20 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



r>)r the Americam Bee Journal. 



Hives for the South. 



Messkr. Editors :— Your correspondent 

 •"Edgefield," of South Carolina, wishes me 

 to give a description of the hive I use and 

 lecommend for our climate. Now there are 

 hardly tvi'o bee-keepers that entertain the 

 -same opinion in regard to the arrangement 

 and construction of hives. What suits one 

 does not suit another. While it is of the 

 utmost importance to have our bees in a 

 good hive, large yields of honey (other con- 

 ditions being the same) are less dependent 

 upon the sort of hive than upon right man- 

 agement of the bees. 



While I believe it is impossible to con- 

 struct a hive against which no objections 

 ■can be urged, I think they can be made so 

 that very little more need be desired. In 

 making a hive for the South, an observance 

 of the following principles and laws seem 

 to be very essential : 



1. Perfect adaptability of the hive to the 

 instinct and habits of the bee. 



2. Simplicity. All parts, including frames, 

 ■must be so arranged as to admit of grear 

 ease in opening and closing. There should 

 "be no parts about it that cannot readily be 

 gotten into, and examined when necessary. 

 And all these arrangements must be made 

 •with special reference not to crush any 

 l>ees, and to disturb them as little as pos- 

 sible. 



3. Enlargement or contraction of the 

 brood chamber at pleasure, so as to suit the 

 size of the colony. There is nmch diversity 

 of opinion in regard to what should be the 

 size of the brood chamber. I tind about 

 2,000 cubic inches to be a good size for a 

 strong colony worked for box honey ; if ex- 

 tracted, I prefer it at least 4,000 cubic 

 inches. 



4. Shallow frames, not deeper than the 

 Langstroth. Small frames are desirable in 

 the surplus dc))aitiuent. These should be 

 arranged iiumediately above or near the 

 sides of the brood chamber. If boxes are 

 preferred, place them the same. This is 

 very important. 



5. Good ventilation. In our climate we 

 need the top of the hive to be kept well 

 shaded and cool, particularly if we desire 

 box honey. If this is neglected, the heat is 

 often too great, and prevents the bees from 

 working in boxes even in the midst of an 

 abundant yield of honey. Shallow frames 

 can be kept cooler than tall deep ones. 

 Large roomy caps with ventilators attached 

 are most excellent. 



The hive 1 use is a modification of the 

 Langstroth. The frames are W^xS)^ in. 

 in the clear ; open at top, with the excep- 

 tion of each end which keeps them equally 

 distant apart. They are matle to hang true, 

 and rest on the edge of a strip of metal. I 

 use no nails, wires, etc., to keep them apart 

 at the bottom. Allow a half inch si)ace 

 around the en<ls and bottom of frame. jNhike 

 all hives with tight bottom boards. The 

 body of hive is H> inches wide in the clear, 

 "witli a division board. By iircssiiig this 

 board back against the side of hive, ample 

 room is gained so that frames can be remov- 

 ed with great (^ase. There is a ventilator 

 ■on the side of hive near tlie bottom, next 

 the division board. 'J'liis jiroduces an u])- 

 "ward current of air between the side and 



division board, and also around the honey- 

 boxes, through the cap. 



My honey boxes liave small frames in 

 them which are in direct contact with the 

 brood chamber, with no honey board be- 

 tween. When a colony is to be worked for 

 extracted honey, 1 prefer them in long, one- 

 story hives with 20 or 30 frames of the above 

 size. Entrance only at one end. Keep the 

 frames covered with a " honey quilt " made 

 out of gunny bagging. Hive is covered with 

 a shallow cap with ventilators at both ends. 

 With these hives the bees do not hang out 

 in the hottest weather. 



For the information of all concerned I 

 will say that there are no patents on the 

 above described hive. J. P, H. Brown. 



Augusta, Ga. 



Voices from Among the Hives. 



John L. Davis, Delhi, Michigan, writes: 

 — "We commenced thiS season with forty- 

 seven hives of pure Italian bees, and have 

 obtained 2,500 lbs. of comb, and 500 of ma- 

 chine honey, and sixty-six new swarms or 

 nucleus. We sold seventy queens, and sev- 

 eral swarms also. By the middle of Septem- 

 ber every hive, both large and small, was 

 crowded with honey, except three or four 

 that were hived about the 8th or 10th of 

 September. While trying to obviate, or 

 avoid, the cutting of comb in queen raising, 

 we have discovered that we can, with a 

 pointed instrument, remove the worker lar- 

 vae from the worker cells, and introduce 

 them into incipient queen cells, and the 

 bees will raise tliem into nice queens. This 

 we call the Davis transportation process. 

 It can be done in any queenless colony, and 

 in very populous ones that do not swarm 

 when they should, which is the case with 

 black bees, frequently." 



W. D. Wright, Knowerville, N. Y., 

 writes :— "The past season has been an ex- 

 cellent one for bees in this section, and hon- 

 ey is very plenty, and low in price. Bass- 

 wood yielded more honey tliau f«)r several 

 seasons past. Bees swarmed abundantly in 

 general. To have had such poor success for 

 several seasons past in wintering bees on 

 their summer stands, that I concluded to 

 try some other way. I have built a reposi- 

 tory similar to Novice's. Size 12x14 feet, 

 walls 12 inches thick, lilled with saw dust, 

 material ; cost about $l'Zo. 



If I fail to winter bees successfully in this. 

 I will at least have a good building in which 

 to extract and store surplus honey." 



M. n. MiLSTEX, Frohna, INIo., writes : — 

 "I commenced in the spring with 21 stocks, 

 most of them very weak ; increased to 25 

 strong ones. From these I took almost 1,4(X) 

 lbs. ot extracted honey, besides running my 

 farm. I had the pleasure of visiting some 

 apiaries this fall, one of whicli was Daihint 

 & Son's, of whom I purchased a small stock 

 of bees with an imported queen." 



Thomas Frost, Gillespie, 111., writes :— 

 " The past season has been very dry till 

 August. The rains then started white 

 clover and other l)looms so that bees filled 

 their stands, and some of tlie stronger work- 

 ed in boxes. The bees are all black in our 

 neighborhood ; tlu^ season was very poor 

 till the fall blooms came on, then "it was 

 only an ordinary season." 



