1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



71 



Thursday Evening. 



Something about Hives. Paper by E. Gallup, 

 Orchard, Iowa. 



Address by A. I. Root ("Novice"), Medina, 

 Ohio. Subject, " The Apiary and its Arrange- 

 ments." 



Friday Morning. 



Voluntary papers and extempore addresses. 



All the papers will be discussed, and other sub- 

 jects may be proposed, at any time during the 

 meeting. 



Rev. L. L. Langstroth, father of Scientific 

 Apiculture in America, will be present if health 

 will permit. No subject is assigned him, as we 

 shall all hope to hear from him on all subjects. 



We are sure that we need add no other induce- 

 ment to attendance, than the remark that all the 

 above-mentioned papers are promised, and that 

 Mrs. E. S. Tupper, and Messrs. Wm. F. Clark, 

 A. I. Root, and Gen. Adair, all promise to be 

 with us if business engagements will permit. 



A. J. Cook, 

 Sec. Mich. Beekeepers' Asso'n. 

 Agric'l College, 'Lansing, Mich., ) 

 August 9, 1872. ) 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Compton, Iowa. 



Mr. Editor : — Bees nearly all died out here 

 last winter. I had the best luck of any one I 

 know of ; I saved twenty nine colonies out of 

 forty -five. Most of those that had but a few 

 colonies have given up the business in despair, 

 partly because they lost their bees last winter, 

 and partly because, with the old box hive, they 

 cannot make it pay. I have eleven of the Quim- 

 by box hives, two Langstroth hives, and. the 

 rest in Quimby comb frame hives. The frames 

 in the Quimby hives are 11x19 inches. The 

 main objection I have to them is, that the combs 

 are apt to break when extracting the honey, 

 especially when full of honey. I think if they 

 were put crosswise, as Gallup makes his, they 

 would be better. Being a carpenter I made my 

 own extractor ; it cost me about $9.00. I can 

 use it quite readily. I have extracted about 

 2J0 pounds of honey this year, and have about 

 50 pounds in boxes. Bees did but little here 

 till the first of July. I doubled up some of my 

 swarms, as recommended on page 187 of the Bee 

 Journal, and some of them I put in supers as 

 recommended by A. Grimm. I like both plans 

 very well. But I put a small swarm into a 

 hive when they had swarmed once, but had be- 

 come strong again ; and the next morning I 

 found my new swarm nearly all dead. I have 

 been somewhat discouraged about beekeeping 

 myself ; so far I have not been paid for my 

 trouble. I have taken great pains with my 

 hives, and have tried to inform myself on bee- 

 culture ; and now that I have learned so much, 

 I have to throw away what I have learned ; so I 

 think I shall try a while longer. The main bee 

 pasturage here is white clover and buckwheat. 

 I find I have to unlearn many things. I first 

 studied Quimby and took him as my guide, but 



I shall follow him no longer. I begin to have a 

 mind of my own on the subject. My bees were 

 very weak this spring, and the strongest made 

 but little honey till the first of July, so I con- 

 cluded the fore part of the season was a poor 

 time for bees. I lost a large number of combs 

 in frames by not knowing how to take care of 

 them. When too late, I learned that burning 

 sulphur under them would kill the moths. I do 

 not think that bee culture will be over done in 

 this country ; but few farmers will try the busi- 

 ness, and but few of those that try will succeed. 

 I keep my bees in a dry cellar in the winter. I 

 never lost a swarm till last winter. The rats 

 trouble my bees in the cellar. How shall I pre- 

 vent them from hurting my bees and gnawing 

 my hives. Mrs. Tupper says rats and mice will 

 not trouble bees, but I know better by sad ex- 

 perience. La Fayette Norris. 

 Compton, Ioica, Aug. 6, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Items from Oneida, 111. 



Mr. Editor : — I think very likely there was 

 considerable of a " smile " among beekeepers on 

 reading Mr. Langstroth's quotation of Mr. 

 Sydserlf's remedy for bee stings. At least there 

 was a big smile here. 1 am too much of a 

 coward myself to stand and take sting after 

 sting just to see whether he would stop the hurt 

 and swelling of the first. I have been stung 

 three or four times in my face, at one time, and 

 and it will hurt and swell as bad as a single one. 



I have read, that after one or two seasons of 

 severe stinging, a person g> ts so inoculated with 

 the poison that no swelling will follow the 

 sting, which is true in my case. Last year and 

 this year I received a great many stings, which 

 at first would swell enormously, but now there 

 is no swelling, unless on the front of my face, 

 and then hardly enough to be noticed. The 

 hurt is as severe as ever, though. 



I use the deep frame hive, 10^x15 inches in- 

 side measure, and the brood is not at the bottiin 

 of the frame, but spreads from the top to the 

 bottom, some of the brood cells being on the 

 comb guide at the top. There is generally a 

 small circle of honey in each upper corner, 

 which grows larger as you leave the centre of 

 the hive. 



I hope brother Gallup will give us that prom- 

 ised article on wintering bees on their summer 

 stands in time to utilize it, for it is impossible 

 for me to winter them in any other way. 



I think I shall remember my first experience 

 with a honey extractor. I have one that I got 

 up myself, and the first time we tried it, we put- 

 in a small piece of comb, forgot to put in the 

 plug (which is at one corner), and set it whirl- 

 ing. The first thing we knew the honey was 

 out of the comb, out of the can, and on to our 

 clothes, the floor and table. You can believe 

 we were satisfied it would work. 



I suppose some speculating Yankee will be for 

 importing some of those Australian bees, that 

 have no stingers, but, if he does, he will have 

 to put some brass spurs on to them (as they used 



