220 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[April, 



the third case, outlay, $10.00; return, two hundred 

 pounds of honey ; value, $50.00 ; five times the 

 whole amount of the outlay. 



7. To secure sixty pounds hy the swarmers, 

 would require of the first class fifteen hives and 

 fifteen swarms — hives $1.00 each, swarms $5.00 

 each=$90.00. To secure one hundred and twenty 

 pounds, requires thirty hives and swarms=$180.00. 

 To secure two hundred pounds, requires fifty hives 

 and swarms=$300.00 To secure these results by 

 the second class of swarmers, would require one-half 

 the amount estimated above, and by the last class, 

 one-third the amount. 



Ought we to be satisfied with facilities afforded our 

 laborers for gathering the honey harvest, by which 

 we lose six-sevenths or eight-ninths or sixteen-seven- 

 teenths of the product of our fields, when facilities 

 and laborers are available that will give us one-half, 

 two-thirds or three-fourths of the crop at only one- 

 nineteenth or one-eighteenth or one-thirtieth of the 



expense : 



Albany, N. T. 



Jasper Hazen. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Benedict's Plan of Pure Fertilization. 



Mr. Aaron Benedict gives his plan of securing 

 pure fertilization in the National Bee Journal, 

 January number, page 7, and it corresponds so 

 nearly with my experience that he will probably 

 excuse me if I should quote somewhat extensively 

 from his article. He says: "I place in my apiary 

 one or more palace hives, and in those large colo- 

 nies I place a thoroughly tested queen — one that 

 will duplicate herself every time, or as near as may 

 be," etc. Well, Mr. Editor, I might as well give 

 my own plan as to be quoting his. In one of my 

 large hives I place a good queen— one that I am 

 satisfied to raise either queens or drones from, and 

 I fill this hive with selected comb ; comb that has 

 more or less drone comb in every frame, inter- 

 spersed with worker comb; I now keep this hive 

 well supplied with honey, so that they are never 

 destitute at any time during the season. Now if 

 we have a prolific queen, she will keep up a large 

 stock of bees, and a large quantity of them are 

 drones ; and from such a colony, every day that 

 drones can fly, they make a tremendous buzzing; 

 and in such a colony, with plenty of room and 

 abundance of stores, they do not kill off their 

 drones They keep them until quite late in the 

 fall. In fact I am inclined to think they let them 

 die with old age, instead of killing them. Now we 

 raise our queens from another good queen, in our 

 yard, and thus secure a cross. It appears to me 

 that the young queen is more apt to be attracted by 

 the extra noise that this large body of drones make 

 in flying, and I am perfectly well satisfied with the 

 results thus far. This colony, raising such a large 

 amount of drones, will not give a large product of 

 honey; but if our object is gained, whose business 

 is it, so long as we are satisfied? Others can try 

 the plan. There is no patent on it. Mr. Benedict 

 is satisfied that a person could Italianize and secure 

 the pure impregnation of four- fifths of all the 

 queens raised in his yard by one of those large 

 colonies of drones. Try it. The plan can be carried 



out in a two-story hive. This large drone hive 

 I place near the centre of the yard. The only ob- 

 jection to this is that, strangers are sometimes 

 afraid of being stung by those drones, and I always 

 tell them that it is sure death to be stung by a 

 drone. E. Gallup. 



Orchard, Mitchell Co., Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Burying Hives in Snow. 



We see that Mr. Doolittle recommends burying 

 his bees in snow, and a correspondent asks us to 

 give our opinion through the A. B. J. We do not 

 always have snow enough in this climate, but we 

 have buried them in snow many times in Canada. 

 With upward ventilation they are all right. This 

 winter the snow has been very deep here, and we 

 went to DesMoines and were gone three weeks, and 

 left all our bees buried in snow that were on their 

 summer stands (twenty-two stocks). On the' 16th 

 of February there came a warm time, and we 

 shoveled them out and let them fly, and right well 

 they occupied their time. Some of the hives were 

 covered entirely out of sight, yet we were not at all 

 alarmed about them. One large stock that we left 

 the inch hole stopped up by mistake, we found all 

 dead — smothered to death — the rest were all right, 

 strong and numerous. If the hives are properly 

 fixed we would ask no better plan than to have 

 them buried in snow all winter. We have set old 

 box hives near a fence, in Canada, and let the snow 

 drift them entirely under. E. Gallup. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Coming Hive. 



The apiarian who reads attentively the various 

 sides to the hive question, as discussed in the 

 Journal, must necessarily become perplexed over 

 the various hives and theories there so positively 

 described. 



Every hive, patented or not patented, receives 

 from the owner thereof his unqualified assertion, 

 enforced by vigorous language, that it is the very 

 best hive in existence, and his theory of manage- 

 ment perfection itself. Any person having the 

 temerity to contradict these assertions, engenders 

 irritation which through the mighty pen surpasses 

 in virulence the venom of the most aggravated bee- 

 sting. 



Now from the many theories so positively ad- 

 vanced, perhaps the coming hive can be roughly 

 outlined by the help of the shadow it casts before it. 



Firstly. We must have a large hive to be worked 

 as a swarmer or a non-swarmer, and arranged for 

 obtaining the greatest yield of honey, either box or 

 extracted, or both, as the apiarian desires. 



Secondly. The frames will be worked one story, — 

 long, shallow frames in a long hive, with entrances 

 either parallel or horizontal to the combs, as desired 

 for different portions of the honey season. The 

 frames must admit of easy removal, either singly or 

 in a body, and also admit of the use of the division 

 board. 



Thirdly. Our bees in northern latitudes must be 

 wintered in a special frost-proof house, because it 

 is more economical and safe. The coming hive is 



