162 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Present Indications. 



Bee-keepers all over the country are 

 now confidently expecting a good 

 crop of honey for the present year. 

 Every indication now points to that 

 result, and we have no doubt but that 

 the yield may yet surprise even the 

 most sanguine with its magnitude. 

 The Semi-Tropic California remarks 

 as follows : 



The present outlook is fair for a 

 good honey season ; still the time at 

 which the season can be prognosticated 

 with any degree of certainty has not 

 yet arrived. Our bee-men, however, 

 express more confidence in the 

 promises for the present than they did 

 at this time last year. Nothing but 

 good news readies us from all bee 

 quarters, and we earnestly hope that 

 this industry will be doubly profitable 

 the coming season. 



Colton Semi-Tropic gives vent to its 

 enthusiasm In the following item : 



Our bee-men are jubilant and are 

 confident of having heavy yields tliis 

 season. The bees are reported to be 

 In excellent condition and liave stood 

 the winter well. The late rains insure 

 plenty of food, and everything 

 promises we shall liave an enormous 

 lot of honey stored during the sum- 

 mer season. 



The sagacious bee-keeper will now 

 provide early for the coming honey 

 flow, and be ready with his " tub right 

 side up " to catch all that comes to his 

 door. The sloven, slow-coach, and 

 old fogy will not be ready, and in the 

 fall will make wry faces over their 

 luck, and be all ready for the dismal 

 quarters provided in the prison of 

 " blasted hopes," long before Decem- 

 ber's wintry storms shall visit the 

 earth. 



One-Piece Sections. 



On page 140, Mr. Stocking asked 

 what Mr. Forncrook's patent covered. 

 We replied that Mr. F. claimed that 

 it covered all one-piece sections and 

 the machine for their manufacture. 

 Mr. Lewis objects to this and sends a 

 letter containing the following ex- 

 tracts from the Patent Examiner's 

 decision : 



The device in controversy, as will 

 appear from a consideration of the 

 issue defined, is a sectional trans- 

 versely grooved blank in single piece, 

 having two features which render it 

 available as a honey frame, viz., the 

 longitudinal guide groove for starting 

 the comb, and the side insets for the 

 entrance of the bees. The box blank 

 witliout these two distinguishing 

 features is admitted old, and is shown 

 by the patent to H. W. Hutchins, 

 fited in the record by the Primary 

 Examiner. 



Mr. Lewis also sent us the Patent 

 Office drawings of the Hutchins' box 

 described by the Examiner. This is 

 the same that was mentioned in Glean- 

 ings for Feb., and quoted by Mr. 

 Byron Walker in the Bee Jouknal 

 for March l,page 136. 



Mr. Stocking inquired if the Lewis 

 one-piece section was an infringment 

 of the Forncrook patent, and de- 

 sired its description, which we gave on 

 page 123. We replied that we could 

 not say whether it was an infringe- 

 ment or not. Mr. Lewis now writes 

 us as follows : 



I did not know until your reply to 

 Mr. Stocking tliat Mr. F. claimed to 

 cover all one-piece sections, and all 

 machines that make them. I sup- 

 posed he only had reference to mak- 

 ing his section and using his machine. 

 Mr. F.'s patent claims and descrip- 

 tion are perfectly plain and show just 

 what he has. Any section not made 

 like that, is no infringeineTit ; at least 

 so say some of the best Patent At- 

 torneys in the country. 



We suppose the matter of infringe- 

 ment is a legal one, and hence we 

 stated that we did not; know, when 

 questioned on that point. We an- 

 swered the queries propounded to the 

 Bee Jouknal, by stating what was 

 "claimed" by the patentee. Tlie 

 only interest we, or our readers, have 

 in the controversy is to know what is 

 claimed, and with this explanation we 

 hope all will be satisfied to leave the 

 matter for time, law, or something 

 else to decide. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Ekes and Nadirs.— In correspond- 

 ence from Europe, these words are 

 often met witli, and as many may not 

 understand them, we give the follow- 

 ing explanation from Mr. Pettigrew's 

 " Handy Book on Bees : " 



Can bees be prevented from swarm- 

 ing V Yes, bv tlie use of ekes ; and 

 what are these? Additions or en- 

 largements from below— that is to .say, 

 eked or lengthened. Hives are eked 

 by riddle rims, or hoops made of four 

 or five rolls of straw of the same 

 description as those in a straw hive, 

 the same width as the hives raised by 

 tliem . These ekes are fastened to the 

 hives by nails or staples going into 

 both, arid the junctions covered with 

 anv kind of cement or paste. 



But eking hives does not always 

 prevent their bees from swarming V 

 Not always, but in ninety-nine cases 



out of a hundred it does. In some 

 hot seasons, and on rare occasions, 

 bees liave been known to square the 

 ends ot the combs before their hives 

 were quite full, and swarm. This so 

 seldom happens that it may be con- 

 sidered exceptional, and out of the 

 usual run of events. When our hives 

 are timely eked we have never the 

 shadow of a fear that they will send 

 off swarms. When ekes are used 

 cross sticks must be put into them at 

 the highest parts, so that the combs 

 may be fastened. 



Nadirs are the opposite of supers. 

 Nadirs go beneath bee hives, and 

 supers above them. If a hive which 

 we wish to keep for stock becomes 

 heavy in July we place a nadir be- 

 neath it— that is to say, we lift it off 

 its board, place a hive with cross 

 sticks and a large crown hole on the 

 board, then place the full hive on the 

 empty one, pin the two together, and 

 cement the junction. The bees are 

 soon found hanging in a large cluster 

 like a swarm tluough the crown hole 

 of the nadir. New combs are speedily 

 built from the upper hive through the 

 crown hole down to the board, and in 

 process of time the nadir is filled with 

 combs and brood, almost all the honey 

 going to the upper story. At the end 

 of the season the top one is taken off 

 for honey, and its bees driven into the 

 bottom hive, which is kept for stock. 



Nadirs are most useful for early 

 swarms that become heavy before the 

 end of the season. By placing nadirs 

 beneath them both honey and stock 

 hives may be obtained. 



One year our earliest swarm was 

 taken off about the 10th of May. By 

 the end of four weeks it vs'as full, and 

 nearly ready for swarming. Instead 

 of taking oft' a virgin swarm we 

 placed it on a nadir. At the end of 

 the season we found that it weighed 

 70 lbs. All tlie bees were driven be- 

 low, and the top one taken. It weighed 

 50 lbs., and the nadir 20 lbs. We thus 

 got nearly 30 lbs. of honey, and a stock 

 hive from a swarm of May. A few 

 pounds of refuse honey were given to 

 the nadir, which was a strong colony 

 in the spring following. 



Spring Dwindling:.— W. M. Kellogg 

 remarks as follows on this subject in 

 the Prah-ie Farmer : 



The time will soon be here when 

 bees will have to be taken out of the 

 cellar, as generally the weather gets 

 too warm for them to be kept quiet 

 any longer than about the last week 

 in March, though one season I knew 

 it to be as late as April 15. But it is 

 better to keep them in as long as pos- 

 sible without their becoming uneasy, 

 by cooling the cellar or bee-house, or 

 opening doors and windows at night, 

 closing them early in the morning. 



Many times we are obliged to carry 

 bees out owing to a continued warm 

 spell of weather, in the middle or 

 latter part of March. This may con- 

 tinue for several days, perhaps a 

 couple of weeks. Maple buds will 

 start, the bees get a little pollen, 

 enough at least to start brood rearing 

 in full vigor, which the bees endeavor 



