108 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Nov., 



with their heads outward ; the other set at the 

 top of the enti-ance, facing inward, driving out 

 the hot hair. I then reduced the size of the en- 

 trance still more, and found that in a very short 

 time nearly the entire swarm would issue and 

 cluster on the outside of the log or gum. En- 

 larging the hole to three inches again, the bees 

 would soon return inside and resume work. I 

 kept that log hive four years, and then sold it to 

 a neighbor. Whenever I wintered it with the 

 natural entrance open, there was no dysentery 

 and no unnatural distention of the abdomen ; 

 and on their first flight in the spring, they would 

 not even speck the snow. 



In wintering bees in the Wellhuysen hive, 

 made of willows and plastered with cow man- 

 ure, they would never have the dysentery — 

 not the least sign of it. The combs were always 

 bright and clean, and the bees always in as good 

 condition as they were in midsummer. I have 

 wintered bees in Canada, in the old-fashioned 

 straw hive, with the entrance, summer and win- 

 ter, a two-inch hole in the centre at to}) ; and 

 they always wintered well, without the least 

 sign of dysentery, even when they would not 

 leave the hive from the 10th of October to the 

 1st of May — nearly eight months. In that cli- 

 mate they are nearly always confined from the 

 1st of November to the 10th or 20th of April, or 

 about five months. When I lived there, there 

 was scarcely ever any honey stored after the 

 15th of August, yet bee-keeping pays in that 

 climate. To encourage our northern bee-keep- 

 ers, I will say that, according to my experience, 

 there and in the West, I think the flowers 

 secrete more honey, in the same length of time, 

 there than here. Our atmosphere is rather dry, 

 while their's is luoist and humid — just right for 

 the secretion of honey. 



Elisha Gallup. 



Orchard, loica. 



[Foi- the Amei'icau Bee Journal,] 



Alley's Improved Langstroth Hive. 



Mr. Editor : — For twenty years I have had 

 experience in bee-keeping, and had within that 

 time as many difterent styles of bee-hives in my 

 apiary ; but, taking everything into considera- 

 tion, the advantages derived from Mr. Alley's, 

 proves it to be the best I have yet seen. It has 

 the best shape, the greatest amount of animal 

 heat for wintering bees, and as for storing honey, 

 it allows as much room for surplus honey as the 

 largest stock would need. 



These are only two among the many advan- 

 tages it presents. Many more might be men- 

 tioned. I simply state these, as I consider them 

 the most important. Brother bee-keepers, who 

 are about to pui-chase, should not fail to give it 

 a trial. Levi Fish. 



Danvej's, Mass., Sept. 10, 1870. 



Intelligent practice is very different from blind 

 practice ; or, in other words, practice preceded 

 by a sound theory is evidently far superior to 

 Ijractice without theory. — Talbot. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Ventilating the Gallup Hive in a Damp Cellar. 



The cellar of my house is nearly underground. 

 Its size is 38 x28 x 7 feet, inside measure. The 

 temperature during the winter is usually 38" F., 

 with occasional extremes of 35° and 41°. It is 

 damp, and not siiecially ventilated. A stairway 

 fi'om the porch and one from the kitchen, furnish 

 all the air ; the latter being very much used dur- 

 ing winter time. In this cellar I have usually win- 

 tered some of my bees, for many years — trying- 

 various methods and different kinds of hives, with 

 the result always, till last winter, of more or less 

 mouldy combs. I then had among the lot four 

 strong stocks and Gallup hives. These I had set- 

 ting up three feet from the ground, with caps and 

 honey-boards removed, and the loose top cover 

 laid directly on the hives ; and by means of hard 

 wood wedges pushed in between the lower edges 

 of the hives and the bottom-boards, and also be- 

 tween the ujiper edges and the top covers, I gave 

 them one-eighth of an inch air all round the hives, 

 above and below, except six inches in length at 

 the entrance, where I gave them one-fourth of an 

 inch, so that the bees could get out. In this con- 

 dition the hives were left all winter. The bees 

 remained very quiet, humming almost inaudibly, 

 and paying little attention to the light of a can- 

 dle which was carried in many times a day. 

 Scarcely any came out to die ; and not over half 

 a teacupful died in each hive. Tliey consumed 

 comparatively little honey, and when the hives 

 were examined after being set out in the spring, 

 the combs were all dry and free from mould. In 

 my experience absorbents used on a hive in a 

 cellar have always caused combs to mould. Who 

 would think of laying on top of his hives a damp 

 straw mat, or a pile of damp corncobs? And yet 

 it is all about the same thing. Give the proper 

 amount of air, and let it pass oft' unobstructed. 

 I shall try a larger number of hives the coming 

 winter. Many thanks to Gallup. 



Henry Crist. 



Lake P. 0., Stark county, Ohio, Oct. 4, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Hives, and Shipping Honey in Frames. 



There has been much said on IiItos in the 

 columns of the Bee Journal. Some are s^aid to 

 be too deep, and others too shallow. But after 

 all, profit in dollars and cents is the great 

 object ; and to secure this in the shape of sur- 

 plus honey, three things are requisite— j^rs^, 

 strong colonies of bees ; second, a good season 

 with plenty of pasturage ; and, third, the 

 placing your surplus honey boxes or frames as 

 near as possible to the brood in the main body 

 of the hive. There are two ways to accomplish 

 this : first, by using the shallow form of hive, 

 with frames say seven or eight inches in depth ; 

 and, second, by using the side gathering or 

 storing hive. I prefer the latter, with frames 

 twelve inches deep ;. and this for three reasons. 

 Fird, if the apiarian has no repository for 

 winter quarters, his bees are right in these for 



