ism 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUT/rURE. 



55 



tion of the queen. Mr. Miner wrote about for- 

 ty years too soon, and yet there are many inter- 

 esting pages in his book. Do any of the readers 

 of this remember the Miner hive ? 



Bromwich"s "Treatise on Kees " was printed 

 In London in 178.3. It is a little book of only (Hi 

 pages, but as meaty as an egg. The author was 

 remarkably correct in regard to the different 

 kinds of bees in a colony, and his method of 

 management was certainly as good as his time 

 furnished. Much of the book is taken up with 

 recipes for making mead and wine of honey. 

 The author gives some figures showing that 

 bees can be kept more cheaply in colonies— that 

 fs, several stocks in large boxes near together— 

 rather than in separate hives some distance 

 apart. His line of reasoning here would end in 

 the use of what is now called a house-apiary. 



"Bagster's Management of Bees" is a book 

 that enjoys the unique reputation of having 

 the most beautiful and correct pictures of the 

 drone, queen, and worker, both natural size and 

 greatly enlarged, of any bee-book we have yet 

 seen. Of course, reference is here made simply 

 to the external appearance of the bee. The 

 coloring was evidently done by hand, in water- 

 colors, and it is truly superb. Just here I no- 

 tice that some one has written at the foot of the 

 page, "The best illustrations to be found." 

 Correct. This book has no date, but it was 

 printed not long after 1844, in London. It has 

 but little originality about it, being modeled 

 largely after Huish and Huber. It is far better 

 illustrated than most English bee-books of that 

 day, both in quality and quantity. The front- 

 ispiece represents three Tadies standing in front 

 of a hive that reminds one for all the world of 

 Jake Smith's "pallus"hive. It has a double 

 (or A) roof, and a door in the gable end, the 

 whole resting on a pedestal about two feet high. 

 One of the ladies must be "Misses Barber," 

 while the other one is " Misses Porter," and the 

 one opening the hive so blandly is "Misses J. 

 Smith." The sequel to this hive-opening will 

 be found on page 318 of last year's volume, 

 where Mr. Smith tells us all about it. " Truly, 

 they wuz a sight." This little book of Mr. Bag- 

 ster's is well calculated to give a casual reader 

 a little touch of the bee-fever, as it presents 

 apiculture in glowing colors— especially the pic- 

 tures of the bees. 



It would be very interesting to know the 

 origin of the remaining bee-books and apicul- 

 tural tracts not yet noticed. It seems strange 

 that, in a pursuit like that of bee-keeping, 

 when new discoveries crowd so fast upon each 

 other, thus rendering the bee-books of to-day 

 almost useless to-morrow, so much time and 

 money should have been spent in times past in 

 bringing such books to the light. The con- 

 stant changes made on the A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture here, impress strongly on my mind the 

 fact that a work on bees has to be changed as 

 frequently as an almanac, in many respects: 



and why these worthy old English bee keepers 

 should have imagined that any of their works 

 would be read for any length of time, except as 

 curiosities, is past comprehension. Cook, Cowan, 

 or Cheshire contains more of value and truth 

 than all of tliese old bee-books put together; 

 yet the man who has read even a part of them 

 is a better man in more ways than one for hav- 

 ing done so. The apiculture of to-day is the 

 evolution of all who have labored before us in 

 that direction; and let none of us laugh at the 

 ladder by means of which we have scaled the 

 wall of present knowledge. Much remains to 

 be known; but yet we believe the great funda- 

 mental truths of the anatomy and habits of 

 bees, as now stated, will be accepted by future 

 generations, just as they will surely accept our 

 belief that the earth is round, and that it, in 

 common with other planets, moves around the 

 sun, and not the sun around us. 



Exeunt Butler, Purchas, Rusden, et nl. 



Medina, O., Jan. 10. W. P. Root. 



EXACT SPACING NOT NECESSARY. 



COREY, OF SMOKER FAME, GIVES HIS VIEWS. 



Bro. Root:— Our esteemed brother Dr. C. C. 

 Miller proposes starting from bedrock, and hav- 

 ing things shipshape in his proposed " New-de- 

 parture apiary." His head is level on one prop- 

 osition at least— that is, the size of the frame 

 n°4 X O;"^, as it has been so generally adopted. 



Upon the question of the exact spacing of 

 hanging frames he is away off'. The tinner who 

 can not make a set of rabbets for a hive, as 

 straight as an engineer's rule, and a carpenter 

 or mill man who can not saw a set of frames 

 (especially with IJs top-bars) that, when nailed, 

 will hang almost perfectly at the bottom with- 

 out even >s inch variation, can not hold down a 

 job out here in the wild and woolly West. Then 

 with the top of the hive stenciled so as to have 

 a black mark the width of his space, any frame 

 can be set into the hive without afterward 

 changing its place until the whole set is placed 

 in position. 



With the correct views Dr. M. has on most 

 points in bee-keeping, how he has managed to 

 get along with frames, some touching each oth- 

 er at the bottom while others are an inch apart, 

 is beyond my comprehension; but it must be he 

 did. as he made the plain confession on page 

 88.3. Gleanings for Dec. 1. 



With the clamps we us(^ to hold our frame 

 material while being nailed, and with 8 nails in 

 each frame, they pile up as true as dressed lum- 

 ber, and are a correct mechanical job in every 

 sense. I have kept bees 33 years, since mova- 

 ble frames came into use. and have' seen all the 

 frames, both hanging and closed end, half clos- 

 ed-end, closed and partially closed tops, and 

 have no use for any thing but a hanging frame. 

 If I wish to have them tight for moving, I use 



