1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



37 



confiisiou Miul misery more confound- 

 ed and unhappy, and at last reach the 

 haven of rest with many tons of shin- 

 ers in my pocket. But you are mis- 

 taken, I aint built that way. I am 

 rather inclined to be conservative. I 

 try never to let a thing go out of my 

 hands until I have unsnarled it, then 

 I ara willing to try to show others how 

 to do the same thing. I see that in 

 the mad rush for the unseen, unthink- 

 able and unheard of, there has been 

 some grand principles in bee-keeping 

 overlooked. That while new inven- 

 tions are often valuable, it is not wise 

 to say all old ways are foolish, or to 

 call all fools vvho have lived before 

 our time, or that some old systems 

 cannot go hand and hand with new 

 inventions to great advantage, and he 

 who is wise will, it seems to me, com- 

 bine the good which he may find in 

 both old and new with out prejudice. 

 By the questions asked me I see I 

 have got into the habit which most 

 people fall into, of not explaining 

 things plain enough. I will try and 

 do better. When 1 said my breeders 

 ■were 18 or 30 inches tall, I meant that 

 between those figures was safe ground, 

 but to be exact, I have found that 24 

 inches tall by 12 inches square is the 

 best size. When I say six or eight ^ 

 in. holes in the top of the hives, it 

 might seem a little indefinite, for a 

 beginner, and perhaps half of that 

 number would be enough. It is a 

 hard matter to lay down iron rules in 

 such cases, for locations and coudi- ' 

 tions vary so much that one rule 

 might not work well for all. I would 

 advise beginners to try some hives 

 with one ^ in hole, others with 2 holes 

 same size, and others with three, and 

 perhaps some with four on top of the 



hive for ventilation with a very loose 

 box that is not made of very sound 

 lumber, except on top, turned) bottom 

 up over the holes, then watch and see 

 which winters best. I will try and 

 write another article and tell what I 

 know about ventilation which is about 

 as important a part of bee-keeping as 

 there is. I dont know of any book 

 which treats on the care of bees in box 

 hives. All bee books treat on tearing 

 box hives to pieces thus ruining their 

 best prospects, but I will try and tell 

 you in the A. B. K. how to keep them 

 in box hives. 



Ovid, Erie Co., Pa. 



^ ■■■ ^ 



[Read before the Ontario Co.. (N. Y)., Bee-Keep- 

 er.s' Association, Jan. 25, 1896]. 



Gravenhorst on Apis dorsata. 



TRANSLATED BY FRANK BENTON. 



The opinion of one of the foremost 

 bee-masters of Germany in regard to 

 A-pis dorsata is certain to receive the 

 respectful consideration of thoughtful 

 bee-masters, not alone in his own 

 country, but also in the western world. 

 In the Deutsche illustriete Bienenzeitung , 

 for November 1895, (Vol. XIII, No. 2), 

 page 71, the editor, C. J. H. Graven- 

 horst, quotes from the article on this 

 subject* written by me for the annual 

 meeting of the Ontario County, (N. Y). 

 Bee-Keepers' Association in 1895, and 

 says : 



" On this side as well as on the other, 

 that is, in Germany as in America, 

 Apis dorsata, the great bee of East 

 India, is constantly coming up in arti- 

 cles in the bee journals as well as in 

 essays at conventions. While some 



*N<)TE.— "Apis dorsata: the Giant Bee of India," 

 by Frank Benton. Read before the Ontario Co., 

 <N. Y).. Bee-Keepers' Association, Jan. 26, 1895, 

 and published in the American Bek-Kkkper for 

 March, 1895. 



