1881. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



99 



although bees from healthy cdlonies en- 

 tered to roh it. they certainly wen' not 

 affected by it; this led me to believe 

 that it was not contagious, but only the 

 effect of want of proper judgment and 

 application. Since that time I have 

 used the means which 1 then determined 

 on, and have not since seen the disease 

 in my apiary, although 1 have had SO 

 colonies at once. 



lam willing to give yon my further 

 experience on this matter if desired ; I 

 do not like to differ from so many able 

 writers on this subject. 



Let all who have suffered from this 

 disease express themselves fully in your 

 excellent Bee Journal, uo matter how 

 ever little they write, and let this dis- 

 ease be properly explored. 



Ontario, Canada. 



I By all means, let 

 and experiences. 

 — Ed.1 



Ventura Co., Cal.. Convention 



us have the tacts 

 We want '-light." 



For the American Roe Journal. 



The Use of Perforated Zinc. 



O. O. POPPI.BTON. 



The Ventura Co. Bee-keepers' Asso- 

 ciation held their regular quarterly 

 meeting in Santa Paula, Feb. -5, Vice- 

 President Keene in the chair. The 

 minutes of the last meeting were read 

 and approved. The business commit- 

 tee reported through Mr. Wilkin, that 

 no programme had been arranged for 

 the meeting, and suggested that speak- 

 ing on different subjects of interest to 

 bee-keepers be the order of the day. 

 As there was no other committee to re- 

 port, the meeting took a business turn, 

 and a general discussion ensued on the 

 best and most economical way of can- 

 ning honey for market. 



Mr. Wilkin was called upon to give 



his views on small packages, as he had 



had considerable experience in that line 



the past season. He said that he had 



sold honey in Ventura, in small cans 



and netted one cent per pound more 



than that in large cans. He also stated 



that in the foreign markets honey was 



retailed in very small quantities, and 



' that a great deal of our honey was re- 



i canned for that purpose, and he there- 



I fore thought it best to can it in small 



cans at once. 



Mr. Hund stated that a firm in New 



j York had informed him that honey put 



up in 12 lb. tins would sell in that mar- 



i ket as a retail package, and at a higher 



figure than in anything larger, and for 



| the general trade he preferred them 



to anything smaller, and thought he 



1 should use them the coming season. 



Mr. Wilkin stated that he had an or- 

 ! der from England for a large lot of 

 ! honey in that shape. 



Messrs. Corey, Keene and others 

 I spoke in favor of small packages. 



The convention adjourned af leradopt- 

 j ing the following preamble and resolu- 

 tion ; 



Whereas. The bulk of our honey is re- 

 canned before it goes to the consumer, 

 at a loss of first package and at a greater 

 i expense than we could do it at home, 

 rated zinc to prevent the queen from j ow ^ ng tQ the dimculty of getting it out 



"At the National Convention, in Cin- 

 cinnati, Mr. Jones announced that he 

 had made an important discovery. This 

 discovery consists of a sheet of perfo- 

 rated zinc, to prevent the queen from 

 laving in the upperstory, or in part of 

 the combs, as well as to hinder the' bees 

 from swarming, by preventing the 

 queens from going out of the hives." | 



The above is an extract from an arti- ; 

 cle published on page 67 of the Bee 

 Journal, which forms the text for the j 

 balance of the article. I notice that I 

 several others have written in the same i 

 strain. . 



I was present at the Cincinnati \ 

 Convention, was quite near to Mr. | 

 Jones when he made the statement 

 referred to above, and also had the ad- 1 

 vantage of an hour's conversation with i 

 him on the day after the Convention i 

 adjourned, nearly all of which was on \ 

 this subject, and it is certainly news to , 

 me that he " announced that he had ! 

 made an important discovery, which j 

 ■discovery consists of a sheet of perfo 



laying in the upper story," etc. All 

 that has been written in the Bee Jour- 

 nal to prove that he is not the first in- 

 ventor of using perforated zinc, is sim- 

 ply so much trouble thrown away, as he 

 very distinctly stated that fact himself. 



