78 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Those " Shallow " Hives again. 



Mil. Editor : — I like to see candor and hon- 

 esty m all things ; and when we make a state- 

 ment concerning anything we should give all 

 the particulars, not a part only, and then leave 

 the reader to draw his own conclusions. 



I see ; n the August number of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, page 40, a communication from Mr. Gal- 

 lup, which I think smacks a little too much of 

 assertions without proof. Before going further 

 I will say that all the interest I have in the 

 Langstroth hive, is to use it for myself and 

 family. 



Mr. Gallup says that he has never "used the 

 shallow things, but has had the care of them for 

 his neighbors," &c. Well, now my case is just 

 the reverse of this. I use the "shallow things" 

 myself, and have care of a good many of my 

 neighbors', and have had for several years. 

 Yet 1 know of no person that has lost any 

 stocks in consequence of the shape of the hive ; 

 though one thing is true of these " shallow 

 things," as well as any that are deeper, and that 

 is, that bees will starve in them if they have not 

 stored enough honey to carry them through the 

 winter. Why did the man mentioned by Mr. 

 Gallup lose six hundred dollars worth of bees 

 in one winter ? We are left to draw our own 

 conclusions. Mr. Gallup says it is so, but does 

 not say why it is so. Now I keep bees every 

 winter in the Langslroth hive, in the open air ; 

 and when they had stores enough, I have not 

 lost the first stock yet. Last winter I had fifty 

 stocks in those hives, that stood all winter on 

 their summer stands, without even a corn-cob 

 about them, and not one particle of extra pro- 

 tection of any kind ; yet I lost only one stock, 

 and that starved to death. Those in the Amer- 

 ican hive that stood amongst them, did just as 

 well and no better. Again, Mr. Gallup says 

 that he can show " all over the west those shal- 

 low things rejected." This is another of his 

 assertions without proof. " All over " means 

 entirely; now I have travelled some in the 

 west, (but not quite "all over" it), and have 

 not seen the first rejected shallow thing, yet 

 my business was amongst bee-keepers. I have 

 transferred a good many stocks, in Illinois, 

 from other hives to Langstroth's ; and now 

 have many colonies in Illinois in the Lang- 

 stroth hive, and winter them in the open air 

 with success. I think Mr. Gallup, in his trip 

 through the west, galloped a little too fast to see 

 all that was going on there. One question, and 

 I am done. Why should we recommend a hive 

 to a new beginner, that an old bee-keeper would 

 reject? Eh! B. Puckett. 



Winchester, Ind., Sept. 10. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



How I became an Apiculturist, No. 5. 



If yon perceive a hive, after it has cast twice, 

 to have some quantity of bees, and yet to work 

 negligently, or not to increase in the spring, 

 suspect them to want a queen, and supply them 

 with one as soon as you can ; if no other way, 

 then by driving a poor swarm into them, for 

 which purpose always reserve some. — Pur- 

 chas. 



Mr. Debeauvoys was a good-looking and 

 agreeable man. I was very much pleased with 

 his conversation. He sold me, for the small 

 sum of forty-five cents, a copy of the first edi- 

 tion of his book. His hive is 12 by 13 inches, 

 and 15 inches high, opening at both ends, has 

 an attached sloping roof, and a movable bot- 

 tom. The eight frames were supported on 

 strips, and prevented from crowding, by a con- 

 trivance nearly the same as in the American 

 bee hive. While the swarm was still young, or 

 during the first months after transferring, it 

 was easy to remove or take out the frames, four 

 from each side. But after some months, the 

 operation became difficult, as the frames were 

 warped and the combs crooked. Consequent- 

 ly, I soon became dissatisfied with my new ac- 

 quisition. 



My bee-keeping neighbors, on seeing my 

 continual changes, laughed at me ; and instead 

 of believing the teaching I was always ready to 

 impart, used to ridicule me as soon as I would 

 leave. 



One of them, a gardener, ou hearing me speak 

 of the queen bee, asserted that there are no queens 

 in the hives. They had bees from father to son, 

 and had never seen such a queen. The big or 

 brooder bees, as he called the drones, had the 

 function of laying and setting the young. He 

 pitied me for believing in such an absurdity as 

 a queen bee. 



One fair morning, while passing near his gar- 

 den, I heard the sounds of pan and cauldron, 

 announcing as is customary the egress of a 

 swarm. Attracted as by loadstone, I hastened 

 to the spot, and found the gardener in the act of 

 shaking the limb of a medlar tree on which the 

 swarm had clustered. Seeing the queen alight on 

 his shoulder, I at once seized her, pleased to have 

 an opportunity to overcome his incredulity. 

 The man was too much occupied to observe this 

 feat, and I resolved to have some sport with 

 him. Quietly drawing my handkerchief, I 

 gently slipped the queen in a fold and secured 

 her there. The bees, unconscious of their loss, 

 entered the offered hive in great haste. Know- 

 ing that the gardener was very proud of his 

 greenhouse, and easily flattered by a notice of 

 it, I spoke to him of his flowers. He readily 

 offered to show me his new pelargoniums, and 

 we hastened away to the conservatory. After 

 spending some time there, I said to him, " Do 

 you look after your swarms after hiving them?" 

 "Oh. yes !" he replied. "Then come," said I, 

 "for I fear everything is not right about your 

 swarm." "Never fear !" rejoined he, " I have 

 hived swarms for more than twenty years, and 

 very rarely have they deserted the hive again. 

 You see all is right ; all the bees are already in 

 the hive, for not one can be seen hoveriug 

 round." "But," said I, "look at the medlar 

 tree ! It seems to me that the bees have all re- 

 turned to the limb from which they were 

 shaken !" " Indeed !" exclaimed he, " that is 

 so ; not a bee is in the hive, and yet I had rub- 

 bed its inside with sage, knowing that the bees 

 are fond of the odor." 



