1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



143 



its 200 in one season, or even the first century. 

 Mr. Quiinby's views will command the attention 

 of all who wish to winter bees without loss. We 

 ourselves examined large numbers of stock in 

 western New York, and are satisfied that Mr. 

 Quimby's conclusions c.re correct, so far as the 

 eastern States are concerned. But here at the west 

 the conditions were different. See report of 

 Michigan Beekeepers' Association. 'In our own 

 article, we see a mistake or two that needs cor- 

 rection. In the twelfth line from beginning, the 

 word "practical" was omitted. It should have 

 read, '"and far more practical than they now 

 are." In the twenty -first line from the end of 

 last column, the word "had" should be "has," 

 and would then read, "and if Novice has not," 

 &c. But there, that old clock has just struck 

 twelve, and we must "adjourn." 



Herbert A. Burch. 

 South Haven, Midi. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Questions Answered. 



Mr. Root, in the Journal for September, writes : 

 " May we, by the way, ask Mr. Jasper Hazen 

 one question ? In those localities near him, that 

 were overstocked some seasons, did those bees 

 die of starvation that had made so many hun- 

 dred pounds box honey in a season ? If so, they 

 certainly did not starve themselves; their greedy 

 owners starved them. On the other hand, if 

 they died of starvation, without furnishing any 

 surplus honey at all, there seems to be a disa- 

 greeable feature of his hive and pile of boxes, 

 that he has not mentioned in his report of aston- 

 ishing yields of box honey. Will Mr. Hazen tell 

 us more about these colonies dying of starvation 

 because the locality was overstocked?" 



Answer: — The apiary that has at three differ- 

 ent times in nine or ten years, been reduced from 

 thirty, or a little more, by starvation, to four or 

 five, and again to three, and the last time to two 

 colonies, was kept entirely in the chamber hive, 

 with two thousand cubic inches or more in the 

 breeding apartment, and boxes in the chamber 

 of the hive of about twenty-five pounds capacity 

 to each hive. They gave their keeper little or 

 no surplus, and starved in the winter. Further, 

 as a rule, my best swarms that have given me 

 the largest amount of surplus, in that pile of boxes 

 referred to, have generally been in as good prepa- 

 ration for winter, as any of my colonies. One 

 that gave me 200 pounds of box honey in 1 870, 

 143 lbs. in 1871, has in 1872 given but about 

 30 lbs. Desiring to secure swarms from that 

 and one other of my best stocks, I left them 

 exposed to the sun. The first gave two swarms 

 and surplus named above. The other gave one 

 large swarm and the product of surplus 70 lbs. 



In the first case, in 1870 we had to remove 

 most of our pile of boxes, and substitute empty 

 ones. This hive is without frames, having sim- 

 ply bars, and is more simple in its construction 

 than the one described by Mr. Root, or Novice, 

 in the communication referred to. 



But about the overstocking. If there is*no 



danger of it, why does my friend wait for 

 increase of forage before he puts his thousand 

 colonies in the field ? Why content himself with 

 seventy-one ? 



Mr. Langstroth thinks there is no danger of 

 overstocking. He informs his readers of apiaries 

 of 5,000 in Russia and Hungary ; 2,000 colonies 

 to the square mile in East Friesland. Kingdom 

 of Hanover, 141 colonies ; the island of Corsica, 

 52 colonies ; Bohemia, 8 colonies, per square 

 mile. On page 800 he speaks of land so unsuit- 

 able for beekeeping as to render it unprofitable 

 to keep them at all. Is it not probable that our 

 country embraces every vai'iety of honey pro- 

 ducing fields, from the most productive to those 

 utterly barren, "where it would be unprofitable 

 to keep them at all?" 



Would it be safe to put the 5,000 apiary of 

 Russia upon the field of East Friesland ? Would 

 it answer to put the 2, 000 of East Friesland upon 

 each square mile in the Kingdom of Hanover ? 

 Would it be safe to put the 141 colonies of the 

 Kingdom of Hanover upon each square mile of 

 Corsica ? Or the 52 per square mile in Corsica, 

 upon each square mile in Bohemia ? Or the 8 

 colonies of Bohemia upon such tracts in our 

 country so barren as to render it unprofitable to 

 keep them at all ? Or for Mr. Root to place 1,000 

 in his field before his bass wood trees have 

 grown ? 



I have endeavored to answer the question pro- 

 posed by Mr. Root, and propose a few fur his 

 consideration. Jasper Hazen. 



Albany, N. T. 



. [For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Queer Trait in Bees. 



About the 1st of August, 1872, I noticed some 

 dark, fine gratings before a hive. The next day 

 I opened the hive and found, to my surprise, 

 that the bees had cut out one comb two-thirds 

 of full size, and one-half of another comb. ' Be- 

 fore the bees stopped they cut out two combs 

 over two-thirds of each comb and built new comb 

 in its place. It was very old comb. There were 

 no moths in the hive. It was an Italian swarm. 

 There was no brood in the combs. This is some- 

 thing that I never saw before. R. Miller. 



Maliegin Grove, Lee Co., 111. 



Spiders. 



Most aparians have considered the spider the 

 common enemy of the bee. That they make 

 their webs in unwelcome places about an apiary, 

 and now and then entangle a bee, is true, and 

 the web is easily brushed away, and its maker 

 destroyed, but the writer has found that inside 

 of a Langstroth hive (i. e. where the boxes are 

 put on) the spider is a real benefit. A little ob- 

 servation will show that no moth miller escapes 

 them, and though the spider cannot get into the 

 innermost hive, he is a complete exterminator of 

 all intruders. Let him live. 



D. C. MlLLETT. 



Holmesburg, Pa. 



