THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



135 



[For the American Bee Journal. ] 



" Honor to Whom Honor is Dme." 



In the April No. 1868, of the Bee Journal, 

 page 200, Mr. Baldridge, of St. Charles, Ills., 

 expresses a little anxiety to give honor "to 

 whom honor is due." He wishes to know, "as 

 a matter of apistical history," who first used 

 " douhle tiers of hoxes," on the top of the 

 hives. 



Notwithstanding the delay in answering him, 

 I shall claim the original idea. AVhen Mr. 

 Langstroth visited me in the summer of 185G 

 aud acknowledged the plan new to him, I had 

 been using surplus honey boxes thus for several 

 years. Mr. B. says — " thus it seems that Mr. 

 Q. does not attach much importance to the dis- 

 covery, or he wovdd, without question, have 

 had more to say about it." Because one is not 

 putting in claims continually for what is taken 

 Avithout as much as " by your leave, sir," he 

 seems to think it all fair. Since Mr. B. ex- 

 presses an anxiety to give honor where it is 

 due, I hope he will review some of his instruc 

 tions in practical bee culture, and then judge 

 to whom, in some cases at least, honor is due. 



I have now discovered, relative to surplus 

 honey boxes, something very, very much more 

 important than "two tiers" of boxes on the 

 top. And that is, if boxes are placed at the 

 side of the combs, and no divisiou thicker than 

 a narrow strip of glass, the bees will enter and 

 work more readily, a week or ten days sooner, 

 than if compelled to travel an inch or more 

 from the combs of the hive to get into the boxes, 

 and then five or six inches more to the top of 

 the box to begin their work. I can put in boxes 

 enough by the side of the combs of my hive to 

 hold eighty pounds, and enougti for sixty more 

 on the top without the double tier. 



A prosperous colony that has not swarmed, 

 in a copious yield of honey, will store as fast in 

 nearly all the boxes at once, as in a single set 

 AVhen placed at some distance from the body of 

 the hive. 



This remark closes Mr. B.'s article: "In 

 many parts of the West every strong colony, 

 if kept from swarming, needs two sets of 

 boxes." I would say that in many parts of 

 Central New York, when kept from swarming, 

 they need three or four. And uoav I propose to 

 tell Mr. B., and others, how a strong colony 

 may be kept from swarming. Although this 

 abundant room will have a tendency to dis- 

 courage swarming, it is not by any means to be 

 depended on to prevent it. And when it has 

 been practiced for ten or fifteen years, and he 

 wishes to know where it originated, he may be 

 enabled to find the record in his diary. It -will 

 be the more necessary to put it there, as this, 

 like other things, will not be covered by a patent. 



It is only necessary to place, through the 

 swarming season, a box. tAventy inches square, 

 four deep, with a piece of tin or glass two inches 

 wide, on the top, projecting inward. This pre- 

 vents the queen from creeping over, she being 

 unable to hold fast on the under side, and hav- 

 ing her wings clipped, she is prevented from 



flying out. After an effort of this kind, she will 

 return to her hive, and the bees with her. A 

 movable comb hive is needed, that it may bu 

 opened once in ten days and all queen cells re- 

 moved, to prevent her being superseded by a 

 young queen. Or, should it be desirable to rear 

 a young queen in her place, alloAV one cell only 

 to remain. A little before it matures, remove 

 the old queen. When the young one com- 

 mences laying, find her and clip one of her 

 wings, and all is safe from loss by swarming. 



M. QuiNBY. 



St. Johnsville, N. Y. 



[For the Bee American Journal.] 



Dividing Bees— Straight Combs. 



Mr. Baldridge, on page 90 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, vol. IV, advertises a small book that ho 

 has in preparation, " on getting straight combs 

 and making artificial swarms, without looking 

 up the queen — there being but one exception." 

 Price not stated. If said book is to contain but 

 these two ideas, the price should be moderate. 

 If he cannot afford to give those iavo things to 

 the public, I think, if his demands are not ex- 

 travagant, that a club might be formed to pur- 

 chase them, and present them to the readers ot 

 the Journal. It would save expense of pub- 

 lication certainly, and it might save the author 

 some annoyance perhaps. Even after he has 

 done his best, and fancied that he had given a 

 new and valuable idea, some one might have so 

 little sympathy with his pet plan as to make 

 such unfeeling remarks as may be found on page 

 90 before mentioned— " Well, sir, if my plan 

 were no better than that, I Avould keep still and 

 never divulge it ; for that is of but very little 

 value." Having some experience, I can fancy 

 what his feelings will be. What a pity that 

 one's own case cannot stand on its own merits, 

 without disparaging another's. Was it even 

 good policy, Mr. B., to represent my plan as of 

 but "very little value," because your " plan " 

 need only be very little above good for noth- 

 ing, to be superior to mine? On the contrary, 

 had you represented mine as very good, and 

 yours as infinitely better, you would have 

 greatly enhanced the importance of your own 

 invention. Perhaps it will be well to consider 

 this in the next advertisement. 



We want this book, if we are to have it, be- 

 fore the season for building combs. If delayed 

 too long, some one may possibly get a similar 

 idea and publish it to the world, and take from 

 the book half its value, or, what might be still 

 Avorse, claim it as original. And a further rea- 

 son for haste, I am not sure until I procure his 

 method, but my friend Hetherington, of Cherry 

 Valley, New York, has a method superior to 

 his, of dividing, or making artificial swarms, 

 without being necessitated to look up the queen, 

 even in the exceptionable case of one swarm. 

 It can be applied to the box hive; can make 

 eight artificial swarms in an hour, on an aver- 

 age; and, with movable combs, more. With his 

 permission, I may give it some time. Mr. H. 

 has probably sold more surplus honey of his 



