AMERICAI BEE JOURNAL. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY W. F. CLARKE, CHICAGO, ILL. 



AT TWO DOLLAK8 PEB ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. IX. 



OCTOBEK, 1 S^3. 



No. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Mr. Editor : — Please try and explain to our 

 friend Alley, that we have no malicious pur- 

 pose in our project of supplying bee-keepers 

 with cheap hives, and that we would take Mr. 

 Alley by the hand with all the pleasure in the 

 world and thank him for the service he had 

 done the bee-keeping community, should he be 

 able to furnish the same articles at less rate 

 than we do. 



When ever it shall profit the masses to have 

 us stand aside for some who by means of better 

 facilities, or having more energy and tact to 

 produce good work cheaply, we shall accept our 

 position at once and without the least bit of ill 

 feeling or rivalry. 



An opening now presents itself for some 

 good mechanic who is also a beekeeper (for it 

 seems to us that none but a practical apiarist 

 should attempt hive making,) to make a good 

 servicable one story hive, frames included, for 

 $1.00, having them so made, of course that two 

 such constituted a two story hive etc. We have 

 thought of offering such ourselves, and did not 

 other duties stand in the way, we have no fear 

 that we could not do a pleasant trade, both for 

 ourselves and our customers. 



Who among our readers will undertake it ? 

 We are ready to aid them in the matter in any 

 way we can. 



Individual losses are often times necessary 

 for the jjublic good, and he that is manly, will 

 not hesitate to bear his share when it becomes 

 necessary. 



Two years ago we purchased and sold quite a 

 number of the Peabody Extractors, thinking 

 them simple, stronger, and more convenient 

 than our home made ones, but when we brought 

 one into actual use, for real work, they proved 

 too laborious to be tolerable, and notwithstanding 

 we had nearly a hundred dollars invested in 

 them, we have never sold one since, although 

 they have been offered at half price. 



Since using the Simplicity hive for queen 

 rearing, etc., we have found work facilitated so 

 much that we have offered our original Lang- 



stroth, two story hives (that cost us $2.00; 

 three years ago,) for 50c each, yet they don't 

 sell. 



If it wasn't for the danger of spoiling our 

 " nice bugy saw," we would take them apart 

 and make them over, for they contain lots of 

 lumber, and we have wasted a good deal of 

 paint on them, especially the covers to make 

 them tight. The American hives piled up against 

 the fence, we have offered to box hive bee- 

 keepers, at half the former price each year; — 

 guess they must be down to 12%c now, but 

 can't remember, for box hives havn't swarmed 

 scarcely for the two past seasons here. 



Once more we wish all to consider the follow- 

 ing remarks on hives, as applying to the hives 

 only and not the individual whose names they 

 bear, for we wish to discuss hives as we would 

 turnips, or any other natural production, and 

 consider their merits only. We have been visit- 

 ing neighboring bee-keepers, in their apiaries 

 of late, and by the way when we get several of 

 them together we have quite a pleasant " home 

 convention," and we don't fear to discuss hives, 

 either as they do in the A^. Y. Journal. 



We almost all use different hives, different 

 feeders, etc., etc., yet we have never quarreled a 

 particle. Mr. Shaw of Chatham Centre, prefers 

 the Langstroth Portico, because he has a feeder 

 fixed in a neat square box in the upper part of 

 it ; the roof of the portico is the lid which he 

 raises to replenish it and the feeder is simply a 

 tin box filled with shavings ; bees are admitted 

 through a hole near its top; thus you see he 

 can feed at any time, without opening the hive 

 at all, a very convenient device for queen rearers. 



Mr. Shaw has the numbers of his hives paint- 

 ed on squares of tin stuffed in between the 

 heads of two tacks not driven quite down, and 

 when a queen is removed to another hive the 

 number is carried with her, and when hives are 

 exchanged, the numbers are readily corrected. 

 All or nearly all of them agree that closed top 

 frames are out of the question, and many of 

 them have given the American hive a good 

 trial as they had purchased "rights," and did 

 not want to have it "wasted." Atone place 

 we had a " big laugh " at a hive of Italians 



