132 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



than the way lie recommends will this cost ? 

 But how much better and handier; and how 

 much easier to pack and unpack; how much 

 neater in appearance; and how in every way 

 more desirable. I speak from experience, hav- 

 ing one made: and in use these three months for 

 ■winter. He also says, "Now right the hive, put 

 strips on the rabhets so as to raise the frames 

 about half an inch higher from the hottom 

 board." Now, having done this, why not 

 nail them there, and keep the frames in that 

 position evermore; reducing its chance of 

 becoming infested with worms three-fourths ; 

 and while you are about it, just nail an inch 

 strip all around the top of the hive, raising the 

 honey board also — reducing the chances of its 

 being infested with moth-worms three-fourths 

 of the one fourth left, thus making it almost 

 moth proof? Last spring I altered mine so, 

 and have not had a worm in them since. 



With regard to the packing with rags, I will 

 say that in my experiments made with the hive 

 I invented (see page 83, vol. 4, of the Bee 

 Journal) the packing was first a layer of cot- 

 ton batting, then a coffee-bag about three-fourths 

 full of woolen rags, leaving the rags loose so 

 that they would readily fill in the corners. I 

 transferred the bees at night when the mercury 

 was below zero. Next morning they had fast- 

 ened the comhs and patched them up all right 

 on top, and in twenty-four hours there was 

 brood in three combs. This was in February, 

 and there was no brood in the others for five 

 weeks after. I thought so well of the rags that 

 I bought 500 to 600 pounds last summer for this 

 winter's use. So you see I am all right on the 

 rag question, and a little ahead of time. 



A GOOD BEE-BREEDER. 



Mr. Charles Dadant, on page 91 of the Bee 

 Journal, and other correspondents through the 

 hack numbers, find fault with Mr. Langstroth's 

 shallow hive, on account of the queens not 

 being able to swing around a circle, thereby 

 making it a poor bee-breeding hive. Gentle- 

 men, please turn to page 87 of vol. 4. There 

 you will find a hive described that is warm 

 enough to breed your bees, and a frame as com- 

 pact as possible, hanging in the best shape for 

 breeding, and for storing honey above the 

 brood, with room for plenty of honey in the 

 spring in ordinary seasons. A circle of teu 

 inches in diameter or thirty inches in circum- 

 ference can be had, with practically no bottom 

 to the comb below the cluster of bees for millers 

 to lay their eggs in. Moreover, bees storing 

 honey on their return home, do not have to pass 

 over the brood to reach the top of the frame. 

 They alight at the entrance (7), run up the in- 

 clined back (3) of tlie inner hive until they reach 

 the strips (4), up which they run until they 

 reach the level of the cells they are depositing 

 honey in. 



ALL WORKER COMB. 



In running my bees from one to ten this last 

 season, in over" two hundred frames of comb 

 made, not one was drone comb, neither was the 

 comb made in hives without a queen, or where 

 the bees were raising one, nor whether they had 

 a fertile or an unfertile queen, drone-celled. 



They commenced none ; and I have had no 

 trouble from that source. 



BEE-FEEDING. 



In reply to Mr. Gallup's general rejoinder, I 

 will only say that it matters little how he may 

 feed his bees, since by his own confession he 

 does feed. He may feed them spoon victuals or 

 honey by the frame full from other hives. That 

 is his method and his privilege. But, all jokes 

 aside, are bee-keepers to rob their bees in the 

 fall of most of their stores and combs, and then, 

 if the spring is backward, or a season like the 

 last occurs, ought he be either dissatisfied, or al- 

 lege that bee-keeping does not pay, if he has to 

 feed them a little to help them through ? Ask 

 the farmers if manure does not pay; ask the but- 

 ter maker if feed does not pay; ask the cheese- 

 maker if corn does not pay to feed cows ? If 

 your store hogs were not fed, how much pork 

 would they make ? How much wool would you 

 get from your sheep without feed ? And so on to 

 the end of all things or animals appropriated by 

 man to his own use. Even his machines he has 

 to feed with "oil," or they will not run; and 

 the most successful farmer, stock raiser and 

 machinist, is he who/eedsjudiciously. And, in 

 time, I think the mos t successful bee keeper 

 will be included among the most judicious of 

 feeders. 



TIIE HIVE FOR NATURAL CLUSTERS 



of bees in winter is the one described on page 

 86 of vol. 4 of the Bee Journal. The frame, 

 as hung, is eighteen inches high and eighteen 

 inches wide, thus allowing large or small 

 swarms to cluster entirely according to their 

 instincts or nature. In this respect it is 

 equal to any, if not superior to all, for winter- 

 ing bees on their summer stands. 



THE niVE FOR NEW BEGINNERS 



is the one described on the same page of the 

 said volume of the Bee Journal. It is a hive 

 that can be recommended to bee-keepers gener- 

 ally as one which, from its form, must always 

 be clean, having no bottom for pieces of wax or 

 dirt to lodge on, which in most cases will be 

 found to be the true cause of trouble with bees. 

 There being no bottom, only inclined sides and 

 top, if no more combs are left in the hive than 

 the bees can cover, all will be well; and in the 

 morning or at eve by simply removing No. 6 

 during the spring, summer, and fall, and No. 

 6 and No. 10 in the winter, the condition of the 

 colony can be pretty correctly told at a glance. 



J. M. Price. 

 Buffalo Grove, Iowa. 



The queen bee begins to lay her eggs as soon 

 as the severity of the winter's frost is past; and 

 proceeds in proportion to the mildness of the 

 season. The number of young bees that may 

 by this means rise in the hive may endanger the 

 lives of all by famine. On this account the 

 owner should at this season carefully and fre- 

 quently examine the state of his colonies, and 

 supply with food such as are likely to be in 

 want. He may thus save colonies that would 

 otherwise be sure to perish. — Wildmar. 



