THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 



to liave no ability to conceive that J^ 

 or 14 of an incli is of any account in 

 making a bee hive. Tliey say that 

 you are only " fussing " when you in- 

 sist tliat every measurement shall be 

 exact. I have been having a large 

 number of new hives made, and have 

 had my patience severely tried. I 

 gave tiie workman at the factory a 

 pattern hive wliich was just right. 

 lie rather elevated his nose when I 

 nrgeiitiv directed him to be sure to 

 follow tlie ])attern in cutting out stuff. 

 But lie made an exasperating blunder. 

 1 paid tlie wages of an expert carpen- 

 ter to a man to nail hives, because I 

 wanted the job done well and quickly. 

 I showed him how, and then left him 

 to do the work, and he did much of it 

 badly. These workmen, and many 

 days of cold or stormy weather, pre- 

 veiited me from sending bees promptly 

 to some customers ; but all will now 

 go, and I hope willbeall right. 

 Iowa City, April 17, 1882. 



California Apicutturist. 



The Hive I Use and Prefer. 



WM. MDTH-KASMUSSEN. 



After leaving Los Angeles, Cal., I 

 commenced bee-keeping anew, and 

 bought bees in frame hives, which, 

 however, had not been made by a 

 practical bee-keeper, and were there- 

 fore wanting in uniformity and rela- 

 tive proportions between the frames 

 and tlieir respective hives. The sur- 

 plus frames were also of a different 

 size from that of the brood frames. 

 Having to make new liives, I con- 

 sidered that I might sometime want 

 to produce comb honey for sale, and 

 the 1 lb. section would be the most 

 preferable package in wliich to place 

 this article in the market. At the 

 same time I knew, that on account of 

 insutlicient shijjping facilities, gen- 

 eral dilliculty of shipping comb honey 

 and probable future preference for 

 extracted honey, my product for tlie 

 present would be principally the latter 

 article. Not liking the regular Lang- 

 •strolh frame, on account of its shape 

 and size, and inconvenience in hang- 

 ing it right side up in the extractor, 1 

 decided on a frame which would hold 

 6 1 lb. sections, instead of 8, and 

 which therefore would be alike 

 adapted to comb and extracted honey. 

 I mean, of course, tliat the frame for 

 comb honey should be 2 inches wide, 

 and used only to hold the sections, 

 while the frame for extracting and 

 brood combs would be % of an inch 

 wide, but the size in length and 

 depth would be the same for both. 

 The 1 lb. section is 414 inches square, 

 outside measure. My frame made of 

 % inch stuff is 8i-^xl2J| inside, and 

 SJ^xb^J.^ inches, outside measure. The 

 top bar is 1.5^ inches long, and the 

 side pieces (8I4 inches), are nailed be- 

 tween the top and bottom bars. 1 do 

 not use the triangular comb guide, 

 which adds only more work and ex- 

 pense to the frame, with compara- 

 tively little additional strength, but 

 make instead (unless I use comb foun- 

 dation), a thin comb guide of wax, 

 painted into the frame with a small 



brush of feathers. This comb guide 

 takes notliing away from the interior 

 space of the frame, and I have never 

 liad the bees fail to follow it. I use 

 114 inch linisliiiig nails for the frames; 

 and have yet to see a frame come 

 apart by ordinary careful handling. 



My hive takes 10 of these frames, 

 and "is therefore 15 inclies long from 

 front to rear, 14)4 inches wide, and 

 ]{}% inches deep, inside. It will be 

 observed, that there is an extra i-^ of 

 an inch in the depth, which I allow 

 for shrinkage, after the hive is nailed 

 together, and therefore make the 

 space under the frames % inch. The 

 entrance is in one of the endsof the 

 hive, parallel to the frames, and is % 

 of an inch high by 6 inches long. By 

 arranging the entrance thus, 1 need 

 only one division board to diminish 

 the size of the hive for nuclei. Six- 

 incli pieces of ordinary frame stuff 

 are used to contract the entrances in 

 winter, or for entirely closing tbeni, 

 when necessary. For convenience in 

 moving, the bottoms are nailed on. 

