1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



211 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Comments and Eejoinder. 



In reading- the February number of the .Jour- 

 nal I find many subjects that I would like to 

 write about, but as I cannot take up all of them, 

 I will only notice a few of the many. In the 

 first place, I will take up a part of the article on 

 page 192, on "Hives at the National Con- 

 vention." In said article will be found the 

 following : " Take, for illustration, the Alley 

 frame, ten inches Avide and eighteen inches 

 deep. Who cannot see that it is impossible to 

 get a queen to breed in all parts of such a comb, 

 when placed in a nucleus box?" (The Alley 

 frame is 9 inches wide, and 17^ inches deep.) 

 We never saw a comb of any size or shape that 

 the queen would fill all parts with brood, when 

 placed singly in a nucleus hive ; and the queen 

 will do it just as well in one comb as in another. 



Here let us say that we do not raise queens in 

 nucleus boxes with a single comb. Such hives 

 will do to put queens in, to have them fertilized, 

 but are worthless to raise queens in. What 

 would a frame 9 by 9 inches be worth for a brood 

 chamber to raise a stock of bees in ? I have a 

 lot of hives of this size of frame that I have 

 thrown aside, because I had such poor luck in 

 raising queens in them. None of the Bay State 

 hives were on exhibition at the National Con- 

 vention, to my knowledge. 



On page 187, under '■^ Replies and Remarks,^^ I 

 find the following: "But arrange the entrance 

 as in the Alley hive, so that the frames run from 

 side to side, and you will find it almost impossi- 

 ble to get the queen to breed in the rear combs ; 

 and in the Alley hives the rear combs are the 

 last ones to be built. Swarms are almost inva- 

 riably weaker, in numbers in such hives, in the 

 fall than they are in hives with the natural ar- 

 rangement of the comb." Now our experience 

 has been just the reverse of this. Instead of the 

 rear combs being the last ones to be built, we 

 have, as a general thing, found them the first 

 ones to be built in nine out of every ten hives that 

 had bees put into them. And to the fh'st reader 

 of the Journal that comes into my yard, I will 

 show a Bay State hive that had a swarm put 

 into it late in .June last. The rear combs in this 

 hive are full and sealed from top to bottom with 

 honey, while the two front frames are only about 

 half filled, and contain no sealed honey. 



The fact is, when a swarm of bees are put in a 

 hive, they will cluster in some parts of the toj) — 

 sometimes in a coi-ner and sometimes in the 

 middle ; and just where they happen to cluster, 

 there will they commence to build comb. The 

 shape of the hive has nothing to do about the 

 bees commencing to work in them. It is just 

 where they cluster that comb-building is begun. 



One of the best features of the Bay State hives 

 is the fact that they are always strong in num- 

 bers in the fall, and one reason why they winter 

 so well, is because the colony is strong when the 

 winter sets in. I have always found that deep 

 hives of any shape or style winter bees well, and 

 always contain strong colonies. 



I will challenge any man to produce a hive 



that will winter a stock of bees as well on their 

 summer stand, or one that will produce more 

 honey with the use of the extractor, or in large 

 or small boxes, than can be got from the Bay 

 State hive. I will send a Bay State Hive to any 

 disinterested person to test, if other parties will 

 do the same with their hives. They sliall be 

 thoroughly tested, and tlie result reported 

 through the American Bee .Journal. The person 

 who undertakes the task of testing them, shall 

 have the hives for his trouble. Who is ready 

 to go in •? If any can be found there is time to 

 send the hives this season, and have bees put in 

 them. 



Now, we will reply to Mr. Quinby. I will 

 give my ideas of foiilbrood in a few words. 

 I wish to be understood that in my opinion the 

 quickest, surest, and cheapest way to get rid of 

 foulbrood is to destroy the hive and contents at 

 once. But if I had a hundred hives infected, I 

 might be led to modify my views on this point, 

 as I think as much of my bees as any man 

 does of his. But if I had any number less than 

 twenty-five, I would certainly pitch into them 

 and clean out the disease at once. In my opin- 

 ion Dr. Abbe will not cure foulbrood as he pro- 

 poses, and if he should succeed, it might cost him 

 as much in time and trouble, as it would to have 

 destroyed them and ijurchase a new stock. 



I do not believe in spending several years to 

 cure a disease that can be cured in a few hours. 

 Mr. Quinby has been ten or fifteen years in try- 

 ing to accomplish what I did in two hours. If 

 Dr. Abbe has got twenty stocks that he will cure 

 of foulbrood, I would not take them as a gift, 

 and Avould not have them in my apiary and run 

 the risk of the disease breaking out, as it will 

 certainly do sooner or later. This is my opin- 

 ion about it. 



Mr. Quinby admits that he has had the dis- 

 ease among his bees during the last ten or fifteen 

 years, and he will have it for as many years to 

 come. I have no dovibt that he can check it in 

 a measni-e ; and so can Dr. Abbe ; but to thor- 

 ouglily eradicate the disease is another thing to 

 accomplish. H. Alley. 



Wenliam, Feb 8, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Bee Parming. 



Mr. Editor : — Among all the varied experi- 

 ence, as given by the many writers of the 

 "Journal," I have seen but one on the above 

 topic, and this one very imperfect in detail. In 

 the advanced stage to which practical bee-cul- 

 ture has arrived, I think this one of the im- 

 portant points that we are neglecting. If, instead 

 of a honey season of a few weeks, we could add 

 as many months, the product of our hives would 

 be in like proportion. No doubt there are 

 moi'e favored districts, where nature furnishes 

 abundant pasturage for bees all summer. But 

 those districts are the exception, not the rule. 



In this vicinity, nine-tentiis of all surplus 

 honey is stored in from twenty to thirty days, 

 from white clover. Having so short a season, 