What Mr. Jones did claim was that 

 lie " had discovered a new method of 

 using perforated zinc in a hive, so as to 

 have the honey stored in sections in the 

 centre of the hives instead of at the 

 sides or on top." He remarked that he 

 " first experimented with zinc with 

 round perforations, but this did not 

 work on account of the pollen being 

 scraped off the bees legs as they passed 

 through, but that while in Europe he 

 noticed that bee-keepers there were ; A mee ting of the bee-keepers of Lan- 

 using zinc with oblong perforations, the , cas ter Co., Pa., was held on March 14, 

 use of which remedied the objection to j m Lancaster, Pa. 

 the use of round perforations." The meeting was called to order by 



It will be seen by this that Mr. Jones the President, Mr. Peter S. Reist. The 

 very plainly said that he first found the following members were present : Peter 

 perforated zinc such as he uses, in Eu- S. Reist, Litiz ; J. F. Hershey, Mt. Joy ; 

 rope, being essentially the same state- Elias Hershey, Paradise; John S. 



of the cans, especially when candied 

 (thus making a discount on candied 

 honey) and other disadvantages, besides 

 laying it liable to adulteration by un- 

 scrupulous dealers. Therefore be it 



Resolved, By this association, that we 

 recommend bee-keepers to— as much as 

 possible— put their honey up in retail 

 packages, such as 2 lb. tins full weight, 

 and 121b. or gallon cans— the latter more 

 especially preferred at present. 



R. Touchton, Sec. 



Santa Paula, Cal. 



Lancaster Co., Pa., Convention. 



into a bee-house. He divided a great 

 many, and had lost so far 3 small colo- 

 nies ; the rest are in good condition, al- 

 though not very strong in bees. In Feb- 

 ruary he took them all out, and found 

 many of them to have yoirtig bees, lie 

 then put them back again and they are 

 in the house now, although he expects 

 to take them out as soon as the weather 

 gets warmer. 



W. B. Detwiler, of Mt. Joy, put into 

 the same style of winter quarters, 80 

 colonies, and had not lost one. 



H. II. Myers, of Spring Garden, put 

 into winter quarters 12 or 15 colonies of 

 natives; and they were doing well. 

 These bees were wintered in houses 

 also. He found that those who left the 

 bees unprotected had lost a great many. 

 Elias Hershey put into winter quar- 

 ters 29 colonies, 9 of which died, and 

 the rest are very weak. He heard from 

 his neighbors, that a great many of 

 theirs had died. He left his bees on the 

 summer stands. His father, Jacob 

 Hershey, had 10 colonies of natives; 

 they were all well and hearty. Most of 

 his bees had died of dysentery or diar- 

 rhoea, not of starvation ; some of them 

 died of cold. 



Mr. Differndeffer .called the attention 

 of the society to the fact that the dan- 

 ger was not yet over. A great many of 

 the colonies were .weak, and he desired 

 to know how they could be built up. 



Mr. J. F. Hershey said the proper 

 way was to take all the combs from 

 them except just as many as they could 

 conveniently cover. They should be 

 well fed and carefully attended in re- 

 gard to warmth ; they should also be 

 kept quiet. They should not be allowed 

 to fly out very much in the spring, be- 

 cause a great many would get chilled 

 and drop down. As soon as they are 

 getting a little stronger, another comb 

 should be given them, and in that way 

 continue until vou have a full-sized 

 colony again. There are a great many 

 of what are called weak colonies that 

 can be kept alive, if they are attended 

 to properly, but if left to themselves, 

 they will surely die. The strong ones 

 must also be carefully looked after. 

 Everything should be kept clean and 

 sweet about the hive, and the hives 

 should be guarded against the cold air. 

 Levi S. Reist had on the summer 

 stands, 3 colonies, and lost one. The 

 other 2 are doing well. The one that 

 died had not honey enough to carry it 

 through the winter, and starved. 



Adjourned to meet on the 2d Monday 

 in May. 



Head before the N. E. Convention. 



The Great Revolution. 



A. WEBSTER. 



rnent that Mr. Dadant, in the article 

 referred to, attempts to prove. 



