88 



THE AMERICAN" BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



that he will undertake to sell anything that is 

 of no value to the bee-keeper, and I therefore 

 let him pass. 



I bought a honey extractor from Mr. J. L. 

 Peabody, of Virden, Illinois. It arrived in due 

 time and was given a fair trial. I must say it 

 works like a charm, throwing out from ninety- 

 five to ninety-eight per cent, of the honey, and 

 leaving the comb uninjured in the slightest de- 

 gree. I can confidently recommend it to bee- 

 keepers as just the thing, which no kee-keejier 

 Avho has a single stand of bees, should be 

 without. 



I must say something about our monthly 

 visitor. 



Mr. Editor, and Bee-keepers generally. We 

 want the old American Bee Journal semi-vionthly, 

 and how are we to get it ? The answer is by 

 paying for it. So here's at you. I will be one 

 of the many that will pay five dollars for one 

 year, semi-monthly. Hoping to hear a general 

 response, I close. T. H. B. Woody. 



Pleasant Valley, Mo., July 7, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal] 



Amateur Ho. 2. 



After "gobbling up" all there was in the July 

 number of the Journal, we remarked to our bet- 

 ter half, that we were foolish enough to try every 

 plan suggested in the Journal for progress in 

 bee-culture. So we rushed to the workshop and 

 made a lot of Novice's Nurseries, and put therein 

 our queen cells that w^ere ready for them. I 

 must say that I "kinder like" the idea. So 

 when they hatch, I will introduce them to the 

 nucleus boxes in my wire house, according to the 

 plan of Mr. Langstroth in the same number of 

 the Journal. 



I wonder if every bee-man derives as much 

 benefit from reading the American Bee Journal 

 as I do. Here are two ideas — good ones, too — 

 in the July number ; and every number has as 

 many that we may put to practice. I think it 

 well to try all that have any show for success. 

 If we fail there is not much lost ; if we succeed, 

 there is something more added to our store of 

 useful knowledge. 



There is one thing I don't like to see— so 

 much talk about patent hives. What good does 

 it do? I don't supj^ose any man ever got rich 

 selling a patent for a bee-hive. I am sure, if he 

 would spend his time in attending to bees, he 

 would make more money ; and if he would give 

 a plain description of his improvement in the 

 Journal, and leave bee-keepers free to use it or 

 not, I am confident that they Avould be better 

 oft'. For then many worthless things that are 

 now in use would be rejected. 



I am using a hive that I like better than any 

 patented hive I have ever seen, and I propose to 

 give a description of it. I think it must be on 

 the order of Gallup's hive as intimated by him 

 in the July number of the Journal. My hive is 

 two feet long, and thirteen inches wide by fif- 

 teen inches deep, inside measure. It is used 

 without a bottom board. If a bottom board is 



used, cut the board eighteen inches long and 

 thirteen inches wide. Nail two boards across 

 the bottom, so as to form an alighting board, 

 three inches wide in front. The frames are sus- 

 pended from a rabbet on the sides of the hive, 

 deep enough to admit an air space of three- 

 eighths of an inch between the top bar of the 

 frame and the top board of the hive. The frames 

 are fourteen inches deep, by twelve and a half 

 inches wide, and are held oft" from the sides of 

 the hive by a three cornered strip tacked on the 

 sides of the hive six inches from the bottom. 

 The top bar is fourteen inches long and an inch 

 and a half wide ; projects over side bars three- 

 fourths of an inch, to hang on the rabbets. 

 When suspended in the hive, the top bars form 

 a honey-board. For upward ventilation, or ac- 

 cess to boxes above, &c., cut a notch in each top 

 bar about the centre. To hold the frames the 

 proper distance apart below, drive nails with 

 broad heads into the side bars four inches from 

 the bottom. The comb-guide and bottom bar, I 

 put on by sawing kerfs into the ends of the side 

 bars, half an inch deep, and insert thin strips, 

 twelve and a half inches long, half an inch 

 wide and one-eighth inch thick. Fasten with 

 small nails. For the top of the hive, I use a 

 broad board with a one-and-a-half inch clamp 

 on each end, to prevent warping. Now, the 

 most important point is the division board, 

 fourteen inches long, thirteen inches wide, with 

 a clamp on top fourteen inches long and seven- 

 eighths of an inch wide, to suspend on rabbets 

 just as the frames. This board can be shoved 

 up against the frames, if there are only two or 

 three ; thus, when the colony is weak, the heat 

 is not lost. A quart of bees in a quart measure is 

 comparatively as good as a bushel of bees in a 

 bushel measure. As the swarm groAvs larger, 

 add frames to any number desired. 



This size hive will hold fifteen frames, but if 

 that is not enough, make the hive longer. If 

 side boxes are preferred, there is plenty of room 

 in this hive. The division board answers the 

 place of a movable side to the hive, and when 

 removed gives every facility for handling frames. 

 I like the broad top bar better than the narrow 

 for many reasons. A double hive is easily made' 

 by putting a hive on top, without a bottom 

 boiird. All the conveniences of the most expen- 

 sive hive are combined in this ; and it can be 

 made in the best style, at a cost of two dollars. 

 I hope I have made the description plain enough 

 for any one to make the hive ; if not, you have 

 not spent even one dollar for it. 



I will give Gallup one dollar if he will describe 

 his hive in the Journal. Then all bee-raisers 

 will get it once for all. I was sorry that he took 

 the plan for describing his hive. I think the 

 time is not far distant, when patent bee-hive 

 men will have to take to some other calling for 

 a living, for I believe that there is an awakening 

 up on this subject among the people, and they 

 will not much longer countenance such things. 



I have not succeeded quite as well as I ex- 

 pected in fertilizing in my wire house. I think 

 because I do not feed regularly enough. I can 

 shake hands with Novice (5n the fertilizing ques- 

 tion, in the common way. Last year I lost over 



