8015 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



crrtlit. Unfortunately, not only for bee-keep- 

 ers but for the prosperity and good or mankind, 

 the teacher was debarred by ill health from 

 i.ssuing another edition. In 1881 I wrote, calling 

 Mr. Langstroth's attention to the circumstance 

 of my sending him the queen by mail. I was 

 pi'ompted to do so from the fact that I thought 

 certain other parties laid claim to the discovery. 

 Mr. Langstroth answered my letter, and I in- 

 close it, requesting the publishers of (ii>?:AN- 

 INGS to publish his answer, to the end tiiat an 

 authenticated record be published, and thus 

 settle the question of priority. Mr. Benton re- 

 ceived a prize for a particular form of shipping 

 queen-cage, but I was first to devise a cage and 

 a way of transit. C. J. Robinson. 



Richford, N. Y.. Sept. 22, 1891. 



The following, in the familiar handwriting of 

 Mr. Langstroth, is the letter referred to, and it 

 speaks for itself: 



Dettr Sir:— I remember distinctly the circum- 

 stances to which you allude. As far as I know 

 you were the first person to send a queen in 

 this country by mail. I am not sure that queens 

 had been previously sent anywhere by mail. If 

 you could give me the year I could probably 

 find all the facts recorded in my private jour- 

 nal. I think that the queen you sent came in 

 July. I am now entirely laid aside by ill health 

 from all active work, and have published no 

 new edition of my work since the 3d, in 1859. 

 L. L. Langstroth. 



Greenfield, O., Jan. 21, 1881. 



[We are sure no injustice was intended by 

 the publishers of the Revised Langstroth. We 

 are pleased to get the information. Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's letter above establishes the fact pretty 

 clearly as to who sent the first queen by mail 

 successfully. As Mr. L. would have given 

 proper credit had he been able to revise his 

 book, we are sure he would be glad to have it 

 done now over his own signature.] 



WANTED— A HIVE. 



an a b c schoi.ak is ai>i> in a maze; bund 

 lp:aders of the bund. 



As you will perhaps recall from a foi-nior let- 

 ter, I am one of your A B C scholars in the art 

 and science of bee - keeping. I have got far 

 enough on in the past two years to know that 

 there is to me a lasting fascinatiou in the pur- 

 suit. My plan from the start has been to work 

 with a few colonies until I should become prac- 

 tically acquainted with the habits and require- 

 ments of my pets, to read books and journals 

 until somewhat posted as to the methods and 

 appliances used by leading men in the business; 

 and then, when I had tested my own capabili- 

 ties, and had found the best all-round hive for 

 the production of comb honey, to enlarge my 

 plant, and work for profit as well as for pleasui'e 

 and information. So far I followed what I 

 think was good advice. When I finished read- 

 ing the ABC book, two years ago, I thought I 

 had a well-defined plan, a good hive, and a good 

 frame. To-day, on finishing the Sept. 15th No. 

 -of Gleanings, I have half a dozen or more of 

 each, and am all at sea as to which will suit 

 me best. Any one of them might do, if it were 

 not that some other one is sure to have several 

 better features. Root and Cook; Heddon and 

 Doolittle; Miller and Tinker and Hutchinson: 

 How happy were I with either dear charmer. 

 Were t'other dear cliarmer away ! 



As it is, I must have the best; and how can I 

 pick out the best of these varying methods, and 



so combine them as to keep bees with profit and 

 pleasure? Is it always true, that in a multi- 

 tude of counselors there is safety— never confu- 

 sion ? 



The thought comes to me sometimes, that 

 possibly things would work smoother if I quit 

 my part in the game of " follow your leader." 

 Perhaps with my little apiary "with ten or 

 twelve colonies I shall want to "' handle frames 

 instead of hives." In thinking it over I 

 really believe I shall. I am sure I shall 

 want to be acquainted with my frames, both 

 sides of them. I feel certain that my bees 

 will fare the better and work th<? harder; 

 that there will be less waste, and consequently 

 more profit, if the boss looks carefully into 

 every apartment of their home. And possibly I 

 do liot need a hive that is a good one for a 

 queen -breeder; that is, a non-swarmer out- 

 apiary hive; an extractor, comb honey, winter, 

 spring, summer, cellar, semi - tropical, snow- 

 drift hive combined; but just a hive, with 

 movable frames and a strong colony of bees in 

 it. With Dr. Miller '• I don't know." I con- 

 fess I can't keep up with you. You ought to 

 have taught me something in the past two 

 years that would enable me to decide what I 

 want now: but as you have not done so, I am 

 going to give you the task of deciding for me: 

 and it would tickle my fancy and perhaps the 

 funny-bone of others as well, if you could get, 

 say, Heddon, Doolittle, and Ei'uest Root to an- 

 swer the same query. Here it is: 



If you were going to start, and maintain 

 at thatsize, an apiary of ten colonies, say in Cen- 

 tral Pennsylvania, having no money invested in 

 bees or hives or fixtures of any kind, and having 

 in view mainly the production of comb honey, 

 what kind of bees, hives, frames, supers, and 

 sections would you buy, and why ? 



I need not tell you that, where there is one 

 bee-keeper owning fifty colonies, there are 

 twenty with from three to a dozen. Some of 

 these are of the helter-skelter class, and it does 

 not matter what hive or frame they use. Oth- 

 ers are careful, practical, economical men and 

 women who keep a few bees because they get 

 congenial employment, good foods, and wel- 

 come cash for them. These, doubtless, comprise 

 a large majority of your readers, and I want a 

 hive and frame for them as well as for myself — 

 something that we and the bees can hang to 

 for a dozen years at least. 



I like the conservative note of Doolittle's last 

 article. Ther-e is sense and cash in it. as I'e- 

 gards fixtures, and I am reluctantly approach- 

 ing the conclusion that the fine manipulations 

 and advanced ideas which bring about such 

 exactresults belong exclusively to experimenters 

 and to an experimental stage;: and that, to a 

 vast majority of bee-keepers, they are practi- 

 cally but vanity and vexation of spirit. Isn't 

 it enough to make a novice daft to read of the 

 ease with which one can handle the Hoflfman 

 frame, and, in the same article, that there is no 

 need to handle them, as the trained ear can de- 

 tect queenlessness by the hum, and the hand 

 estimate the amount of stores by hefting? 



Now, I believe in progression in every indus- 

 try. I know these experiments must be made, 

 and our special pursuit go on to perfection by 

 way of selection and the survival of the fittest. 

 I am glad the editors and the owners of large 

 apiaries, and the many intelligent men who 

 have made almost a lifelong study of the bee, 

 are pushing ahead. Much good must result; 

 but by the time a system is perfected and 

 agreed upon by the leaders. I, perhaps, will 

 have gone over to the majority. So I wish you 

 to take account of stock now. and pick me out 

 a hive and frame which I can use for the next 

 five years in my proposed home apiary of a 



