THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



ltfi 





W. T. Falconer Man'f'g Co., 

 Gentlemen: Your thin wall hive is 

 very similar to the hive I have been 

 using some years in one of my apiaries. 

 My place is greatly exposed to cold 

 winds in spring and autumn, and no 

 other hive will suit. You may re- 

 member having made a number of 

 thick double wall hives for me about 

 five years ago, the "Cowan " hive, and 

 we both agreed it was useless to have 

 the walls so thick. Packing should 

 suffice for winter, and in summer a 

 continuous draught keeps the inside 

 hive cool. I have had bees in these 

 hives for over seven years and have 

 not yet had a swarm from one of them, 

 and the cool, comfortable condition of 

 the inside hive in summer has a great 

 deal to do with it. I tier them up 

 sometimes to four stories high and 44 

 frames, English standard size for ex- 

 tracting, and fill them up from top to 

 bottom with bees and honey, and our 

 hives frequently give us a cwt. of it, 

 and this in our very short and inter- 

 mittent flow. One good to two or 

 three bad days is considered a good 

 return here. 



I have not yet heard a phonograph. 

 The telephone is in operation in all 

 large stores in Limerick, but are not 

 the late advances in the knowledge of 

 bee- keeping quite as wonderful ? 

 "Parthenogenesis," all male bees, vir- 

 gin born, and a queen to lay 3,000 

 eggs a day and keep it up during the 

 season. It is all pushing on to the 



time when the great Creator will re- 

 ceive the credit and honor due Him 

 of all men ; the time of universal 

 brotherhood, when each and all of us 

 will lend a hand in their own way to 

 that highest aim of our own existence. 



I fear we shall not have much busi- 

 ness in the appliance trade next year. 

 Large stocks of supplies are on hand 

 here, in North England and 1 believe 

 in Scotland. In south Ireland the 

 honey crop has been only half the 

 average, and this following a total 

 failure last year has been too much, 

 except for those of us who like bee- 

 keeping for itself and live in hopes of 

 better days. Sincerely yours, 



Wm. Box well. 

 Patrickswell, Co. Limerick, Ireland, Get. 



3, 1891. 



[Yes, friend Box well, we remember 

 making the hives you mention, but 

 they were much more expensive than 

 our new thin wall hives and cases. In 

 milder climates we do not think there 

 is any use of packing at the sides with 

 them. Where the winters are quite 

 cold, and where there are apt to be 

 long spells of cold weather, the double 

 wall hives should always be packed at 

 the sides. Almost anything tit for 

 packing can be used, either put in 

 loose or in form of cushions. 



Yes, indeed, the late advances of bee 

 culture have disclesed things to us 

 even more wonderful than the phono- 

 gragh and telephone, yet we have 

 much more to learn. — Ed.] 



Ed. American Bee-Keeper : I 

 thought 1 would write you a short 

 essay and criticism. I have written 

 but little on bees. I have concluded 

 to write on 



WINTERING. 



It has been demonstrated that the 

 successful wintering of bees is not 

 luck, as our fore-fathers supposed, but 



