68 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Shallow Hives again. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Late "Reared Drones. 



Mr. Editor : — The Journal is highly prized 

 hy the bee-keepers in ihis vicinity. 



The article in the August number, page 39, 

 by R. Bickford, agrees with my own observa- 

 tions exactly. But will he please tell us through 

 the Journal what the new plan of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth is, for wintering bees ? 



Mr. Gallup, on page 40, says Mr. Alley is 

 compelling him to state some truths. Then he 

 goes on to make some statements which, if he 

 intends for truths, do not answer the purpose. 

 He says, "now for some of my reasons. In the 

 hollow gum or the American hive the bees will 

 commence about so many combs, for worker 

 comb, say from six to eight, and as they are tall 

 in proportion to their size, those combs are car- 

 ried down to the bottom all worker comb." Now 

 those bee-keepers who have not seen the Amer- 

 ican hives with combs built in them by the bees, 

 might believe this. But I have nine of those 

 American hives in which every frame is filled 

 with comb built by the bees, some of them by 

 Italians, and some the common black bee, and 

 not one frame in eithei of the nine hives is in 

 the condition in which he says they will be. 

 My friend, Mr. William O. Sweet, of West 

 Mansfield, Massachusetts, has some thirty or 

 more colonies in those hives. I asked him if 

 his were in the condition Mr. Gallup says they 

 will be. His reply was, "No, not one." 



Now about those shallow hives. Last fall I 

 bought two of them of Mr. Alley, and about 

 the last of November I transferred a colony of 

 black bees to one of them, giving them six 

 frames well filled with honey and bee-bread. 

 There was the queen and a few bees, less than 

 a quart. I then put on the corn cob pan 

 and cover. We had a long, cold, hard winter, 

 so that the bees did not fly out at all until about 

 the last of February, when I opened the hive 

 and found a good, full colony. They had ac- 

 tually increased during the winter. The depth 

 of the frames is 8| inches. In April I bought 

 twenty-two colonies in siDgle boarded hives, 

 with frames of the same size as Mr. Alley's. 

 They had stood out all winter, in a cold place, 

 without any covering or protection whatever. 

 Most of them had only eight frames, some ten, 

 and one fifteen. They were all in first-rate 

 condition. Some were Italians, some hybrids, 

 and the rest common black bees. They have 

 done very well this season ; have thrown six 

 swarms that have filled as many hives of ten 

 frames each ; and have made considerable sur- 

 plus honey. From one colony, which did not 

 swarm, I have taken ninety-three pounds of 

 honey in frames which were set over the hive 

 in the place of boxes, leaving off the honey- 

 board. From another I have taken twenty- 

 eight boxes of three pounds each. 



Mr. Benjamin King, of Raynbam, Massachu- 

 setts, has used the Langstroth hive, with frames 

 the same depth, (8£ inches), for the last ten 

 years or more, and has usually left them out all 

 winter on their summer stands ; and they have 

 always wintered well with him. 

 Taunton, Mass. H. B. King. 



In opening a hive of Italians to-day, (Septem- 

 ber 1), to show a friend the practical workings 

 of movable frames, I was surprised to find 

 ahout one-sixth of the card of comb I lifted out 

 filled with capped drone brood. These are the 

 only drones that have been raised in this hive 

 during the season, although I have manoeuved 

 not a little, to have them furnish early drones, 

 as it contained my only pure Italian queen. 

 Early in the spring, I moved all the combs con- 

 taining drone cells to the centre of the hive, 

 but the queen refused to supply them with eggs, 

 although she is a very prolific one. 



If these drones are not destroyed it will afford 

 me a good ooportunity to have a lot of queens 

 purely fertilized, as ail black drones have been 

 killed off. 



Pure Fertilization. 



Could not this be secured by imparting to the 

 nucleus containing the queen some powerful 

 odor ; and also to the nucleus containing the 

 drones that we wish to cross with ? Would not 

 the black drones be repelled by the scent, whilst 

 the others would not ? Will some bee-keeper 

 give it a trial, and report through the Journal? 

 J. R. Gardener. 



Fancy Farm, near Christiansburg, Va. 



Hunting Wild Bees. 



Hector St. John, in h's letters, give the fol- 

 lowing curious account of the method which he 

 employed in discovering bees in our woods in 

 early times: Provided with a blanket, some 

 provisions, wax, vermillion, honey, and a small 

 pocket compass, he proceeded to such woods as 

 were at a considerable distance from the settle- 

 ments. Then, examining if I hey abounded with 

 large trees, he kindled a small fire on some flat 

 stones, clo?e by which putting some wax, and, 

 on another stone near by, dropping distinct 

 drops of honey, which he encircled with 

 vermillion. He then retired to watch care- 

 fully if any bees appeared. The smell of 

 the burnt wax, if there were any bees in the 

 neighborhood, would invariably attract them ; 

 and on finding the honey, they would necessar- 

 ily become tinged with the vermillion in at- 

 tempting to get at it. Next, fixing his compass, 

 he found out the direction of the colony by the 

 flight of the loaded bees, which is invariably 

 straight when they are returning home. Then 

 timing with his watch the absence of the bee 

 till it would come back for a second load, and re- 

 cognizing it by the vermillion, he could gener- 

 ally guess pretty closely to the distance travel- 

 led by it in a given time. Knowing then the 

 direction and the probable distance, he seldom 

 failed in going directly to the right tree. In 

 this way he sometimes found as many as eleven 

 colonies in one season. 



Field Music— the hum of bees. 



