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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov. 



5. Or, if preferred, movable combs may be 

 used, and the combs be cut out and placed in 

 the frames, and placed in the new hive, and the 

 whole colony be thus transferred. But probably 

 few farmers would wish thus to engage in trans- 

 ferring stocks, or using the comb frames after 

 they are transferred. But either plan may be 

 adopted, and hives may be made with either the 

 frames or bars, as thought most desirable. 



The result the first season must depend upon 

 the strength of the colony in the early part of 

 the season. When the number of colonies suited 

 to the production of the field is acquired, little 

 further care is required, but to place the boxes 

 in the hive early in the season, and remove them 

 when filled and capped. 



I am so confident that this is the true road to 

 the greatest success in securing honey in the 

 greatest amount, at the least trouble and ex- 

 pense, that I feel an interest in its general adop- 

 tion. Jasper Hazen. 



Albany, N. T. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bees at Blue Knob, Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Editor — As I have not seen anything 

 from this section in regard to bee-keeping, I 

 will drop you a line. There are no extensive 

 beekeepers in this vicinity, but people are begin- 

 ning to awake in the interest of bee-keeping. A 

 number of persons about here are adopting the 

 movable comb hives, mostly Langstroth. A 

 great many bees died last winter. I saved seven 

 out of twenty-one, and some of them came out 

 very weak in the spring. I had seventeen in a 

 bee house, and four on the summer stands, and 

 those on the summer stands all died. 



Bees did not swarm much about here this 

 season on account of their being so weak in the 

 spring. I made three artificial swarms, and in- 

 troduced three Italian queens in the hives from 

 which I took out the swarms. They are the 

 only Italian bees within five miles around. I 

 got them from Mr. H. Alley, of Massachusetts, 

 and they are doing very well so far. % 



Our bees did not get much honey until the 

 buckwheat commenced to blossom, then they 

 commenced in real earnest, and one swarm in a 

 double Langstroth hive, on which I used the 

 extractor, gathered sixty-six pounds of buck- 

 wheat honey — an insignificant amount, as com- 

 pared to Novice and Gallup' s bees, but it is con- 

 sidered good about here. But some of our old 

 fogy neighbors think the bees spoil the buck- 

 wheat. In a conversation with a man the other 

 day, I said the bees done pretty well on the 

 buckwheat. "Yes," said he, "it cost many a 

 bushel of buckwheat, too." I told him I did 

 not think the bees hurt the buckwheat any. 

 "Yes," said he, "I am confident they do, be- 

 cause that honey in the blossom is intended for 

 the grain, and, of course, if the bees take it out, 

 the grain suffers in consequence," and as I 

 know very little of botany, I could not argue 

 him out of that notion. Aaron Diehl, 



Blue Knob, Blair County, Pa., Sept. 24, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Chips from "Sweet Home." 



Mr. Editor : — This means every reader of I 

 that old stand-by, the American Bee Journal. ■ 

 Our honey season is nearing its close. Linn and 

 white clover was almost an entire failure. Bees 

 gathered freely from shoemake, but it was quite 

 strong, and, like strong butter, lasted well when | 

 used on the table. But we have received a boun- 

 tiful supply from autumn blossoms, which grow 

 abundant on the bottoms of the Mississippi. 

 Fully one-half of bees died in this vicinity last 

 winter ; we lost one-sixth. In five miles last fall 

 we numbered about 500 hives. I am located in 

 the heart of this honey region. 



Box honey will be almost an entire failure in 

 some places, owing to the coolness of the weather 

 preventing comb building. Honey slinging hives 

 have done well. Our slinger is just what we 

 want, except that it is not large enough to hold 

 sufficient honey underneath the frame. 



BEE HOUSE. 



Ours is 8 by 16, should be 12 by 16. "We use 

 it for a shop and slinging honey. It has a door 

 at the south end, and a revolving window on each 

 side. It revolves on two pins, and is just the 

 thing. When bees follow us in, or get in, which 

 they will do, they will fly to the window, when 

 we quickly reverse the window, and our thieves 

 are easily put out. 



Lord and Palmer. 



Neic Boston, 111, Sept. 21, 1872. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice's New Hive. 



After an experience of four years, with prac- 

 tically the same box, I can endorse all Novice 

 says about his new hive without top or bottom. 

 The coming hive must be large enough to con- 

 tain all a swarm can fill for a season without 

 swarming, and have a movable board inside, to 

 enlarge or contract at pleasure. In spring, the 

 young bees or brood nest is always in form of a 

 ball, always enlarging as the stock increases. 

 I allow no more combs than the bees can cover, 

 and add the combs or frames so as to keep this 

 ball in centre of hive, with frames for storing 

 surplus above and on sides. In very strong 

 Btocks, some of the choicest honey will be stored 

 in lower story, even down to bottom. 



The fewer partitions or other obstructions be- 

 tween the upper and lower story the better. 



As soon as pasturage fails from frost or drouth, 

 remove the queen with brood combs, and bees 

 enough to protect them, and destroy the balance. 

 My first object is to produce all the honey I can, 

 and then save as large a percentage for market 

 as possible. Thus I have almost all young bees 

 for winter stock. Why feed old bees all winter 

 that will die of old age before they are wanted 

 to gather honey next season? If increase of 

 stock is wanted by having extra queens raised in 

 nuclei on hand, you can make all you see fit. In 



