1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



63 



[For the Ameiicau Bee Journal.] 



Bee-culture — East and West. 



Mil. Editor : — I think the time has fully 

 come when your corresj ondent "Novice" — 

 that notable personage of whom we have so often 

 read, and whose plans and acts have so often 

 fired our brain with new- resolutions and deter- 

 minations to at least try to "go and do likewise " 

 — should, hereafter and evermore, drop that sim- 

 l^le title, and sign himself Adept, Expert, or 

 some other name a little more suggestive of the 

 manner in which he seems to "swing things" 

 of late. 



FiYE THOUSAND (5,000) pounds of clover 

 honey, in about one jnonth, from forty-six (40) 

 colonies of bees ! That will do ! Let's all go 

 west. No use in trying to raise honey here any 

 longer !* 



Why. Mr. Editor, in our locality this is simply 

 impossible. That amount of honey is not to be 

 had within the flight of our bees. Still, we seem 

 to have flowers enough. Is the country over- 

 stocked? There are probably not more than 

 150 swarms, our own included, within a circle of 

 one mile from our place. All of our pastures 

 seem covered with white clover in its season ; 

 and it last^ d, in many places, this season, until 

 buckwheat came into bloom. The old raspberry 

 is said to be an excellent honey producing plant, 

 and its cultivation for bee pasturage is often re- 

 commended There are hundreds of acres of it, 

 within the flight of our bees, already covered 

 with this plant. Basswood grows wild here, to 

 some extent ; and probably there are one hundred 

 trees near enough to be visited by our bees. 

 Buckwheat is also grown considerably — say fifty 

 acres, this season, within easy reach. Aside 

 from this, there are many scattering flowers in 

 lloom at difterent times, from which honey can 

 be extracted. And yet, of late, it is not one year 

 in five that surplus honey is obtained from any 

 other source than buckwheat. 



I have this season increased our number of col- 

 onies from thirteen to twenty-nine, wholly by 

 artificial swarming ; but shall expect no surjjlus 

 of any consequence. 



While walking through a pasture field one day 



* No, let us nnt all go west, but rather let us have Novice 

 come east— reia,\niDg his tinie-houured name the while. 



What was the average annual yield of honey, per hive, in 

 Novice's locality, when he began to keep b?es? What were his 

 surroundings then, as regards bee pasturage ? and what are 

 they uow '? If improved, are they so proportionately to the 

 increased quantity of honey ubtaine i ? Would anybody then 

 have believed it possible, by any means that could be de- 

 vised, to secure, in any apiary, 6,162 pounds of surplus ia 

 four weeks, or five limes four, from the area of bee pasturage 

 within the range of the bees' flight, taking the town of his 

 residence as the centre? 



Now, if we mistake not greatly, the locality in Pennsylva- 

 nia, as described by Mr. T., furuishes quite as ampie pastur- 

 age, nnturally, as that visited by Novice's bees Probably 

 an unprepossessed observer, noting appearances or indications 

 in each, would give the Pennsylvania locality the preference; 

 and, very likely, Novice him>elf, at the outset, had he been 

 called on to choose, and been free to select, would have so de- 

 cided. Whence then tlie ditference in the present re-ults ? 

 Let Novice come east, and we shall see. We do not prcjpose 

 that he shall emigrate hither in pro]jrin personce ; no, but 

 thai his beekeeping spirit shall be imported. Let his mode uf 

 management be investigated, adopted, applied, and carried 

 out in its spirit and to the letter. Then, if iho reBult be not 

 equally good, it will be early enough to attribute the short- 

 coming to some natural or climatic iuleriority. — Ed. 



this season, where bees seemed to be working 

 freely upon white clover, I undertook the job of 

 watching a bee, in order to ascertain how many 

 clover heads were visited by her while collecting 

 one load of honey. Selecting a bee that looked 

 quite empty and had no pollen on her legs, I 

 commenced the count. How long she had 

 already been thei'e, I, of course, did not know, 

 but I kept my eye upon her until she left the Jive 

 ?iundr d and eighty-second clover head. Then 

 she flew over some weeds, and I lost sight of her. 

 Whether she then left for home, or not. I do not 

 know. The time occupied by her in making this 

 number of visits, was just one hour. Now, I do 

 not think that this shows a very bountiful yield 

 of honey, even though plenty of flowers exist. 

 This bee visited the same clover head several 

 times, while I was watching her. 



If it was not for our fall pasturage of buck- 

 wheat, as slim as it is, bee-keeping would, in this 

 section, be "jjlaycd out," as more honey is 

 usually obtained from this, than from all other 

 sources combined. It may be different in the 

 western and southern parts of the State ; but, so 

 far as I am acquainted, I certainly think Penn- 

 sylvania is not the best place in the world for 

 producing honey. 



I. F. TiLLINGHAST. 



Factoryville, Fa. Aug. 10, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Form of Hive, and Feeding Bees. 



T object to a low and flat sha]3e of hive, for 

 reasons which I shall assign. I will fir.st state, 

 however, that a hive of bees without j^rovision 

 for the retention of animal heat, is as helpless as 

 a new born babe without raiment. Take, as an 

 example, a hive twelve inches square, contain- 

 ing an oblong square per])endicular, and the 

 frames to suit in size and shape. Your combs 

 say eighteen inches in depth perpendicular, and 

 twelve inches wide. The bees, in order to hatch 

 brood, as the weather becomes wann in the 

 sjjring, will cluster at the larva end of said combs, 

 and keep uji the temperature from bottom to top, 

 because of two combined reasons, the combs 

 being the long way perpendic alar, and the natu- 

 ral tendency of heat being to rise, it ascends 

 throughout the entire length of the combs, and 

 thus the projjer temperature is attained through- 

 out the hive. It is a settled principle too, that 

 a given quantity or number of bees can produce 

 animal heat only sufficient in amount to rarify 

 the air in a given space to a given temperature. 

 Take, for example, a low flat hive, with combs 

 say eighteen inches long horizontal, and nine 

 inches deep, the hive being twelve inches wide, 

 the .same as the other. Now remember the prin- 

 cijjle just before stated. The bees will collect 

 at the front end of the comb, and the animal 

 heat, as generated, will ascend the same as along 

 the combs in the other hive, which are eighteen 

 inches deep ; whei'eas these are only twelve inches 

 deep. Is it not obvious that here one-third of 

 every comb towards its rear end is entirely lost 

 to Ihe bees, so far as the early production of 

 bi'ood is concerned, because of the shape of the 



