THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



119 



hives and care for them in connection 

 with tlie business in which he is now 

 engaged until he makes their manage- 

 ment a success, always remembering 

 tliat it is much easier to succeed with 

 six swarms than sixty, as success is as 

 much more certain with the hitter num- 

 ber than with ten times that number. 



3. If without experience in handling- 

 bees, I tliink well of buying nuclei and 

 would prefer movable comb hives to 

 his attempting to transfer. 



4. I prefer the Quinby hive in some 

 form. It is undoubtedly the best hive 

 to winter and spring bees in and that 

 is more than half the battle in this cli- 

 mate. 



5. I prefer the lletherington size of 

 the Quinby frame, I judge this frame 

 is as easy to manipulate as any and 

 kills as few bees when properly hand- 

 led. I am not so bigoted as to suppose 

 there are no other good hives and would 

 keep what I had if good. 



StarkviUe, y. Y., Sept. 7, 1883. 



ANSWERS BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



1. In the hands of competent apia- 

 rists beekeeping pays better with us 

 than most rural pursuits. I know sev- 

 eral live young men who have realized 

 over a thousand dollars each from their 

 own labor and skill, in their apiaries 

 the present season. 



2. Read up the subject by all means, 

 but this is not enough, he should see 

 "practice." This may be done by vis- 

 iting practical apiarists, or wliat would 

 be better work at least one season in 

 some practical apiary. Or, if he is 

 willing to get on slowly at the start, he 

 can apply his reading to actual practice 

 on a few gentle colonies of bees till he 

 becomes a "self-made" apiarist, as 

 many of us older ones had to do years 

 ago. 



3. Yes, in a country like ours it pays 

 best to buy bees in boxes and transfer 

 them. 



4. I'he old style single wall Lang- 

 stroth hive with the portico left off: 

 because no other protection is neces- 

 sary for wintering or suinmei-ing bees 

 with us; and because no other form or 

 style of hive has ever given better 

 results. 



o. The shallow Langstroth style — a 

 frame that is longer than it is deep : 

 because the much worn theory that 

 bees cluster in a "perfect sphere" in 



the brood nest, is a false theory, not 

 sustained by the facts. The spherical 

 form of the cluster is always elongated 

 with the openings between the combs, 

 and hence sucli a form of frame is best 

 adapted to the habits of bees. But the 

 greatest of all the "whys" is, because 

 this style of frame has given me more 

 satisfactory results than any other 

 form or style. 



The foregoing questions all present 

 wide fields for discussion, which could 

 not be indulged in here. 



Christianshurg, Ky. 



ANSWERS BY E. E. HASTY. 



1. Beekeeping with me is only mod- 

 erately profitable. 



2. To Start with few colonies, and 

 build up his knowledge and his apiary 

 together. 



3. Of the three ways mentioned I 

 should advise the first. Getting a few 

 good colonies in boxes and hiving their 

 swarms in frame hives might be still 

 better — less liability to lose all the first 

 winter. 



4. The hive I prefer just at present 

 has not been tested long enough to be 

 genei-ally recommended. It is a one 

 story hive, double walled, chafi" packed, 

 and sized to hold 12 Gallup frames. 

 Sections are put on without any upper 

 story, merely inciosing them tightly 

 with a thickness of cotton cloth, the 

 roof being held over all by weights. 



5. My apiary when purchased had 

 two of the best frames known, in about 

 equal numbers ; namely, the Gallup and 

 the Langstroth. For convenience in 

 handling and general good qualities I 

 piefer the Gallnp; but I cannot bring 

 myself to discard the Langstroth yet, 

 on account of some decided advantages 

 it possesses — notably because it great- 

 ly excels in wintering the bees. 



Richards, Ohio. 



QUESTIONS BY S. L. VAIL. 



Will J. Hedden please answer : 



1. Would bees be any the better off 

 by having winter passages cut in the 

 comb when wintered in a good cellar? 



2. Is it advisable to feed meal early 

 in the spring when they have plenty of 

 honey, and we do not want the bother 

 of feeding syrup? 



3. Which is best for winter when in 

 the cellar, honey boards or quilts? 



Coal Creek, Iowa, Sept. 7, 1883. 



