64 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept. 



combs and the natural tendency of the heat gene- 

 rated to ascend? If tlie bees (being the same in 

 number in both hives,) were spread out at the 

 bottom of the combs in the Last mentioned hive, 

 the full size of the hive, the cluster would be 

 twelve inches wide and eighteen inches hori- 

 zontal. Then, on the principle that a given 

 number of bees can generate only a certain de- 

 gree of heat in a given space, they would fail to 

 bring about the proper temperature in any part 

 of the hive ; and the result would be that they 

 could not produce any brood. But allow them 

 (as they will) to contract the size of their cluster, 

 and you find that there is nearly one-third of 

 each comb not used by them in the production 

 of brood. Hence we find in the communications 

 of bee-keepers such remarks as these— " My bees 

 swarmed out of my common box and log gums 

 earlier than they did out of my patent hives." 

 But universally we find in such cases that their 

 patent hives are low and flat in shape. We have 

 used such hives, and know by experience the 

 truth whereof we speak ; and, fearless of suc- 

 cessful contradiction, we proclaim that the time 

 is not far distant when the practical bee-keepers 

 will adopt the shape of from a square to an ob- 

 long perpendicular, the oblong being preferable. 

 We once were of those who thought there could 

 be no difference in the mere shape of a hive, but 

 justice to the true principles of bee-keeping com- 

 pelled a change of opinion. 



There is still another reason why bees should 

 have a hive long up and down. In cases of long 

 continued extreme cold weather, the bees cannot 

 move in a lateral direction to obtain food. But 

 the warmth of the bees will aid them in obtain- 

 ing it from above, from the fact that their warmth 

 will ascend and keep the frost melted at a greater 

 distance from the bees above them, than on the 

 sides. And, further, when spring came, or in 

 the month of April, my bees almost always be- 

 c'nK^ nearly extinct in the low flat form of hive. 



Now, in conclusion, let me add some remarks 

 on feeding. There is a principle in the feeding 

 of bees that is truly astonishing in its effects. 

 They may be fed in sufficient quantity to cause 

 them to fill all the empty cells and thereby work 

 a complete destruction of the colony, if the owner 

 fails to remove some of the honey out of their 

 way. Or they may be fed in such pwiportions 

 that the prosperity and increase of the hive will 

 be somewhat like the rolling of a snow-ball — the 

 longer and further it rolls, the greater its mag- 

 nitude becomes. The queen has the ability to 

 deposit from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs every day in 

 the height of the breeding season ; and if bees 

 are then excited by finding liberal supplies of 

 honey in the flowers, yet not in such abundance 

 as to cause them to fill the hive to overflowing, 

 brooding and rearing young bees will proceed 

 most rapidly. But if there is little honey or none 

 yielded by the flowers, and the bees remain idle 

 for some length of time, the queen will cease de- 

 positing eggs ; while on the other hand, if the 

 bees rapidly fill nearly all the cells with honey, 

 the queen must necessarily cease laying, for want 

 of room to deposit eggs. 



Bees seem to have three periods of probation. 

 The fir.st twenty-one days of their existence are 

 passed in the cell ; the next eighteen or twenty 



one days they spend in the hive mainly, nursing 

 brood exclusively, except when engaged at times 

 in building or repairing comb ; the next period 

 is devoted to assiduous outdoor labor, and varies 

 from forty to fifty days, in the busy season of the 

 year. 



Early and continued stimulation to activity, 

 by feeding the bees, causes the colony to become 

 strong in n mbers. If therefore we wish for 

 handsome i)rofits from the labors of the bee.s, we 

 must luive them in great numbers, at all times 

 in the hive. If we expect great quantities of 

 honey from weak colonies, we are doomed to 

 disappointment. In almost every locality there 

 is a time, during the spring or summer, when 

 bees cannot gather nectar from the flowers. 

 Such spells are sometimes prolonged for months ; 

 and in some years, in Iowa, in the month of 

 June, the writer has known colonies to starve to 

 death. In such times of scarcity, the bee-keeper 

 should always be on ihe alert, and begin feeding 

 only in sufficient quantity to produce act vity in 

 the hive. It frequently occurs that bees use up 

 all the unsealed honey in the hive, and alino t 

 stoj) brooding. They appear to be reluctant to 

 open their sealed honey. It seems that there is 

 a principle at this point which we have not been 

 able to grasp yet. I think that as a rnle, if bees 

 run out of unsealed honey in the spring months, 

 the keeper shonld, from time to time, sJiave off 

 the capping of some of the full cells. This, I 

 think, would answer the same purpose as feeding, • 

 by exciting the bees to activity. It .should be 

 practiced in all cases where there is plenty of 

 sealed honey in the hive, in the forepart of the 

 season ; and feeding only to a limited and small 

 extent, when the bees have used up their unsealed 

 supply. In fact, feeding .should never be resorted 

 to, while the hive contains plenty of sealed 

 honey. Better uncap some of it. 



It is not by any means desirable to have a hive 

 in the height of the breeding season, with the cells 

 so stored with honey that the queen is unable to 

 deposit eggs to the full extent of her ] owers. 

 Better extract some honey, even if you have to 

 return it again by feeding as the season advances, 

 thus keeping up the activity of the colony. 



There are many attempts to systematize bee- 

 keeping. Some ideas communicated through the 

 Journal prove highly serviceable. Others drop 

 without efi"ect, perhaps, except that they set bee- 

 keepers to thinking, and sometimes to experi- 

 menting, which is useful, too, if it be not in- 

 dulged in at too great cost. 



J. W. Seay 



Monroe, loioa. 



Pi-actical g:\rdeners may find the management 

 of bees, for their employers, quite a lucrative 

 part of tlieir profession. 



When a colony of bees has become hopelessly 

 queenless, then, moth or no moth, its destruc- 

 tion is certain. — Langsiroth. 



• Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise 

 Their master's flower, but leave it, having done, 

 As fair as ever and as fit for use." — IlerbtiH. 



