40 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



piece of wax, to make a stopple that is acid j^roof. 

 Good material to test the digestive organ of man. 

 But why not abandon the box, and receive from 

 the main hive double the amount of honey by 

 saving the comb from destruction and return- 

 ing it to the hives, besides preventing an open 

 space above the bees. You tliereby also obviate 

 trouble and avoid the disinclination of the bees to 

 enter the boxes and work. In all my experience 

 I am certain I never saw a colony that filled a 

 top box, without first damaging the prosi^ects 

 of the queen, by filling the comb in the main 

 hive so full of honey that no empty cells re- 

 mained for her to deposit eggs in. In some cases 

 I have known hives to remain with a box on top 

 the entire summer and fall, without being filled, 

 though the main hive was full and there was 

 for months, plenty of honey to be gathered from 

 the flowers, and during the early part of sunnner 

 the bees clustered in crowds on the outside of 

 the hive. Bee-keepers generally can testify 

 that such cases are numerous. 



This is an age of progress, and the watchword 

 of the day is (?;/w«?'fZ and ivptcavd. Reader, you 

 that are vising the common box or gum, what 

 kind of hive, think j-ou, did the bees occupy five 

 thousand years ago— say the first swarm that 

 ever occujjied one ? I suppose it was some old 

 log gum or box hive, with the combs fastened 

 to the sides. You have advanced perhaps in 

 everything else ; tell me how far you have ad- 

 vanced in apicultural science. Tue first im- 

 provement in bee-hives that ever materially 

 assisted me in bee-culturo, is of very modei-n da e. 

 The time is past that any man that understands 

 his business, will make a specialty of bee-keep- 

 ing, without the movable frames. The sting of 

 the bee has caused suc'.i terror and feai' that man 

 in all ages groped his way in chains and dark- 

 ness till recently, so far as a correct knowledge 

 of the cultvire of this insect is concerned. 



In the one item of an attempted adaptation of 

 the hive to the nature, wants and iustincts of 

 the bee, thousands of i^ateuted hives have failed 

 and been an injui-y to the bee. The entire dom- 

 •icile must be in one box, without division boards 

 or combined boxes, either side by side or on top 

 of each other. The surplus honey must be taken 

 from the main hive, and the empty combs re- 

 turned in a manner to keep the empty cells below 

 — tliereby adhering to the golden rule in bee- 

 culture : ^^ Always Jcecjj your colonics strong in 

 nu-nibcrs, so that when plenty of lioney is produced 

 by tlie. fliiiceis, you Iiave jileniy of bees to gather it.'^ 



As we have before stated, the mere emptying 

 the combs of their honey, and re]jlacing them 

 where they were before, does the queen no good 

 so far as depositing eggs is concerned. Instinct 

 teaches her to deposit her eggs in the lower part 

 of the hive, and prompts the bees to store their 

 honey above. It is evident that if the combs 

 containing honey and brood, are emptied and 

 returned to their original place the brood will 

 occupy the same position that it did before, and 

 no increased facility is given to the queen to 

 increase her colony. There is besides the ques- 

 tionable propriety of emptying combs with brood 

 in what I call the milky state, (from one to four 

 days after hatching.) Will it not be chilled in 

 its rapid revolutions in the emptying, machine? 



Then there is also the opening up of a larger 

 space above the bees. This open space, created 

 by emptying tlie honey and returning the comb, 

 will, it is true, not always damage the prosperity 

 of the hive to the extent if the combs had been 

 altogether removed. Still, the licpiid being ex- 

 tracted, an empty sjiace results. If, however, 

 the honey harvest continues only a short time 

 after the extraction, the bees will refill the cells. 

 But if so, and the honey is extracted again, here 

 comes the vacuum above the bees once more. 

 Why not arrange your combs in frames combined 

 one above the other, and thereby obviate the 

 necessity of revolving the brood ? 



,T. W Seay. 

 Monroe, Iowa. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



" Tanging." 



Tlie author of " Tom Brown at Oxford,''^ in 

 that elegantly written and somewhat popular 

 work, gives some beautiful pen sketches of rural 

 scenery and the rustic inhabitants of Old Eng- 

 land. In portraying the character of one David 

 Johnson, tailor and constable of Engebourn 

 parish, who " kept the King's peace and made 

 garments of all kinds for a livelihood," but, 

 like many of us readers of the American Bee 

 Journal also, "was addicted for his pleasure 

 and solace to the keeping of bees," the learned 

 author discourses as follows : — 



" The constable's bees inhabited a row of hives 

 in the narrow strip of garden which ran away 

 at the back of the cottage. Now David loved 

 gossip well, and considered it a part of his duty, 

 as constable, to be well up in all events and 

 rumors which happened or arose within his liber- 

 ties. But he loved his bees better than gossip, 

 and as he was now in hourly expectation that 

 they would be swarming was walking, as has 

 been said, in his summer house, that he might 

 be on hand at the critical moment. The rough 

 table on which he was seated commanded a view 

 of the hives ; his big scissors and some .shred 

 of velveteen lay near him on the table ; also the 

 street-door key and an old .shovel, of which the 

 uses will appear presently. ****** 

 In the midst of whicli thoughts he had forgotten 

 all about his bees, when suddenly a great hum- 

 ming arose, followed by a rush throug-li the air 

 like the passing of an express train, which 

 recalled him to himself. He jumped from the 

 table, casting aside the coat and seizing the key 

 and shovel, hurried out into the garden, beating 

 the two together with all his might. 



" The process in question, known in country 

 phrase as '■tanging,^ is founded upon the belief 

 that the bees will not settle unless under the in- 

 fluence of this peculiar music ; and the constable, 

 holding faithfully to the popular belief, rushed 

 down his garden ' tanging'' as though his life de- 

 pended upon it, in the hope that the soothing 

 sound would induce the swarm to settle at once 

 on his own apple-trees. 



"Is '■tanging'' a superstition or not? People 

 learned in bees ought to know, but I never hap- 

 pened to meet any one who had considered the 



