14 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[July, 



First, a few old bees die (natural consequence) 

 they fall down on tlie bottom of the hive, and 

 among the combs. An unusual cold spell of 

 weather comes on, dampness is caused in the 

 hive, (imperfect ventilation.) Breeding is com- 

 menced, (I wonder where the nurses are.) In 

 the mean time decomposition of the dead bees, 

 and filth caused by dampness is going on, which 

 is absorbed by the honey. (Honey dew might 

 come in here.) The bees become diseased by 

 eating impure honey, which only increases the 

 trouble. 



We have yet to see a colony of bees that have 

 the dysentery, where the honey is in its natural 

 state, and no mouldy coml>s. no dead bees, no 

 unusual dampness in the liive. There are some 

 stocks that are lost by carelessness, such as 

 freezing, starving and quecnless, which should 

 not be placed on the sick list. The remedy for 

 all this is, first, do not have the comb go down 

 within two inches of the bottom, and the sides 

 of the comb should be free to let all refuse fall to 

 the bottom. Thewallof thehiveshould bedouble 

 to equalize the temperature within and prevent an 

 excess of moisture. Place this hive, with plenty 

 of bees and honey, and with a good queen, in a 

 cellar where the thermometer stands at 35° above 

 and we warrant them to winter safely at less 

 risk than any stock kept on a farm of the same 

 value. 



Some will object to putting a double walled 

 hive into a bee-house. "It takes up room." 

 What if it does ? we can then enclose more 

 money in property at less cost than any other 

 live property. The more safely the bees can be 

 wintered, the more valuable they become, and 

 the old adage is true in this as in every thing 

 else, "What is worth doing at all, is wojlh doing 

 well." 



Seseaye. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Cheap Hives. 



Mr. Editor: — I notice in the A. B. J., May, 

 1873, a communication from Mr. Quinliy on 

 "Cheap Hives," which leads me to a remark or 

 two on the subject with your leave. 



The annual expense of a hive is not the first 

 cost of the hive and of the right to use it; it is 

 but a small part of that expense. A well con- 

 structed hive, if properly secured, will last 

 twenty years. Some years since an account was 

 published in the Couvfrj/ Gentleman, of a hive, 

 I think in West Bloomfield, K Y., from which 

 the proprietor had taken nearly 100 pounds of 

 surplus annually for many years, I think thirty. 

 If the original cost of his hive had been $1 0.00, 

 this would have been in thirty years divided 

 into 33 1-3 cents annually. The interest on 

 ten dollars annually, seventy cents, would bring 

 up the annual expense of hive $1.03 1-3 cents. 



The annual cost of the $1.00 hive would be 



interest seven cents, one-thirtieth of a dollar, 

 .03 1-3 cents makes .10 1-3 cents annually; an 

 annual difference of 93 cents. This difference 

 of ninety-three cents secures .$20.00 difference 

 annually. If we now add the time and trouble 

 of extracting and preparing 200 pounds of 

 extracted honey for market, I think all would 

 agree as to the cheapest of the two hives. If 

 we further consider the fact that the hive and a 

 sample box i.s $5.00, and the $5.00 for the right 

 to make and use is $5.00 for one apiary, the 

 purchaser may add as many hives as he pleases 

 to place in his field. This may reduce the 

 hives one dollar each if he uses five hives, or 

 fifty cents if ten hives, or twenty-five cents if 

 he uses twenty hives, and so on, manufacturing 

 them himself, it he jDleases. 



I would not intimate that an average of two 

 hundred pounds could be secured by all the 

 hives in an apiary in either case. I have secured 

 this in but one hive, in one season. The bees 

 are hybrids, and the hive has bars instead of 

 movable frames. I have no more care and 

 trouble in managing them than in managing an 

 old-fasLioned box hive, save the taking off of 

 l)Oxes. It takes rather more time to take off 

 300 pound"^ in boxes than to take off twenty 

 pounds. 



My next best in one season gave me 174 

 pounds in boxes They were native, or black 

 bees, and in a hive with movable comb frames. 

 I don't know if they had been pure Italians 

 but they would have done better. 



My best was placed in the hive in 1867, and 

 is now as promising of success this season as I 

 have ever known it. 



Postscript. — My friend, Novice, says : "Mr. 

 Hazen forgets that he himself mentions in the 

 Rural New Yorker, having given colonies 

 young bees to strengthen them, so we need not 

 mention other sources of information." 



Had Mr. Root, (Novice) given my language 

 it would have been more readily apprehended 

 by me. 



I have several times purchased colonies in 

 swarmer hives, and, on the issuing of the 

 swarm, have placed the new swarm on the 

 stand where the old one stood, then cut out all 

 the worker brood from the old hive, placed it 

 in a bux near the entrance to the new swarm; 

 and .split up the old hive for kindling wood. I 

 should probably do the same with Mr. Root's 

 hive if I had a colony of bees in it. One im- 

 portant element of success where we are 

 deijendcnt upon white clover and early flowers 

 for surplus honey, is a large working force in 

 the early part of tlie season. This I think a 

 very important point. 



With only a medium colony in a new hive 

 with the eui)»1y hive to fill with comb at the 

 commencement, neither the old colony or new, 

 would do much by way of sui-plus. Put the 

 working force of both into one hive and hand- 

 sogie surplus may be secured. 



