1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



question. It is curious how such belief or super- 

 stitions fix themselves in the popular mind of a 

 country side, and are held by the wise and the sim- 

 ple alike. David, the constable, was a most sensi- 

 ble and open-minded man of his time and class, 

 but Kemble or Akerman, or other learned Anglo- 

 Saxon scholars would have vainly explained to 

 him that ' tanrf is but the old word for to hold 

 and that the object of ' tanging^ is not to lure the 

 bees with sweet music of key and shovel, but to 

 give notice to the neighbors that they have 

 swarmed, and that the owner of the maternal 

 hive means to hold on to his right to the emi- 

 grants. David would have listened to the lecture 

 with pity, and hixve retained unshaken belief in 

 his music." 



Are there not bee-keepers in this our country, 

 day, and generation, both of "the Avise and the 

 simple," who cling to this "superstition" that 

 there is something in the " sweet music" of ring- 

 ing of bells and clatter of tin pans that will cause 

 the bees to settle ; and who yet can g-ive no good 

 reason for entertaining such belief? Will not 

 some one of our "learned in bees" give the 

 origin, reason, &c., of this common practice. 

 TnADDEUs Smith. 



Pelee Island, Ordario. 



[For tbe American Bee Jourual.] 



Improvements in Bee-keeping. 



Agriculture, arts and science have progressed 

 with amazing strides within the recollection of 

 the older and even middle-aged men of the 

 present day. The nineteenth century is remark- 

 able for its improvements. The application of 

 steam power, the construction of railroads, the 

 numerous canals, steamships and boats, the 

 telegraph wires stretched through the land and 

 laid in mid-ocean, together with the innumera- 

 ble machines to facilitiite labor in all her varied 

 callings, evidence and illustiate these facts. 



The business of the apiarian has likewise 

 made advances by the improvement of the home 

 of the bees, and the facilities afforded them for 

 storing a large amount of surplus honey in good 

 shape for market. Within the present century 

 the writer has seen the following progress. 



1. Hives with one single apartment, and the 

 honey for use secured by the destruction of the 

 bees. A portion of the honey in the whitest 

 combs was saved in the comb for use. The 

 balance strained, and the comb converted to 

 wax. 



2. An improvement was made upon this sys- 

 tem, substituting a wooden box for the straw 

 hive, and placing one, two, or four boxes on the 

 top of hi>e, with corresponding apertures through 

 the top of the hive and bottom of the boxes, for 

 the passage of the bees. This gave facilities for 

 securing a part of the honey in good shape, to 

 preserve for use or to convey to market. 



3. A third improvement has been, by an in- 

 crease of surplus box room. The arrangement 

 of the boxes in this improvement, has been in 

 three ways : 



First, by placing the boxes upon each side of 

 the breeding and wintering apartment ; with 



corresponding apertures between the central 

 ajjai'tment and the boxes. The boxes of an ag- 

 gregate capacity of from 75 to 100 lbs. 



Second. A second arrangement has been plac- 

 ing two tiers of boxes upon the top of the hive, 

 one tier standing on the other, with correspond- 

 ing apertures in the entrances from the hive and 

 bottoms of the lower tier of boxes and also 

 between the top of the lower arid bottom of 

 upper tier. By the hive being made long and 

 the box room may equal the first deep from 75 

 to 100 lbs. 



Third. The third improvement is, placing the 

 surplus boxes upon both sides and top of the 

 central or breeding apartment, occupying the 

 positions where the bees would store their sur- 

 plus honey had the whole been one room. Brood 

 in the centre, and stores upon the top and sides 

 of the brood. 



In 1860, I commenced my experiments in bee- 

 keeping. I constructed my hives upon this 

 principle, endeavoring to make improvements 

 which resulted in the Farmers Hive, patented 

 tr^ept. 2, 1862. Subsequent improvements were 

 introduced in the Eureka hive, i^atented July 

 2, 1867. Of this hive I have given a description 

 with illustrations in a former number of the 



"A.MERICAK BkE .ToUKNAL." 



4. Another improvement has been made, of 

 considerable importance. I now refer to the 

 introduction of bars, fixed or movabl-", and mova- 

 ble comb frames. Either movable bars with 

 side guides, or movable comb frames, are con- 

 sidered a very great convenience, almost a ne- 

 cessity, for artificial swarming, and for the 

 exchange of queens. Aside from these changes, 

 which I i-egard as improvements, there have 

 been many others, such- as the introduction of 

 devices to give security against the ravages of 

 the moth, to facilitate the operations of the bee- 

 keeper in the prosecution of his business, and to 

 secure success. These devices may, some of 

 them, be valuable ; while the advantages of others 

 ]nay exist only in the imagination or professions 

 of enthusiastic or interested parties. Every man 

 should examine and judge of specific changes, 

 claimed to be improvements, for himself, and 

 adopt or reject them from the deliberate exer- 

 cise of his own judgment. 



The introduction of surplus boxes I consider 

 one of the most important of these improvements, 

 as it secures the honey in its b"st shape for 

 preservation, for use and for market. "" 



A great amount of surplus room in this shape 

 I regard as a great improvement, as it secures a 

 much larger amount of surplus honey, than a 

 smaller nitmber of boxes can. From all my ex- 

 periments thus far, I prefer the hive with sur- 

 plus room in small boxes of capacity of 200 lbs. 

 susceptible of an increase to 2.')0 lbs. if needed, 

 to one with boxes of larger capacity. The bees 

 in such a hive, effectually shaded and secured 

 from the heat of the sun, will not be likely to 

 swarm, if the boxes were i)laced on at the com- 

 mencement of the season. An Italian colony, 

 with a iH'olific queen, will generally fill all the 

 surplus boxes. 



In 18G8, I had eight hives in a bee-house in 

 which they were eftectually shaded. Only oiie 

 of the eight gave a swarm. Six were Italian 



