1881 



GLEAKIKGS IK BEE CULTUEE. 



177 



without portico or projection on top of cap, with 

 movable bottom-board, and so constriicted that I 

 can set an extra hive filled with frames of 1-lb. sec- 

 tions directly over the brood hive, and with honey- 

 board so constructed that I can place upon this top 

 hive 10 frames of 3 each 1-lb. sections, and put on 

 the cap, making virtually a one, two, or three stoi-y 

 hive at pleasure, without any extra pieces, and have 

 named it "Dodge's Common-Sense Hive." I have a 

 couple of dozen nuclei hives, constructed to hold 

 each one, two, and three full-sized frames that I use 

 in my hives for full colonies, with an observatory 

 hive of each size, with glass sides and manipulating 

 panels, which give mc an opportunity to see the in- 

 side working at any time, by removing the panels; 

 and with division boards can increase my nuclei to 

 an indefinite number in my new hives for swarms. 

 I set my hives 3 in. from the ground, with alighting- 

 board reaching from bottom to the ground in an in- 

 clined position, in such a way that the bees can 

 walk from the ground directly into the hive. Mj' 

 apiary is protected on the north and west by large 

 and thick orchards; am in a good white-clover dis- 

 trict, with a limited supply of basswood within 

 reach of my bees, and onions stated, with quite a 

 large area of goldenrod; have ABC, Cook's Manu- 

 al, and Quinby's IXcw Bee-Keeping ; take the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal and Gleanings, and eagerly read 

 their contents as each number makes its weekly 

 and monthly visits to my fireside. I do not expect 

 to eclipse Capt. Iletherington or friend Doolittle, 

 but am in hopes to make a fair average with bee- 

 keepers in general; will report at the proper 

 season. 



Now, Mr. Editor, appreciating the benefits of oth- 

 ers' experience, what I wish to know is, whether I 

 have made any show toward a start in the right di- 

 rection in Improved apiculture. If you or any other 

 bee-keeper will point out my mistakes, and set me 

 right, through the columns of Gleanings, you will 

 confer a great favor upon me as a brother in the 

 bee-keeping fraternity. N. E. Dodge. 



Fredonia, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 



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FRIEND HAGEN'S STORY. 



HOW TO PREVENT AFTER-SWARMING. 



HAD a fine young Italian queen In a weak two- 

 frame nucleus. She had been laying about a 

 day when one of my black swarms sent out a 

 first swarm. I hived it, went to the parent stock, 

 cut out all of the queen-cells, took my young laying 

 queen with one frame, and put her in the center of 

 the parent hive, and it produced twice the honey 

 that any of the rest did. 



UNITING rOR WINTER, AND ITALIANIZING, ALL AT 

 ONCE. 



I had 13 swarms when winter came on — 6 each of 

 Italians and blacks; doubled up to 7, doing away 

 with all the black queens but one. They were in 

 Simplicity hives. I looked up the queen, caged her, 

 and set the hive above the one I wished to unite 

 with, and the plan worked well. I lost one this 

 winter that was packed in chaff. The rest are all 

 In splendid condition. About two-thirds of the bees 

 in this county are dead. 1 have never had a swarm 

 of bees die in winter with honey above them. The 

 one in the chaff hive had no bees added to it in the 

 fall. It had about 25 lbs. of honey. It looks as 

 though about half was left yet. The others con- 



sumed more than twice as much. Hurrah for 

 the Chafif Hive! It is the hive that suits me. 



HOW QUEENS STING EACH OTHER. 



I put three queens in a cage last fall, and from ob- 

 servation there is but one place that queens can 

 sting another, and that is right against the waist, 

 on the underside of the body. Now, if we could de- 

 prive the queens of their stings by cutting them off, 

 and putting two in a chaff hive, should the plan 

 work, we might have big swarms of bees to fill that 

 doctor's hive in "Wisconsin. 



HOW TO TELL THE AGE OF A QUEEN. 



To tell the age of queens in a large apiary, take a 

 small pencil-pointed brush. Now take 3 different 

 colored paints that would be best adapted to the 

 purpose; commence and mark all queens the first 

 year with one color on the shield — between the 

 wings a small dot; next year the next, and so on. 

 You could tell the age of all your queens that you 

 raised, whenever you saw one, and it would also 

 help to settle some disputed facts, such as a queen 

 being fertilized the second time, etc. 



H. F. Hagen. 



De Soto, Jeff. Co., Mo., Feb. 38, 1881. 



You are correct, I believe, friend II., in 

 regard, to the way a queen stings a rival. 

 Your plan of cutting off the stings is old, 

 and fails, I believe, because the bees are just 

 as liable to kill the extra queens as the 

 reigning queen is herself. Your plan of 

 marking the queen is good, if the bees will 

 not bite off the paint or coloring matter. 

 We have tried some such experiments, but 

 the color was gone, after a few days. Per- 

 haps some one else may do better, however. 



^ ■■■ m- 



CHAFF HIVES FOR SUMMER. 



" COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER." 



fl|HE weight of a man's testimony depends not 

 only upon the man giving it, but more or less 

 upon the importance of the subject upon 

 which it is given. You know, friend Root, that 

 among your many bee-keeping friends there are 

 many who will declare, upon their most sacred hon- 

 or, that they have seen and held communication 

 with their departed friends, and yet you are not a 

 phenomlnal spiritualist. Should I report, next May, 

 that every bee lived through the past winter, would 

 that prove my method a practical and reliable suc- 

 cess every time? 



Does the following prove that all methods of win- 

 tering are worthless? From A. B. J., 1881, p. 69, I 

 quote:— 



" There is not a live bee in all this county. * * 

 * * Regardless of packing, putting away in the 

 cellars, or any other plan of keeping, nearly all die 

 with plenty of honey in reach; and in my case they 

 had bee candy. The long confinement and cold 

 weather, with not a first-rate quality of honey to 

 winter on, has been the trouble." 



Does the faet that a bee-keeper atPlainwell, Mich,, 

 lost nearly every one of 90 colonies, packed In chaff, 

 argue that we should not use chaff? I have lost only 

 two colonies yet, out of 313; and the 5 or 6 that 

 showed signs of dysentery, now seem free from it. 

 My Idea Is, that they have eaten up to a change in 

 food. The "cold and confinement " have been re- 

 lentless. 



But, to go back and " reason together " upon the 

 chaff hive. What the least trustworthy man can 



