April S 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



299 



Another matter is ventilation and comfort. If the hives 

 are exposed to the heat of the noon sun, its direct rays shining 

 on the alighting board and the entrance, we know the bees will 

 swarm more readily. If the space allowed for entering the 

 hive is too small, there will be discomfort from that cause. 

 Some may remark that, in a state of nature, the entrance to 

 the hive is the same — exactly the same — summer and winter. 

 That is true, but we have the bees in domesticity. We want 

 to get a larger yield from them than they would produce if 

 left to themselves, and we must look after small details if we 

 wish to succeed. 



My aim is never to allow a colony to cluster on the out- 

 side, while the crop lasts. I want to see every bee at work. 

 When the crop is over, it is a different thing. They must be 

 hanging somewhere then, and whether on the outside or the 

 matters but little ; but when the crop is on, we not only 

 must keep them at work, but we must make things comfort- 

 able for them, so that every bee will be at work, either inside 

 the hive or outside in the fields. 



A bee-keeper who long ago dropped out of the list of con- 

 tributors — James Heddon — said. "Our business is a business 

 of details." This is emphatically true, and the apiarist who 

 does not bother himself about details will sooner or later fail. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Home-Made Hives— Hive-Colors, Etc. 



BY ALLEN LATHAM. 



THE chief pleasure to me from writing on bee-keeping is de- 

 rived from reading the occasional comments which the 

 articles call forth. To know what another thinks of one's 

 ideas, whether there be commendation or censure, must 

 always afford interest. The columns of the American Bee 

 Journal are too valuable to be used in reciting the numerous 

 foibles and conceits which, though interesting us hugely, have 

 little to offer for the entertainment of the other fellow. When, 

 however, points are raised which relate to the true welfare 

 of the bee and of the bee-keeper, then an exchange of opinion 

 can become of great value. Accordingly, I am going to de- 

 part from mv usual custom of keeping silent. On pages 183 

 and 199 Mr. Hasty and Dr. Miller raise points which I feel 

 constrained to consider further. 



Mr. Hasty suggests strawberries to me. Why? Oh, be- 

 cause the best strawberries are those which have enough 

 acidity to make the sweetness all the sweeter. If Mr. Hasty 

 occasionally drops a little acid, he quickly seeks to mollify the 

 effects by an oozing of honeyed sweetness that can scarcely 

 fail to appease all hurt. 



I suppose, Mr. Hasty, that you or the printer let the 

 hyphen slip in on the wrong side of "box." My hives are not 

 box-hives, though many boxes go into their construction. 



I wish that Mr. Hasty would tell just what he has in 

 mind when he says : "Apart from his way of making the 

 body of it. say." Does Mr. Hasty still lift heavy stones 

 whenever he opens a hive? My covers never blow off, though 

 there is nothing but cover above the hive. Let the cover be 

 made with a deep rim, and nothing short of a hurricane will 

 blow it off. 



No. the paper will not rot under bricks or stones, for all 

 water quickly evaporates from these dark-colored covers, 

 unless, indeed, the shade be rather dense. 



No trouble at all about ice in spring. The dark color of 

 the paper will cause the ice to melt so that it is always out of 

 the way long before any sane bee-keeper is monkeying with 

 his bees. I am not sane, and so I simply slide the ice off after 

 the sun has loosened it, as it will invariably do every day fit 

 to take a peep at the bee^. 



Will Mr. Hasty kindly name any advantages to be gained 

 by tilting hives forward? I'd like nothing better than to have 

 him stand his advantages up in a row so that I could snow- 

 ball them. 



Dr. Miller's genial way of "saying his piece" is no less 

 thawing than Mr. Hasty's is melting. I sometimes wonder 

 what the good "Old Reliable" would be were these two gen- 

 tlemen to lie taken away. It would be an awful example in 

 subtraction for me. 



