1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19 



[For the AiuericaQ Bee Journal.] 



Eeplies — Feeding, Hive,?, and Wintering. 



In Vol. v., No. 12, page 262, Mr. T. Woodey 

 asks, " when is the right time to feed, spring or 

 fall?" Since I commenced nsing movable comb 

 hives, I have always preferred and practiced 

 equalizing stores in the fall; that is, taking well 

 filled combs from heavy stocks, and giving them 

 to the light ones, even if I had to feed both in 

 the spring. Conseqnently I prefer spring feed- 

 ing, and even summer feeding, if required; and 

 summer feeding is oftener needed than most bee- 

 keepers are aware of. Sugar answers every pur- 

 pose for sjiring or summer feeding. Good 

 coffee sugar is best ; yet almost any sugar will 

 answer for stimulating. 



Which is the best hive, is, or appears to be, 

 still a disputed question. Every patent hive 

 man claims his to be the very best in use — far 

 ahead of all others, &c., &c. But to tell you the 

 honest truth as I understand it, I have never yet 

 seen anything in the shape of a hive, that beats 

 the Langstroth hive. Although I prefer a dif- 

 ferent form from that which Mr. Langstroth uses, 

 still it is a Langstroth hive for all that. And as 

 you are a beginner you must luiderstand that 

 the fiama form that suits one man will not suit 

 another; or as the old Indian said we would be 

 all after one squaw, and then you know there 

 would be a muss in the wigwam. You will find 

 the Langstroth cheap, simple, and efficient ; 

 and this cannot be said of all other hives. In 

 fact, it will not require an engineer to run the 

 machine; or, in other words, an inexperienced 

 person can handle one. 



In the cellar or a special repository properly 

 constructed above ground, is the best place for 

 wintering bees, because of the saving of honey, 

 if nothing more. I can winter bees in a cellar, 

 and not have them consume over one pound per 

 month, either a strong or a weak swarm in the 

 form of hive that I use; and you ought to learn 

 to do the same. But I want the management of 

 the swarm myself the previous season. The 

 fact is, that if bees have the right kind of venti- 

 lation, both in the hive and in the cellar, they 

 remain in a semi-toi-pid state, as it were through- 

 out the entire winter, even as long a winter as 

 the past one was. My bees were lighter in stores 

 last fixll than I ever had them before (that is, a 

 dozen swarms or more.) I set them in a month 

 earlier than common, and set them out a month 

 later ; yet I wintered every swarm. 



E. Gallup. 

 Orchard, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



"Who lias the Best Bee-Hive ? 



"I have !" rings out from a thousand tongues. 

 Well, gentlemen, I must beg to differ ; and as 

 nearly all of you have had your say, with 

 the editor's permission, I will tell you what I 

 think. Nearly all the hives offered for sale are 

 too complicated, have too many "fixings," and 

 lience are more or less troublesome to operate. 



With many, more or less bees are killed every 

 time they are opened and the frames taken 

 out. Others again are so novel in their con- 

 struction that one is at a loss to determine 

 whether they were designed for bee-hives or but- 

 ter churns. Probably all may have some good 

 points, but I am qvrite certain that many, as a 

 whole, are worthless. 



Now, I have a bee-hive ; and doubtless most 

 of you have heard of it. It is patented both in 

 Canada and the United States. It is the princi- 

 pal hive in use in Canada, and has taken srx 

 first prizes at Canadian Provincial Fairs. I 

 believe it to be the best hive in America. So 

 far as my knowledge extends, there is not a 

 hive patented in Canada or the United States, 

 that compares with it in simplicity, and yet has 

 so many advantages, except the Langstroth 

 hive. And while it is just as simple as the 

 Langstroth hive, in construction, it has some 

 advantages which that has not, and in my opinion 

 is an improvement on that hive. The following 

 are some of the advantages : 



It has a movable bottom board, against which 

 thei'e cannot be raised one valid objection. It 

 has but one entrance for the bees ; which may 

 be enlarged to twelve inches long by half an inch 

 deep, or contracted to half an inch square in a 

 moment, by a nretal slide — shutting out drones, 

 or shutting in the queen at your pleasure. The 

 frames are regulated at equal distances apart, 

 and yet admit of a lateral or side movement as 

 easily as in any hive. The frames are far more 

 easily removed than from the Langstroth hive, 

 and only have one bearing upon a sharp edge at 

 the top, where it is easily seen when putting in 

 the frames. It is ventilated according to scien- 

 tific i>rinciples, and never gets out of order. 



Now, gentlemen, have I not got the best hive ? 

 "Oh," says one, " you have hives for sale." No, 

 not one in the United States ; "but I have territory 

 for sale (see advertisement), and it must be 

 sold. It is, liowever, my honest conviction that 

 most of the frame hives brought before the pub- 

 lic are too complex and difficult to operate with. 

 As I have before said, I say again that where 

 there is one better hive than the Langstroth, 

 there ai'e fifty inferior ones and fifty worthless 

 ones. 



J. H. TnoMAS. 



Brooklin, Ontario. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Queen Nursery. 



Mr. Editor : — One of your correspondents on 

 page 256 of the American Bee .Iournal, Vol. V., 

 gets terribly sensitive over patent rights, and 

 especially over the Queen Nursery. 



He admits that "in theory the matter seems 

 very plausible," and then asks, "how about its 

 practical applicability?" and then proceeds to 

 settle its practical ai^ijlicability in the following 

 logical, scientific and respectable manner : " Two 

 years ago, as I remember, Mr. Adam Grimm, of 

 this place, used an arrangement substantially 

 similar, and in so far anticipated the doctor. 

 But he soon discontinued the use of it, as not 



