1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



657 



breed from such a queen is only increasing' 

 the risk of its bein{? spread to other stock. 

 —Ed ] 



thk first shallow hives. 



In all the various articles that have ap- 

 peared recently in Gleanings on "shallow 

 hives" I have not seen any mention of the 

 Stewarton hive as made and used in Scot- 

 land fiftj' years ag-o. This seems to me to 

 be the old original, and iflust have been in 

 use \ears before Mr. Heddon and Mr. Dan- 

 ^enbaker brought out their hives. I should 

 fancy that Mr. Heddon had gotten his idea 

 from the Stewarton, and had improved on 

 it to suit the more modern ideas and needs. 

 The original Stewarton was octagonal, 

 about 14 inches in diameter, 6 or 7 inches 

 deep, and 2 or 3 body boxes were used, 

 with as many supers of 4-inch depth as 

 might be required; and as movable frames 

 were hardly known then, bars only were 

 used. Later on the hive was improved, and 

 it was made square with frames; but the 

 principle was the same. These square 

 ones were often made ornamental; but this 

 was at a time when bee-keeping as a busi- 

 ness was scarcely thought of— at least in 

 the old country — and bar- frame hives were 

 used only by the few, while the still older- 

 fashioned straw skep was the only hive 

 used by the many. 



A description of the Stewarton hive may 

 be found in "Hunter's Manual," or "The 

 Apiarj'," by Neighbour, both published in 

 England some thirty years ag-o. 



Chas. E. Norton. 



Moncton, N. B., Canada. 



[Some eighteen years ago or mire, there 

 ■was considerable discussion about shallow 

 hives. At that time the Stewarton hive 

 was referred to quite frequently. It is de- 

 scribed and illustrated in Cheshire's Bees 

 and Bee-keeping. But the first shallow 

 hives were in use long before the Stewarton. 

 They have been used in Germany for cen- 

 turies. The Stewarton hive, though, differ- 

 ed from the Heddon and the Darzenbaker 

 in that it did not have movable frames — 

 only bars. — Ed.] 



A VIRGIN QUEEN FIVE MONTHS OLD. 



As a bee keeper and a reader of Glean- 

 ings, allow me to" put a few facts before 

 you. Out of a batch of young queens I 

 made in January, there is one which is not 

 yet laying. I have always noticed that, 

 from her wedding flight, the copulatory or- 

 gan was still attached to her body; and 

 week before last I caught the queen and 

 ■drew out the appendix to see if she was go- 

 ing to lay after three months' time, and till 

 now she has not done so, though she looks 

 as lively and well formed as the others. I 

 think I'll have to kill her. 



I read in Gleanings that the honey crop 

 in California and Cuba is a failure ; but in 

 a long experience with bee keeping in Cape 

 Haiti I haven't seen such a bad year. We 

 had to feed all weak colonies in May, when 



last year at this time honey was coming in 

 freely, and we were making our fourth ex- 

 tracting (our season lasts from the middle 

 of November to June or July) 



The frame of brood of Mr. Victor, p 387, 

 is not a wonder in Haiti. I can say it is 

 the rule, for mjst of our queens are fiom 

 your stock. J. Baptiste. 



Cape Haiti, Haiti, W. I., May 14. 



[As a general thing, virgins more than 

 three weeks old will never lay. We are in 

 the habit of killing off any that will not 

 lay inside of two weeks. I think we may 

 conclude that a virgin five months old is 

 structurally imperfect. — Ed.] 



PARIS green on cotton KILLING BEES. 



Can you give me some advice as to the ef- 

 fect poisoning cotton with Paris green will 

 have on bees? Will it affect the honey? 



There seems to be considerable excite- 

 ment in the boll- weevil district of Texas 

 over the practice of poisoning cotton with 

 Paris green to exterminate the boll-wee vii. 

 Bee-men in general think it will also ex- 

 terminate the bee business. I thought j'ou 

 could probably tell me something about the 

 result of this, as I notice a great deal of 

 writing on the subject of poisoning fruit- 

 trees in the North. It seems from what I 

 can learn that it invariably kills the bees 

 that go to those orchards in reach of nec- 

 tar. J. M. Davidson. 



Ditto, Texas, June 7, 1904. 



[If the cotton is in bloom at the time the 

 Paris green is applied, it will kill the bees 

 by the wholesale. Perhaps j'ou can induce 

 the cotton-men to spray on certain days, 

 and then confine the bees on those da3's 

 with wire cloth, if it is possible, until the 

 spraying is over and thoroughly dry. A 

 good deal will depeud on how strong the 

 planters use the Paris green; but the pre- 

 sumption is, it would have to be used as 

 stTong as it is on fruit-trees; and if so it 

 will kill bees in the same way. — Ed.] 



A BEE- CELLAR FOR ARKANSAS — HOW TO 

 CONSTRUCT. 



I am intending to build me a cellar this 

 summer. Our land here is a light sandy 

 soil with a red-clay subsoil. When we 

 have a good deal of rain the water will rise 

 in the cellar. Will you or seme of your 

 readers give me a good cheap plan for mak- 

 ing a cellar that will stay dry? I should 

 also like to know what kind of clover will 

 be best suited to that kind of land. What 

 do you think of wintering bees in a cellar 

 where the temperature in winter ranges 

 from summer heat to 6 below zero? The 

 weather is so changeable that bees con- 

 sume a great amount of stores. 



G. F. Hatch. 



Belleville, Ark., June 6, 1904. 



, [With your conditions you had better bj' 

 far rot make any cellar at all. Weather 



