1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



minutest details. Scarcely a print of a "■ bor- 

 rowed electrotype'' will be found in tlie whole 

 work. It seems to be getting to be a fashion 

 among authors and editors nowadays to 

 borrow or purchase electrotypes of engrav- 

 ings which have appeared and reappeared 

 in other books and periodicals. This prac- 

 tice is carried to such an extent that the en- 

 gravings are often ill adapted to the read- 

 ing-matter which they accompany. 



The character of the volume now before 

 us is pre-eminently international. Its au- 

 thor has drawn from the best ideas and re- 

 searches from all parts of the world. The 

 book is nearly as much American as it is 

 English. It refers to American inventions 

 frequently, and speaks of American writers 

 and bee-keepers as familiarly as though they 

 were residents of England. 



The first chapter is headed, " Bees Under 

 Proper Control." The author considers 

 some of the causes wliich make bees cross. 

 While upon this subject he takes occasion 

 to disagree with the statement made by 

 father Langstroth, that a honey-bee, filled 

 with honey, never volunteers an attack, but 

 acts solely on the defensive. He says, '' 1 

 have been fiercely stung by bees darting 

 from a hanging swarm, to which I have 

 offered no kind of violence; and frequent 

 dissections of bees which have volunteered 

 an attack have shown that these are very 

 generally full of honey, while empty ones 

 are more submissive. . . . Their 

 gorging is the result of their submission, 

 and not the converse." In support of his 

 position he quotes Mr. Ileddon. 



Mr. Cheshire discusses and illustrates only 

 two smokers — the Clark and Bingham (both 

 American). lie gives some very fine pic- 

 tiu'es of cross-section views. The inside 

 and outside workings of the smokers are ap- 

 parent at once from the engravings, and the 

 whole is made perfectly clear by the de- 

 scriptions which accompany them. He 

 concludes by saying," Both smokers are ex- 

 ceedingly effective : but in consequence of 

 the sooty accumulations in the Clark (which 

 difficulty we think we have now removed), 

 he gives his preference rather in favor of the 

 Bingham. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR SMOKE. 



While on this subject, mention is made of 

 the application of carbolic acid, administered 

 to the bees either in the form of a spray or 

 in f nines from the fumigator. The Rev. G. 

 Rayner, of England, uses a solution made 

 as follows : U oz. Calvert's No. 5 carbolic 

 acid; H oz. glycerine ; one quart of warm 

 water. The ingredients are to be well mixed, 

 and the liquids should be well shaken be- 

 fore being used. Mr. Rayner dips a large 

 feather or large brush into the liquid, and 

 sprinkles it upon the bees. We have tried 

 this at the "• Home of the Honey-Bees," or, at 

 least, the clear carbolic acid diluted, and 

 have found it to be quite effective, though 

 not, in our opinion, as good as a- smoker. 

 We have used a spray-atomizer, and found 

 this to be somewhat better. Instead of using 

 the smoker, we have employed an atomizer 

 with very good success in making examina- 

 tions of diseased colonies. A spray or two 

 will cause the bees immediately to go down 



between the frames. We have even made 

 the bees boil out of the hives, so offensive is 

 the acid to them. 



Further mention is made of the Webster 

 fumigator, of which we made a report some 

 time ago. It is suggested that crude creo- 

 sote will make a common smoker much 

 more effective, if a few drops of the latter 

 be poured on the burning fuel, and that the 

 worst Cyprians will succumb to its influ- 

 ence. 



Chapter 2 considers hives for bees ; and 

 Chapter 3 speaks of hives for bee-keepers. 

 It is to be observed, as Mr. Hutchinson re- 

 marks, that Mr. Cheshire makes a distinc- 

 tion between the former and the latter. In 

 Chapter 3 the origin of movable frames is 

 taken up. Huber's leaf hive is illustrated 

 by another fine engraving. It was simply a 

 series of frames without projecting corners, 

 hinged on their back, so as to open like the 

 leaves of a book. Huber also fixed a small 

 comb on the under side of each frame. 

 After giving a quotation from the inventor 

 of this hive in reference to this leaf hive, 

 Mr. Cheshire says : " From this we gather 

 that, practically, the frame hive has been in 

 use for more than a hundred yea^i'S. But we 

 must not omit to note that Huber made his 

 hive of practical service, foreshadowing 

 many present methods ; e. (/., swarming his 

 bees artificially by simple "division of the 

 colony. . . . The main defect in 

 Huber's hive, the inevitable destruction of 

 bee-life in closing it after examination, re- 

 mained for a considerable period unremedied 

 until Dr. Dzierzon, of Carlsmarkt, invented, 

 in 1838, and made public in 1845, frames to 

 hang within a box or hive-body, which was 

 manipulated from its side, made to open 

 like a door. In 1851, Langstroth, quite in- 

 dependently of Dzierzon, introduced very 

 similar frames, which he, unlike Dzierzon. 

 manipulated from above, making his roof 

 movable, and thus securing far greater fa- 

 cility of handling, and giving possibilities of 

 management of which the Dzierzon hive 

 was incapable. Although second in order 

 of time, the superiority of his method has 

 commanded for Langstroth first place in 

 connection with the matter." 



Further on is illustrated and described 

 the Carr-Stewarton hive — the hive which 

 has been compared, recently, as being sim- 

 ilar, in some respects, to the Heddon. In- 

 deed, Mr. Cheshire himself says, that the 

 present Carr-Stewarton hive, with some 

 slight modifications, would make "a very fair 

 imitation of the Heddon hive." In the fol- 

 lowing pages some of the best English hives 

 are described. Before introducing the Hed- 

 don hive a very good illustration of the 

 Bingham hive, together with a description, 

 is made. Of this we made mention some- 

 thing over a year ago. Following this are 

 some very accurate engravings, showing 

 the Heddon hive itself, also transverse and 

 liorizontal sectional views, accompanied 

 with a minute description. Mr. Cheshire 

 says, " The principle of allowing a half bee- 

 space above and below, in each horizontal 

 section of the hive, so that the needed S in. 

 and no more is given in any possible com- 

 bination, is a salient and new feature of the 