 A small board, 2 inches wide, six 

 inches long in front and 11 inches be- 

 hind, is nailed in front of the entrance, 

 the nails going through the bevelled 

 endsof tlie doorstep and driven only 

 partly in, so that the doorstep can be 

 easily taken off, when the hives are 

 to be moved in a wagon. This hive 

 has a capacity of 2,084 inches. It is 

 otherwise made exactly like the style 

 of Langstroth hive, introduced into 

 Los Angeles county by Mr. John 

 Beckley, and extensively nsed by bee- 

 keepers there. The upper story corre- 

 sponds to the lower, and takes the 

 same frame, but for extracting I use 

 only 9 frames above. My hives rest 

 upon four small blocks, cut from waste 

 pieces of scantling, and placed di- 

 rectly upon the ground. 



It will be seen, that this makes a 

 very compact, neijrly square hive, 

 easily made, consilient to handle, 

 and with a shape and size of frame, 

 which suits all requirements. If a 

 honey rack is used, the hive will hold 

 21 1 lb. sections in one tier, and an- 

 other tier may be placed on top by 

 clamping them together. If wide 

 frames are preferred, the upper story 

 will hold 7 of these, containing 42 sec- 

 tions, and a brood frame or division 

 board, inserted tolillthe 1 inch space, 

 left in one end. 



Now I would not advise anybody al- 

 ready having an established apiary of 

 uniform and well made hives, or of 

 any certain style, used to some extent 

 in his neighborhood, to change from 

 what he already has, unless the de- 

 mand and price for comb honey in 1 

 lb. sections should become such ;is to 

 justify him in going to the trouble 

 and expense of such a change ; or 

 unless he sees some particular merit 

 in my hive over the one he is at 

 present using ; but to anyone making 

 a start in bee-keeping, and having no 

 particular favorite among the hives 

 already in use, I would recommend 

 my hive for consideration, and I 

 seriously think that it fills the bill 

 for a hive, suited to this climate and 

 to the various purposes for which it 

 may be used, better than any other 

 hive with which I have become ac- 



quainted during my twelve years' ex- 

 perience in bee-keeping. I call it the 

 "Three Quarter Langstroth Hive," 

 because the frames are three-fourths 

 the size of the regular Langstroth, 

 and it has already become the stand- 

 ard hive in this locality. No patent, 

 gentlemen. Use it if you like, and 

 criticise it, if you think it has any de- 

 fects. Perhaps you can thereby help 

 me to improve it in some particular, 

 which I may have overlooked. 

 Independence, Cal. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Light or Dark Colored Italians. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



I see that the old question of the 

 relative value of light and dark 

 colored Italian bees i.-i again occu\)y- 

 ing the attention of the Bke Jour- 

 nal. I think this is an important 

 question to luactical bee-keepers, and 

 worthy of full and free discussion. 



I think it is now conceded by the 

 most of bee-keepers that the Italians 

 are not a strictly pure race, but have 

 a slight admixture of the German 

 bee. This is not admitted by all, but 

 from what I can learn I judge that a 

 large majority of our best bee-keepers 

 believe such to be the fact. The ad- 

 mixture, if any there is, seems to 

 have been so far back, that the traits 

 of the mixed race have become quite 

 lirmly lixed. yet not so firmly but 

 what there is some variation in both 

 markings and traits of character be- 

 tween diffei-ent strains of Italians 

 that are all as undoubtedly pure as 

 any we have. My experience is that 

 those bees that most resemble in ap- 

 pearance and color the yellow race, 

 also possess in a greater degree the 

 traits of character that are peculiar to 

 the Italians, and in this particular I 

 agree with Mr. Ileddon's latest writ- 

 ings, in which he savs : " The dark 

 Italians and hybrids possess some 

 traits of the German bees, that the 

 lighter Italians do not. 



There are at least three traits that 

 all writers on bee-culture agree the 

 Italians possess in a greater degree 

 than do our common bees. These are, 

 1st. Being lighter in color, the queen 

 is more conspicuous on the combs, 

 and therefore easier to be found, sav- 

 ing both time and labor in certain 

 manipulations of the hive. This is of 

 more practical importance than some 

 think, especi;illy in large apiaries 

 where the bee-keeper has all the work 

 he can do, and time is valuable. 2d. 

 More inclined to defend tlieir stores 

 when attacked by robbers, or infested 

 with moth worms. This trait needs 

 no argument to prove its value, but I 

 cannot say the difference in this is 

 very marked between light and dark 

 Italians. 3d. More inclined to cease 

 other operations in the hive, and till 

 their brood combs with honey when- 

 ever the flowers are yielding largely. 

 This is tlie most important trait of all. 



I iKive of late years raised such a 

 small amount of box or section honey, 

 that I cannot say from experience 

 whether they are less inclined to 

 store honey outside of brood chamber 



