1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



163 



some ^vished to engage hives. Mr. G. said that 

 he had bought the right of the American liive 

 for this townshij) from i\lr. King. I told liim 

 that essrs. L. & H. own the township, having 

 bought it three or four years ago. Wtdl, I don't 

 care said he, / ?iave paid Mr. King for it, and am 

 going to have it. Now said I, Mr. G. I reckon 

 you are pretty badly sold, and drawing from my 

 ])0cket tiie October number, volume seven, of 

 the American Bee Journal, read him Mr. E. 

 Liston's article on page 83, and also some other 

 articles in the same number, and then asked him 

 how is that for high? This is the paper you 

 want to pioneer you through. It will knock all 

 this liuuibuggery higher than a kite. Suppose 

 you bought the right, what do you get ? Oh, the 

 side opening", &c., &c., said he. Now, replied I, 

 look oat for breakers, and look before you leap. 

 The word American is a great word, and this 

 American is a great nation ; but the American 

 liive is no g-r-r-a-t t-Ti-i-n-g-s. M. Wilson. 

 Meredith, Pa., Oct. 16, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Word of Explanation. 



Our correspondence extends from Maine to 

 Oregon, and from Canada to Texas, all free of 

 charge, and before publishing the article charging 

 the dollar, we had as high as thirty-six letters in 

 one week, on the hive question, leaving out of 

 view our correspondence on other subjects per- 

 taining to bees and bee keeping. We did not 

 wish to give a description of our hive to every 

 one, until we had fully tested it ourselves, for 

 after what Mr. Alley and Mr. Green said of us 

 we actually did not know how much oi?i fool we 

 might be. Another thing — it is not to be sup- 

 posed that every green-horn can manage a large 

 hive until after he has learned to use a standard 

 liive. 



Our article referred to above was intended as 

 a burlesque on those chaps that have a hive that 

 beats all other hives in existence, &c., and the 

 dollar that has caused such a, fuss was intended to 

 stop the costly correspondence, which we are fool- 

 ish enough to think that no person living would 

 or lould stand. And it has done it pretty effec- 

 tua-Uy. 



We had our reasons for getting up such a hive 

 as we have, and any person who has attentively 

 read our articles ought to know that when the 

 proper time came we should certainly give them 

 the description free of charge. It would be for 

 our personal benefit and a great relief to do as 

 Novice does -that is, refuse to answer corre- 

 spondents entirely. But when we come to con- 

 sider how many thousands there are that wish 

 for information, and yet feel a delicacy about 

 asking for that information publicly we cannot 

 refuse. Therefore after working hard all day 

 we devote hours of the night, when others are 

 sound asleep, to answering the inquiries of cor- 

 respondents, and yet for all this, see the kicks, 

 cuffs and abuse we receive through the Journal 

 from certain gentry of the long-eared persuasion. 

 Please excuse us, Mr. Editor-, for giving them 



just one little touch of our pen. The worst we 

 wish them is that they might be placed in our 

 position for one year. We would also state here 

 that a Mr. Jones, of some place in Canada, sent 

 us a dollar, but neglected to give us the name of 

 his post-offlce. Will he please take notice ? 



THAT HIVE OF GALLUP'S. 



Our standard hive is twelve inches from front 

 to rear, twelve inches high, and eighteen inches 

 wide, inside measure, containing twelve frames, 

 and having a cap eight Inches high. Our nucleus 

 hive is in the same form, containing twelve 

 frames, with four apartments, each apartment 

 containing three frames (standard frames). 

 We will say it extends east and west, or is an 

 oblong square. The entrance to one apartment 

 faces the east, one south, one west, and one 

 north, with a honey board over each apartment, 

 so that each can be opened without disturbing 

 the bees in the others. In one of these nucleus 

 hives we raised the past season twenty-eight 

 queens ; had twenty standard frames filled with 

 nice worker combs, extracted sixty pounds of 

 surplus honey, and are now wintering four spare 

 queens in it, with abundance of honey to winter 

 on. Now you can readily see that in the fall 

 we can readily put all those combs and bees to- 

 gether in a standard hive by removing three of 

 the queens, and have a good standard colony. 

 We can exchange combs, brood,. &c., with any 

 standard colony, for strengthening up, supplying 

 with honey, or for any other desirable purpose. 

 Four and a half inches is the right space for 

 three combs, but we make it five inches. This 

 gives ample room for handling, without en- 

 dangering the queen. By working four nuclei 

 in one hive they are of a mutual warmth, one to 

 the other, and there is no more danger of losing 

 a queen than there is where we have each sepa- 

 rate. 



Then we have what we call an emergency hive. 

 If we run .short of hives we can put one of these 

 together in about twenty minutes, and by having 

 a supply of frames on hand we are all right. 

 This is simply an open box without top or bot- 

 tom, containing twelve frames. We saw off a 

 rough board for a bottom and one for a top, and 

 put a swarm in. This hive can be completed at 

 our leisure, so there is nothing lost. 



Our next hive, in outward appearance, looks 

 so much like a Langstroth hive, with Langstroth 

 entrance blocks, that we really think he has 

 somewhat infringed on our rights, and we take 

 this opportunity of telling him so.* We call 

 this hive our " Youreka, Back Action, Extrac- 

 tion, Reversible, Revolvable, Non-Swarming, 

 Movable Comb, Twin Bee Hive." (Please to 

 take notice that hereafter we shall charge a dollar 

 extra for simply writing the name iu full of this 

 wonderful hive.^ 



This hive is simply a case made Langstroth 

 style, with a centre board with passages for bees, 

 and containing one set of our frames directly in 



*Keep a sharp lookout, or the "Great [Humbug] 

 American Apiarian" will uneak out a patent ou these 

 blocks, and prosecute both Mr. L. and yourself as 

 infringers .'—[Ed. 



