56 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



Since July 10th, we have not secixred any sur- 

 plus honey, the bees obtaining? just enough to 

 keep up breeding quite well. The cause of the 

 present deliciency ia owing to the severe drouth, 

 wliich has prevailed here for nearly six weeks. 

 By actual weight, one of my medium stocks has 

 not gained or lost half a pound in the past four 

 days . 



We expect a good autumn, however, from 

 wild flowers, which abound here at that season. 

 We think that in the average of seasons, we 

 could secure as good results, or better than those 

 now reported. 



Mr. Editor, we feel glad to think that we did 

 not give up the battle in the spring of 1868. 

 We use movable comb hives, and Italian bees, 

 which in tjiis section prove to be far superior 

 to the blacks. I will close by wishing the Jour- 

 nal and all its readers great success. 



F. A. Snell. 



MiUedgeville, Ills., Aug. 11, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Encouraging Eeport from Canada. 



Mr. Editor : — Will you be kind enough to 

 send me the August number of the Journal, as 

 my copy has not arrived, and I would not miss 

 it for the yearly subscription, $'3.00. 



I have been advising my box-hive neighbors 

 to take the Journal, and when they look at the 

 bai'rels of honey in my cellar, and I tell them that 

 it is the American Bee Journal that gave them to 

 me, they begin to think seriously about sub- 

 scribing. What is two dollars to pay for the 

 Journal, when we get several extra barrels of 

 honey to replace them? 



And now, Mr. Editor, allow me to thank Mr. 

 Adam Grimm, of Jefferson, Wisconsin, for his 

 promptness in shipping me queens. I sent to a 

 queen trader of great repute, last year, for 

 queens, and have not received them yet. Mr. 

 Grimm's came by return of mail, and they are 

 beauties. 



This has been a good season for honey, since 

 the white clover came into bloom. But the early 

 part of it was very cold and backward. Bees 

 gathered no honey then, but as most of the 

 hives were well stored with it, breeding went on 

 rapidly ; and by the consumption of stores, 

 empty cells were provided for the queen for the 

 deposit of eggs. 



I commenced here this spring with six stocks 

 in movable comb hives, aud one in a box — seven 

 in all. The box stock never yielded me any 

 surplus iintil I transferred it, and then only 

 thirty-one pounds in comb, and five by the ex- 

 tractor — thirty-six pounds in all. From my 

 other six stocks, I have taken nine swarms and 

 seventeen hundred and seven (1707) pounds of 

 beautiful honey. 



By the way, Mr. Editor, I forgot to say that 

 one of the swarms came from the box, and as I 

 commenced slinging my young stocks as fast as 

 they stored it, the old hive assisted considerably. 



I have now sixteen stocks, all in good con- 

 dition. I sling them every three days. If we 

 should get rain soon, to improve the pasture, I 



shall get two thousand (2000) pounds. I believe 

 I am in one of the best places in Canada for 

 honey. If Novice was here, he would have to 

 build a tank to hold his honey. 



I have not time to give you an account of my 

 apiaries away from home, which I have managed 

 by friends, but will do so at some future time. 

 I have transferred all of the old box hives around 

 here, so bee-keeping is beginning to receive some 

 attention for the last few weeks. 



D. A. Jones. 



Tecu7nseth, Ontario, Canada, Aug. 11, 1871. 

 ■♦-.^ 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Prindle-Greene Hive. 



I do not know whether anybody else ever made 

 one like it or not, or whether it or any part of it 

 is patented or not, nor do I know whether it 

 matters or not. I have no moth-trap, for strong 

 vigorous colonies are the only moth-trap needed, 

 and all moth-trap vendors are either ignoram vises 

 or swindlers. It has no queen nurseries, for all 

 the queen nursery a practical honey raising api- 

 arian needs, is a few small hives large enough to 

 hold two full sized frames, such as he uses in his 

 large hives. In these small or nucleus hives he 

 can raise and heep on hand a few surplus queens 

 for emergencies, hatched from cells made by full 

 poptdou-s colonies. It has no non-swarming, 

 queen-catching cage, for that is the biggest 

 humbug ever suggested to the bee-keeping public 

 — very little better than clipping the old queen's 

 wings. It can be made a general, though not a 

 universal non-swarmer by a minute's work. It 

 has no outside house or wire to set over it, for 

 that would make it too cumbersome and more 

 costly. It has no permanent bottom board, for 

 if it had we could not pick it up and shake the 

 bees out so easily, after lifting out the frames. 

 In short, it is a jilain, simple, common sense 

 hive, divested of all clap-traps, and we do not 

 ask our bee-keeping brethren to "enclose us a 

 dollar." "How are you, dollar?" 



It contains ten frames, which are fifteen inches 

 long and thirteen deep. The breeding apart- 

 ment is "double-cased," with a dead-air space 

 the thickness of a plasterer's lath. The outside 

 case or board runs back beyond the breeding 

 apartment, furnishing surplus honey room for 

 either frames or boxes (in our market boxes are 

 decidedly preferable ) . The back end is of single 

 inch stuif, and is hinged on, so that we can 

 swing it open, and slip the boxes into the Mve 

 from behind. This surplus honey apartment 

 has a permanent bottom board, so that we can 

 lift the hive, honey boxes and all w\> off of the 

 main bottom board. And again, this honey 

 apartment is separated from the breeding apart- 

 ment by a glass or mostly glass partition. When 

 we wish the bees to go to work in the rear boxes, 

 we lift the partition out, and slip the boxes up 

 to within one-fourth of an inch of the frames of 

 the main hive. The rear ends of the frames 

 hang on a piece of hai'd wood, which is about an 

 inch square, and is dove-tailed into the sides of 

 the hive, and the glass partition slips binder this 

 cross piece. Besides the front entrance, thei*e is 



