1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



387 



have nothing to do with the matter except 

 that the queen would lay more eggs under the 

 former condition than under the latter. Like 

 yourself, I do not want to think that the Da- 

 dants are right, but I feel a little afraid they 

 are — especially so as they can show results, 

 and have been showing them, for the last 

 twenty years and more — not on a small scale, 

 but on a large one, covering a large number of 

 out- apiaries. And it is a little significant that 

 all France seems to be following them, not- 

 withstanding the conditions of climate and 

 language among bee-keepers are so radically 

 different. But those "barns" of hives aie 

 not so radically different from the ordinary 

 ten-frame Dovetailed hive, which is the same 

 thing exactly, only 2^ inches deeper ; same 

 cover, same bottom-board ; same top-bars and 

 the same bottom-bars ; same tin rabbets ; same 

 supers ; same every thing except length of 

 end-bars and depth of side and end boards of 

 body. The regular Ouinby frame is 18^ X 

 11%, outside measure ; regular Langstroth, 9}i 

 Xl7^. The difference in length, then, is only 

 1%, while the difference in depth is 2j£ inches. 

 The Dadants have said that, if they were to 

 start anew, they would adopt the Langstroth 

 length and make the frame 2's inches deeper. 

 This would give about the same comb area, 

 and yet give bee-keepers the same standard 

 covers, bottom-boards, supers, etc. Lest some 

 one may accuse me of starting a new fad, I 

 will say I do not indorse any such change at 

 present. I want the evidence of my own 

 senses first. — Ed.] 



" These showers bring; flowers to gladden our bowers," 



Say all of the diligent bees ; 

 " So let us all hours, with all of our powers, 



Get honey, and live at our ease." 



tii 



AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 

 The editor advises having a fine comb handy 

 by in the apiary to extract stings from the 

 scalp. 



Mr. W. T. Flower says there is nothing 

 gained by uniting weak colonies in the spring. 

 It means the sacrifice of one queen, and two 

 queens will lay more eggs than one queen. 

 ti, 



Mr. Alley says too much packing over bees 

 is detrimental. He speaks of one bee-keeper 

 who piles mats and quilts over his bees till 

 the pile is a foot thick, and this man has never 

 had a fairly good colony of bees in the spring. 

 tii 



Mr. A. J. Gray, of Birchton, N. Y., says he 

 purchased, about seven years ago, 42 Carniolan 

 queens, and introduced the most of them into 

 Italian, black, and hybrid colonies, of which 

 he had about 100 in the apiary. From that 

 time till now he has been so well pleased with 



the Carniolans that he has, as far as possible,, 

 been changing to that stock. He keeps his 

 stock pure by introducing queens from Car- 

 niola. 



tii 



Mr. Alley speaks of Mr. Doolittle's honey 

 selling at 20 cts. a pound, and says he has 

 sold his at 25 cts. He attributes this all to 

 the ignorance of the buyer. Last fall he could 

 have bought the best Vermont white clover 

 honey at 13 cts. in Boston, and that is the best 

 honey in the world. 



tii 



If one man is first on a given territory, has 

 he a right to try to keep other bee-keepers 

 away ? Suppose the coming of the second 

 apian 7 stocks the field so that neither man can 

 get any surplus, as is often the case, how much 

 better off is the second man for exercising his 

 right to keep bees there? 

 tii 



I notice for the first time that the signatures 

 of writers in the American Bee-keeper are en- 

 graved from the original writing. This looks 

 quite realistic, and Mr. Doolittle is much 

 pleased over the idea. He also speaks rather 

 left-handedly against leaving off the address 

 of a writer. I confess I must fully agree with 

 Mr. D.; for to leave off the address seems to 

 rob an article of much of the interest that is 

 due to personality and location. If all the 

 people in a convention were to be boxed up 

 so that only the voice could be heard, it would 

 be a dismal place for me. 

 tii 



Mr. Doolittle reproves Dr. Miller very gen- 

 tly for not wanting Apis dorsata to be fooling 

 around in the neighborhood of the doctor's 

 home. He asks : " How came you, doctor, to 

 have a right to any territory exclusively for 

 your own use in this world ? Did God give 

 you a right to turn the rays of sunshine on 

 the flowers around Marengo, that the}' might 

 bloom for your Italian bees and not for Apis 

 dorsata ? ' ' The same question might have 

 been asked about the introduction of common 

 rabbits into Australia in 1864. They increased 

 in weight fourfold, and from a coopful to un- 

 told millions in numbers. The government 

 spent millions of dollars in killing them, but 

 to no purpose. Locusts were a blessing in 

 comparison. Dr. Miller has a right to feel 

 some degree of fear in view of such facts. 

 Yes, God has given all men a full right to 

 exercise what they deem to be prudence, and 

 one has as good a right to keep an unknown 

 bee off his place as he has to put up screen- 

 doors to keep out flies. In point of fact, how- 

 ever, Apis dorsata will, in all probability, 

 flourish about as well in Marengo, 111., as 

 lemon-trees would there outdoors. 

 tii 

 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Concerning robbing, Mr. Harry S. Howe 

 says that, when the bees start to rob a place, 

 if we can make them think they have got it 

 all, there will be no further trouble ; while if 

 we cover up or take away the honey they will 

 keep on looking for it. That's a good way to 

 treat teasing children too. 