Dr. Miller, it would be hard to convince a skeptical per- 

 son that a dark hive can be cooler in summer, but warmer in 

 winter. Had I not found it true by my own observation I 

 think that I should be an unbeliever. Though a dark hive 

 will cool off more rapidly than the white one in summer, it 

 will get no cooler in winter. Both hives are as cold in winter, 

 on the outside, as they can be ; that is, they are as cold as the 

 surrounding air. approximately. The white hive seldom gains 

 much heat from the outer w-orld, the black hive frequently 



gets it. The extra heat of the black hive may become lost 

 readily, but after it is lost tin Mark is as well off as the white. 



Let it be written in red letters that I do not advocate 

 black for single-walled hives. I advocate black for double- 

 walled hives only, and should hesitate to paint single-walled 

 hives black. I should fear that such hives would get too much 

 heat if in the sun. and would o« .1 off too much if in the shade. 

 For winter, however, they would be excellent. 



I wish to say here, too, that in some locations hives can 

 not be kept in the shade wisely. I find that, unless the shade 

 is broken — not dense — and there is free chance for the winds 

 under the trees, the honey is poorly ripened. If one has well- 

 pruned fruit-trees on high ground, or shade such as they 

 would furnish, he can expect good results with hives set in 

 the shade. But if his hives are set in a shady nook where 

 the winds gain little access, and where the dew is wont to 

 linger well into the forenoon, he will find his honey to be of 

 light body and inferior flavor. 



On page 185, Mr. Davenport treats us to another of those 

 irritating mustard plasters such as he put upon us a year or 

 so ago. As I read this latest article I glanced around for a 

 brick, but realizing that I could not throw it so far I chose 

 another weapon. , . , , 



It is difficult to understand Mr. Davenports attitude, and 

 probably mv thought is the same as that of hosts of other 

 readers." What is he after? I have a happy thought! Per- 

 haps he is waiting to be "called!" So here goes! Mr. C. 

 Davenport. / don't believe it!!! Norwich, Conn. 



(£onr>ention 

 Proceedings 



"\ 



=J 



Report of the Wisconsin State Convention 



BY HARRY LATHROP. 

 [Continued from page 27S.] 



A good paper was read from Mrs. Millie Honaker (who 

 was not present), on 



ECONOMY IN BEE-KEEPINQ 



Like everything else, bee-keeping demands the ex- 

 penditure of a certain amount of money, labor, and time, 

 before satisfactory results can be obtained. More, how- 

 ever, than is necessary to provide all things needful is not 

 called for, and is actual extravagance. True economy is 

 judicious saving— simply another name for good manage- 

 ment. It does not mean doing without a necessarv article 

 to save its cost, but reducing cost, if possible, and using to 

 the best advantage afterwards. Nor does saving labor and 

 time mean leaving a thing undone which it would be profit- 

 able to do, but, instead, finding a shorter and easier method 

 of doing it. How to economize in a monetary way will be 

 our first consideration. After this we will study a little 

 into ways and means of saving labor and time. 



Hives are the bee-keeper's first and greatest essential. 

 Unfortunately, they are also his most expensive, even when 

 obtained as cheaply as possible. To buy them ready to 

 use at retail is to pay an almost prohibitive price for them. 

 To buy in- small quantities in the flat, of retailers, is also 

 to pay too much. If they must be had already cut, they 

 should be bought enough at a time to enable one to take 

 advantage of quantity prices. In 50 to 100 lots they may 

 be obtained for about two-thirds what they would cost a 

 few at a time, especially if bought already nailed and 

 painted. To be sure, none except the most extensive bee- 

 keepers ever need so many hives in any one season, but a 

 number could order together, and in this way all obtain 

 the same advantage. This not only applies to hives, but 

 to other supplies as well. 



But a still further saving may be accomplished in 

 many instances by ordering from wholesale lists, gladly 

 furnished to small retailers by manufacturers and their 

 head agents. Turning to one such, recently sent me, I 

 find that I can obtain quite a reduction from regular cata- 

 log prices, especially on quantity lots. There are always 

 a number of small bee-keepers in every neighborhood who 

 are glad to buy what little they need at home, tin 

 abling one to dispose of enough to take advantage of both 

 quantity and wholesale price- These wholesale prices are 



