28 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



should never remove such combs from your 

 hives, uuless quite rotten, for the bees can 

 cleanse tliem as soon as needed. 



The hives were then transferred to the orch- 

 ard, and gave me three swarms that spring, 

 which were hived by my grandfather, who was 

 daily engaged in improving his orchard — es- 

 pecially the rocky and bushy spot. One after 

 another the unsightly bushes were removed 

 and replaced by blooming shrubs ; the sweet 

 briers became rose bushes, and the plain old 

 hawthorn was converted into something more 

 attractive and imposing. 



One day, that same year, I presented a nice 

 comb of honey to a lady who was preparing 

 festivities to celebrate the approaching birthday 

 of her husband, and had already provide d 

 many dainties for the occasion. My honey 

 was deposited in a closet, with othtr sweet- 

 meats. This was in July just after the linden 

 trees had blossomed, and when pasturage had 

 become scarce from the absence of flowers 

 Some hours after my return, the lady sent for 

 me in haste, as the bees had made an invasion 

 of her closet, and she was in great dread of 

 them. " Seeing some bees in the closet," she 

 said, "I opened the window to let them return 

 to their hives. I thus left them, and forgot 

 them, till passing near the closet again I was 

 attracted by the noise within, caused by a 

 countless multitude." Not only was the honey 

 gom, but all the sweetmeats had been attacked 

 and carried off. Of course, I had to replace my 

 honey comb, and the confectioners were called 

 on to furnish a fresh supply of tempting delica- 

 cies. 



Dissatisfied with the Huber frame hive, I re- 

 solved to try the Ravenel improved straw hive. 

 That hive was composed of ekes, triangular bars, 

 and a convex top. But my bees not only con- 

 structed their comb crosswise, but cemented all 

 ihe ekes together. In the emuing year, I in- 

 troduced spaces between the ekes, according to 

 Ch. Soria's book ; but this only prepared con- 

 venient quarters for mothworms. I afterwards 

 constructed two Nutt hives, in order to get as 

 much honey as possible from my bees. One 

 swarm gave me more than a hundred pounds 

 of nice honey ; while the other absolute y refu- 

 sed to work m the collateral boxes, and swarm- 

 ed three times, though the hive was a so-called 

 non-swarmcr. I then made the observatory 

 hive of De Flurieu, &c, &c"; and tried all the 

 known improvements, more or less sur-im- 

 proved by myself; but these improvements 

 generally resulted in evils as great, if not 

 greater, than those they were intended to reme- 

 dy. My apiary, stored with all kinds and sys- 

 tems of hives 1 had heard of, advanced but so 

 so, till, at the Paris Exposition of 1844, I en- 

 countered Mr. Debeauvoys, with his frame 

 hive ; and I resolved to transfer all my bees 

 into that kind of hive exclusively. 



Ch. Dadant. 

 Hamilton, III. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Lett:r from Maine. 



CURE FOR ROBBING ! 



A swarm of bees gathered on a lamp-post on 

 Broad street, Boston, recently, and was cap- 

 tured by the merchant to whose door they came. 



Dear Journal: — I can hardly see how a 

 young apiarian can prosecute the art of " bee- 

 keeping " intelligently, without the aid of your 

 valuable Journal. He certain'y must possess 

 more brains than the undersigned, or his suc- 

 cess must be materially curtailed. I could not 

 afford to do without the Journal, even if its 

 price were three times greater than it is. The 

 subject matter is so varied in its character — 

 much of it emauating from practical apiarians, 

 who there record the '■'■process' 1 ' 1 and result of 

 their experimenting — that "beginners" by care- 

 fully obs rving the hints and suggestions given, 

 can at once enter upon a series of experiments 

 which will add much to the value of the apiary 

 and afford them great pleasure and instruction. 

 There is another class of correspondents, who 

 delight to call themselves "novices" ("of 

 whom I am which," as Nasby says), and tell 

 what they have accomplished in their various 

 manipulations of the hive, and their methods of 

 procedure. In the latter class, Mr. Editor, I 

 am deeply interested, because, from their ex- 

 periments I got much that is of practical value 

 to a beginner. Taking many of their ideas 

 from the veterans in bee-culture, to whom we 

 all look so confidently for counsel, carrying 

 them out practically, and then giving your 

 readers the result — whether it he failure or suc- 

 cess. This enables me to adopt the method 

 that proved successful, and to reject the other. 



Standard works upon the "Bee and Bee 

 Hive" are valuable ; yet he would be a rare 

 genius who could combine in such a work, the 

 way to manage in all emergencies that are so 

 continually arising. This, the Journal nearly 

 accomplishes, because of the large number who 

 contribute to its columns. I would advise all 

 bee-keepers, whether they possess one or more 

 stocks, to subscribe for the American Bee 

 Journal, and they will surely find in each 

 number some suggestion that will be worth to 

 them more than the subscription price for a 

 year. 



Now a bit of my own experience. May 19, 

 Mr. Emerson, of Charleston, (Me.) transferred 

 for me a small swarm of bees, from the Torrey 

 hive to the American. But on carrying the 

 hive to the stand, I found the roof of the house 

 too low to admit it, and I placed it in another 

 part of the house. The natural result of this 

 sudden "change of base" was the loss of many 

 bees that flew back to the old stand and perish- 

 ed. I soon became convinced that the queen 

 was destroyed dudng the process of transfer- 

 ring ; but knowing that the combs contained 

 young larvae, I felt sure that a queen would 

 soon be reared; which proved to be the case. 



June 4th, I found the hive full of robbers, 

 that had completely conquered my little colony. 

 Watching them carefully, I managed lo entrap 

 some two or three quarts of them. After treat- 

 ing them to a good smoking, I kept them snu ; 

 and safe for four days, when I fed them by 



