1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



135 



vide a frost proof reservoir. I have tliis year 

 found it to be a very poor season for honey in 

 the early part ; my bees have just gathered 

 enough to keep up breeding, there being no 

 white clover, and the bees had to wait till bass- 

 wood, that scarcely ever failing resource, came 

 in, which began about the 11th of Julys when I 

 began to have pleasure, to not see 1872, upon 

 which I calculated to make , well, ex- 

 cuse me, I will not say if how much, but just 

 having resolved to be satisfied with any or noth- 

 ing, I could scarcely arouse myself quick enough 

 to the apprehension of a stream (not the Mexi- 

 can gulf), but a stream of honey ; for such a 

 bustle, the bees forgetting all about to be civilly 

 going and coming, as I was seeing them all sum- 

 mer long, but not so now, for those coming out, 

 appear so light that you would scarcely have 

 time to notice it at all, and those going in, and 

 that speedy too, I can assure you, but they being 

 twice the size. Seeing that there is some such 

 difference, going in large and coming out small, 

 there must assuredly something have been left 

 in their domicile, and I was not disappointed 

 about it neither, for every three days my slinger 

 had to do business ; but from beginning to end, 

 say from the 11th to the 21st, with fine clear 

 weather, this great flow lasted, and the result 

 per stock is, as near as I can make it, of 90 

 pounds from some, and 120 eacb, from one black 

 and one Italian, the last two named being by 

 far the strongest— making the total, 500 pounds 

 of excellent honey, besides, increased my stocks 

 to thirteen. Now, this may be a comparatively 

 small affair, but 1 am well satisfied, for I think 

 I have made far more than I expected, notwith- 

 standing the great tilings we will have this year, 

 so we dreamed last year ; but, now, instead of 

 waxing hot for next year, if Providence should 

 spare our life and the bees, I am only thinking 

 that there will be no honey at all. This year I 

 have been able to demonstrate to my neighbors 

 (old fogy beekeepers) that bee on the brain is 

 not such conceited humbug after all, for I don't 

 know of scarcely one that has got any honey or 

 swarms, and some of those sturdy fellows, that 

 have been playing tit for tat with me in the past. 

 But my success so far this year, as well as last 

 year, is making them look terribly down in the 

 mouth ; remember, it is only four years, since I 

 began learning about bees, and like the majority 

 that engages in it, will have nothing but bad 

 luck, and but for want of perseverance, a great 

 many more would eventually succeed well. 



Now, Mr. Editor, when I commenced this let- 

 ter, I did not expect to have written half of 

 what I have done, and I am now getting like as 

 if I wanted to have a long say, but will try, 

 with your kind permission, not to say much. As 

 regards hives, double hives, &c, I have tried 

 many ways and many plans, all of which, I do 

 not wish to burden you with of saying anything 

 about, except of a few devices. My standard 

 hives now are, and I hope 1 shall have no need 

 of adopting any other shape, to gain success. 

 My hives are inside, 17£ inches long, 12 inches 

 wide, and 12} inches high ; my frames, there- 

 fore, are 10^ inches long, 11} inches high, loose 

 bottom and top, bottom fastened with hooks, 



one on each side, so that I can put one on top 

 of the other, for second story ; this second story 

 business I have tried till I got enough of it, and 

 the bees too, I believe ; it is, therefore, on the 

 wall. I had them side opening, and fixed so for 

 the purpose, and only for that purpose, to join 

 two together and have a double hive ; this is the 

 way I managed a year ago, but there comes up 

 a seemingly interesting controversy between two 

 of the "great lights." Novice, No. 1. I will 

 not accord him being No. 2 — and Gallup No. 1, 

 ditto. The former I have always looked upon 

 as good and candid authority, and acknowledge 

 my many thanks to him for what I have learned 

 by his writing, and such confidence I placed in 

 his advocation on the double story system that I 

 thought I could see a great desideratum in it ; 

 and, forthwith, without making first a single 

 trial, I converted all my side-openers into per- 

 manent sides, and having loose bottoms instead 

 of fixed ones ; so far aj3 it being a single hive, I 

 will certainly not regret the trouble and extra 

 expense in having made the alteration ; but, oh ! 

 such perplexity and trouble I have had when all 

 in order ; I really want no more such experience 

 on that head. About the 10th of June, when 

 with us there is usually the white clover abun- 

 dantly, and generally, honey in abundance. I 

 raised on some stocks, one, two, and three 

 cards of unsealed brood, from the lower story 

 to the upper, leaving the queen below ; the tops 

 of frames from the lower story are three-quar- 

 ters of an inch from the bottom of the upper 

 story frames, no honey board between Now for 

 the result. In the upper story, I placed four 

 drone combs and four worker combs, putting 

 worker in the centre ; when, on examining, af- 

 ter existing in that way eight or ten days, I 

 found three of the five queens breeding in the 

 top story ; in one hive I placed the combs pro- 

 miscuously, and in that the queen filled the 

 combs with eggs right along ; this sort of busi- 

 ness I did not fancy, so I thought as she had 

 now spent over a week up stairs, and am sure 

 she did not go up and again down, until I put 

 her down, and expected she would find empty 

 cells enough now to keep her busy below, but 

 the next day I found her back again ; well, I 

 thought, but now, this can't work. I lifted off* 

 the upper story and examined the lower, and 

 found nearly all the cells in the brooding space 

 with bee bread, and more or less honey ; there 

 was really no room for her to deposit her eggs. 

 Now, I think this proves that the queen prefer- 

 ing to raise brood near the bottom , cannot be 

 the case, for three out of the five insisted upon 

 being in the upper story ; so I went and re- 

 versed it, put the upper story below and the 

 under one above, with the exception of the drone 

 comb, which I kept above ; in a few days one 

 of three made her way again above. At this 

 time I began to see that I should be subject to 

 an endless lot of trouble, never knowing the 

 condition of the hive after a few days, for to try 

 to control a stock of bees, to keep them in the 

 order I expected by this method ; for I thought 

 that it was no great trouble to lift one, two, or 

 three cards of brood from below to the upper 

 story, and those empty, or nearly so, from 



