(Entered at the Post-Offlce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.) 

 Published Weekly at $1.00 a Year, by George W. York & Co., 334 Dearborn Street. 



GEORGE W. YORK, Editor 



CHICAGO, ILL., DECEMBER 6, 1906 



Vol. XLVI— No. 49 



editorial ^ofes 

 and Comments 





Wanted-A Good, Effective Hive 



The following letter has been received and 

 read with much interest: 



American Bee Journal— 



Gentlemen: — Your invitation to subscribe 

 is at hand, and 1 take no bee-journal, although 

 I am not unacquainted with yours. It is as 

 good as any, I guess. 



But until some of the bee-papers can fur- 

 nish the public with a good, effective bee- 

 hive, or a pattern thereof, or instructions how 

 to make such, that an ordinary man of ordi- 

 nary sense, can make out of pine lumber with 

 hand-saw and hatehet that is superior to the 

 old box-hive, bee-journals are useless. Who 

 ever furnishes it, his fortune is made. 



Garland Co., Ark. E. A. Fdlford. 



The American Bee Journal desires above all 

 things to Ije useful, and there is a plainly im- 

 plied reproach that so far it has remained 

 " useless," and all because it has not fur- 

 nished instruction for making a hive " with 

 hand-saw and hatchet that is superior to the 

 old box-hive." 



As our correspondent is not unacquainted 

 with this Journal, he can hardly have failed 

 to note that it has made an earnest effort to 

 supply all desired information regarding api- 

 cultural matters, even to the extent of hav- 

 ing a regular department each week, in which 

 each subscriber has the privilege of answers 

 to any questions he may send in. The only 

 reason for the neglect to give the instruction 

 desired by our correspondent, is that no one 

 has heretofore asked for it, and so it was not 

 known that any one wanted it. Now that the 

 want is known, the reproach for the omission 

 shall no longer continue. 



Get pine boards 1 inch thick. For the sides 

 of the hive, cut 2 pieces, each 80JJ inches 

 long and 10 inches wide. For the ends, 2 

 pieces 15 inches long and ',)\ inches wide. 

 Nail together so that the outside measure of 



the hive shall be 20 l 4 xl~. The pieces for the 

 sides and ends are not of the same width, and 

 are to match at the bottom. That leaves an 

 open space % inch at the top at each end. To 

 close this space, and also to furnish cleats by 

 which to lift the hive, nail on each outside 

 end a piece 17x1% inches. 



For a cover, take a board IS inches long 

 and 17 inches wide, having a cleat nailed on 

 each end. Such wide lumber is now expen- 

 sive, and the cover may be made of 2 or more 

 narrower pieces, covered with ruberoid roof- 

 ing, which is now to be had at the lumber 

 yards. 



A bottom-board may be 3 or 3 inches longer 

 than the hive, and of the same width, or the 

 hive may be placed on any flat surface. In 

 either case there should be nailed upon the 

 floor at each side, and also at the back end, 

 strips 1 inch wide and >.,' inch thick. 



Ten frames are needed. For these, rip out 

 of your inch lumber 6trips % inch thick. Cut 

 the top-bar 20 inches long, the bottom-bar 

 17;"v, and the end-bars &%. Nail the top-bar 

 and bottom-bar on the end-bars, making a 

 frame l'/VxOV, outside measure, this being 

 the size of the Langstroth frame. 



This will not be so good as a factory-made 

 hive, but it will be a long ways ahead of a 

 box-hive, as it allows each comb to be taken 

 out instead of being a sealed book like the 

 box-hive. Whether our fortune is made 

 hereby remains to be 6een. 



Capacity of British Standard Frame 



D. M. Macdonald says in the British Bee 

 Journal : 



Editor York (page 553) states that the 

 Langstroth frames are 35 percent larger than 

 our standard. I, after allowing for thicker 

 wood and taking internal space (the true test), 



work it out at rather under 25 percent. Our 

 hives, with 10 or 11 frames, have practically 

 the same breeding space as an 8-frame Lang- 

 stroth. 



Quite right, Scotch friend; the proper way 

 to make comparison is by inside measurement. 



Anchoring Hives 



To secure hives from being blown over in 

 exposed situations, the Irish Bee Journal 

 gives the following: 



Pass a rope over the roof with two bricks 

 at one end and secured at the other end by a 

 strong stake driven into the ground beside 

 the hive. 



The Pampered Drone 



Referring to the Hasty-Miller controversy 

 about the drone, page 813, Editor Digges, of 

 the Irish Bee Journal, says Mr. Hasty's views 

 are common enough, but he thinks them 

 groundless, and quotes from the " Irish Bee 

 Guide" the following flowery passage: 



" Here may be observed wise Nature's regu- 

 lation that gives the battle to the strong, and 

 to the brave the fair. The agile lover; he 

 whose self-restraint has dipped with temper- 

 ate appetite into the honey vats, and whose 

 quick power of flight, not lessened by emascu- 

 lating idleness, is trained and strengthened 

 by sufficient exercise, is first to reach the 

 queen, and, in brief ecstasy of that embrace, 

 gives all his vigor to the making of a hardy 

 race; and giving all, he dies." 



Again Irish Requeening of Colonies 



On page 685, comment was made upon an 

 article in the Irish Bee Journal, written by T. 

 Maguire. To this a reply was made by the 

 editor of that journal, as mentioned on page 

 929. Now comes the following letter from 

 Mr. Maguire himself: 



Editor American Bee Journal: — A copy 

 of your paper of Aug. 9, in which you com- 

 ment on my little article on " Requeening," 

 in the June issue of the Irish Bee Journal, 

 has been sent me by the editor of that paper. 



He refers to your comment in the October 

 number of his paper, and gives some authori- 

 ties in support of my statement that you ask 

 for. Almost every prominent writer on bees 

 that I have read insists on the importance of 

 having young queen6, and I think it is now 

 " up to you " to quote those who enlarge 

 upon the virtues of old ones. 



Why, in this very issue of your paper, 

 Morley Pettit refers to the subject in similar 

 termstomine. He says (page 689) : " 



