28 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



four frames will winter in a good depositorj'-, 

 lifive abundance of honey, and not have the 

 dysenteiy ; Avhile the other, with the eight 

 fiames, will consume all its honej', have the 

 dysentery, and starve to death before spring. 

 1 think you will uiuierstand w'hat I mean. It 

 is as neCLSsa'y to have warmth for ev;iporating 

 nectiir by liie bees, tis it is to have warmth to 

 develop brood or save all the wax in buildiog 

 comb. 



To be a little more plain with friend Puckett, 

 so that he can understand what I mean by my 

 bees " knowing better than to have tlie dysen- 

 tery," it is necessary tl)at ihe bte-master sliould 

 thoroughly understand his business, and attend 

 to it, and tlien his bees will not have the dys- 

 entery. I was sick this winter and could not 

 attend to my bees, or to the ventilation of the 

 cellar. Some of my stocks commenced brei d- 

 ing very rapidly, and consequently got. thedys- 

 enteiy more or less, But as soon as I could I 

 remedied it, by properly ventilating the cellar. 

 Siome writers call it a contagious disease, and 

 reeommeod giving lh^' bees mtdicinc. But I con- 

 t' nd thai it is noD. I have not lost a swarm. 

 All are doing finely. iSo it appears that Gal- 

 lup's nonsensical method of mauiiging bees is 

 full iis g(jod as some other people's sensible 

 management. 



In uaim weather, in summer, when the davs 

 and nigliis are boih warm, a comparatively 

 small ciuantily of bees will make a good quality 

 of huncy, let tbe nectar be ever so thin nnd 

 watery when gathered. You will recollect that 

 last fall was Vt-ry cool, while the bees were 

 storing the principal quantity of honey, and 

 that too Avben tbe bees were greatly reduced in 

 numbers. You wiJl observelhat, Novice in his 

 reverses says some of his swarms had consumed 

 immeuse quantities of honey by the first of 

 March. Try again, friend Novice; don't give 

 up tbe ship ! 



I have considerable more to say on the subject 

 of dysenteiy or no dysentery ; but, in all ]iioba- 

 bility, our fiiend Puckett has got enough of 

 Gallujj's nonsense for one dose. I sliall be 

 pleased if Iriend Pucktit will tell us through the 

 Bek Jourral, Avhctherhe thinks the maple sugar 

 sap is made into honey by the liees, or does the 

 sap make itself into honey ? This is an impor- 

 tant quesrtion. 



Our Mississippi friend, Tomlinson, will per- 

 ceive that I told him, in the Februaiy No., page 

 154, that my rule wouh". only hold good early Tn 

 the season, or when the bees were not gathering 

 honey too rapidly. His bees were evidently 

 gathering honey rapidly at the time they were 

 building comb. Tlien, too, I presume your 

 southern climate is ditferent from ours. A cor- 

 respondent Irom Tennessee writes that young 

 early queens invariably lay drone eggs the first 

 season. AVith us, that is llie exception, and not 

 the rule — especially with black bees. We want 

 more southern curicspondcnce for the Bee 

 Journal. 



'Jo day my bees are evaporating nectar from 

 rack maijle blossoms, and gathering it too. 



E Gallup. 

 Osage, Iowa, May 8, 1869. 



[For tlie American Bee Journal.] 



Pacts for Beekeepers. 



A suitable abode for the honey bee, is a hive 

 perfectly air-tight, except at one place, and that 

 should be so that tlie bee-keeper can enlarge or 

 diminish at will. Bees do not thiive in a hive 

 where there is a current of air i^as^ing through 

 it. They stop all holes at the top if they can. 



I will liave to take my friend Elisha to task 

 a little, as he says in the August number of the 

 Bee Journai,, 1868— "there is no use in in- 

 flicting another patent hive on the community 

 lor tlie next thousand years. All use what is 

 called t'je Lanstroth principle ; only the form is 

 varied. When they depart from that, they make 

 a move in tlie wrong direction. "Now if I 

 understand rigiit what our much esteemed friend 

 L. L. LangstioLh has patented — and all be has — 

 is, movable comb frames so arranged in the hive 

 or case that they will leave a vacant space all 

 around, between the hive and Irames, and be- 

 tween the honey board and frames. This is toe 

 main feature of his patent. J hold that all hives 

 that have this space, no matter wlietber theyaro 

 shallow or deep, giving Iree circulation of cold 

 air all around the bees, and striking in between 

 each frame to the clustering bees, do more liarm 

 than tbe shallowness of the hives our ffiend Eli- 

 slia speaks of. In early spriiig, if i here come a lew 

 days of mild weather, the bees spread out over 

 tbe combs, the queen depositing etigs ia 

 nearly all the cells, and the bees cover them. 

 Then comes a cold sciap, or even one cold night, 

 causing tlie bees to cluster compictly together. 

 All tbe eggs and larvte outside of tbe cluster are 

 chilled, and cleaned out by the bees. And so it 

 goes all through the changeable weather of 

 spring. All hives that have this vacant space, 

 it IS almost impossible for bees to breed up in at 

 all in early spring ; making them too late for 

 early swarming or to gather honey when it is 

 most plentiful. If such hives have lower and 

 upward ventilation, lotting the cool air rush up 

 through tlii^ hive and carrying otf the animal 

 heat, the bees in them are Morthless. Comb 

 frames should fit tight to the side of the hive, 

 to prevent this vacant space. Our fiiend A. V. 

 Conklin, of this place, has constructed a hive 

 with frames tight fitting, that are as easily 

 handled, taken out, and put back, as any mova- 

 ble comb frames that I have handled. 



Aaron Benedict. 



Bennington, Omo. 



The study of natural history requires method 

 as a lodestar to guide through its intricacies, 

 but is oneAvhich, pursued simply as a recreation, 

 yields both much amusement and gratifying in- 

 struction. It shows us that when we unclasp 

 the book of nature, and whenever we may turn 

 its leaves, eveiy word the syllabhs of which we 

 sirive to spell, is pregnant with Iruitluluess of 

 wonderful wisdom, Avliose profound expression 

 the human, intellect is too limited thoroughly to 

 comprehend. 



