THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



55 



brood ; but it is a little curious that my bees 

 conimeuced in the bottom tier of boxes first. 

 In fact, tliey had them almost full before I was 

 aware that they bad entered them at all. They 

 had the top tier to go into first if they chose ; 

 and there I was looking for them every day. 



That bees will work in side boxes, as well as 

 in those placed over the brood, is a fact well 

 established in my mind ; and if any of the read- 

 ers of the Bee Journal doubt it, let them test 

 one of my new style of hives, and it will not 

 take more than one season to convince theni of 

 the fact. 



I know that some will object to this hive on 

 account of the cost ; but they can be made for 

 about one-half the money I sell them for. 

 When I make a hive I intend to make a good 

 one, and must of course have a good price for 

 it. In this part of the world lumber is very 

 high, as well as everything else. The surplus 

 honey boxes are what makes this hive cost so 

 much more than some others. Thirty-six 

 boxes with glass sides, is what I use with this 

 hive ; but it should be remembered that any 

 kind of a box can be used on this hive, and any 

 number from two to thiity-six at one time. 



Those who raise honey for market, should | 

 use the small boxes, as it sells much more readi- 

 ly in them, and at prices much higher. 



Those who use the honey machine will find 

 these boxes very convenient to use, as the 

 glasses can be slipped out, the caps removed, 

 and the honey thrown out, without injury to the 

 eomb or box ; and the same comb can be used 

 year after year. 



Another good quality of this hive is this— the 

 frames can be taken out of the brood-chamber, 

 without having to remove the surplus boxes ; 

 and this one feature alone is worth half the 

 price of the hive. 



The sides of the brood box can be removed 

 at pleasure ; so that those who think it a better 

 plan, can place the surplus boxes within one- 

 fourth of an inch of the brood. The outside 

 case is in two parts, as shown in figure 1. The 

 bottom i^ortion I seldom remove ; but the top 

 must be removed in order to reach the boxes, 

 and see the bees through the observing glass in 

 rear of brood chamber. The hive is made in 

 several parts, but each piece is held firmly in 

 place, so that the bive can be transported as 

 well and conveniently as any other. I have 

 sent them to Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, 

 New Hampshire, and all went safely. 



This hive has all the good features ot the 

 Langstroth, and all who use them will have 

 to pay Mr. Langstroth, or the owners of his ter- 

 ritory, for the right. Persons who send to me 

 for them, should understand this, and act ac- 

 cordingly. 



Mr. George O. Tompkins, of White Plains, 

 New York, wrote me, sometime in June last, 

 that he had one hive of bees at work in all 

 thirty-six boxes. Bees have done so poorly 

 here, this season, that I cannot make a good re- 

 port of these hives this year ; but hope to be 

 able to do so another season. 



H. Alley. 



Wen HAM, Mass, 



[For tbe American Bee Journal.] 



Replies and Comments. 



Querist number 6 asks seven questions which 

 he regards as practical ones, and desires practi- 

 cal and philosophical replies. 



"1. Some beekeepers take the position that natural 

 swarms will gather more honey, build mne comb, and 

 have more brood, during the first week after ttiey are 

 hived, than artificial ones. Is this true? And, If so, 



why]" 



I most assuredly take the affirmative on this 

 question. The reasons why the bees gather 

 more honey and build more comb in the natural 

 swarms than in artificial ones, is simpljr because 

 when we make artificial swarms, we universally 

 transfer some combs which are the full size of 

 the frames, reaching throughout the length and 

 depth of the hive ; aud these combs cause the 

 bees to cluster in an unnatural manner, to keep 

 the brood warm, in consequence of the comb 

 being so large. Did ever anyone know a swarm 

 of bees to commence and build a single comb 

 from top to bottom in a common full-sized hive, 

 and then go back and build another single one ? 

 It cannot possibly be done. They commence 

 quite a number, and build them all downward 

 together,because they then can and do receive the 

 benefit of the animal heat generated in the clus- 

 ter, and which they must have to build comb. 

 The first and highest law of nature in insects, 

 as well as animals, is self-preservation in caring 

 for the offspring. The honey bee seems to be 

 endowed with this instinctive impulse, for the 

 purpose of preserving the brood in the hive. 

 Now it is certainly evident that if the combs 

 that are transferred from the old hive at the 

 time the artificial swarm is made, contain brood 

 (and they generally do), the bees will cluster 

 on them, for the purpose of saving the brood 

 from destruction by chilling. This causes the 

 bees to cluster in an unnatural manner. If your 

 hive was an oblong square perpendicular, say 

 eighteen inches long, and you had means by 

 which you could take the combs to pieces in 

 lengths of say six inches, and insert them in 

 the top of the hive where the animal heat 

 (which they must have) naturally ascends, 

 then the bees could and would approach a per- 

 fect natural cluster in form, and the heat could 

 be economically used. Otherwise, if the combs 

 reach from top to bottom of the hive, say from 

 nine to eighteen inches deep, perpendicular, the 

 time of perhaps every bee in the hive will ne- 

 cessarily be taken up in trying to keep the 

 brood from chilling, owing to the unnatural 

 position of the combs, and the open space to the 

 side. Hence no bees could be spared from the 

 lower ends of the combs (on account of the 

 brood chilling) to go to the top of the hive and 

 build comb there ; nor could any be spared to 

 go out to gather honey, out of which to make 

 comb. 



All close observers understand this principle 

 in the management of bees : if you have a small 

 swarm in too large a hive, it will not build so 

 much comb, gather so much honey, nor do so 

 well generally, as the same swarm would have 



