1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



43 



that they will correspond with those in the hive or 

 crown board. And uiy experience has been that, 

 by using one sufficiently large (two inches) the 

 combs would be extended down through it 

 into the hive ; besides the liability to have brood 

 in the surplus boxes by the queen entering them. 

 To obviate this, with a two-inch centre bit, bore 

 one-fourth of an inch deep in your hive or crown 

 board, at the point at which you wish to jilace a 

 box ; then with a one-inch bit, bore four holes at 

 equal distance from each other entirely through 

 the board and around the circumference of the 

 large one, allowing the bit to cut into the cir- 

 cumference of the latter sufficient to allow one 

 or more bees to pass. AVlien tlie box (which is 

 to have a two-inch hole through its bottom), is 

 placed in position, it will cover the one-inch holes, 

 but the bees will pass from them into the shallow 

 two-inch excavation, and thence into the box. 

 This arrangement will prevent the extension of 

 combs into the hive, and yet aft'ord the bees all 

 needful facilities for entering the boxes ; and I 

 have yet to find the first queen in boxes placed 

 over holes thus arranged. Of course there is to 

 be a two-inch hole through the bottom of the 

 honey box, which is placed centrally over the 

 shallow one in the top of tlie hive. Those who 

 have faith in the 5-32 of an inch arrangement, 

 can bore the two inch hole to that depth, for ex- 

 cluding the queen ; but I can assure tliem that 

 it is unnecessary. 



Nov/, in conclusion, I hope that none of our 

 gentlemen of the patent right persuasion will 

 find anything herein contained that meditates 

 againstany of their privileges, either civil, social, 

 or religious. Perhaps these suggestions are not 

 new, but as I have seen no allusion to boxes 

 made in this way, I lioije tlie piece may be of 

 service to some who find it difficult to make neat 

 boxes, in which to have their honey stored in 

 the most attractive form. 



I. M. WORDEN. 



Mobile, Ala., 



P. S. — If any prefer boxes without bottoms, 

 they can be made in the same way, by using a 

 strip of paper 1 finches long for each corner, and 

 applying it horizontally, allowing one-lialf of its 

 width to project over the edge of the glass, then 

 turning it over and pressing it down smooth on 

 the inside of the box. Where the distance to be 

 transported is short or by water, such boxes will 

 be sufficiently secure ; and when filled, they may 

 be inverted and covered with glass cut the proper 

 size.— I. M. W. 



[For the American Bee Jouruul.] 



Part of my Experience. 



Mil. Editor : — As Novice says, I must write 

 you some account of my experience — my reverses 

 and success in the bee business, which I think 

 the most peculiar business of all connected with 

 rural life. When I commenced I had no idea 

 that it required so much study ; but I would not 

 give it up now on any account, for I can make 

 more money out of my bees, than from anything 

 else on the farm. 



Last fall I put in to winter forty stands in 



movable comb hives ; and on the first of May, I 

 had seventeen left. The most peculiar thing 

 was, I had one or two stands from which I did 

 not take any honey, and they were the first to 

 die ; and nearly all that gave me only from 

 thirty to fifty pounds died also ; while those 

 that gave me from seventy-five to one hundred 

 and seventeen pounds came out all right, and 

 are very strong now. Was it the quantity of 

 honey retained by my bees that caused their 

 death, or was it something else ? 



I procured thirty-six colonies in old box hives, 

 in the winter at a distance of from three to six 

 miles from my home ; and I lost fourteen of them. 

 They appeared to die from the same disease or 

 cause that destroyed those in the movable comb 

 hives. One bee-keeper living ten miles from 

 here, lost fifty out of eighty stocks. More bees 

 have died around here than I liave ever known 

 before. 



Bees are doing very poorly here this year. 

 We have no swarms, and not very much honey. 

 It has not rained here in ninety-five days. I 

 have lived in Illinois twenty-four years, and 

 never saw such a dry time in all that period. 



R. MiLLEK. 



Bochelle, Jlliii'm, July 4, 1 870. 



[For the American Bee Joarual.] 



Trouble among Bees. 



Having been a reader of your valuable Joui-nal 

 for some time, I cannot well do without it. I 

 would like to contribute something occasionally 

 to the large stock of useful information with 

 whicli its pages are filled, and hope to do so at 

 some future time ; but at present I wish to draw 

 still more from the experience of others. 



I suppose there are some bees in this neighbor- 

 hood that have the foul-brood, but being an entire 

 stranger to the disease (except from description i 

 I hesitated long in the decision. It is not as 

 rapid nor as fatal in its development as I ex- 

 pected. Are there difierent degrees, or is there 

 a milder form of the disease '? It seems to me 

 a more particular description of the first symj)- 

 toms, by which an entire nov'ce in this -disease 

 could detect it, would be of much benefit to all. 

 The frame hives are largely used in this vicinity. 

 I commenced operating on the disease after 

 Quinby's plan, by taking away the comb, and 

 putting the bees in a new hive without comb. 

 They connnenced to build comb nicely, and 

 filled it with eggs. After a day or two I gave 

 them some good comb clear of disease. All 

 went on swimmingly until the time for the 

 young bees to come forth, when I discovered 

 that they were being dragged out, in all stages, 

 many of them minus wings or legs, &c., much 

 the same as when a swarm is troubled with 

 worms, or has had the brood killed by sudden 

 cool weather. I examined the colony this 

 morning, and found the bees cutting the brood 

 comb all in pieces in their vain endeavors to ex- 

 tricate the young from the cells. The latter 

 were also doing tlieir best to get out— active and 

 lively. Those of sufficient age had the caps of 



