1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



309 



you cannot mistake. Then approach and hand- 

 le with care, her teats and udder — see if they 

 are swollen or sore, which will often be found to 

 be the case, and if so bathe them long and pa- 

 tiently with soapsuds, applying a little oil or 

 greese to any chaps or cracks that may be found, 

 and then she is in readiness for a very gentle at- 

 tempt at milking. 



Don't hurry, nor be in any perturbation from 

 fear of being injured, but sit up closely, and con- 

 tinue to talk low and kindly to your subject ; be 

 very cautious not to hurt or frighten her in the 

 least, and ten to one your task will be accom- 

 plished without the movement of a single hoof. 



This process continued, will tame and subdue 

 the wildest and most obstinate heifer to a gentle 

 and loving cow, and I have seen them exhibit a 

 decree of affection which intelligence might copy 

 with profit. 



If such, or similar treatment, will not tame the 

 heifers or reform the cow, let them be fattened 

 for the shambles, and others more tractable take 

 their places, rather than subject them to the rope^ 

 strap, chain bull-ring, club, milking stool, or any 

 such barbarous inflictions. 



'Springfield, Vt. K Ingham. 



For the New England Farmer. 



BEE-HIVES. 



I have put off re-writing the article on bee- 

 hives that I mailed to your address some months 

 since, hoping that it might turn up. Not seeing 

 it in the Farmer, I suppose the little money en- 

 closed for the advertisement tempted some thief 

 among the mails, who took the money and de- 

 stroyed the article. The article referred to, was 

 in reply to "Norfolk," on a charge of inconsis- 

 tencj-, wherein he accuses me of "Preaching what 

 I do not practice. That my instructions are not 

 for myself," &c. This, as far as myself is concern- 

 ed, amounts to but little, but perhaps some read- 

 ers of the Farmer rD.\g\it wish to know as well as 

 "Norfolk," what right I have to recommend one 

 hive, and afterwards use another. I intend to 

 make a full confession, and if it does not fully 

 exculpate me from blame, it may somewhat mod- 

 ify their feelings. I would say first, that I can- 

 not be charged with altering some simple thing 

 about a bee-hive^hen obtaining a patent, and 

 charging all a few dollars, who can be persuaded 

 to use it. All that the bee needs in a state of na- 

 ture, is a cavity suitable for rearing her broods, 

 and depositing her stores for winter. All that 

 man requires in addition, is an apartment that 

 can be removed with surplus stores. A single 

 box in the plainest form was used for twenty-five 

 years, and nothing found to surpass it in conve- 

 nience, safety, economy or profit. Believing it 

 the best for the apiarian of any class, I recom- 

 mended no other in the work alluded to by "Nor- 

 folk." And now for the sake of being consistent, 

 must I adhere to this throughout, and deny my- 

 self the advantages that may arise from the minds 

 of others ? I think I would'rather risk his charge 

 of inconsistency. "The best way is as good as 

 any," and the moment that a man settles down 

 into the belief that he has arrived at the summit 

 of improvement, there is no further advancement 

 for him. There is a vast differenca in the ability 



to discriminate between what is an improvement, 

 and what is said to be. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstroth presented me with 

 the movable frame, or movable comb-hive ; I saw 

 at once, that I could, if I chose, still use the sim- 

 ple box with the addition of the frames, and 1 

 could take out and return to the hive all the 

 combs without injury to a single bee. I trans^ 

 ferred bees and combs into some of these in the 

 spring of '56. In '57 and ^oS, I introduced new 

 swarms in a large number, and have found the 

 following advantages. 



Most apirists know that their stocks are quite 

 liable in some seasons to overswarm, and have 

 witnessed with regret, swarms too small to be 

 worth anything alone, continue to issue till the 

 parent stock was reduced too much, to contend 

 successfully with the worms. And as a conse- 

 quence, both old and new colonies would be lost. 

 With the help of the frames, such ruinous oper 

 ations can be prevented. A few days after th 

 first, and just before the second swarm, the comb • 

 can be examined, and all the queen-cells removed 

 but one. When the queen in that matures, it 

 finds no opposition — quietly remains, and soon 

 becomes the mother in the old stock. I will pre 

 sume that the natural history relative to thia 

 point is understood. This operation cannot be 

 performed with a hive, in which the comb", are 

 fast. 



Artificial swarms are successfully made viiih 

 but very little trouble, as follows. When most of 

 the bees are out in the middle of the day, taking 

 out the frames, looking them over carefully till 

 the queen is found, when the frame containing 

 her is put in an empty hive, setting that on the 

 old stand ; and putting the old stock in a new 

 place. Enough bees will return to the old queen 

 to make the swarm. If done at the proper sea- 

 son, enough brood will be in the combs, together 

 with those just matured, to keep the old stock 

 sufficiently strong. If no queen-cells about fin- 

 ished are present in the stock, it is nearly al- 

 ways practical to procure one from some other, 

 with a queen nearly mature, to introduce, and 

 thereby gain several days in breeding. 



If, from any cause, a stock or swarm is weak, 

 but otherwise healthy, it may be assisted by some 

 strong colony, merely by taking a comb or two 

 filled with brood, and giving it to the weak one. 

 In a few days, the maturing brood will add ma- 

 terially to its strength. In the same way, their 

 winter stores maybe equalized in the fall ; some 

 stocks will have too much, and others too little. 

 The changing of a few combs will make all right, 

 and benefit all. 



Nature had to provide drones for isolated col- 

 onies, and when we bring together a large num- 

 ber, this instinct for rearing drones is retained, 

 and each produces its number ; when in reality 

 there is no necessity in an apiary of fifty or a 

 hundred stocks for any more drones than two or 

 three colonies might produce. So many drones 

 cannot be reared without much labor of the work- 

 ing bees, and cannet be supported afterwards 

 without a great consumption of honey. Several 

 patents have been granted, the chief merit of 

 which is a trap to catch and destroy them. But 

 with the movable combs, we can take ihe matter 

 into our own hands, and say in the spring wheth- 

 er we will have thirty, three hundred, or three 