Mr. Jones said nothing whatever about 

 preventing the queens from laying in 

 the upper story, as the special advan- 

 tage of his method was to have the 

 honey stored in the lower, and in fact, 

 only story in the hive. 



The statement that this device can 

 be used to prevent swarming is cer- 

 tainly a legitimate one for criticism 



Rohrer, city ; Levi S. Reist, Oregon. 



Peter S. Reist reported that out of 

 about 60 colonies, which he had on the 

 summer stands, he lost about 5 during 

 the winter, He did not think any of 

 them froze ; several starved. The last 

 time he saw them they were flying and 

 appeared to be in good condition. He 

 put a wind break on the back part of 

 the hives, but the fronts were open, the 

 same as in summer. He did not feed 



but I see that the reporter, in condens- i any during the winter. 



ing Mr. Jones' remarks, was necessarily 

 obliged to give this part of them more 

 prominence than I think Mr. J. in- 

 tended them to have. My recollection 

 is that this part of his remarks was 

 thrown in more as a suggestion than a 

 fact. 



I hope this article will prevent other 

 writers from making the mistake of 

 charging Mr. Jones with making the 

 statement that he had first discovered 

 the use of perforated zinc, or recom- 

 mending it to prevent queens from go- 

 ing into upper stories, etc. 



Williamstown, Iowa. March 18, 1881. 



John S. Rohrer said he had 6 colonies 

 of bees ; wintered them on the summer 

 stands. About the 1st of November he 

 cleaned the hives on top, and then 

 closed them up with the exception of }i 

 of an inch. When the warm weather 

 came, his bees began to fly out. He 

 thought a great many bees died during 

 the winter owing to too much surplus 

 being left in the hives. He made it al- 

 ways an object to prevent swarming; 

 as soon as a cap is full he takes it away, 

 and this he thought in a measure pre- 

 vented swarming. 



Mr. J. F. Hershey put his 113 colonies 



Are we on the eve of a great revolu- 

 tion in bee-keeping ¥ Indications are 

 that old tilings are passing away and all 

 things are becoming new. Shall we not 

 say rather that we are iu the midst of a 

 revolution that commenced with the in- 

 vention of movable combs, has pro- 

 gressed through several stages and has 

 not yet culminated ¥ W hat then t is now 

 wanted to complete this revolution and 

 combine all the various improvements 

 that are now in use in our harmonious 

 system that shall be so nearly perfect 

 as to win general approval and adop- 

 tion' 11 , ■ ^ , j 



I have given this subject long and 



careful consideration, and have been 

 forced to the conclusion that it is a 

 bee hive all parts of which shall be 

 constructed and combined in strict ac- 

 cordance with the laws that govern the 

 working instincts of the honeybee, and 

 that shall harmonize those instincts with 

 the convenience and wishes of the bee- 

 keeper. Have we such a hive at pres- 

 ent ? I think not ; or why does it not 

 win general approval ? The Langstroth 

 hive has, perhaps, the most extended 

 popularity of any. Yet who has not- 

 felt that it was not wholly satisfactory r 

 Was not a perfect hive ? The numer- 

 ous, nay, almost innumerable changes 

 and modifications that have been de- 

 vised in this form of hive attest the 

 general existence of this feeling. Do 

 any of these modified hives satisfy and 

 leave a conviction that there is nothing 

 beyond V If not, why not ¥ Can it be 

 that the great defect is in some vital 

 point which has been entirely over- 



looked ? Not entirely overlooked per- 

 haps, for one inventor seems to have an 

 inkling of the true mutual relations of 

 the store and brood combs. He has 

 adopted an original system, which is 

 thought by some to promise grand re- 

 sults, but is not beyond criticism, and 

 it is feared by others that an unfortu- 

 nate choice of forms and combinations 

 will in a measure, at least, countervail 

 the advantages claimed. 



