34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



vanced on the 20tli of May, than those of the 

 same strength in numbers that do not com- 

 mence breeding vintil the first of March. Then 

 those that commenced breeding earliest, have 

 consumed much more honey without a corres- 

 ponding benefit. 



In a dry airy cellar, such as Mr. Thomas 

 speaks of in the June number of the Bee Joue- 

 NAL, bees can be wintered witliout upward ven- 

 tilation. I know that to be a fact by actual ex- 

 perience. Yet, with proper upward ventilation 

 they will winter just as well. But in a damp 

 or moist cellar, or a cave, it is Impossible to 

 winter them in good condition, without up- 

 ward ventilation. And a large majority of us 

 farmers have to use just such cellars as we hap- 

 pen to have, especially in this new country. 



The Amekican Bee Journal is a National 

 Institution. It is not especially for your locali- 

 ty, neither is it for mine. Therefore do not 

 knock us all doviui with your arguments, with- 

 out as much as giving us a chance to defend 

 ourselves. There are quite a number of sub- 

 scribers (and there ought to be many more) in 

 Canada, even further north than where I was 

 born. 



Elisha Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Honor to Whom Honor is Due. 



XFrom the Southern Planter and Farmer.l 



Alsike Clover for Bee Pasturage. 



Early in the year 1868, I was induced by an 

 article I saw in the "Bee Journal," to try the 

 alsike clover for my bees. I accordingly pur- 

 chased a pound of the seed, which I sowed upon 

 SI small piece of land (about a quarter of an 

 acre,) thcugh too much seed for the quantity of 

 land. It germinated well, and, like the red 

 clover, only made a good stand. But this 

 sprmg (186'JJ it came up well, and now, the 

 ICth of June, it will stand, if erect, twenty to 

 thirty inches high, and is covered with blos- 

 soms and bees. Indeed, I have rarely seen 

 bees more numerous on buckwheat blooms, 

 than on this clover. I shall sow a lot of buck- 

 wheat for fall pasturage ; but for May and 

 June, I think the alsike clover furnishes more 

 food than any plant I have ever seen. When 

 not too coul or rainy for them to be out, you 

 will find the patch covered with bees pretty 

 well all day, and at times almost in swarms. 

 They have sent forth a goodly number of 

 swarms, and filled the bodies of the hives well 

 with store honejr ; and I hope will yield a good 

 surplus. I shall sow tbis fall another lot much 

 larger than the one I now have, reserving that 

 till the other is sufficiently advanced to afi'ord 

 them food ; and as long as I am able to procure 

 seed lo sow, shall do so to keep up a succession. 

 Besides, it yields an abundant crop of hay ; not 

 so much as the red clover, but the sweets fur- 

 nished to the bees more than make up any dif- 

 ference. The bloom is like that of the white 

 clover, folding back in such a way as to enable 

 the bees to get into every part of it ; while on 

 the red clover, coming up in the same patch, 

 you never see one. M. G F. 



Henkico Co., Va. 



Mr. Editor: — After Columbus had crossed 

 the pathless ocean, discovered and made known 

 the existence of another continent, and proved 

 to the world that progression was the universal 

 order of things, it was easy enough to follow 

 where he had led, and to assume to wear the 

 laurels which he had won. So in Bee-culture. 

 Years ago, when apiculture as a science was in 

 swad'iling clothes, there was published a book 

 called " Langstroth on the Hive and Honey 

 Bee." This book purported to give a new sys- 

 tem of bc'-culture, and recommended a new 

 form of hive. Of course, at first, a great hue 

 and cry was raised against it, but "truth is 

 mighty and must prevail." Soon matters chan- 

 ged, and the same parties who cried out against 

 the principles laid down in that book, began to 

 appropriate them, and thit too in a manner not 

 at all creditable to them, as honest conscientious 

 individuals. At first perhaps this order of 

 things was not as culpable as it might have 

 been ; for many persons ignorant of the claims 

 set forth in the Langstroth patent, Avere viola- 

 ting ii innocently. But noic, it seems to me 

 that no one can appropriate surreptitiously any 

 of Mr. Langstroth's claims, without incurring 

 the guilt of gross fraud. 



It is easy enough to write a book on bee-cul- 

 ture, when Mr. Langstroth's able work is at 

 hand to plagiarise from ; and it is easy enough 

 to get up a movable comb hive, when Lang- 

 stroth's patent is at hand to build by ; but is it 

 honest? is it just ? Do we not all owe a debt of 

 gratitude to Mr. Langstroth, which should lead 

 us not only not to steal his improvements, but 

 when we legitiimitely us3 them, give him full 

 credit for them ? In all the different styles of 

 hives that I have seen advertised in the Bee 

 Journal and elsewhere, I find them simply 

 modifications of the Langstroth hive ; and still 

 I find but one man among them all, who comes 

 out and gives the credit due to that hive, (I re- 

 fer to H. A. King & Co.'s invention of the 

 American hive,) and not only do they steal his 

 invention or parts thereof; but some of the 

 writers steal his written ideas, and publish them 

 bodily in the Bee Journal and elsewhere, 

 witliout even so much as saying, by your leave. 

 Mr. Alley, of Wenham, is perhaps an exception 

 to the above, as he in his new hive, (un- 

 patented), gives Mr. Langstroth full credit. In 

 fact, he calls it a Langstroth hive. I have seen 

 his hive in practical use, and for surplus honey 

 I think it has no superior. It fully demonstrates 

 the fact that bees will work in side boxes, and 

 while its form is such that it can easily be 

 manipulated, it is open to no objection that can 

 be urged against its wintering out of doors. In 

 fact I deem it a model hive for surplus honey, 

 and would recommend bee-keepers generally to 

 try it. 



I have no pecuniary interest in the Lang- 

 stroth hive, and have written this article simply 

 as a matter of justice to him whose book on 

 bee-culture first led me to engage in a pursuit 



