1872.] 



TIIE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



85 



be kept quiet, it is necessary to feed pure honey 

 alone, as any agitation, especially in the rearing 

 of brood, will produce disastrous effects. In 

 the absence of pure honey, candy sugar placed 

 in the hives in pieces is the best substitute. 



The swarm must be strong and the candy 

 . placed at a convenient place, and the moisture of 

 the hive sufficient to dissolve the candy. In win- 

 tering stocks the canrly may be placed on the 

 floor of the hive beneath the boes. On mild 

 days the bees will know of the pieces of ca ndy 

 and store them in their cells. 



The necessary moisture for dissolving the su- 

 gar-candy is found on that portion of the hive 

 where the warm vapor condenses. It answers 

 well to ±111 the cells of an old, firm comb with 

 water, and placing the candy upon this, shove 

 it into the hive below the combs. * * * * 

 When there is n space above the combs, it is ad- 

 vantageous to place the candy in this space, di- 

 rectly over the bees. Should this honey-space 

 be too large, so that the cluster of bees will not 

 reach to the roof, the space must bo lessened by 

 fi ling with moss, and carefully guarded against 

 mouldiness and moisture. It is necessary in au- 

 tumn to have the doors and combs so arranged 

 a~s to be able to open them without disturbing the 

 swarm ; this inspection should be made about ev- 

 ery 14 days, to see that the supply of candy was 

 not exhausted, and in a position convenient for 

 the bees ; that there was no danger from damp- 

 ness; finally, to enable the bee-keeper to give such 

 assistance as may be deemed necessary During 

 periods of severe cold, these examinations can 

 be made in a warm room. ^ Dzikkzon. 



Carls/nark*, December 20, 1871. 



[For the American 13ee Journal.] 



Letters from Mr. Dadant. 



Brig, (Switzerland), August 4, 1872. 

 Dear Fuiends : — I am going to cross the 

 Simp'on Mt. to-night, but as the wagons do not 

 connect exactly, I was forced to remain here for 

 a few hours, and I take this opportunity of 

 writing to you. I will be to-morrow in Tallanza, 

 Locarno and Bellinzona, and thence through 

 Arona to Milan. 



Switzerland is beautiful. How striking is this 

 intermingling of the soil — ravines so deep that 

 it takes hours of toil to scale the summit of an 

 o:dinary hill ! I went out walking to warm my- 

 self, for it is cold here. I climbed on a hill and 

 saw Brig at my feet, and right by my side a tor- 

 rent rushing at the bottom of a ravine 150 feet 

 deep. One step aside of the track would cause 

 certain death. I understand the anxiety of their 

 families when the mountain guides do not come 

 back home on the appointed day 



Pallanza, (Italy), Avgunt 5, 1872. 

 At Paris, I was warmly received by the editor 

 of La Culture Polletan. We visited together 

 L'abbe Sagot, parson of St. Ouen, who was ex- 



pecting me. After breakfast, during which meal 

 we spoke of nothing but bees, M Sagot showed 

 me his apiary, which has been considerably re- 

 duced by his sickness, which rendered him una- 

 ble to attend to them. His servant, who under- 

 stood bee-culture very well, left him, and started 

 an apiary in Picardy. 



We afterwards went with M. Sagot to visit the 

 parson of a neighboring village, M. D -1 Hennery, 

 who is also a bee-keeper, and who had asked M. 

 Sagot to bring me to his house. A hired car- 

 riage took us there in an hour. M. D'Hennery 

 is young, and seems to be very intelligent. He 

 commenced to keep bees four years ago, with 

 Sagot hives, which he changed altogether to 

 make hives a la Langn'roth. His frames are 18 

 inches long, by 14 in height. He appeared very 

 glad to see me, and although he said that he had 

 once considered me as a bragger, he thanked me 

 for the services that I rendered to the French 

 bee-keepers, by making them acquainted with 

 American bee-culture. "I followed your ad- 

 vice," said he; "I enlarged my hives, made 

 large frames, and stimulated the laying of the 

 queens ; and I can affirm, with you, that some 

 queens lay more than 3,000 eggs per day, during 

 the good season. My 40 queens have not laid 

 less than 2,200 to 2.500 eggs on average per day, 

 during 30 days. But I have not succeeded as 

 well as you in the results. Since I began to un- 

 derstand progressive bee-culture, I have obtained 

 nothing worthy of notice. My best hive gave 

 me 59 pounds of box honey. But this season is 

 late and wet, and bees do nothing." 



But while we were forgetting ourselves in our 

 bee talk, (although I had several times tried to 

 take leave, and was always retarded by M. 

 1/ Hennery, who had offered us a bottle of fine 

 old champagne), there was somebody in the 

 next room who was grumbling at our intermina- 

 ble prattling. It was the maid servant of the par- 

 son, whose dinner was ready. It happened that 

 the parson had some guests for dinner, and that, 

 as we had refused to stay at dinner, and were 

 still going on with our talk, the dinner was burn- 

 ing, and the servant growing impatient. But 

 the parson was too much interested in the bee- 

 hive to pay any attention to this, and he would 

 have probably allowed his guests to dine without 

 him had we been willing to keep on with our 

 talk. " He will be scolded," said V Abbe Sagot, 

 when we started b&ck in our carriage, "for a 

 parson's maid servant is always a tyrant." 



I wished to visit Mrs. Ad. Jarrie, but she was 

 not at home, and I had to leave without seeing 

 this intelligent lady bee-keeper. 



1 paid a visit to my mortal enemy, (1) M. 

 Hamet, but he was not at home. I only found 

 his wife, and bought a copy of the paper with- 

 out giving my name. M. Hamet' s office con- 



(1) M. Hamet, editor of L'Agriculteur, and sup- 

 porter of immovable bee-culture, opposed to all pro- 

 gress in hive-making, is the adversary of M. Dadant, 

 who brought to France the American ideas. He 

 even refused to accept him as a subscriber to hia 

 paper, on account of M. Dadant's criticism ; and the 

 latter has to get it from oue of M. Hamet's subscrib- 

 ers iu France. 