And now naving intimated that the 

 mutual relations of the brood and store 

 combs are the vital points in bee-hive 

 construction that needs development, 

 let me produce practical questions for 

 discussion in tins convention, and by 

 bee-keepers generally. Questions of 

 more vital importance than appears at 

 first view, and that must be settled by 

 mutual agreement among bee-keepers, 

 before a universal bee hive and system 

 of management, and a uniform honey 

 box or set of boxes is possible. 



What is the best thickness of space 

 to give to each brood comb, in hives 

 where foundation is used and drone 

 rearing entirely exhausted ¥ And what 

 is the best thickness of space to give 

 each store comb, either in sections for 

 comb honey or frames for extracting or 

 feeding that the same hive may be 

 equally well adopted for either pur- 

 pose ¥ ... 

 Now in considering this question let 

 us first of all inquire of those great mas- 

 ters of apicultural science, the honey 

 bees, how they would answer them, if 

 their purposes required a separation of 

 the brood and store combs, as the bee- 

 keepers do. Fortunately this answer 

 is not hard to find nor difficult to un- 

 derstand. If we examine a box hive or 

 bee-gum filled with combs by a strong 

 colony during an abundant yield or 

 honey, we shall find worker and drone 

 combs in about equal numbers. We 

 shall also find 8 combs to the foot— 2 

 combs to 3 inches of space. When in 

 use for breeding, the worker combs are 

 % of an inch thick and the drone 

 combs 1> 4 '. Now 7 and 10 have about 

 the same ratio that the sides of a square 

 has to its diagonal. Apportioning the 

 space in a 12 inch hive in the same way 

 gives l l 4 inches for each worker comb, 

 and \% inches for each drone comb. 

 Therefore if we fill the breeding depart- 

 ment of our hive with worker combs, 

 giving each \\i inches of space and the 

 storing department drone combs, giv- 

 ing each 1% inches of space, will it not 

 be about right ¥ Such seems to be the 

 opinion of the bees, in which your es- 

 sayist coincides. 



This arrangement will give brood 

 combs of sealed honey about \\i inches 

 thick and store combs 1%, or 1% inches 

 thick if separators are used. Applying 

 the same ratio to combs of greater thick- 

 ness, we find that brood and store 

 combs correspond to each other as fol- 

 lows, viz : 



Store Combs : 1 27-32 in. 



1 30-32 in. 



2 1-^2 In. 



2 4-32 in. 



hope that these questions will be 

 thoroughly discussed from every point 

 of view, and an agreement arrived at if 

 possible. Whatever it may be, I have 

 no doubt that the bees will accept it 

 gladly if suitable frames and founda- 

 tions are furnished them. And for my- 

 self as an individual bee-keeper, I am 

 willing to yield my opinions for the 

 sake of uniformity. It would be better 

 in this matter to be nearly right in har- 

 mony with the fraternity, than exactly 

 right alone. 



Brood Combs : l 5-16 In. 

 " l 6-16 in 



1 7-16 in 

 1 8-16 in. 



^" Programme of the Northwestern 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, to be held at Has- 

 tings, Minn., May 17, 1881 : 



1.— Address of Welcome, by J. N. Searls. 



2.— Reports of committees. 



3.— Reports from all— number, kind and condition 

 of bees 



4— A paper by Pres. A. Tidball, on honey-produc- 

 ing plants and flowers. 



5.— A paper by Dr. P. Barton, of St. Paul, on honey 

 as food and medicine. _.„. 



,; —Apiary culture and our fairs, by Hon. William 

 A very, of St. Croix Falls, Win. 



7.-A. paper on sales of honey, by F. B. Dorothy, of 

 Taylor's Falls, Minn. 



8.— A paper on wintering bees, by h. Day, of D arm- 

 si — Progressive bee-culture, by J. G. Teter. 



The above subjects will be open fur discussion. In 

 addition to the above, the followingsubjecta are bus- 

 nested " 



1 —Essential properties of a good bee hive. 



2 —How to prevent and cure foul brood, 

 y'.— How to prevent spring dwindling. 

 Appointment of committees. 

 Election of officers. Adjournment. 



23T All bee-keepers are cordially invited. Enter- 

 tainment free. V F. B. Dobothv, Sec. 



