34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



season lasts longer than was expected at first, 

 it gives more room for the yield, without the 

 bees being required to finish and cap it with 

 buckwheat houey. 



I have about fifty or more stocks at the pres- 

 ent time, and have had very few swarms. 

 They are storing honey fast at present, though 

 I had to feed considerable last spring. Those 

 that I fed most, are doing best now. The Ital- 

 ians (of which I have some) were almost en- 

 tiiely out of stores; in fact some had not a 

 pound of houev in their hives before I was 

 aware of their eondiiion. They are d ing very 

 nicely at this time ; and I shall probably not 

 have a black queen at the close of the season. 



I received a queen from Mr. Langstroth — one 

 of his twenty dollar ones. She is doing well. 

 I have taken all the eggs away from her as fast 

 as laid, for breeding purposes. A shorr time 

 ago, I introduced a young queen from her in one 

 of my stocks, by smoking, catching and remo- 

 ing the old queen, and sprinkling with honey 

 both the bees and the you-gqueen. I then let 

 her go at o.ice. I saw when looking at them 

 to-day, that she is all right, and has been lay- 

 ing quite extensively. Perhaps the method 

 would rot always be safe; but I shall try it till I 

 fail. I should not, however, recommend it 

 where a valuable or a dear-bought queen was at 

 stake, until it had been more fully tested. 



I find in one of my stocks of black bees some- 

 thing that I never noticed before. Whether it 

 is a disease or not. I do not know. I never saw 

 a notice of anything like it in any paper or 

 books on the subject. I enclose a bee for your 

 inspection Please report if you know what it 

 is. You will perceive that it is something con- 

 nected with the parts that secrete the wax; and 

 I have seen some of them with the wax scales 

 very thick and long, sticking to the body. 



William A. Barnes. 



West Meriden, Conn. 



PW The bees sent were so crushed in the 

 mail that it was impractible to separate and 

 identify the parts referred to. 



At Franklin, Ohio, recently a swarm of bees 

 settled on the head of a horse standing in front 

 of a church, aud the owner of the horse went to 

 his assistance. The bees settled on him too, 

 stinging him senseless. A doctor shaved his 

 head, and extracted fifty or sixty stings from 

 his scalp. The horse was stung severely, The 

 bees had come from a hive in that vicinity. 



The prompt application of a few gallous of 

 cold water, from the rose of a common water- 

 ing pot, sprinkled directly on the clustering 

 bees, would have obviated all difficulty in this 

 case, and saved both horse and owner. A little 

 knowledge, presence of mind, aud calmness, 

 would have been exceedingly serviceable here ; 

 for nothing is more apt to rouse the ill-temper 

 of bees than to come in contact with a sweaty 

 horse ; and a horse is a most helpless animal, 

 when attacked by bees. 



[For the American Bee Journal. J 



Response to Inquiries. 



Advice to a Young Bee-Keeper. 

 "When you don't know what to do, don't do 

 you don't know what." 



New Beginner wants my reasons for the 

 size of hive, &c. In the first place, New 

 Beginner is mistaken about the capacity of the 

 hive. It contains just 2000 cubic inches inside 

 of the comb frames ; and as a good queen will 

 occupy nearly every square inch of comb surface 

 in said hive every season with brood, a hive of 

 less capacity would not answer in any climate, 

 when properly worked. I wo'kecl my most 

 prolific queen this season, in three weeks, up to 

 the entire capacity of the hive, and two combs 

 over, by feeding her when required, and giving 

 empty worker comb as fast as she used it. I 

 selected comb containing but very little pollen. 

 At the end of three weeks, when the first eggs 

 laid commenced hatching, nearly every cell was 

 occupied, even into the extreme corners of the 

 frames. I also gave her bees a ; fast as she re- 

 quired them, to take care of the brood. If I had 

 given her a full complement of bees at the start, 

 they would have stored honey and restricted the 

 cap icity of the queen. Counting the two extra 

 frames, it makes the capacity about 2700 cubic 

 inches. 



About the inclined bottom board: I used it for 

 years. In every hive tint I ever saw it was an 

 extra expense, and no benefit whatever, but an 

 actual damage. If you are going into bee keep- 

 ing, you want to wo k your frames continually 

 troni one hive tf) another, and from one part of 

 the hive to another part ; and you want also to 

 turn the frames sometimes one end towards the 

 front, and sometimes the other. The same ob- 

 jections hold good against the closed top bar, 

 and frames fixed permanent at equal distances. 

 Friend, tie up one hand for one week, there 

 will be no great damage doue ; for at the end of 

 the week you can untie it, and you can tell for 

 certain whether you would sooner have two 

 hands than one. Make your hive on the L mg- 

 stroth principle (say you use the form that I 

 do), with open top bar. Be very careful to 

 have the frames made true, that is out of wind, 

 as the carpenters call it ; have the top bar 

 jointed true, and gaged where the bearings 

 come o a to the rabbetings or strips ; hive the 

 shoulders of the top bars cut true and square, 

 so that the frame when put toge her is perfectly 

 square, and when suspended in the hive hangs 

 just where you want it, without any fixture to 

 keep it at equal distances. 



Now, if you want to try the two methods, 

 dress out pieces one-quarter of an inch thick, 

 one and-a-half inches wide, and tack them ou 

 to the top bar ; cut out notches for the bees to 

 pass into the honey boxes, on the same princi- 

 ple of the American hive ; tack on little blocks 

 or bits of tin or zmc on the side of the frame, 

 or have a notched stick at the bottom, or a 

 stick with wires, to keep the frames at equal 

 distances at the bottom. Apply all this in some 

 of your hives and try the two me hods. When 

 you are satisfied you can take off these fixtures. 

 To test the inclined bottom, raise the rear of 

 the hive, in some cases, and let others set per- 

 fectly level ; and if you get one cent more profit 



