THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



153 



plenty of honey in the hive. But if they have 

 honey above the cluster for such an emergency, 

 they are all right, for the warmth of the bees 

 keeps the honey directly above them sufficiently 

 ■warm at all times. Bees will perish (with the 

 thermometer at 10° below zero,) if compelled 

 to cluster between combs filled with sealed 

 honey, nearly if not quite as soon as they would 

 if compelled to cluster between sheets of ice. 



In the cold winter mentioned above, every 

 swarm of bees perished, with abundance of 

 honey in their hives, that were attempted to be 

 wintered on their summer stands in shallow 

 hives — whether Langstroth hives or box hives. 

 Yet in box and frame hives from twelve to four- 

 teen inches high, bees wintered well on the same 

 stands. But, for the sake of our friend Lang- 

 stroth, we will allow that they winter well, even 

 in Minnesota, if prepared as he directs. Yet 

 w 7 hat are they good for after wintering in this 

 climate, in comparison with a swarm wintered 

 in a hive w 7 ith greater depth of comb ? The 

 readers of the Journal will please take notice 

 and govern themselves accordingly, that I 

 never condemned the Langstroth hive, or the 

 Langstroth principle. I only object to the broad 

 shallow form, for this climate. And my reasons 

 for this have never been successfully contro- 

 verted. 



Some time last spring, Mr. R. K. Crum (now 

 editor of the Osage Republican) sold a number 

 of swarms of bees at auction. He sold two to 

 Mr. Charles Brownell, of Osage — one in a box 

 hive, and one in a Langstroth. The combs in 

 the latter were six inches in depth ; and whenl 

 made a good swarm from his box hive, the other 

 had just commenced to gain a trifle in numbers. 

 They failed to store honey enough to winter on, 

 and he destroyed them this fall. A Mr. Dock- 

 stader purchased five swarms, one in a Lang- 

 stroth hive, three in Lee hives, and one in a 

 hollow gum or log. I made swarms for him 

 from his Lee hives, all of which have done 

 well; and he made one from his log hive, but re- 

 ceived nothing from his Langstroth hive, in 

 which the depth of combs is seven inches. Mr. 

 J. P. Long, a preacher of the Gospel at Osage, 

 purchased one swarm in a Langstroth hive, the 

 depth of comb seven inches. He had a box 

 partly filled with honey, probably about ten 

 pounds, and no swarm. Mr. B. H. Whitacie 

 purchased two swarms, both in Langstroth 

 hives, in which the depth ot comb was about 

 eight inches. I took a swarm from his about a 

 month after my swarming, and my neighbors, 

 was all done up for the season — too late for 

 them to do anything this season. (Mr. Dock- 

 stader and Mr. Whitacre are readers of the Bee 

 Journal.) These swarms had all been win- 

 tered in Mr. Cram's cellar, and wintered in a 

 good condition. I believe he had the agency of 

 two counties for the Langstroth hive, when I 

 came here, and he condemned it and bought the 

 right to the Lee hive. He did not know that he 

 could alter the form and still have a Langstroth 

 hive. 



What we want, and what we must have in 

 this latitude and further north, is a hive with 

 at least ten inches depth of comb, if we expect 

 to have any satisfaction from our bees. And it 



must be in a more compact form, so that the 

 bees can cluster naturally and the queen can 

 breed up to her full capacity early in the season; 

 or else we shall be left far in the rear of our 

 neighbors. We must have this, whether we 

 winter in special depositories, or on their sum- 

 mer stands. 



Mr. Furman, of Cedar Rapids, has the agency 

 for the Langstroth hive in this State. We will 

 suppose that he comes into this part of the State, 

 with his hive in the broad shallow form. He 

 will be met with such remarks as this — "We 

 have tried the Langstroth hive, and it is good 

 for nothing, &c, &c, We like the Kidder hive, 

 the Lee hive," or some other of the thousand 

 and one hives that have been got up since the 

 introduction of the movable combs by Mr. 

 Langstroth. Well, there is no use wasting any 

 more words. Friend Furman, furnish us with 

 a form of hive suited to our climate and we 

 shall not have the least particle of fault to find. 

 Call it a Langstroth hive, and then we shall not 

 be throwing away our money to other parties. 

 Remember, I never have doubted or said that 

 the broad, shallow form was not adapted to Mr. 

 Langstroth's climate; neither did I ever object 

 to the Langstroth principle. There is no trouble 

 in wintering bees in the shallow form of hi vein 

 a special depository; but the spring plays the 

 mischief. Our hives become almost depopulated 

 before the weather gets warm enough for the 

 queen to breed as she should. 



Finally, friend Furman, if you or any of 

 your agents come up this way, do not fail to 

 call on Gallup, and you will not only find him 

 good-natured, but chock full of gas. 



E. Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



All Worker Combs. 



In all the articles that I wrote for the Jour- 

 nal, I wish to have it distinctly understood that 

 I wrote for the benefit of those who know less 

 than I do, and not for those who know more. 

 Neither is it necessary for beginners to follow 

 the instructions to the letter. They should 

 strive to understand the theory or principle, and 

 then they can go to work intelligently. Now 

 some individuals write to me that they laugh at 

 my productions. Well, I would sooner hear you 

 laugh than cry, at any time. But lemember this: 

 Were you born a natural bee-keeper with all the 

 necessary knowledge, or did you have it to 

 learn ? I had to learn it, and there are others 

 still in the same fix. Instead of laughing, 

 would it not be better to give us a helping hand? 

 Give us some of your great knowledge through 

 the Journal. I for one, am just as anxious to 

 learn as ever I was. But "enough of this." 



How to secure all worker comb is the ques- 

 tion. We will suppose you have few swarms 

 in frame hives to begin with; and, for the sake 

 of illustration, we will further suppose that you 

 have them in the form that I use (for I know 

 exactly how that works.) About swarming 

 time take out one queen and a smallish swarm 



