THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



49 



[For the Aniericau Bee Journal.] 



Use and Make of Movable Comb Hives. 



To suppose tliat a movable comb hive is any 

 advantage, unless pr )per use is made of those 

 movable combs, is all moonshine. In otlier 

 words the person who pays ten dollars for the 

 right to use the movable comb hive and puts a 

 swarm of bees into it, expecting a large profit 

 from it simply because it is an improved hive, 

 but pays no attention to the bees afterwards, 

 cannot and will not receive any more i^enefit or 

 profit from it than he would from a common 

 box hive of tlie same form and dimensions, 

 similarly treated. 



On the other hand, in my travels among 

 beekeepers I have found one very bad feature, 

 and, in almost every instance, the fault is in the 

 maker of the hive. For example, A buys a 

 right to some patent and one sample hive. He 

 employs some carpenter to make a dozen hives, 

 and furnishes the sample as a model by which 

 to make them. The hives are all completed, 

 paid for, and placed in readiness for use. In 

 due time A puts bees in some of them, and 

 commences opeiations. By and by, he wishts 

 to exchange or transfer frames or combs fiom 

 one hive to another, and he finds that in no two 

 hives, hardly any of the frames, are made alike; 

 in other words the frames in one hive will not 

 fit in another. He has movable combs, it is 

 true ; but of what advantage are they to him ? 

 Now this is no iniRginary evil. It is one almost 

 universally experienced, wherever I am acquain- 

 ted. I have Langstroth hives, Lee, Kidder, 

 American hives, &c. all in the same fix — all ow- 

 ing to the carelessness or ignorance of the carpen- 

 ters who made them. Langstroth iiives that I am 

 acquainted with, are almost universally made a 

 perfect moth nest. The frames come close to 

 to the sides and bottom, so that a bee cannot 

 pass around and under them ; and tlie moths 

 revel in perfect security, in consequence of this 

 misconstruction. Make your hives and frames 

 all exactly alike. Three eightli's of an inch 

 between the frame and the ends, and half an 

 inch lietween the bottom bar of the frame and 

 the bottom board, is the proper distance. It 

 more room is given, the bees are apt to fill in 

 with comb. 



A movable comb hive properly made, and 

 Italian bees properly managed, I consider per- 

 fectly moth proof. I have been repeatedly 

 asked, in private letters last winter, why I do 

 not write an article on the bee moth question 

 for the Bee Journal. The reason is this, I 

 think that the moth was made on purpose to 

 destroy the careless beekeepers' bees and get 

 them out of the way. I have kept bees for forty 

 years, and never had a swarm injured by the 

 moths. And yet, during that time, I have seen 

 any numbers of swarms destroyed by them in 

 my immt-diate vicinity. Well, you Avill say — 

 " Gallup has been a lucky dog !" I do not take 

 any stock whatever in luck^ and never did. 



Querist, in the February number of the Bee 

 Journal, page 148, thinks that he has found 

 fi chance for Gallup to do something. But as 



Novice lives so much further south than I do, 

 I have every reason to believe that he is correct. 

 My experience with the form that I use and 

 the form of the American hive is this : the 

 form of hive I use has produced one third 

 more bees and double the quantity of honey, 

 side by side, and under the same management. 

 At present I need not tell the reason why ; for 

 if friend Puckett accepts my proposition, you 

 will in all probability get tlie reason, p?-o and 

 con. If Gallup sees any chance for fun, he will 

 be on hand. 



The many correspondents who are asking my 

 views on that " bee disease," will get them by 

 and by. 



Ei,isHA Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.! 



To Supply Best Queen Cells. 



Mr. Editor:— I wish for the benefit, if it 

 may be, ot all the readers of the Journal, to 

 speak again of the convenience of something 

 like the "Long Economic Hive," described in 

 the May number, for keeping up a supply of 

 celled queens. 



It will be remembered that, in this hive, the 

 frames are inserted crosswise, with two en- 

 trances on the sun side, one near either end. 



Let such a hive, full and in good order, con- 

 tain the chjicest queen. Tiien. at the proper 

 season of the year, or when it is desired to raise 

 queens, lift out a frame near the middle ana 

 insert a closely fitting division board in its 

 place — thus making lor the time two hives 

 of one, with a separate honey-board for each 

 part. 



The queen being in one part of the hive, the 

 bees in the other part will, from her eg«s, pro- 

 ceed to construct queen cells, which after nine 

 days may be carefully cut oflT and removed to 

 other hives, or to the queen-rearing boxes, and 

 the queen, with due precaution, changed to that 

 end of the hive ; when the unqueened part will, 

 in turn, proceed to construct queen cells, and so 

 on alterua.tely. 



The advantages of this method are : — 



First. Its convenience in having statedly 

 through the season, a supply of maturing cells. 



Second. Its safety. The bees in both parts 

 having the same mother smell alike, and like her; 

 on which account she is not so likely to be in- 

 jured. 



Third. Its utility. The bees not being much 

 disturbed in the change, nor removed from their 

 stand, are not in so much haste, and consequent- 

 ly commence with younger grubs, or with eggs; 

 and the stock being stronger than a small nu- 

 cleus, keeps up a more equable temperature and 

 a better supply of food, thus producing more 

 perfect queens for future mothers. 



Fourth. Its certainty. By this process one is 

 sure of cells at the time, and as there is sup- 

 posed to be nothing impure about the hive, 

 there can be no mistake about the queen as 

 raised, unless spoiled or injured in the process 

 of fertilixation afterwards. 



