1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



63 



and built it all over again. They would have 

 drone combs by .ill means. What then shall we 

 do? Why cut it out and replace it with worker 

 comb. That was not very hard to find either, 

 and it has been done more than once. 



Let us now see the advantage of replacing 

 drone with worker comb. In May, a good hive 

 measuring 1,600 square inches of comb in ordi- 

 nary circumstances, will contain about 1,100 

 square inches of worker brood, and 100 square 

 inches of drone brood. During the harvesting 

 season, therefore, it will contain 5,500 workers 

 and 8,200 drones. This hive will perhaps gather 

 50 pounds of honey, if the season is good. Let 

 us now replace these 100 inches of drone comb 

 with 100 inches of worker comb. Then with no 

 more trouble and no more cost, we will raise 

 5,500 workers instead of 3,200 drones. (There 

 are 50 cells and 32 drone-cells per square inch. 

 See Lan<jstroth, p. 74.) 



If 5,500 workers gather 50 pounds of honey, 

 G, 000 will gather 54 6-11 pounds; gain will be 

 4 6-11 pounds, which, at 25 cents per pound, 

 will bring $1.15. 



Beekeepers, does this pay ? 



C. P. Dadant. 



Hamilton, III , Aug. 1, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



One-Story vs. Two-Story. 



Gallup, why in the world can't you let us use 

 the "new idea" in a two-story as well as a one- 

 story hive ? If I am not mistaken, the patented 

 features of the idea is to give the queen plenty 

 of room. Now, if the queen prefers to keep her 

 brood at the bottom of the combs in mid-sum- 

 mer, let her do so, by continually removing 

 combs of brood from the lower to the upper 

 story, and thus gain the same point as with the 

 double width one-story, namely, having con- 

 stantly room in the centre and at the bottom. 



The bees will take care of the brood in the 

 upper story just as well as in the lower, and my 

 queens persist on going into the upper story to 

 lay, although they have only two-inch auger 

 holes to go through. I think likely Novice's 

 plan of having no division between the two 

 stories is better. 



A few years ago, Mr. Marvin or Mr. Baldridge 

 told me he intended making a double width 

 Langstroth, but as I have never heard anything 

 about it, I do not suppose he found any great 

 advantage in it. 



Say, Gallup, aren't you a little mistaken about 

 that 1,000 pounds from one hive? 



C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



A German writer says, "much time is saved 

 in using tobacco smoke, and different other 

 tools." His help uses 150 pounds of tobacco a 

 year, besides this he smokes himself a quantity 

 of cigars. — IIullman. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Season in Virginia. 



Mr. Editor : — I have to report a poor season 

 for honey. Forty stands have not yielded more 

 than half the honey I obtained last year from 

 twenty-two The drought set in so early as to 

 cut short the crops of white clover, and our bees 

 ceased to gather honey by the 25th of June. 



It would gladden your eyes, however, to see 

 one piece of fancy work I have — even Novice, 

 I think, would open his eyes at a glass shade two 

 feet high and ten inches in diameter, rilled com- 

 pletely with beautiful honey, at least thirty-five 

 pounds net. I propose to take it to our fair in 

 Richmond this fall and hope it will stir our peo- 

 ple up to the beauties, if not the profits, of api- 

 culture. 



I have only one stand which yielded as much 

 as 75 pounds of box-honey ; (I have never tried 

 the extractor), and that is a hybrid, three re- 

 moves from the pure queen. The fancy piece 

 was made by unadulterated blacks, but from the 

 slight opportunity I have had of testing the com- 

 parative merits of the two species (blacks and 

 Italians), I lean decidedly to the latter. 



B. J. B. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Fastening Combs. 



Mr. Editor : — Having fallen upon a plan for 

 fastening combs in the frames in transferring 

 bees, which I have not noticed mentioned in the 

 Journal, I will give it for what it is worth : Take 

 strips of tin, § of an inch broad, cut them to 

 such lengths that they will extend on the comb 

 i inch, after being placed upon the frame at any 

 distinct point, bringing the two ends around the 

 corners of the upright, or any other point where 

 the operator chooses to place them, forming 

 right angles, bringing the ends of the strips in 

 contact with the comb, which strips, if desired, 

 can be pressed slightly into the comb, and will 

 be amply sufficient to hold the combs in place, 

 though tilled with brood or honey. 



Bees have done nothing extra here this sea- 

 son as yet, and have thrown out but few swarms. 

 Some in old box hives have not had a swarm, 

 and no surplus honey. I have doubled my 

 number by dividing. I have ordered a honey 

 extractor of Mr. J. T. Peabody, of Bloomington, 

 Illinois, but do not expect to find much use for 

 it this year, unless the fall season is better than 

 the spring has been. As regards numbers, the 

 balance is in favor of the black bees in this lo- 

 cality. I have some eight or ten queens from 

 an imported queen, purchased from a neighbor 

 of mine, at $16.66, whose workers do not com- 

 pare favorably with those from queens reared 

 from a queen I purchased from Mr. Peabody last 

 fall, which queen became a drone layer early 

 this spring, before I could get her to stock her 

 hive with workers. 



Since I have mentioned this subject, I will 



