254 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[May, 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Hopes and Expectations. 



Mr. Editok : — I have been readinp^ several 

 stray numbers of the Bee Journal, and find that 

 many of the persons who therein hold forth 

 give a greenhorn a good deal of sound advice. 

 I was raised among bees and bred on honey 

 until the present time, and there are no indica- 

 tions at present of my appetite for honey failing 

 this season. 



Our apiary is about forty years old. I am 

 grandson, and son of a bee keeper, and having 

 been dyed in the wool, I am also a bee-keeper. 

 Our apiary has been afflicted with many patent 

 hives, and it is a wonder that they have survived, 

 some of the outlandish things in which they 

 have had the good nature to remain. I never 

 progressed much in bee management until I 

 devised a simple movable comb hive — a non-pat- 

 ented, non-reversible, revolvable, upside down 

 bee hive. 



I am now preparing to go it with my eye open 

 ■ to the science of the tiling — movable combs, 

 glass boxes, honey emptying machines, wax- 

 extractors, Italian queens, »&c., &c. If you, 

 Mr. Editor should happen to hear of any grand 

 improvement, please put a flea in my ear, and I 

 will go for it (the improvement, not the flea). 



I expect to whirl out tons of honey this sum- 

 mer. Each swarm ought to make about two 

 hundred (200) pounds, providing the season is 

 the best ever known. If I had time I would 

 figure out the facts to your entire sai isfaction. I 

 could demonstrate it very easily if I was owner 

 of a patent hive or moth trap ; but will have to 

 forego the pleasure of astonishing your readers 

 until some future time. 



The last season was rather tough for our lit- 

 tle pets. The drouth dried up everything in the 

 form of honey. The poor suliering bees would 

 hum around very anxiously, searchilig every 

 plant and flower, far and near, and then return 

 to their hive with a mere taste of honey, and 

 looking as discouraged as a hen pecked husband. 

 I admired their patience, however, under the cir- 

 cumstances, and in the fall rewarded their pre- 

 cious little gizzards with several doses of honey ; 

 and during the winter I also ])assed around 

 several sticks of candy among each conimuiiity, 

 and I believe the cute little fellows would just 

 as lief pass the whole winter in sucking candy. 

 My candy swarms are now just as lively as 

 crickets, and waiting impatiently to gather 

 tons of honey. 



I wish to thank Mr. "Novice" for his elegant 

 bee feeder and would willingly send him a few 

 boxes of honey for his idea. It is just the 

 handiest feeder in the world. It may interest 

 you to know how I use it. In the spring I re- 

 move the cobs from the frames. (I always use 

 cobs to absorb moisture,) and fit closely over the 

 top of the frames a large piece of water-proof 

 paper, cut a hole a little smaller than the feeder, 

 directly over the cluster, and set the feeder over 

 the hole. By this method, ever} thing is kept 

 neat and tidy . 



In the proceedings of the Cincinnati Bee- 



keeper's Convention, I see that some of the 

 wise heads that convened there, propose to make 

 candy from mel-extracted honey. They did not 

 give the process. I should like to know how 

 the thing is accomplished. If the operation is 

 *'not dangerous,''^ I would like to experiment 

 as to the profitableness of the pi'ocess. If some 

 of your unselfish correspondents, "Mr. Novice," 

 for instance — would be so kind as to let the pro- 

 cess be known, who knows but that great re- 

 sults would flow therefrom. Honey is getting to 

 be so plentiful that every bee-keeper should care- 

 fully study the nature and the combination of 

 its elements with other substances ; and perhaps 

 something valuable would be the result of patient 

 experiment. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I will not further trespass 

 on your valuable time and good nature. Should 

 I discover anything new about honey or bees, I 

 will give you the first imformation, wishing you 

 success in bee and business matters. 



Scientific. 



Hartford, N. T., March 13, 1871. 



[For tlie American Bee Journal.] 



A Metallic Hive. 



Mr. Editor : — With your permission I will 

 give the readers of the Journal a little sketch of 

 my experiments with a metallic bee hive. In 

 the first place I use the common hive, with the 

 exception of a cap (or spare honey box), of the 

 same dimensions as the hive, and of the same 

 material. My bees are in log gums, square plank 

 hives and sheet iron. The lattei' well painted in 

 and out, and a thin coating of jilaster inside. 

 Before I put a swarm in them, I give them a thin 

 coating of melted beeswax, using a ravelled rag 

 for my brush. 



My hives all stand in a row, under a cover of 

 four feet boards, and on a flat stone, ten inches 

 from the ground. There they stand, winter and 

 summer. 



It was four years last June since I first i^nt bees 

 into a metal hive, and I was thoroughly con- 

 vinced in one year that they would ]irove to be 

 moth proof; and I have seen nothing since t« 

 cause me to change my views. On the contrary, 

 I have seen much to confirm my convictions ; 

 having seen no sign of moths or their webs in the 

 iron hives, whilst all the others were more or 

 less injured, and in some the bees killed outright. 



So much for facts (taking my word for it). 

 Now for theory. First, it crosses tlic instinct 

 of any insect to lay its eggs upon a mineral or 

 metal. Second, it crosses the instinct of tlie 

 moth to have no wood or something of a fibrous 

 nature out of which to manufacture its web. 

 And, third, the moth destroys the bees by forti- 

 fying itself against the attacks by webbing 

 itself up. 



I would like also to say wherein the metallic 

 hive would be proof against foulbrood, but 

 forbear . 



A. F. Cobb. 

 Chapel mil, Mo., Feb. 14, 1871. 



