I knew that they would swarm out the next 

 day anyway, they were not swarmed in the regular way ; 

 simply in order to save work they were handled in a different 

 way, and I expected, of course, that they would swarm out, 

 but they did not, though I could hardly believe the reason was 

 on account of the way they happened to be treated. But the 

 fact remained, that instead of swarming out they went to 

 work with all the vim and energy of a natural swarm that is 

 fully satisfied with its new home. 



Southern Minnesota. 

 (Concluded next week.) 



# 



Best Bee-Hive— Prices of Bees 



BY DR. G. BOHRER 



ON page 21, Mr. Latham asks what is the best bee-hive, and 

 uses all his argument in support of two objects, one being 

 the closed-end frame, and the other a frame hanging 

 crosswise of the hive. 



If there is any advantage in favor of the closed-end 

 frame the standard Langstrotli can be made in that way. or 

 the Hoffman can be made with the entire end closed quite as 

 easily, and at little, if any, more expense than the way we 

 now have it. In wintering on the summer stands a closed- 

 end frame may afford a slight advantage, but I doubt it, for 

 the reason that if the walls of a hive were made so as to have 

 two or even three dead air-spaces the combs would be covered 

 with frost in cold climates, if left on the summer stands over 

 winter. 



The first and most important point to be looked after in 

 outdoor wintering is to keep the bees from rain, snow and 

 wind. Then with sufficient honey for their subsistence within 

 easy access, they will winter through several weeks of zero 

 weather. Hut if they are cut off from their stores by frost 

 they will starve out. The crosswise frame as used by Mr. 

 Latham has no advantage over the standard Langstroth 

 frame, except possibly a very slight one which is in the mat- 

 ter of its being 2 inches deeper, and of course will put the 



honey directly above the bees. What the Langstroth frame 

 lacks in deptli it a little more than jnakes up for in length for 

 honey space, which, with the rear cMid of the hive being raised 

 2 to 4 inches higher than the front makes the honey about as 

 accessible to the bees, if not fully as much so, as it is in the 

 crosswise frames. 



I talked to both Mr. Langstroth and Mr. Quinby concern- 

 ing the difference between the length and depth of their comb 

 frames. INI r. Langstroth took the ground that the depth and 

 length of his frame, with 10 frames to a hive, afforded about 

 as much space in the brood-nest as the average queen and 

 colony could populate, and yield a profitable surplus to their 

 owner, and that the space on top of such a hive was ample for 

 storing a large surplus. Mr. Quinby held that in New York, 

 where he lived, and north of that, the winters were severe 

 and protracted, and that he felt that to add about 2 inches to 

 the depth of the Langstroth frame, and one inch or more to 

 the length, would make the matter of wintering on the sum- 

 mer stands somewhat safer than would be the case with the 

 shallower frame. He, of course, like Mr. Langstroth, advised 

 that the rear end of the hive be raised several inches, which 

 would place the stores more nearly directly over the cluster of 

 bees. 



The cost is admitted to be greater in the crosswise hive, 

 and also that it takes more time to handle the frames. As to 

 a greater current of air having access to the bees in the Lang- 

 stroth hive than in the crosswise-framed hive, there is cer- 

 tainly little, if anything, in favor of the crosswise frame. 

 For during cold weather the entrance of either should be con- 

 tracted so as to admit only sufficient air to afford the colony 

 good ventilation. 



Hives of every conceivable shape and many different 

 depths have been tested, but none of them has ever displaced 

 the old standard frame invented and given to us by that great- 

 est of all bee-keepers and hive-inventors. 



But I wish to say that there is one apparently unsur- 

 mountable difficulty in regard to the Hoffman frame, namely, 

 it will cause many bees to be crushed. I have tried to be as 

 careful as it seems possible to be in handling them, and have 

 never been able to avoid killing more bees than are killed by 

 the plain standard Langstroth frame spaced, with staple 

 driven in the end- bar or top-bar near the end. 



SPRING AND FALL PRICES OF BEES. 



On page 245, widely different spring and fall prices of a 

 colony of bees are given. Let us consider it. 



An 8-frame l>^-story hive, nailed and painted, with one- 

 inch starters, is quoted in catalogs at $2.65 ; add to this for 

 freight 35 cents ; honey on March 1, 15 pounds $1.50 ; bees on 

 March 1, $1.50, making a total of $6 00. In the fall add IS 

 pounds more honey at $1.50, and this will make the fall price 

 $7.50. I think $1.50 for the bees of a colony is a very moder- 

 ate price, and honey at 10 cents per pound — that is, honey 

 suitable for wintering bees — is not an over-estimate, and 30 

 pounds for wintering a good colony of bees in an 8-frame hive 

 is also a fair estimate, it seems to me, and certainly not by 

 any means an over-estimate. 



Lyons Co., Kans., April 1. 



r 



\= 



0ur BcclCccpino; Sisters 



=\ 



Conducted by Kmma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



J 



The Wonderful (?) Cotton 

 lable" Hive 



Control- 



About 25 years ago a hive with a woman's 

 name attached was somewhat extensively 

 advertised tor which large claims were made, 

 and no little was said in the bee-papers about 

 Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton and her Controllable 

 hive, the general belief seeming to be that 

 there was very little of any woman in the 

 case beyond a man using his wife's name. 

 Little has been heard of Mrs. Cotton and her 

 hive for some years, but lately it seems to be 

 coming to the surface again. 



A circular about "The Controllable Hive, 

 Improved Bees, and New System of Bee-Keep- 

 ing," is to hand, which starts out by saying 

 that owing to poor health Mrs. Cotton has 



transferred her interest in "The New System 

 of Bee-Keeping" to her husband, C. B. Cot- 

 ton. But iust a> great things can be done 

 with the hive new as 25 years ago. Get the 

 I improved bees iu the Controllable hive, and 

 "your success in the end, and your profits of 

 the first season a \^t greater from one swarm 

 of thesebeesin this hive than from 6 swarms 

 of bees in any oilmr hive." Hive with outfit 

 ready to receive » swarm of bees, se.OO. The 

 same with a " ft! -iwarm ot Improved Bees," 

 $20. That's onl.', ^ U for the bees alone ! 

 The following Vtter has also been received: 



Miss Wilson 

 the Controllable 

 of Bee-Keeping 

 you will favor n 



Maine, Dec. 24, 1904. 



-Should like to introduce 



'live and Improved System 



the people of Illinois. If 



withy our order ;for a Con- 



trollable hive and complete outfit on receipt 

 of this letter, I will furnish you on receipt of 

 $4.00— regular price $6.00— pi-octrfjH// you will 

 recommend to your friends, if hive pleases 

 you, as I am certain it will. 



I refer to F. G. Adams, of , Iowa. Mr. 



Adams has had the hive in use more than 20 

 years. 



Don't delay if you want the hive and outfit 

 at this reduced price. Tours truly, 



C. B. Cotton. 



To which has been sent the following reply : 



Dear Sir .—In reply to your recent letter, I 

 would say that it is considerable trouble to 

 test unknown things, and would suggest the 

 following arrangement; Tou send me free, 

 with all charges for carriage prepaid, your 

 complete fiJ.OO outfit of hive, etc., together 

 with S2.50 to pay tor the trouble of testing, 

 and it upon trial its great superiority is 

 shown, I will cheerfully recommend it to my 

 friends. Emma Wilson. 



The strange thing in the case is that after 

 25 years of publicity such a wonderful hive 

 would necil to be introduced " to the people 

 of Illinois, ' or of any other State. Strange, 

 too, that not a man of those who make their 



