903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



permeating America, and so on, and Mr. Da- 

 dant now deals pretty severely with the poor 

 " feller " for this error. He says that, if this hive 

 or method were in use in the United States, 

 either Mr. Doolittle or Mr. Root and his co- 

 workers must have known it; but Mr. Doolittle, 

 in answer to a correspondent of Gleanings, 

 confessed his ignorance of it, and Mr. Root has 

 not given any light either. By the way, Mr. 

 Dadant believes in rendering "honor to whom 

 honor is due," for he calls Mr. Doolittle "one 

 of the apicullurists who are best posted regard- 

 ing what is going on in apiculture in the United 

 States," and relates that Mr. Root selected him 

 for answering questions asked by the subscrib- 

 ers of Gleanings, " because he writes for all 

 apicultural journals of America, and nobody 

 knows the different systems employed there 

 better than he." In a footnote Mr. Bertrand 

 mentions Dr. C. C. Miller as being " one of the 

 most prominent bee-keepers of the United 

 States, who still, in 1893, had been president of 

 the North American Bee-keepers' Association." 

 etc., and " who, besides, is thoroughly posted 

 "regarding the matters of France, as he reports 

 to Gleanings on foreign publications," and 

 then, to show that even he (the doctor) has not 

 the least idea of what the Layens hive or plan 

 is, quotes his— yes, his (the doctor's) own de- 

 scription of the Layens method in Stray Straws 

 (Gleanings, p. 151) 1 A little bad for the doctor, 

 is it not? But never mind, doctor, for, you 

 know, <iuandoquidem bonus dormitat Homer - 

 us. Well, Mr. Dadant goes on \o say that the 

 Layens frame originated in the United States. 

 A few years after Mr. Langstroth had intro- 

 duced his frame, "Homer King, of New York, 

 desirous of selling hives, tried to run opposition 

 to Langstroth, stealing his invention" (Mr. 

 Dadant's own words); "but, lest he be accused 

 of having stolen it completely, he made frames 

 deeper than wide, of about 31 by 37 centimeters." 

 After his arrival in the United States, Mr. 

 Dadant, who had never before seen any frames 

 like Mr. Langstroth's, viz., wider than deep, 

 adopted the King frames for his hives, and 

 described these hives in a French journal as 

 his favorite hives. Mr. Layens, copying Mr. 

 Dadant, introduced said frame in France. Mr. 

 Dadant, however, as well as the other Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers ("the American is practical 

 above all, his chief question being the profit," 

 says Mr. Dadant) came afterward, by compar- 

 ative tests, to the conclusion that the wide 

 frame is preferable to the deep, and thus dis- 

 carded the latter. In conclusion, Mr. Dadant, 

 shuddering at the thought that his Frencli 

 countrymen might suspect him of having been 

 morally infected with that most dreadful of all 

 human creatures, the Yankee, begs the reader 

 to believe that Ids preference was by no means 

 based only on the question, "Which is the best 

 paying frame of the three (deep, square, low), 

 that are in use here?" I still remark that the 



Layens hive is a large one-story hive with 30 

 frames; and Mr. Bertrand's opinion of it is, 

 that its management is somewhat "simpler " 

 than that of the hives with upper stories, and 

 that, therefore, this hive suffices for the small 

 bee-keeper, for persons who desire to produce 

 honey solely for their own use, but that it does 

 not fit " the very producers who wish to draw 

 all possible profit from their apiaries." 

 St. Petersburgh, Fla. 



To he Continued. 



WINTERING BEES IN DUG-OUTS. 



plain directions on how to make a good, 

 cheap, and serviceable repository. 



By John Handel. 



Those who have not yet solved the wintering 

 problem for themselves, and have a place that 

 is well drained for their apiary, might try my 

 plan, which I have successfully practiced for 

 the last ten years. But before I go any further 

 I will describe the location of my apiary. 



It is on the south side of a rather steep hill; 

 soil loose and sandy. Whether all or any of 

 these conditions are necessary or not, I can not 

 say. But one thing I am quite certain of; and 

 that is, drainage must be perfect; for if sur- 

 face water finds its way into one of my reposi- 

 tories the bees are sure to spot the hives before 

 taking out in the spring. 



To make my repository, and have it conven- 

 ient, I dig a hole 8x10, and (5 feet deep, right in 

 the apiary; cover this hole with logs laid cross- 

 wise, and then throw the earth on top, heaping 

 up as steep as the earth will stand. Thus it 

 will shed water perfectly, and no other roof is 

 necessary. For an entrance to this cave, I drift 

 a hole or trench 2\i ft. wide, and at least fi ft. 

 long. This is also covered with timber and 

 earth, and this ante-room or hallway need not 

 be more than 4 ft. high, because, in taking bees 

 in and out, the hives can be slid in on a smooth 

 stick of timber, say 3x4, much easier (especially 

 if wet or icy) than they can be carried. A door 

 at each end of the entrance-way, and this re- 

 pository is done. 



These repositories need not look unsightly in 

 an apiary — simply a mound of earth in the 

 winter, and hives scattered all over it in the 

 summer. It will take but a few minutes to 

 slide 30 or 30 hives of bees in or out; and if the 

 first tier of hives is a foot or so above the dry 

 earth floor, and the rear of the hives 4 inches 

 higher than the entrance, all the dead bees will 

 roll out of and away from the entrance, and 

 will not clog it, so that no care is required until 

 about the first of March; then dead bees will 

 accumulate. Warm and sultry weather may 

 make it necessary to open the doors at night; 

 but this is seldom required until late in the 

 spring. I have tried underground and over- 

 head ventilation, and discarded both, because 



