14 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



iment will satisfy him as to the value of color, 

 so little fixed in Italian bees. 



Instead of discouraging those who, like Mr. 

 Grimm, try to introduce imported queens by 

 the hundred, their efforts should be applauded 

 and encouraged. The people of this country 

 will, for many years to come, have to rely on 

 Italy for the improvement of their bees. A 

 great change and simplification in the process 

 of importation is very desirable, so that the cost 

 of imported queens might be much diminished, 

 and a saving effected for the country. 



I have undertaken, in concert with two queen- 

 breeders in Italy, a series of experiments in 

 that line. The arrangements made lead me to 

 hope that two consignments may arrive in May, 

 and reach me in good condition. If any of your 

 readers wishing to obtain imported queens, 

 would unite with me in ordering more extensive 

 consignments, the advantage of such an ar- 

 rangement could be more fully and conclusively 

 tested. 



In any event, I will give your readers the 

 result of my trial. Charles Dadant. 



Hamilton, III., Feb. 14th. 



IB! — 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bees in Missouri. 



Mr. Editor : — I have never met with any 

 periodical which interests me as much as does 

 the American Bee Journal. I take three 

 political newspapers, some medical journals, 

 the American Agriculturist, and the Bee Jour- 

 nal ; but none of these interest me as the lat- 

 ter does. I am very desirous of your welfare, 

 and wish you great success in your undertaking 

 to improve the bee-keeping public. Few men 

 in this section of the country are at all acquaint- 

 ed with the habits of the honey-bee. I wish 

 you may obtain many subscribers in these 

 parts. 



I beg to dissent from the late Prof. Varro's 

 theory. I think the "fragmental dash" of his 

 pen dashed his mind in the wrong direction — 

 perhaps into the wrong hive of bees, where the 

 queen was unusually prolific. Further obser- 

 vation will show that his views are erroneous, 

 and his theory will fall to the ground unheeded. 

 If I had never raised a queen bee, and knew 

 nothing about it, he might possibly have made 

 a proselyte of me. But I have raised as fine- 

 looking and as good and prolific queens as I ever 

 saw, in small nucleus hives, where there were 

 no eggs from which to prepare the "royal 

 peptone." Hence there was nothing from 

 which to derive the " fragmental dash." Still, 

 the theory may lead others to investigate, and 

 good may result from it in the end. 



Without detaining you longeron this subject, 

 I wish to tell you how very prolific our bees 

 arc in Missouri. One of my neighbors found 

 some bees at w T ork in a small tree, which he 

 cut off above and below the bees, and carried 

 it home, setting or standing it by a tree in his 

 yard. They worked well and produced five 

 swarms from the parent stock. Some of the 

 first swarms sent forth five more, making ten 

 in all — the increase from one swarm in a single 

 season. John L. Qrego. 



Holden, Mo. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bingham's Triangular Hive. 



Mr. S. B. Replogel, in the May number of 

 the Journal, wants a frame hive with boxes 

 as near the brood as the Langstroth form 

 admits them ; and that, while it shall not have 

 more than eight frames, it shall contain honey 

 enough, all above the bees, for their support in 

 winter and yet not cost more than two dollars. 



Herewith I send a cut of Bingham's Triangu- 

 lar hive, with four six-pound boxes in position 

 on one side— as the shortest explanation of the 

 hive he needs. The outside case is a square 

 box, having a lid for a cover, and not shown 

 in the engraving. This hive has all he requires, 

 and much more than most bee-keepers suppose 

 possible in a hive. It has the advantage of 

 having been thoroughly tested fdr three years, 

 and has met the most sanguine expectations. 



It has seven frames 

 in the form of the 

 letter A, and ac- 

 comodates eight 

 shallow six-pound 

 boxes at one time. 

 They are not only 

 nearer to the brood 

 than the Langstroth 

 boxes, but so situa- 

 ted that the bees fill 

 them simultaneous- 

 ly with the hive, 

 and yet never de- 

 posit brood in them, even if put on at the 

 moment of hiving in one or two large swarms. 

 The outside case (not shown) covers the boxes 

 in summer, and holds the chaff or shavings with 

 which the triangular part, containing the honey 

 and bees, is packed in winter. No frost or damp- 

 ness ever forms in the hive, or on the combs 

 above the bees. The combs never fall or crack 

 from either heat or cold, and are made straight 

 with winter passage* through them with absolute 

 certainty. The heat generated by the bees is 

 all concentrated in the small top of the hive, 

 where all the honey is stored on seven frames. 



Much has been written about upward ventila- 

 tion, and no one seems to understand why doc- 

 tors disagree. In my improved Langstroth 

 hives I never use upward ventilation ; neither 

 do I in my Triangular hives. Yet for five years 

 I have wintered from forty to eighty stocks in 

 them, in the open air, in western New York ; 

 and I know that upward ventilation is worse 

 than useless in any hives in which no frost or 

 dampness forms. Who ever heard or even 

 thought of upward ventilation in the old fashion- 

 ed straw hive, where all the honey was in one 

 small place, where the heat of the bees was con- 

 centrated and maintained by the thick straw 

 walls of the hive ? The great cry about water 

 for bees finds an answer in the above question. 

 In my hives no water forms at any season of 

 the year ; yet I have tried all sorts of plans to 

 get the bees to take water, and have never suc- 

 ceeded unless the water was thoroughly sweet- 

 ened. T. F. Bingham. 

 Oberlin, Onio. 



