1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



841 



beautiful and systematic apiary. The Golden bee- 

 hive man, who visited us, had not yet reached him 

 to sell him a two-dollar hive for "only ten dollars!" 

 And his bees! no Holy-Lands, Carniolans, or Cypri- 

 ans there; but, instead, they seemed to embody the 

 concentrated blackness of the race for centuries 

 past, as it were. We dried our tears, and departed in 

 mourning- for the conceit of "some people." And 

 the adieu we bade him was not mt revinr.' 



Now, friend Root, how can we best get this sub- 

 ject before our people, that they may be awakened 

 to their interests? We are interested, not so greatly 

 that they may be able to sell honey for 7 cents per 

 lb. (for we rather incline to friend Doolittle), as that 

 they can thu.s increase the products of the farm. 

 The number of live bee-men in our State, from the 

 best information we can gather, is thirteen— a small 

 showing compared to other States (or sliould we call 

 any of them alive, that, having the capital and abil- 

 ity, do not sow literature, write newspaper articles, 

 establish a supply-factory, etc.?) Readers in West 

 Virginia, shall we lie supinely upon our backs till 

 literally carried ovt by the progressivcness of our 

 neighbors? See the bee-keepers' associations all 

 around us— this splendid means of Intercommunica- ! 

 tion; will you not give your aid in establishing one j 

 in our hopeful little State? t 



REVERSIBLE FH.\MES. I 



Our most matured apiarists, or bee-fathers, seem i 

 to be greatly at variance upon the question of re- 

 vei'Sible frames; and they indeed need to act upon I 

 it circumspectly. We say to you, Uttlc vhihlrcn, • 

 that, with your limited stock and more limited e.\- | 

 jienence, you can not atford to meddle with them j 

 in their present stage of development; be careful, | 

 then, how you leave the well-beaton paths of our 

 fathers, till you become older; for from this cause, 

 " many maj' became weak " among you. Fall into 

 a reversible frame in your infancy, the regaining 

 of your equilibrium will be troublesome. Then, I 

 after many days, wc inay have, oh so much fun! S 

 " comparing notes " with the upside-down advocate. | 



FOREIGN QUEENS. j 



If you have surplus circulating medium, buy | 

 (jueens across the ocean, just for the novelty of the j 

 thing; but if you are a hard-working economist, 

 whose policy it is to place every dollar where it will 

 bring the fullest returns, and do not expect to make j 

 a specialty of pure - queen rearing for mai'ket, 

 and would have a race of bees that will emphatically I 

 " hold its own," simply place two or three golden j 

 rings on your modest littk^ blacks, and lose no sleep 

 because of your neighbor having a better honey- 

 gatherer, moth-slayer, or egg-layer, than yourself. 



WINTERING. 



You who are not above 38° or 40° north should not 

 worry over temperature, ventilation, humidity, etc. 

 (such interesting questions to our way-north 

 friends). See that November finds your colonies 

 strong and healthy, with full combs of sealed honey 

 in hives elevated upon four posts, 10 in. from the 

 damp cold ground, and, our word for it, you will 

 have little cause to complain of dysentery, spring 

 dwindling, with good entrance protection, etc. 



BIG REPOIiTS. 



We would not have you become discouraged be- 

 cause you are not averaging nearly 600 lbs. from so 

 many " starving colonies in the spring;" be con- 

 tented, if you get up to only 100 lbs., and that with 

 your colonies well supplied in the spring, and the 

 very best attention you can give them. Remember 



happiness lies in contentment. Either the rivers of 

 California and Florida flow honey, or our bee-jour- 

 nals are sadly in need of a department for our 

 friends who are " liable to err in statements." Be 

 contented and be happy. Jno. C. C.\pehart. 



St. Albans, W. Va., Nov. 7, 1884. 



As a rule, we think your counsel wise, 

 friend C; but, is there not a shade of un- 

 charitablenes^s in your closing remarkV 

 The great yields that have been reported in 

 California and Florida are Avell authenticat- 

 ed by whole neighborhoods, even if the 

 writers were not, tlie greater part of them 

 at least, of old and estal)lished reputation.— 

 It may be well to place your hive 10 inches 

 from "the ground in your State, but I do not 

 believe I would do it'here. There are many 

 reasons for preferring the hives not over 4 

 inches above the ordinary surface of the 

 ground, and I have never discovered a bad 

 effect from dampness. We would support 

 the bottom-board on foiu- half-bricks, and 

 this will bring the bottom of the hive at 

 least four inches from the ground. To keep 

 the cold winds from blowing under, we bank 

 with cinders and white sand. This also 

 keeps toads from locating under the hive. 

 If hives are set as high as 10 inches, a very 

 broad alighting-l)oard would be needed to 

 catch heavily laden bees during a heavy yield 

 of honey. 1 have e.xperimented pretty thoi- 

 oughly in this matter. 



FBIEND SMITH'S HONEY-RACK. 



SUMETIIINCi A I.ITTI.E DIFFERENT, ANV WAV, IF 

 NOT A I.ITTI-E BETTER. 



T SEND you to-day two of my comb honey racks. 

 IJf No. 1, as I use them on my hives, I'j story, us- 

 ^i ing two racks per hive. No. 3, as I use them in 

 "*• the Simplicity hives; if 10- frame hives, 1 make 

 them long enough to reach clear across inside of 

 hive, using two racks per hive. J. K. Stearns, Bliss- 

 flcld, Mich., has had 300 of my racks in use for two 

 years. I should be pleased to hear your opinion of 

 them soon. I should also like to have you give 

 them a trial next season. John T. Smith. 



Bellevue, Mich., Nov., 1884. 



A HONEV-RA^CK 



OVER \ SIM- 



PLICITY HIVE 



The cut and the remarks above will ena- 

 ble most of the friends to understand the 

 arrangement, without much explanation. 

 The rack is simply tAvo little trays, of such 

 a size that, sitting side by side", they just 

 fill the top of the hive, resti'nfj on top of the 

 frames. With the Simplicity iiive, the'cover 

 to go over them would have to be made of 5 

 stuff, or else use a strip of wood to till out at 

 the ends of tiie fiames where the metal cor- 

 ners come. 



