TUJi AMi^ilUUAJN ±JEE JOUKJNAL. 



143 



article translated from soin(» foreign bee jour- 

 nal that, we sliould be vt-ry thankful to l)a- 

 daut and others for that tedious task ; hut 

 Hndin<^ that C. P. Dadant can take a French 

 or Italian journal and translate in Enf^lish as 

 fast as we usually read, 1 have concluded to 

 give him credit i'or his ability instead of a 

 tedious task. C. V. Dadant announces that it 

 is warm enough to open hives ; we arm our- 

 selves with hee hats, made by attaching 

 bobouette to a straw nat and at the lower 

 end is a piece of elastic which fits around the 

 neck, a shallow box witli a handle in the 

 middle and divided into suitable apartments 

 in which is carried the different articles need- 

 ed in the apiary. 



A number of hives are to be fixed for shii>- 

 ping and now for the rnodus operatidL Each 

 hive is examined to see if pure and if strong 

 enough to fill the order. To secure the frames 

 an ingenious bent wire is used at the bottom, 

 it hcing one of Ch. Dadant's inventions, next 

 the frames are properly spaced and nailed 

 witli brads, then the honey— board is nailed 

 and cover etc. I saw several queens and they 

 were very uniform in size and color. They 

 are well "located for shipping facilities, but 

 the honey resources are not plenty when com- 

 iiared with Sweet Home. In all things they 

 have system and order. The hives are all 

 numbered behind and to each is nailed a tin 

 black-board holder, the black-board being 

 about 3x4 inches, having upon the corner of 

 one side the number of the hive and upon the 

 opjiosite side a liquid-slating on which is 

 written with pencil the condition of the hive, 

 age of queen etc., the writing is turned in- 

 ward to prevent being erased, when empty 

 the black side is turned outward. The nuni- 

 bered side can be inverted or changed in 

 various ways to mean as many different con- 

 ditions. 1 said that his liives were numbered, 

 the nuclei for raising <|ueens were numbered 

 by letters of the alphabet. 



Tliey use the wax comb-guide described in 

 (Jleanings page 13, vol. 2. Also the divisible 

 frame, i. e. dividing a full sized frame into 

 e(iual halves for the nuclei — see Ch. Dadant's 

 description on page 39 of Gleanings vol. 2. 



They believe bees should have'salt, and for 

 that purpose they have a stand in the apiary 

 on which they invert a small-mouthed jar, 

 having previously filled it with strong brine 

 and covered with muslin which is tied around 

 the neck. Is salt necessary or beneficial ? 

 Of what use d(^ bees make of it ? Why do 

 they prefer water that is salty ? 



C. P. Dadant used a slate pencil for his 

 black-board writing, it suggested the idea to 

 me that a slate would be better than a board, 

 I accordingly procured me eight school slates 

 for 70 centSj which I cut in 64 pieces about 

 23^x3 inches each of which is large enough. On 

 one side I have put the number of hive and 

 on the opposite I put the record and condi- 

 tion of the hive. While talking with W. T. 

 Kirk of Muscatine, Iowa, about the above he 

 said : " Why not drill a hole in the slates 

 and hang on a nail "? If slates could be pro- 

 cured without frames they would not cost, 

 labor and all, over one cent each, which is 

 less than the black-board, and so far I think 

 much better to write on. With a rule and 

 slate pencil I laid off the slate and then I 

 sharpened one end of a file with which I cut 

 it on opposite sides and tlicn broke as glaziers 

 do. And with a brace and the above file I 

 drilled the holes, slate is soft and easily cut. 



I forgot to mention in its place that Dadant 

 uses the " quilt " or rather a very heavy mus- 

 lin, they dip the edges in bees-wax to prevent 

 the bees cutting, then the original honey- 

 board is placed on top to hold it down. 



J. M. Simmons, M. D., Lauderdale, Mis.s., 

 writes :— "I Ixmgiit 4 box hives, and one of 

 King's .$10 cdose-toj) hives and transferred my 

 bees and combs to them. 



King has the idea in some respects if he 

 would cut the fi-am(>s to %, leave off his 

 supers and make the hives longc^r and deeper. 

 Ijast fall having r(!ad so nuich by Novice 

 about wintering I nnluced my 10 stocks to 6, 

 but I think the 10 would have wintered better 

 aiul now 1 would have 10 stocks instead of 6. 

 Last fall I sent to K. M. Argo for two Italian 

 queens ami he sent me some fine-looking 

 ones, but no directions about nuiking queen 

 cages, so I lost one in introducing them. 

 After my loss I introduced one of the old 

 queens and they must have killed her, as I 

 found the hive queenless when I examined it 

 in January. I commenced this year with six 

 hives but having to unite the queenless one 

 and letting one starve I reduced my stock to 

 four. In wintering my stocks last fall I did 

 not kill any of the (pieens, and the first warm 

 spell this year, two swarms came out of two 

 of the united hives and went back. I ex- 

 amined the hives and found a dead (jueen in 

 each and many bees dead in the hives and 

 outside. Well, I supposed just then that I 

 was minus two queens and many bees from 

 disease, but I found upon examining the 

 frames two very fine large queens and they 

 are to-day the finest queens I have, and have 

 the largest stocks. 



These swarms remained in those hives all 

 the winter and as soon as the weather moder- 

 ated they took a notion to separate but find- 

 ing it rather too cold outside, they returned 

 and were killed. In March I was examining 

 one of my hives and found them killiug their 

 queen, superseding her, for they had started 

 a queen cell. I cut it out and "gave them a 

 frame of eggs and brood from my Italian 

 stock and now have two fine Italian (lueens 

 and two stocks instead of one, but I am afraid 

 they met common drones instead of Italian as 

 I had some of both. I have tried to keep the 

 common drones out of my hives by killing 

 and uncapping. I want " to Italianize all 

 stocks this year. 



I find there are two kinds of native South- 

 ern bees in this section, one a little black bee, 

 cross and spiteful, stinging every thing that 

 comes near, the other a large yellow bee as 

 large as the Italian and very much like them 

 in their disposition and habits. l)ut they have 

 none of the Italian marks, tliey must l)e a cross 

 of the Italian, for my (lueen's are as large or 

 larger than the Italians, but much darker. I 

 never use smoke unless I want to unite them, 

 and not always then. I have dispensed with 

 supers and converted my two-story hives into 

 single story hives 34 in. long holding 31 or 33 

 fraines 13x9 in. inside measure. 



INIy bees have (luit sugar since they got 

 natural supplies, unless it is cool or raining, 

 then they work on it. I don't think handling 

 bees often injures them, if the weather is 

 pleasant, for inine don't stop working unless 

 I disturb them a good deal, and 1 think some- 

 times that opening the hives is a benefit and 

 starts them out when if left alone they would 

 do nothing. 



I am trying a small patch of Alsike clover 

 to see if it will do for our hot climate. Buck- 

 wheat does well here, tried it here last year 

 and bees worked on it freely. This has 6een 

 a bad season for bees but tliey have com- 

 menced gathering lioney. The great trouble 

 with us is insects, and want of frame hives, 

 most all use the box and gum hives and call 

 the queen the king bee, and say it is wrong to 

 sell oees but you can steal them and all is 

 'O.K.'" 



