1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



199 



Mr. B's strong assertions are certainly very 

 thoughtless on many points ; the one in particular 

 where he claims to have given a description of the 

 simple hive we have advised, " to the world a year 

 before we gave it," was certainly unwise. If he will 

 mention where he gave such description, perhaps 

 some one who has seen or understands the peculi- 

 arities of the hive we recommend will show him his 

 mistake. 



As to our puffiing Mr. Langstroth's hive, we shall 

 be surprised indeed if any one, from Mr. King 

 down, at the present time, ever thinks of paying 

 him anything, even a well-deserved compliment. 

 We have never bought, nor sold, nor in any way 

 aided, that we know of, the sale of a single right for 

 his hive ; but we did for the American, long ago. 

 Langstroth's invention of movable combs, it does 

 really seem, should have entitled him to some 

 compensation, for, to our knowledge, he labored long 

 and earnestly bringing out the result he has given 

 us. Most of you know the result ; the extreme 

 difficulty of preventing "Young America" from 

 making something so simple, and something, too, 

 that all could demonstrate with saw, hammer and 

 nails, was too great a temptation, and the invention 

 was adopted and approved of many times, without 

 even a " thankee, Mr. Langstroth," for we are a 

 busy people, and don't always stop to enquire, 

 when a thing suits us. If Mr. L., or a proper rep- 

 resentative, had come along, or should even now, at 

 this late day, and presented the matter properly, 

 we think "our people" would have done all that 

 is fair, and will even now. It is true that Mr. L. 

 advertised his patent and told the people how they 

 could show their regard for his services, but we 

 believe, as a general rule, people are rather slow in 

 writing letters with money in them, for something they 

 have got already, and when there seems no probability 

 of anyone disputing possession. 



Page 175. Mr. Gallup, we perfectly agree with 

 you in regard to tall hives, and perhaps may also 

 in regard to the " New Idea," when Adair takes 

 the "patent" off from it. He (Adair) says a 

 division board is a positive damage, and, besides, 

 is somebody's "patent," (Oh, dear! ) too. 



Do you believe division boards are useless, too, 

 Mr. G. ? 



Page 176. Mr. Davis' idea of earth filling for 

 bee houses we think very favorably of, but should 

 it not be dry dust, rather ? 



Many thanks, Mr. Davis, for the suggestion. 



Page 178. Not the "Improvement Suggested," 

 for we think it should be carefully "skipped," 

 and so advise every candid and serious bee-keeper 

 to avoid reading it ; but we mean about " Wintering 

 Bees." A number of practical experiments con- 

 vinced us that " double walls" were of no advantage, 

 but we may have been mistaken. Mr. Doolittle's 

 plan of shovelling snow around hives out on their 

 stands would be cheap and excellent where snow 

 was plenty, but it is seldom the case here. " Double 

 walls " have been proposed and tried for years, but 

 we know of none who have continued to use them 

 long. Wintering in-doors we think is conceded to 

 be much the least trouble. 



We agree with Mr. McGaw and Mr. Fortune 

 that it does seem too bad that so much money and 

 time has been spent in houses and traps for 



' • artificial fertilization," and the result only so many 

 total failures. It's really enough to make a body 

 cross and "sassy," like "brother Furman." 



By the way, we really think Mr. Furman was 

 careless and did not mean to misstate in the matter 

 of Grimm and Furman. If all of our bee friends 

 could be as prompt and careful in their dealings as 

 Mr. Grimm has been, so far as our experience goes, 

 we should be much pleased indeed. 



The plan of sending money and then having to 

 wait weeks, or months, and sometimes years even, 

 for queens or hives, or whatever it may be, is 

 abominable. If the goods can't be sent, say so, or 

 send the money back. That is the way in other 

 lines of business. 



We heartily agree with Miss Ella in regard to 

 Averill chemical paint. We know of few things 

 that we ever enjoyed more than painting " dollar" 

 hives under the grape vines before breakfast. No 

 skill is required, as the paint runs smooth like 

 varnish, and dries so quickly that it does not incon- 

 venience the bees, and makes a smooth, glossy coat. 

 To be sure we got some of it on our shirt sleeves ; 

 we always do; but any "lady" would, of course, 

 have sense enough not to do that, if we of the 

 sterner sex haven't. 



Our bees, at this date, Feb. 8th, are all right, 

 even some colonies containing none but " old bees," 

 as an experiment, and we think the idea that 

 seems to be gaining ground, that old bees caused 

 the dysentery, a mistake. We often winter queen- 

 less colonies without trouble, and so have others. 

 We have lost two very weak nucleus colonies with 

 less than a pint of bees, but they died because our 

 room was cold, we presume, or at least too cold for 

 those so weak in numbers, viz : about 35 degrees, 

 some of the time. We must confess to not being 

 partial to very weak colonies. 



If Mr. W. E. Freeman, page 187, reads the back 

 numbers carefully, we think he will be satisfied 

 that box hives suffered full as much with the dysen- 

 tery as those on which the extractor was used. The 

 question has been many times proposed and as 

 often dropped. 



And now, friends, all, if you please, for this 

 time, we will be Novice. 



[For the American Bee Journal. 



Sundries. 



Whilst the proceedings of the American Bee 

 Keepers' Society furnish very pleasant reading as 

 you go along, still at the end you are only conscious 

 of a jumble of heterogeneous and often discordant 

 matter, utterly bewildering to the novice. An 

 experienced apiarian may know how to sift and 

 sort it — will understand what weight to give to this 

 man's evidence, or that lady's conjectures, but the 

 poor novice can only ask with Pilate, " What is 

 truth?" and turn wearity from what is virtually to 

 him a Barmecide feast. 



Now, Mr. Editor, it should be made the duty of 

 some one (and who is better fitted than yourself?) 

 to take this tangled skein and untie and sort it 

 and spread it out for the pleasure and profit of the 

 readers' of the American Bee Journal. Surely our 

 profession has made sufficient progress to be digni- 

 fied with the title of a science, and as surely we 



