THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



155 



Mway of the bees, until none sire left to care 

 for tlie brood. We Imve never yet found 

 a case that reported unfavorably in regard 

 to sugar for wintering when the full facts 

 were brought out, umess it be the one on 

 pages 132 and 138, and we would be much 

 obliged to the writer of that article for his 

 full address. 



It is well known, we believe, that our 

 reverses have been given just as faithfully 

 to the public, (perhaps more,) as our suc- 

 cesses and we cau hardly consider it fair 

 to make an enumeration of the former only, 

 as Mr. Adair has done, sending eggs by 

 mail, for instance ; — this we were induced 

 to do by accepting the statements of some 

 whom we considered trustworthy, before 

 we had had an opportunity of verifying 

 the matter ourselves. However we offered 

 to refund all money sent us for eggs, as 

 soon as we discovered it to be a 

 failure. And by the way here comes some- 

 thing queer. Mr. Adair, among the rest, 

 wrote us f or'eggs, saying his stock of Italians 

 had got reduced or failed, or something of 

 the sort, and at the convention he states 

 that a number of queen cells were started 

 on the inserted con^h and all of thern pro- 

 duced queens.'''' 



This was the only instance we know of 

 when a single queen was reared when the 

 eggs went out of our immediate neighbor- 

 hood, or so far that they could not be in- 

 serted in a hive the same day. Why should 

 Mr. Adair class it as "vagaries," if he suc- 

 ceeded so well, in fact far beyond everyone 

 else y Since we have got your ear friend 

 A. please tell us where the "Annals" is that 



' your advertisement keeps saying was out 

 in Dec. 1873. 



We are not yet convinced that queens on 

 an average can use more than 20 combs, 

 when we are, we will make hives longer. 

 You wouldn't have a body believe a thing 

 before they thought it was so, would you? 

 We dont wish to appear to doubt what you 

 and Mr. Gallup say about the capability of 

 your queens, but those we are acquainted 



\ with frequently' fail to occupy ten Langstroth 

 frames. Shall we accept it as a fact that 

 the very idea, of occupying a "New Idea" 

 hive tills their little selves with the bound- 

 less ambition of being able to fill every cell 

 with eggs in 24 or more frames ? 



In soberness, the bees we have known, 

 and the ones we get letters about, do not 

 deport themselves near up to accounts we 

 get from Quinby, Hazeu, Gallup nor Adair 

 — begging their pardon if they object to 

 being thus put into a " four horse team," — 

 and we have seen them tried in 18 or 20 

 frames spread out horizontally for several 

 years past too. But we do get by far too 



I many accounts of " blasted hopes," to de- 

 cide that bee-keeping at the present time 

 ••oukl even be considered a safe business 



for anyone to embark in largely. 



Our ofler to make the Quinby liive 2^i per 

 cent less, ready to nail, sliould read 25 cents 

 less, ready to nail. 



We beg pardon, Mr. Editor, if we are 

 writing rather dolefully, but we have no 

 facility for invoking merry words when 

 prospects do not seen\ to warrant them. 



At present we have only 10 ([ueens, anc 

 scarcely bees enough with them, for 3 good 

 colonies. Unless Mr. Adair objects, on the 

 ground that we have not earned the title, 

 we would prefer to keep on as your old 

 friend, Novice. 



P. S. It is no more than justice to our- 

 selves to add that we made the remark 

 over a year ago, that if atf much honey 

 could be secured in a hive of double width, 

 as with the two story one we had belter 

 adopt it simply to avoid the laborious 

 operation of lifting ofl' an upper story in 

 extracting. A trial of such hives in diflfer- 

 ent localities, it seems, would demonstrate 

 that full as much honey can be secured 

 thus. Now the Langstroth frame was 

 planned with an idea of a two-story hive, 

 or at least for surplus boxes on top. Should 

 we abandon them and spread the 20 frames 

 out horizontally, we would have a hive 

 much more difficult to handle than one 

 wuth narrower and deeper frame; also, it 

 would be difficult to make a cover for such 

 a hive with a single board which can be 

 done readily with a frame not exceeding 14 

 inches in depth. Mr Langstroth suggests 

 such a frame (see page 38 Oleanings) Avith 

 no thought of Adair's " New Idea," and in 

 deciding on the dimensions of a frame to 

 be used solely for the extractor we had no 

 idea of copying the above more than in 

 adopting the frame which he had named 

 the Adair frame in our classification of 

 frames. This frame being about midway 

 in length and depth between the extremes 

 as Mr. Gallup partly states it, it would seem, 

 that there would be a greater probability 

 of its being adopted as a standard. Our 

 reason for turning the frame crosswise is 

 that, in using such hives in our Hexagonal 

 Apiary they must almost of a necessity be 

 turned so as to stand close up to the grape 

 vine trellises, or they would obstruct our 

 walks. We prefer the entrance in one or 

 both ends, because in using a division 

 board it can be adjusted without interfering 

 with the entrances. In recommending our 

 Standard hive to our friends we do it with 

 no expectation of realizing any such great 

 advantages as the advocates of the "New 

 Idea" claim, over the two story hive. If 

 it answeres just as well we shall be pleased, 

 because it lessens the labor of extracting ; 

 if it shall do all that Adair claims for it 

 under all circumstances, we will most 

 cheerfully record him the full credit of 

 horizontal hives over two story. 



