134 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI.. 



will never smother, — sven if the lower en- 

 trance should become fastened up with ice. 



You will see that the combs run cross- 

 ways of the entrance in this hive. The ad- 

 vantage of this hive is, bees winter per- 

 fectly, and with as little consumption of 

 honey in proportion to the number of bees, 

 as they do in a cellar or special repository. 

 They never fly out in winter, providing we 

 have the cluster four combs from the en- 

 trance, unless the weather is warm enough 

 for them to take a flight without loss. We 

 never have to shade the entrance as we do 

 other hives, with combs running from front 

 to rear to prevent the bees from flying in 

 winter. It is a perfect nonswarmer, pro- 

 viding we take their honey from them and 

 do not allow them to restrict the queen 

 from breeding. We can raise more bees 

 in this form of hive with less manipulation, 

 than any other form we ever saw, and it 

 always takes bees to gather honey, with us. 

 j.vlr. L/angstroth, in a private letter, says, 

 " The improvement in hives is as great an 

 advancemeiit in bee cultiore, as the invention 

 of the movable comb or extractor.'''' 



Again, providing we place a large swarm 

 in this hive, all the comb is built worker- 

 comb, and if we take out a comb and in- 

 sert an empty frame, it is flUed with worker- 

 comb every time with us, and this is an 

 item of no mean value. Mr. Adair has 

 been ridiculed for advancing such ideas, 

 and 1 may be also. But there are people 

 that wish to advance in bee culture, and 

 tnere is no harm in giving our ideas to such, 

 i have fully tested the hive, and am so well 

 satisfied that I shall make more of them. 

 i have a stock that now occupies twenty- 

 six combs, with bees. I wintered one small 

 late swarm in the hive last winter, for an 

 experiment, and I never wintered with bet- 

 ter satisfaction in the cellar, and my strong 

 stocks wintered splendidly, and every one 

 Knows that the winter of 1873 was severe 

 enough as a test, to satisfy ^^ the most 

 fastidious. 



in this hive we have no use for a divis- 

 ion Doard. Understand that what I call a 

 strong swarm would be two swarms put 

 together from ordinary 3,000 cubic inch 

 hives. We have ascertained to our own 

 satisfaction, that one good queen without 

 any care whatever, will .occupy over 4,000 

 cubic inches of comb in the ordinary man- 

 ner with brood, in this form of hive. We 

 use the extracted or cell-comb honey in the 

 frame. In this climate we can extract all 

 tlie honey made up to the middle of August, 

 with perfect safety. In such a hive, and 

 witli the Italians, and good, common sense, 

 we have a permanent institution. 



iS^o cold, chilling, dampness, or imperfectly 

 evaporated honey, causes dysentery. We 

 liave no dysentery in this hive, providing 

 we use good, common sense. The Italians 



will renew their queens almost invariably, 

 and with my management there is no feed- 

 ing to be done at any time. They are self- 

 supporting. They breed later in the fall 

 and earlier in the spring; consequently are 

 always strong in numbers, and with us 

 strong stocks are the sheet anchor to suc- 

 cessful bee-keeping. 



The past season was the poorest that I 

 have seen since I came West. I sold my 

 stock down to fifteen all in large twin and 

 New Idea hives. From seven I increased 

 up to thirty-six, and from the other eight I 

 took 800 lbs. surplus. Now I am not the 

 only person that has beeii testing this hive. 

 But I have had it tested in Michigan and 

 other parts of this State, and think I am 

 not mistaken if I do claim that every 

 person will like the hive, or that every one 

 will succeed. But I claim that what I have 

 done, others can learn to do. This morn- 

 ing, with the thermometer 20 degs. below 

 zero (Feb. 24, 1874) by listening at the front 

 of my twin hives, the bees are making a 

 loud, roaring noise, showing conclusively 

 that they have to consume honey largely to 

 keep up the warmth. But listen in front 

 of the long hive, and we only hear a gentle 

 buzz or hum, and in moderate weather we 

 can hear nothing, unless we jar the hive, 

 showing just as conclusively that the con- 

 sumption of honey is but a trifle in com- 

 parison. 



Now I have used two-story hives, and 

 could use them again, but I know that a 

 two-story hive is not adapted to wintering 

 on the summer stands ; neither can we raise 

 anywhere near the same amount of brood 

 that we can in the horizontal hive and con- 

 tinuous chamber. The diflerence is so 

 marked when we take the season through, 

 that any person must be terribly prejudiced 

 that cannot see it. The hive will cost more 

 than one dollar, and it will be worth more. 



E. Gallup. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Top and Side Surplus Boxes. 



A question in which some are interested 

 is : " Are top or side surplus honey boxes 

 best?" 



When a new swarm enters an empty hive 

 and commences work, they commence at 

 the top of their hive. For this there is a 

 very obvious reason. The form of their 

 todies and the nature and form of their 

 comb, makes this the most convenient way 

 to operate. From the top they can hang in 

 clusters and work upon the comb and build 

 down half way to the bottom of the hive be- 

 fore the top is fully completed. If top sur- 

 plus boxes are used when first placed in the 

 hive, they will probably enter them first. If 

 it is a small colony it will be some time be- 

 fore coml) will be prepared for the deposit 



